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Acer TravelMate 330T and Linux 2.2

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Comments for item 1

teledyn  05-14-2002 11:57 AM ET (US) I'm now up to Mandrake 8.2 on this laptop and it just keeps getting easier. I still have the same old problems with the power-management not working quite right (the clock stops during the sleep, so when you resume, you have to sync the hardware clock, and the sudden jump in system time can cause problems with the display and autosave applications) On the plus side, though, the issues with the Lucent modem are all history: I can now load and unload this module without any fears of lockups.

After a lot of window shopping for an ultralight notebook, I settled on the Acer as the best combination of features for the price (bought from Paul Taylor's Laptops Plus). As can happen with any new hardware, I quickly discovered it would not be an effortless fit, but the good news is, apart from a small APM glitch, it's one of the best Linux laptops on the market.

I'm not done yet; as I collect more information on this, I will update this page. Right now, I have Mandrake 7.1 installed, a working modem, some limited APM support, and most of the sound (still no midi).

---

2 Installing Linux 3 Installing over PLIP 4 Installing XFree86 5 330T Specifications

6 Damn Winmodems: SOLVED 7 Sound System 8 PCMCIA 9 Managing APM 10 IrDA Support 11 Wireless Support

12 Updating the Kernel 13 The Good News 14 Bottom Line Harish Thampi S's Acer-Laptop HOWTO

---

15 I get "Wow" responses when I travel with my Acer Travelmate 330T, and from what I hear from those of you who write to me, the entire line of Acer Travelmates are ideal mobile machines. It also appears that Acer now realizes the potential of Linux and now offer some limited support of their products, including the laptops, for use with Linux. Their new Acer/Linux webpage is very encouraging. The Acer 330T has also been approved for RedHat Certification

16 As with any Linux Laptop installation, your very best resource for tips, tricks, compatibility and other general information on specific laptops is the cannonical Linux Laptop Home Page and the Linux with Laptop Computers (LiLaC) website.

Installing Linux

17 Most modern Linux distributions (Mandrake, SuSE, Turbo, RedHat, Caldera) should install on the Acer with little or no problems. Most people writing to me about this page tell me the worst problems they encounter are with the XF86Config. I initially started in the summer of 1999 when all I had was a RedHat 6.0 and a Debian 2.1 CD and what I did to do to get this penguin waddling is a good illustration of a worst-case scenario...

Debian 2.1

I first tried Debian 2.1: The CD would boot into the installation and everything seemed to go very well; this release of Debian is still glibc2.0 and linux 2.0, and frankly I found the install procedure much too tedious (even though there is some fantastic software in this kit!)

RedHat 6.0

18 RedHat installs, again from booting the installation CD, but the installed 2.2 kernel contains APM support that causes a kernel oops; there is a patch for the 2.0 Kernel on Linux Mama and a small one-line patch on a website on the Acer 512 which appears to do the trick

19  I have since heard from many users of other distros and have also switched my system over to Mandrake, starting with 6.1 and currently run Mandrake 7.0; with these newer systems, I have upgraded to the new distro rather than re-install, but I am confident the results will be the same with a fresh installation.

Mandrake 6.1

20 This one installed without a hitch except for the usual problems of upgrading the kernel and applying the APM patch

Mandrake 7.0

21 Again, very few problems, and with this distro there is no need to do the APM patch or to upgrade the kernel. 7.0 also includes Linux 2.2.14 so the Lucent modem driver will install. The only problems I have are with the APM as it sometimes requires running kcmlaptop two or three times before I get suspend working.

SuSE Linux 6.2

22 I haven't had the opportunity to verify this, but an informant in Taiwan tells me someone there reported complete success installing onto the Acer 330 using SuSE 6.2

Caldera OpenLinux 2.3

23 Neil Fisk reports that Caldera OpenLinux 2.3 installs through the GUI installation interface, but the OSS sound driver will only install if you do the "complete" installation of Caldera. Partition Magic within Win98 will set up the partitions.

