# Acer Ferrari 3400 Questions

## int2str

Hi fellow Gentoo'ers!

I have an Acer Ferrari 3400LMi Notebook on order, which will arrive tomorrow. It will replace my current Compaq notebook and also run Gentoo as it's main operating system.

Some questions for you who already own one:

- Does it support suspend-to-RAM?

- Does the battery power management work ok?

- Does KDE work alright on it (64-bit)?

- Any special considerations when installing Gentoo (other than the ones in the AMD64 guide)?

- Any special patches?

Man, I hope Linux will work better on it than on my Compaq  :Sad: 

Thanks for you help,

 Andre

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## int2str

Looks like not many people have this notebook yet?

Now that I'm in the middle of installing, I'll reply to some of my own questions:

 *Quote:*   

> Does it support suspend-to-RAM?

 

Doesn't look like it. It suspends ok, but doesn't come out of suspend. It might be a video problem, so I'll have to try again without fb. I've also heard about USB causing problems so I'll have to try without that as well some time.

 *Quote:*   

> Does the battery power management work ok?

 

ACPI battery information works fine, cpufreq works fine and the fan spins down on it's own as well. Nothing in /proc/acpi/FAN/, but that's ok.

 *Quote:*   

> Does KDE work alright on it (64-bit)?

 

Still compiling...  :Wink: 

 *Quote:*   

> Any special considerations when installing Gentoo (other than the ones in the AMD64 guide)?

 

None so far.

 *Quote:*   

> Any special patches?

 

None so far.

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## int2str

Well, looks like this is going to be quite the monologue  :Very Happy: 

Some more findings:

KDE (3.3.2) works quite well. Except it seems Konqueror crashes a little more than I am used to.

On the bright side, here are some things I got to work (quite easily):

- Built in Bluetooth works great with BlueZ. Got my BT mouse to work without problems.

- Built in Wifi works with Ndiswrapper and 64-Bit Broadcom drivers

- ATI drivers work with DRI enabled

- DVD burning works

Starting to be pretty happy about my purchase here  :Very Happy: 

Cheers,

   Andre

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## lramos85

Could you send me your .config file? lramos85 at gmail.com Thanks.

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## int2str

Here ya go:

http://www.eisenbach.com/~andre/ferrari_config

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## lramos85

Hi, I am seriously thinking of buying a Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse. What kind of Mouse/Keyboard do you have?

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## int2str

I work for a Bluetooth software company, so both my mouse and my keyboard are prototypes....

The mouse is this one though:

http://www.targus.com/us/product_details.asp?sku=AMB01US

The keyboard isn't sold officially yet, I think.

I'd recommend Logitech though and to stay away from the MS keyboard.

Cheers,

    Andre

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## Vid6.7

My co-worker who's helping me get gentoo running on my acer ferrari 3200 sent me a link to this post asking "isn't this your laptop?"

Didn't want you to feel out in the cold.  :Smile: 

Vid 6.7

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## int2str

I think you're going to like it. All things considered it's a fine notebook  :Very Happy: .

Let me know if you have any problems and I can share what I've learned so far.

Cheers,

    Andre

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## lramos85

That is so awsome that you work doing that. Anyways, it is not my taste. If I buy a bluetooth mouse and keyboard for that much money, I better buy something that I'll like for long. I've been looking at the Logitech DiNovo product, seems nice. Oh and I found this http://linux.yes.nu/diNovo/ url, it tells you how to install bluetooth stuff.

I want to thank you for the config file, it helped alot, I still can't get decent sound or standby to work, but so far so good. 

This is what I have got:

Wireless Lan works, 4in1 media kinda works, firewire kinda works, there are new drivers for the ATI mobility 9700 (I haven't tried this), All dvd stuff works, network card works, haven't tried modem, infrared works, Synaptics touchpad with 4-way scroll key works.

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## wryoung98

 *Quote:*   

> On the bright side, here are some things I got to work (quite easily):
> 
> - Built in Bluetooth works great with BlueZ. Got my BT mouse to work without problems.
> 
> - Built in Wifi works with Ndiswrapper and 64-Bit Broadcom drivers
> ...

