# Gentoo Acer Aspire 2012 WLCi Problems and Solutions (I Hope)

## riprjak

Folks,

I embarked upon a mystical journey this weekend past; Installing Gentoo on my new Acer Aspire 2012 WLCi.  In this thread I hope to document the problems (and solutions) encountered every step of the way.  I am, however, a complete hack; so assistance from others will almost certainly be required to move forward.

This is a work in progress, check back if you actually care  :Smile:   items in <brackets> indicate notes to myself to improve detail.

Lets start with the Specs:

Basic Specifications

 *Quote:*   

> Pentium M 1.5GHz
> 
> 15.4" WXGA TFT (1280x800)
> 
> 64MB Radeon Mobility 9700
> ...

 

Upgrades

 *Quote:*   

> 512MB > 768MB RAM
> 
> 40GB > 80GB 4200RPM EIDE HDD

 

From here, I downloaded the universal x86 2004.1 liveCD and burned it.

[Step 1] Boot liveCD and get to start of stage 3

Many would say "duh" here except...

After trialling all 4 kernels on the liveCD, it was clear that the broadcom b44 module was not going to load.  So I gave up, you should too.

I proceeded to use a 40GB USB harddrive to copy across all required distfiles to bootstrap from stage 1 to kernel installation as follows.

I followed the instructions in the gentoo handbook and started from stage 1, selected gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.7-r11 (well, the version selected itself), genkernel, hotplug, grub, gpm, reiserfsprogs, metalog and vcron.  I used genkernel for the sake of laziness without --menuconfig, edited /etc/conf.d/net to ensure eth0 was setup for DHCP, edited the grub.conf as per the genkernel recommendations and rebooted.  As you can see below, my file system is pretty basic (standard even) and my make.conf is simple and clearly full of reduncancies (reading the gcc docs and using ufed is clearly too hard   :Laughing: , so any constructive deconstruction of my redundancies would be appreciated)

<insert fstab>

<insert make.conf> 

Viola, after rebooting, the b44 kernel module now loads and I have a functional stage 2 system with active ethernet.  So I emerge sync and emerge -uDv world.

Note, at this stage, I have not attempted to get bluetooth, wireless, radeon or card reader functional; this will be my next step.  My use of a USB harddrive to fling data across prior to rebuild, however, suggests that the USB is working.

Side note : using the "radeon" console driver automagically gives me a 1280x800 console, despite the vga=792 (yes, I know this is deprecated for 2.6.x); but I couldnt be fukd pissing around with bootsplash to purty it up, so I reverted to the vesa console driver and standard genkernel bootsplash; my primary aim is to see if I can get everything to work flawlessly without having to climb too far under the hood, or stray too far from the handbook.

[Step 2] Does this bloody hardware work??

So, at this point, I have purty stretched (to 1280x800) 1024x768 VESA bootsplash on all 6 tty's and a silent bootsplash bootup; a 2.6.7 genkernel and functional ethernet...  after executing update-pciids; lspci correctly identifies all the hardware in my little laptop.  So, to the other hardware.

The ATI Radeon 9700, X and other joy.

First I 

```
emerge -pDv xorg-x11 ati-drivers ati-drivers-extra synaptics
```

and then proceed to try and get X working.

Starting with ATI's fglrxconfig, I create an XF86config-4 (with support for 1024x768, 800x600 and 640x480 resolution) and then rename it to xorg.conf (stripping out all comments that I felt unnescessary).  To allow me to get access to the odd resolution of the wxga screen, I added the following modeline and a primary resolution of "1280x800"

<include modeline for 1280x800>

The whole of my xorg.conf is as follows

<include xorg.conf>

Here I have struck serious problems.  The ati driver (version 3.9) is not playing well; X starts nicely but freezes solid, black screen, or with mouse movement at random events for no logged reason.  This may need some investigation.

First Step was to neuter the driver, turning ALL features (XAA, DRI etc) off, didnt fix.

Second step was to disable ALL frame buffer devices in kernel, didnt fix.

Third step was to set 4k stacks in the kernel, didnt fix.

Fourth step I tried the various mtrr fixes suggested; even though no evidence of this problem existed, didnt fix.

Ok, thanks to rage3d , I now know this

 *Quote:*   

> Problem : Mobility Radeons cause system freeze
> 
> Applications Affected : X11
> 
> Cards Affected : Mobility Radeons
> ...