24 I put in a bug report to ask RH to forego putting APM into the default kernels, or to at least offer it as an install option. In early Jan 2000 I received a note from the RH Bugzilla telling me the problem had been fixed.

Spaceman Spiff writes:

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Comments for item 25

Ron Kaminsky  03-19-2003 03:04 AM ET (US) I think I know what happened to Spaceman Spiff when he installed extra memory: Acer, in its instructions for the memory upgrade, notes that the W98 Sleep Manager will automatically reallocate the hard disk space for hibernation when new memory is detected. My guess is that it probably doesn't look at the disk partition table and expanded the file to extend over the start of the Linux partition. Then, the next time he hibernated, zap! So, before installing extra memory, be sure to disable the Sleep Manager (deleting that file). I think you may be able to reenable it afterwards, as posted further down at item 33.

Ron Kaminsky  03-19-2003 03:07 AM ET (US) Oh, and I forgot the rest of Acer's recommendation: run ScanDisk and Defrag on the W98 disk before installing memory (or in the Linux case, reenabling the Sleep Manager) so that the Sleep Manager will easily find the necessary contiguous memory at the end of the partition.

Ron Kaminsky  03-19-2003 03:15 AM ET (US) Oops, I forgot to add: under Mandrake 9.0, booting from LILO, it is not necessary to give any kernel option for Linux to see the extra memory.

I had got everything working X, PCcard....until I added 64Mb more RAM....that apparently ruined both Linux and W98 at once! Geeee... Be careful when you add memory, definitely at lilo use : linux Mem=XXM or it won't see it (with very bad results...).

Combo Drive Floppy notes

26 Using RH 6.0, and even using the pre-installed Windows, I was unable to create a bootable floppy disk using the Acer combo drive. Any disks I tried to format were destroyed and mtools could get two files off a floppy, but considered the rest to be garbage. Under Mandrake, I can mount and use the floppy with the supermount automounter

Installation from CDROM

27 With my original RH 6.0 install, because I couldn't use floppies and had no network access, my eventual install path was

1. use FIPS to shrink Win98 to about a GB; any further allocation to that OS is evidence of needing therapy.
2. install from RedHat 6.0; I made the swap partition hda2 and allocated nearly 3GB for Linux. I also installed the 2.2 Kernel sources and the development environment.
3. 28 boot from the Debian CD and enter rescue mode with
   rescue root=/dev/hda3
4. 29 Apply the small one-line patch to apm.c
5. 30 recompile a 2.2 kernel --- So RH's init scripts do not puke, you must rename the /lib/modules/2.2.5-12 directory if you remove any of the plethora of modules their RPMs installed. I cheated a little and just commented out the depmod -a line in the /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit script, then ran it manually before the next boot (this only worked because I didn't change the version number)
6. 31 Edit /etc/lilo.conf to point to my new kernel (or manually move /vmlinuz and /System.map to suite RH 6) and run LILO to install it.

32 With Mandrake 6.1 and 7.0 this problem went away and I could boot from the CD without problems.

SleepMgr is now broken

As an aside, since running Defrag and doing the FIPS, the SleepMgr program under Win98 fails to run claiming it cannot read a sector and therefore there is no harddisk installed. The root drive has a 32Mb file called ACR_OV.DAT but I am afraid to delete that until I know more.

33 A website on the Acer 512 contains the following note on repartition and SleepMgr:

If you donīt wish to remove Windows 98 complete, you need to disable the SleepManager at first and remove the data file. Then use FIPS 2.0 to shrink the Windows partition to about one GB. After this, boot with the recovery CD and change to the directory: z:\tools\sleepmgr. Run sleepmgr /CREATE. Suspend to Disk should now work again under Windows, but you will get error messages from the SleepManager, he couldnīt find the harddisk.

Installing over PLIP

34 I haven't tried the installation over the LapLink cable, but I did manage to get PLIP running to get the laptop talking to my desktop and this really makes life a lot easier for transferring software in from the network. The only caveat here is that the steps to RH 6.0's PLIP network configuration and those given in the mini-HOWTO are different. I assume this is largely because network interfaces no longer need explicit routes.