 

I found drivers on the Acer site but I could not find any that said that they where 64 bit drivers on the Broadcom site.

Where did you download yours?

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## int2str

See here:

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-288875-highlight-ubuntu.html

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## rawbeefman

Okay int2str

Quick question.  I'm having trouble mounting my media card reader on my ferrari 3200.  What did you put in your fstab for that?  Would you mind posting your entire fstab so I can look at it?

Also, having trouble with the ndiswrapper for my wireless.  lsmod reveals that it is loaded after modprobe:

 *Quote:*   

> Module                  Size  Used by
> 
> ndiswrapper           152552  0
> 
> sd_mod                 14296  0
> ...

 

but then when i iwconfig, i get 

 *Quote:*   

> root@ehren ehren # iwconfig
> 
> eth0      no wireless extensions.
> 
> lo        no wireless extensions.
> ...

 

All the tutorials talk about using it to set up wireless internet ... all I need it for is a wireless printer.  

I appreciate the help man.

 - Ehren

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## Albert_Alligator

Hi, join the Ferrari club. Its been some time since I decided to dive back into my Ferrari, but I'm all for it.

I didn't get bluetooth nor my WLAN working. I will attempt this again. The last time I tried was in January, and at that time, the Broadcom drivers didn't work with ndiswrapper...or were really buggy.

But it seems I should have been reading on this subject more often.

Now if I can just get Wine working and EverQuest II installed...I'll never go back to Windows....

Al

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## rawbeefman

Haha, thanks for the reply; ndiswrapper does work.  Just find the 64 bit windows drivers and you're all set.  

I'm curious if you got your media card reader working?

Does your system get super hot too? [did they fix it in the newer model]

I dont have APM compiled into my kernel, is this something I need to do to keep it cooler?

Thanks man

 - Ehren

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## Albert_Alligator

I can't remove ndiswrapper...I get the error message that its not installed...then I type ndiswrapper -l and it shows me this

```

Installed ndis drivers:

netbc564      driver present, hardware present

```

but every time I try to start net.wlan0, it tells me that there is no hardware. I can't install it, I can't remove it...its friggin borked.

Al

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## int2str

 *rawbeefman wrote:*   

> I'm curious if you got your media card reader working?

 

Havn't really tried yet...

 *Quote:*   

> Does your system get super hot too?

 

It's a Ferrari - what do you expect ;D

 *Quote:*   

> I dont have APM compiled into my kernel, is this something I need to do to keep it cooler?

 

Not APM, but compile ACPI into the kernel. Also, select the cpu frequency scaling driver "Powernow K8". Then use the "ondemand" governor to automatically scale the CPU up/down depending on your load. That will keep the noise and temperature down.

My 3400 is currently running at 800 Mhz even so I'm burning a DVD and am posting at the same time.

On less exciting news, my built-in network card (Gig-E) failed today. Acer will have FedEx pick up my notebook for repair tomorrow....  :Sad: 

Cheers,

    Andre

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## int2str

 *Albert_Alligator wrote:*   

> every time I try to start net.wlan0, it tells me that there is no hardware

 

Stupid question of the day:

Did you press the button next to the media reader to turn Wifi on?

Just wondering....

Cheers,

     Andre

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## Albert_Alligator

 *int2str wrote:*   

>  *Albert_Alligator wrote:*   every time I try to start net.wlan0, it tells me that there is no hardware 
> 
> Stupid question of the day:
> 
> Did you press the button next to the media reader to turn Wifi on?
> ...

 

Naw, that's cool, yeah, I always make sure that the button is on.

When I modprobe, I get this message...

```

FATAL: Module ndiswrapper not found.

```

..and before you say it...yes, I've compiled WLAN support into my kernel....could this have something to with compiling SMP support into the kernel?

Al

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## Albert_Alligator

Ok, fixed that problem.....I had built a new kernel, but had forgotten to make the symlink between /usr/src/linux and the new kernel which caused ndiswrapper to compile with the old kernel's data. 

