fedora linux in aspire 4520

personally, i choose this laptop because i can decided either to included windows or not , but i want to run fedora 7 instead linpus os. so here is my exprience with acer aspire 4520.
please note that my fedora 7 actually clone installation from desktop pc, i doing rsync to clone whole linux partition from my old desktop into this nice laptop.. : )

Item	Hardware Components	Status	Notes
CPU	AMD Turion 64x2 mobile technology TL-56 nvidia	works	kernel 2.22.4-65.fc7 smp
Graphics	Nvidia Geforce 7000M	works	used livna nvidia kernel module* or from NVIDIA website
LCD Panel	14.1" WXGA 1280x800 acer crystalbrite tft lcd	works	just use normal display configuration in gome
Acer Webcam	acer crystal eye 1.3	works	install uvcvideo as kernel modules*
Disk Storage	SATA 120 GB - ST9120822AS	works	using driver pata_amd -default
Ethernet	nvidia nforce ethernet	works	default nvidia ethernet or download/compile forcedeth & install as module*
Wireless	Atheros AR5BXB63 - mistakenly report as AR5006EG	swork	work with ndiswrapper modules as report by madwifi support list* read the following posted
Sound	Realtek - High Definition Audio	works	need to download/compile realtek driver & install as module*
DVD RW Super Multi Drive	DVD-Super Multi Double-Layer drive (DVD+/-RW)	works	-HL-DT-ST default driver works like normal
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 2.0	works	- but not test because doesn;t have :P
IrDA	FIR	works	Stable FIR stack
Modem	Agere WinModem	Untested	- i used streamyx adsl :P
Built-in Card Reader	Memory Stick reader, SDcard, Xd Card, MMC	works	- work with Sandisk SD card 512Mb
Floppy	N/A	-	-
Touchpad	Synaptic touchpad	works	-works like normal,left,right, middle button , also work as scroll button
Acer hotkey	hotkey for wireless,mail, bluetooth,??,??	works	-by using acer_acpi ,next post (doesn't need this settings if use ndiswrapper)

full specification

nvidia GeForce 7000M
package from livna
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-devel-100.14.11-1.lvn7
nvidia-graphics-helpers-0.0.21-22.fc7
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-100.14.11-1.lvn7
kmod-nvidia-100.14.11-1.2.6.22.4_65.fc7
you can also download and install nvidia driver from nvidia website - need to login as single users


Atheros AR5006EG or AR5007EG
Generally, atheros support under linux via madwifi package, but it take me 4 days to figure out that this card doesn't work in linux yet...silly me, i does'nt read the last line in compatible list... lol but i believe maybe if you try to compile your own kernel without 4k stack, it might be run successfully

Chip:	wi-fi.org says that is AR5006EG
Supports:	IEEE 802.11b, 802.11g
Notes:	Dosen't work at all.
Notes:	DevID 0428
Notes:	In windows it's appears like AR5007EG
Notes:	.inf file information

.inf file in windows:
%ATHER.DeviceDesc.3067%  = ATHER_DEV_04281468.ndi, PCI\VEN_168C&DEV_001C&SUBSYS_04281468 //References to this Device, Look  ATHER_DEV_04281468.ndi ,an curiosity look DeviceDesc, = 3067
...
[ATHER_DEV_04281468.ndi.NT]  //more parameters referencing this device
Characteristics = 0x84 ; NCF_PHYSICAL | NCF_HAS_UI
BusType         = 5
DelReg          = 5211.DelReg
AddReg          = 5211.reg, ATHER.reg, 5211.reg, 5212.abgmp.reg, customer3a.reg, ATHER_DEV_04281468.ID.REG
CopyFiles       = ATHER.CopyFiles.nt, DEFAULTDESTDIRS
DelFiles        = ATHER.DelIniFiles
//and the end of file we have
ATHER.DeviceDesc.3067  = "Atheros AR5007EG Wireless Network Adapter" // look that DeviceDesc.3067 references to  AR5007EG.!!????

Notes:	It's returns Hal status 13, and sometimes hal status 3
Notes:	In Openhal the interface ath0 show up there aren't any communication, the commands like iwlist return error.
Notes:	Suported by ndiswrapper ver 1.47 (use tarball package) with windows xp driver.
Notes:	In Fedora 7, crash (kernel panic) when try to load ndiswrapper (modprobe ndiswrapper)
Notes:	Crash because default kernel limit stack to 4k. Need to recompile kernel with CONFIG_4KSTACKS disabled.

(from
madwifi compatible list)

Acer Webcam CrystalEye webcam
currently this webcam run successfully in ekiga and cheese. You need to install uvc driver as kernel module, please note that this driver implements as V4L2, so if you got webcam apps, set it as v4l2 driver.
http://linux-uvc.berlios.de/#download

you should see this message after install this driver.
[root@fedorasal]# dmesg | grep uvc
uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device Acer
CrystalEye webcam (064e:a101)
usbcore: registered new
interface driver uvcvideo

Sound
it seems like realtek HDA, so i grab source from here choose the Unix(Linux) > Others = Version 4.06b

wget ftp://202.65.194.212/pc/audio/realtek-linux-audiopack-4.06b.tar.bz2
tar -xvf realtek-linux-audiopack-4.06b.tar.bz2
cd realtek-linux-audiopack-4.06/

unpack alsa-driver-rt20070820.tar.bz2(use file-roller or command)
download realtek12.tar.gz (67.5kb) from here https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-bug/view.php?id=3104
patch this driver by overwrite into this folder
alsa-driver-rt20070820/pci/hda

then pack it back as alsa-driver-rt20070820.tar.bz2 , just use file-roller in gnome by right-click

this will fixed silent bug

run sh install.sh

then add the following lines in

/etc/modprobe.conf

options snd-hda-intel model=toshiba

restart or modprobe snd-hda-intel
thats all for now, sorry for my poor english. actually this is my first blog :P