Installing XFree86

35 XFree86 3.3.3.1 will not run on the 330T; I tried all sorts of settings, but the bottom line is XFree cannot get the clocks for the Acer's Trident Cyber 9525 and gets all confused about the video chipset; any obvious manual settings only gave me a nice tweed pattern.

36 I still installed the XFree86 3.3.3.1 from the RH 6.0 CD, but this bombs out where the install script tries to configure X. I checked the XFree Website and found the new 3.3.4 edition (released late July 1999) includes support for the Trident chipset.

37 I downloaded only the updated 3.3.4 Linux binary XSVGA server from XFree.org and copied this over my RH-installed 3.3.3.1 version. I now have a beautiful 16-bit 800x600 desktop. The mouse setting is for a straight PS/2 and the horiz frequencies from 31 to 48, vertical is 50-100 (do LCDs ignore these?), and I have no special options. 16-bit colour works in a linear mode and is correctly detected.

38 With the newer Mandrake distributions, I found the X11 will run in 24-bit mode, but it was too slow to be practical so I have settled back with 16-bit colour. The most frequent email I receive about this setup says their generated XFConfig file will not work; I had the same problem with Mandrake 7.0, and in all these cases, using my old XF86Config file corrects the problem.

Steve Baker reported sparkles on the display which turned to ugly lines of clutter after he ran XF86Setup. Changing the modeline from a timing of 50 to 49 fixed the problem. Phil Ratcliffe reported that this timing still gave him horizontal lines and recommends a modeline

# 800x600 @ 60 Hz, 37.8 kHz hsync
Modeline "800x600"     40     800  840  968 1056   600  601  605  628 +hsync +vsync

You can also get a pretty good 1024x768 virtual screen if you add the lines

# 1024x768 @ 60 Hz, 48.4 kHz hsync
Modeline "1024x768"    65    1024 1032 1176 1344   768  771  777  806 -hsync -vsync

and add the Display section line

        Modes       "800x600" "1024x768"

Phil adds a warning to ensure you do not have anything connected to the serial port when X starts or the serial port will be incorrectly probed as the mouse. I have found similar results if I leave my digital camera plugged in while I reboot.

39 I have not yet tried the new XFree86 4.0.1 which will be shipped in Mandrake 7.2 --- stay tuned.

########################################################################
# MOUSE SECTION
########################################################################
# I have no idea if the Acer is a GlidePoint or not.  It is a pointer
# pad, it glides nicely, and, well, this setting works so why fault it?

Section "Pointer"
    Protocol    "GlidePointPS/2"
    Device      "/dev/mouse"
    Emulate3Buttons
    Emulate3Timeout    50
EndSection

########################################################################
# MONITOR SECTION
########################################################################
# I haven't even begun to think about how you get XFree86 to handle
# the video output mode to a projector or a monitor, or how you can
# get it to do that cool Acer virtual desktop with two video heads
# but this works for now and is better than a blank screen

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier  "Sharp LCD"
    VendorName  "Sharp"
    ModelName   "Unknown"
    HorizSync   31.5 - 48.5
    VertRefresh 50-100

# all the standard mode lines go here

EndSection

########################################################################
# Video Device
########################################################################
Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Trident Cyber 9525"
    VendorName  "Trident"
    BoardName   "Unknown"
EndSection

# I commented out the 32-bit mode because it causes RH 6.0's desktop
# manager to bomb out ... I'll get around to debugging this someday

Section "Screen"
    Driver      "svga"
    Device      "Trident Cyber 9525"
    Monitor     "Sharp LCD"
#    Subsection "Display"
#        Depth       32
#        Modes       "800x600"
#        ViewPort    0 0
#    EndSubsection
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       16
        Modes       "800x600"
        ViewPort    0 0
    EndSubsection
EndSection

Acer Travelnote 330T Specifications

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41 

Encourage Acer support!