Now, modprobed fine, iwconfig seems to work fine, essid is ok, security is set to open, WEP is there but my /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 won't start....and in ifconfig it shows that its got the wrong subnet, so I set it to a static address in /etc/conf.d/net and stil, it won't change. It's given it the wrong subnet.

Also, it just won't start.

Now I'm further along, just not far enough.

Al

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## stonie

I have been looking for a notebook to buy recently. 

Since I had IBM Laptops (T-Series) until now, I was pretty dissapointed by the quality of the notebooks. From Quality I like the Apple Powerbooks the most, but the problem with running proprietary x86 linux software on a ppc architecture is keeping me pretty much away from buying one.

Now on the other hand I am very interested in the AMD64 Technology and so I came up to the Ferrari. What are the experience you got from that notebook, how is the quality and how loud is it (would need it in a library...)

How hot is it getting, would you guys think it would be better to wait for some Turion64 laptops to come,

Thanks....

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## kicker

I dont have an acer ferrari, but something similar.. and i've seen a few laptops too, and this is a common problem nowaday, heat and noise in laptop.. i even seen the ferrari, but if it has a powerful gfx card like 9700 + from ati or similar in nvidia, 1st thing the battery is taking a hit, and second, the thing really heat... i have to put some shim in the back to raise it a little when i play for some time (3d games or even compiling) to let the air flows a little more.. but again i smoke near it.. i make sure to clean it as much as i can, at least one time a week, but still, it doesn't help.  But, if you run on the battery, and put it in the settings to save the most energy, the fan are going to spin a lot less, thanks to the cpu running at 400mhz, but still... it runs linux good even at 400mhz..  i have a p4 3.2 HT, and can easily compile two things at once and play a small game at the same time, and the whole system is still quite responsive  :Smile: 

YMMV tho!  But i've seen a few dell, other toshiba, and been on the web when i had mine cause i believed it was making more noise than my quiet desktop.. and i was right.. many people find that too.. so...  but if you want the best mobile laptop around for energy vs battery consumption and life.. go for centrino.. but i've heard they are cumbersome in linux.. i dunno... but i do know that in windows, they works great... they are less powerful than their p4 counterpart.. even if they say to you that a 1.7 should equal 2.6 or something like that .. take it with a grain of salt.. while it's true they are faster clock for clock that a p4 would be at the same speed.. 

Anyway that is out of the scope...  but i hope it helped you a bit.. but make sure to make extensive research about the one you're going to buy, that is specially true if you are going to run linux.. i'm lucky as my toshiba ends up doing quite well in linux, apart from the reboot problem that's hassling me.. Everything just works!  or seems too, i can't try everything!

Pierre-Andre

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## lramos85

rawbeefman  *Quote:*   

>  I'm having trouble mounting my media card reader on my ferrari 3200.

 

I have tried getting this to work with no luck. Of course that was a long time ago and I haven't tried recently. If you go to search and put lramos85 to search for my posts you can find the subject.

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## int2str

 *rawbeefman wrote:*   

> I'm curious if you got your media card reader working?

 

I finally got around to trying it (with an SD card), and yes, it works.

 *Quote:*   

> Does your system get super hot too?

 

The CPU does not, but the hard drive does, strangely enough...

 *Quote:*   

> I dont have APM compiled into my kernel, is this something I need to do to keep it cooler?

 

You can compile powernow frequency scaling into the kernel and use the "ondemand" governor to keep the CPU cooler and save battery.

Cheers,

     Andre

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## rawbeefman

You guy heard of the new Acer Ferrari?

Acer Ferrari 4000, using the AMD64 Turion Processor.  It's amds response to intel centrino technology.  Bigger cache, faster, 64 bit.  I assume there wont be a heat problem.  I'm intrigued, but not enough to drop another couple thou after this one is acting so shitty in linux.

I'm still getting random shut offs, what is powernow frequency scaling, and how to i set that up?

 - Eschmann

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## wryoung98

Try here

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_PowerNow%21

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