 

So, for now I will revert to the xorg "radeon" drivers and see how we go.  I will trial the ati-drivers again at some future point.

ipw2200bg wireless ethernet

WU-HU!!! Got the wireless ethernet working!!  first, I emerged ndiswrapper (version 0.8 came up) and downloaded the intel ipw220bg drivers from www.intel.com (version 8.something; when following instructions copy the .inf, .sys AND .dll from the winxp drivers, not just .inf and .sys).  It helps to 

```
chmod u+x /etc/init.d/wireless.sh
```

 at this point.

Next, I followed these instructions (extra banana ration that ape!!), then

```
ln -sf /etc/init.d/net.eth0 /etc/init.d/net.wlan0

```

Ok, It is critical to modprobe ndiswrapper in the /usr/modules.autoload.d/kernel2.6 prior to running /etc/init.d/net.wlan0...  sometimes you need to rmmod and modprobe ndiswrapper.  Make sure you 

```
nano -w /etc/conf.d/wireless
```

 to your flavour; and turn the wireless on  :Smile: 

I do however have the oddest problem that DHCP appears to fail to get ip address etc if net.eth0 isnt already up.... oddness

<BIGEDIT!!!>

ati-drivers-3.11.1 fix the accelerated opengl issues... YAY, I can play ut2004  :Smile: 

err!

jak.

----------

## roko

I have this laptop and I've managed to configure graphic card and now I have 2000 FPS in glxgears. I think I used radeon 9700 drivers, I'm not sure, cos I just wanted to get things working quickly when I was installing software on laptop, but probably I'm/I was very lucky to have things working.   :Very Happy:   :Very Happy: 

----------

## riprjak

 *roko wrote:*   

> I have this laptop and I've managed to configure graphic card and now I have 2000 FPS in glxgears. I think I used radeon 9700 drivers, I'm not sure, cos I just wanted to get things working quickly when I was installing software on laptop, but probably I'm/I was very lucky to have things working.   

 

As noted above, the new 3.11.1 ati drivers actually work without issue (to date); you just had better timing than me...  keep looking for info on bluetooth etc; as this is the next stage for me  :Smile: 

----------

## isaidi

 :Sad:   What about the card reader?

anyone get that working

i have a similar one, Aspire 2001WLCi. I get a few unkown devices in lspci. I would be interested in getting this to work. 

Getting wireless to work on my laptop was alot of fun...  :Laughing:  .. can't wait to put wepattack to use..  :Twisted Evil: 

Another question, I am terribly confused wether to use APM or ACPI

and how to configure them properly. My Bios doesn't have much information.  I seem to generally have things working with ACPI, but i wonder if APM would be the better choice to work, and i fear improper power managment might damage laptop hardware. 

I welcome any insight on the issues listed above ??

----------

## isaidi

silly me,

the build int 4-in-1 CARD READER is actually interfaced internally to the USB line. Just plug in your Flash Memory card and you should see a new device under /dev/sda1   (could be different letter/number, depending one what scsi devices you have)

Just  like any other card reader, you would need modules. 

```

usb_storage.o

sd_mod.o

scsi_mod.o

```

I am not on my linux machine right now, can't remember which device support was compiled in the usb_storage module, but it wasn't too hard. It should be easy getting the card reader to work.

I am still having problems with ACPCI. I tried:

```

$ echo X > /proc/acpi/sleep

```

Laptop wouldn't sleep, and if it did.. wouldn't resume properly.. I am doing somthing wrong... not sure how to setup acpi properly..  a laptop that won't sleep isn't very convienient, getting ACPI states working properly is first on my list... for a laptopt atleast..

----------

## isaidi

silly me,

the build int 4-in-1 CARD READER is actually interfaced internally to the USB line. Just plug in your Flash Memory card and you should see a new device under /dev/sda1   (could be different letter/number, depending one what scsi devices you have)

Just  like any other card reader, you would need modules. 

```

usb_storage.o

sd_mod.o

scsi_mod.o

```

I am not on my linux machine right now, can't remember which device support was compiled in the usb_storage module, but it wasn't too hard. It should be easy getting the card reader to work.

I am still having problems with ACPCI. I tried:

```

$ echo X > /proc/acpi/sleep

```

Laptop wouldn't sleep, and if it did.. wouldn't resume properly.. I am doing somthing wrong... not sure how to setup acpi properly..  a laptop that won't sleep isn't very convienient, getting ACPI states working properly is first on my list... for a laptopt atleast..

----------

## riprjak

 *isaidi wrote:*   

>   What about the card reader?
> 
> anyone get that working
> 
> i have a similar one, Aspire 2001WLCi. I get a few unkown devices in lspci. I would be interested in getting this to work. 
> ...

 

Agreeing with you; my card reader immediately worked as a usb storage device... I *REALLY* need to update this as I have a near fully functional desktop now  :Smile: 

----------