42 Please send Acer a friendly note so they know people are using their machines with a real O/S ;) Absolutely and without doubt, a 12" LCD in 16-bit colour in a 4-lb package are worth the struggle, and if we can get the same support for the pressure-sensitive touch pad, 3D sound and all the other nifty options, this would be one very fine little penguin companion. If anyone can get their minds around the Linux/laptop market, it should be Acer!

Synaptics Touchpad Support

43 Guido Seevens reports about a Linux driver for the Synaptics touchpad! You can download the driver from Compass.com

Winmodem Support

44 Yes, it is true: Your Acer is one of the only Winmodems which will actually work with Linux; Lucent has graciously provided an RPM driver for RedHat 6.1 (they only provide what the vendors request, so if you want one for your distro, talk to your vendor!)

45 Seems the traffic to the DefiniteLinux website has killed them (I hope they forgive us!) --- you can still fetch a zip file of the Lucent kernel module from the Linmodems website by using this link (or try their homepage if that file has been moved or updated). I just downloaded the zip file, ran the included install script, and voila!

46 The big downside is that this driver is distributed as a binary object file; so far as I know, Lucent has no plans to release an open source version, and this means you will need to ensure the version of the driver you are using is compatible with your Linux kernel --- I am using Mandrake's Linux 2.2.14 and while the insmod complains about a minor release-number incompatibility, the modem does it's stuff.

47 The other downside of the closed-source nature of this driver is that we cannot fix it, and it is very broken. Yes, it does dial the phone line and connect to an ISP, but when it crashes, and it does crash, it locks the machine so tight the only way to reboot is to flip it over and remove the battery! It seems to be related to removing the module, and I find that if I let my connection time-out (I use diald) to disconnect, or if the ISP disconnects me, the driver works fine, but if I force the modem to disconnect, the next time I use it, the machine will lock solid.

48 It does work with 2.2.16+, if you apply the patch that I publish here. My version doesn't seem to lock my hardware.

49 With 2.2.16 (maybe 2.2.17+), the ltmodem.o driver supplied by Lucent (NOT the one on linmodems.org which seems to be even older and crashing even more) doesn't work.

50 It seems there has been a change to include/linux/tty.h between 2.2.13 (which works perfectly, apart from a few timer reinsert warnings) and 2.2.16. I have not reverted those changes, but moved them in the hope it will work. The symptom was: cu seems to mostly work, but pppd crashes as soon as the line discipline is inserted.

51 The patch:

*** tty.h.REAL	Wed Sep 27 12:38:49 2000
--- tty.h	Wed Sep 27 12:55:56 2000
***************
*** 277,283 ****
  	int alt_speed;		/* For magic substitution of 38400 bps */
  	struct wait_queue *write_wait;
  	struct wait_queue *read_wait;
- 	struct wait_queue *poll_wait;
  	struct tq_struct tq_hangup;
  	void *disc_data;
  	void *driver_data;
--- 277,282 ----
***************
*** 305,310 ****
--- 304,322 ----
  	unsigned int canon_column;
  	struct semaphore atomic_read;
  	struct semaphore atomic_write;
+ 	/* schaefer@alphanet.ch
+ 	 * -- Those two are managed and allocated/initialized by
+ 	 *    tty, not by driver. However, putting poll_wait in the
+ 	 *    middle of the structure makes e.g. referencing of
+ 	 *    user (serial driver) data wrong. I can understand
+ 	 *    to group the structure members, however a change like
+ 	 *    this is ONLY for x going to x +1 in 2.x. Of course,
+ 	 *    you can recompile drivers, but what about binary-only
+ 	 *    drivers ?  e.g. ltmodem.o (Lucent) was broken between
+ 	 *    2.2.13 and 2.2.16. In an ideal world, Lucent would supply
+ 	 *    sources ...
+ 	 */
+ 	struct wait_queue *poll_wait;
  	spinlock_t read_lock;
  };  

52 If you apply that patch, you must recompile your kernel, all your modules, and not use another binary-only module. Especially you will need to recompile the PPP modules.

53 I have successfully tested those changes: I can no longer make it crash. There might be however, other problems.

54 The new Linmodem-HOWTO now includes a link to this LtModem Support Page where you can find source code and patches for running the driver under 2.2.16+ and Linux 2.4 --- your mileage may vary, but I can report that it worked for me. If you run this will 2.4, you will need to modify the ltinst script to read:

cp ltmodem.o /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/char

55 There are lots of top people working around the clock on open source LinModem support, including Russ Nelson's LinModem Support Project and Richard C has even created some software for rudimentary probing of the Lucent WinModem ... Richard's test program now detects the Winmodem and actually dials a phone number (but cannot yet connect).

56 For the users of the Lucent Winmodem, all these issues are now moot: The source code for the drivers are now available through the Linmodem website, and most distros will include the ltmodem.o compiled for the distro kernel.

Sound Support

57 The Acer contains an ESS Solo 1 (ES1938) PCI Audio Drive. This chipset is only partially supported by the OSS-Free drivers shipped with Linux 2.2.12; I could play wav files, but could not play RealAudio or MIDI and the sound quality was pretty bad.

58 The ALSA Project sound drivers do a much better job with the Solo-1. I installed from the CVS snapshots for February 20th, 2000 and I have complete sound playback functions. The docs claim MIDI will work, but I am having configuration problems getting this running. Overall, though, the sound quality is excellent

Anyone interested in working on the Solo-1 driver for either OSS-Free or ALSA should visit the ESS Technology FTP site; their server includes a section of documents, diagrams and other essential information at ftp://ftp.esstech.com.tw/PCIAudio/Solo1/ES1938.

59 FWIW, Win98 system info reports the settings as IRQ 5 DMA 0 port 220 --- I have not experienced any problems with autoprobing using either the OSS or the ALSA drivers.

PCMCIA/PC-Card Support

60 I've only just touched on this in my pursuit of network connectivity, but the first thing that bites you is the lack of high-memory. In /etc/pcmcia/config.opts you need to comment out the high-memory line to include memory from 0x60000000 to 0x60ffffff --- the Win98 display also shows my Surecom Ethernet card is running off IRQ 11, so it may be prudent to exclude IRQ 3 in the options as well.

APM Support

61 With a normal Linux 2.2 kernel, an oops happens at c01077ba which System.map puts as inside apm_bios_call_simple (c0107788) with regs at [5300,0,102,0]

62 A website on the Acer 512 contains the following fix for arch/i386/kernel/apm.c:

    --- apm.c.orig  Fri Jan 15 07:57:25 1999
    +++ apm.c       Mon Jun 28 14:36:29 1999
    @@ -1349,7 +1349,7 @@
                     __va((unsigned long)0x40 << 4));
            _set_limit((char *)&gdt[APM_40 >> 3], 4095 - (0x40 << 4));

    -       apm_bios_entry.offset = apm_bios_info.offset;
    +       apm_bios_entry.offset = apm_bios_info.offset & 0xffff;
            apm_bios_entry.segment = APM_CS;
            set_base(gdt[APM_CS >> 3],
                     __va((unsigned long)apm_bios_info.cseg << 4));
    

    [*] Advanced Power Management
    [ ] Ignore USER SUSPEND
    [*] Enable APM at boot time
    [*] Do CPU IDLE calls
    [*] Enable console blanking using APM
    [*] Power off on shutdown
    [ ] Ignore multiple suspend/standby events
    [ ] Ignore multiple suspend/resume cycles
    [ ] RTC stores time in GMT
    [ ] Allow interrupts during APM BIOS calls
    

63 Applying this patch also does the trick for the Acer 330T. Thorsten also cautions that Plug'n'Play must be enabled for this to work. For reasons as yet unknown, I do find I must run kcmlaptop two or three times before the suspend mode will actually work when I close the case, although I can manually suspend at any time.

64 Using the stock kernel and APM support in Mandrake 7.1, I find closing the lid does not automatically suspend the machine unless I have run the apm --standby command manually. Once I run that command from a root shell, closing the lid powers down just as it should

IrDA Support

65 Stay tuned. First I have to get this working on my workstation so I have someone to talk to! Anyone know of Linux software to control Bell ExpressVu from your laptop? ;)

Wireless Support

66 My only experience with wireless is with the Linksys WPC-11 802.11b cards and is explained in detail in my Linux Wireless Guide. I did, however, run into a series of hurdles trying to upgrade to the Mandrake 8.2 release: In their "3rd party modules" they have included the PCI edition of the wlan driver, but not the prism2_cs version that you need. IHMO, this was a very unfortunate omission because it makes an otherwise excellent laptop distro into an installation nightmare for the novice.

67 Sorry for the bad news: This omission of the prism2_cs leads to a long and frustrating chain of events, and there is no way to avoid it.

1. 68 you have to install the kernel sources, and obtain wlan sources and the pcmcia sources

2. why? because Mandrake compiled their modules with version numbers (a practice which has had no meaning for years) You must clear out _all_ Mandrake compiled modules and replace all of them -- be aware that the default options on the mandrake kernel sources do not match the kernel that was installed, so pick through your kernel configuration carefully. Specifically, you must disable the pcmcia support and also individually disable each of the 3rd-party modules.

   69 You should also disable any unessential modules or it will compile just about _everything_; this compile took over 6 hours on my laptop.

3. 70 you can then replace the the pcmcia system with the sourceforge version, and _then_ compile and add the wlan prism2_cs module.

4. 71 if you also use this laptop for dialup and use the Lucent ltmodem, you will _also_ need to obtain the sources for this driver and recompile it before you can use the modem.

72 I suppose you _could_ compile everything with version numbers and save yourself a little bit of work in replacing other unrelated modules, but I really don't see any advantage in keeping versioned modules and it makes it awkward later when you want to keep some older ones through minor kernel revisions. Still, if Mandrake is going to start adding the numbers, then you can't install any modules from their RPMS. As much as I hate to say it, Mandrake has been going a little strange lately.

Updating the Kernel

73 The first step is to forget about the your distro's kernel sources; these have most often been patched beyond recognition. Curiously, even RH's own website leads you directly to the official kernel sources and patches when you search for a kernel update, but be forwarned that official patches will not match the custom patches RedHat has already applied.

74 The most prudent path is to obtain fresh kernel sources from a reputable ftp site like Kernel.org and work with those.

75 This constraint to fetch an official kernel may no longer be true. Although the distro sources may still have some issues (such as kernel version numbers and including every module under the sun) the specific vendor hacks are not the problem they were when I started this document.

Linux 2.4.x

76 A posting from Linus to the kernel mailing list recommends laptop users try out the 2.4 kernels; remember that Linus uses a Sony laptop and also works for a company dedicated to mobile Linux --- it is not surprising that 2.4 will be paying close attention to the needs of mobile users.

77 I am happy to report that Linux 2.3.42 worked flawlessly on my Acer and gave a noticeable improvement in performance. Unfortunately, I must have a modem and the Lucent modem driver will not load under 2.3.42 --- source code for the Lucent drivers are now available from the Linmodem website, so all you need do is grab the sources and recompile; if you're not the sort who likes recompiling kernel modules, most modern distros (specifically Mandrake) now include the ltmodem module specific to their distro kernel.

The Good News

78 The best news is, once I'd sidestepped the APM bug, the basic functionality of the laptop worked first time without any tweaking. Some random experiences with specific devices follow:

Iomega ZIP Drive

79 Installing the Iomega 100Mb ZIP drive under the ppa driver was exactly as described in the ZipDrive mini-howto.

CDROM Combo Drive

80 The CDROM was even easier, although it shows up as hdc and not hdb. This makes sense if you consider the Combo drive as a secondary controller.

I have not been able to actually create a bootable floppy disk with the combo drive, even using the pre-installed Windows98.

Bottom Line

81 This is an ultralight laptop with a nice feel to it, a full 12" screen, the keyboard is pleasant enough and it is certainly a decent machine for an ultralight at that price, but installing Linux on this machine is not for the novice. Check back in a few months :)

82 Comments and advice are encouraged! Please contact ...