Installing Debian Lenny on an Acer Aspire Timeline 4810T

A work in progress... last updated:

Summary

General Hardware Specifications of Acer Aspire Timeline 4810T
Base Hardware Components (current)	Status under Linux	Notes
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Solo CPU U3500 @ 1.40GHz	Works	No special procedure required during installation
14″ HD 1366x768 LED LCD	Works	No special procedure required during installation
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD	Works	'intel' driver for 3D acceleration
4GB DDR3 (2DIMMs)	Works	No special procedure required during installation
320 GB Hard Drive	Works	No special procedure required during installation
Attansic Technology Corp. 10/100/1000 Ethernet Card	Requires Work	requires compiling of 'atl1e' driver is needed
Intel Corporation Wireless WiFi Link 5100	Requires Work	requires 'firmware-iwlwifi' and 2.6.30+ Kernel
Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio	Works	No special procedure required during installation
5-in-1 Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS Pro/xD)	Works	No special procedure required during installation
DVD writer (DVD±RW)	Works	No special procedure required during installation
Integrated Acer Crystal Eye webcam	Works	No special procedure required during installation
Synaptics Pad (touchpad)	Works	No special procedure required during installation

This laptop is operating under Kernel version 2.6.30-1-amd64 #1 SMP Mon Aug 3 12:28:22 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux

KEY:
Highlighted = Terminal Commands
Highlighted = Terminal Outputs
Highlighted = Infomation to append

Whats not working

Backlight control keys ((Fn + left arrow), (Fn + right arrow)) under X are not controlling the backlight, but bring up the on screen applet. This is the closest bug I have found at Kernel Bug Tracker - Bug 12174. For workaround refer to my blog post here

Backlight does not auto adjust when going between AC and the Battery.

Setting up additional features

Ethernet (atl1e)

Refer to howto in my blog post here

Wireless (iwlagn)

Refer to howto in my blog post here

Synaptics Pad (touchpad)

Synaptics Touchpad does not disable while typing

Part 1

Backup xorg.conf first
# cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup
Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
# nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Search for a section that looks like this:

	Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
	...
	End Section

Add a line above the End Section line and put this into it:
Option "SHMConfig" "on"
Now save the file and Restart X
# /etc/init.d/gdm restart

Part 2

Open the sessions manager:

System -> Preferences
-> Session

Click the far right tab labeled Startup Programs
Click the Add button
Type in the following:
syndaemon -i 1 -d
Press ok then Press close
Now restart X
# /etc/init.d/gdm restart

Configuration Files

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

# xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
	FontPath	"/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
	FontPath	"/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
	FontPath	"/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
	# path to defoma fonts
	FontPath	"/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load		"i2c"
	Load		"bitmap"
	Load		"ddc"
	Load		"dri"
	Load		"dbe"
	Load		"extmod"
	Load		"freetype"
	Load		"glx"
	Load		"int10"
	Load		"vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Generic Keyboard"
	Driver		"kbd"
	Option		"CoreKeyboard"
	Option		"XkbRules"	"xorg"
	Option		"XkbModel"	"pc104"
	Option		"XkbLayout"	"us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Configured Mouse"
	Driver		"mouse"
	Option		"CorePointer"
	Option		"Device"		"/dev/input/mice"
	Option		"Protocol"		"ImPS/2"
	Option		"Emulate3Buttons"	"true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Synaptics Touchpad"
	Driver		"synaptics"
	Option		"SendCoreEvents"	"true"
	Option		"Device"		"/dev/psaux"
	Option		"Protocol"		"auto-dev"
	Option		"HorizScrollDelta"	"0"
	Option 		"SHMConfig" 		"on"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller"
	Driver		"intel"
	BusID		"PCI:0:2:0"
	Option		"AccelMethod"		"EXA"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier	"Generic Monitor"
	Option		"DPMS"
	HorizSync	28-64
	VertRefresh	43-60
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Default Screen"
	Device		"Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller"
	Monitor		"Generic Monitor"
	DefaultDepth	24
	SubSection "Display"
		Modes		"1366x768"
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier	"Default Layout"
	Screen		"Default Screen"
	InputDevice	"Generic Keyboard"
	InputDevice	"Configured Mouse"
	InputDevice	"Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
	Mode	0666
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
	Option		"Composite"	"Enable"
EndSection

More Specific Information

System Info

bios-version:V1.23
system-manufacturer:Acer
system-product-name:Aspire 4810T
system-version:V1.23

lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub (rev 07)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 93)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation ICH9M-E LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation ICH9M/M-E 2 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.5 IDE interface: Intel Corporation ICH9M/M-E 2 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) Thermal Subsystem (rev 03)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Attansic Technology Corp. Device 1063 (rev c0)
02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless WiFi Link 5100

lsusb

Bus 008 Device 002: ID 064e:a133 Suyin Corp. 
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0a5c:2151 Broadcom Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Cpu Info

processor	: 0
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 23
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Solo CPU    U3500  @ 1.40GHz
stepping	: 10
cpu MHz		: 800.000
cache size	: 3072 KB
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 13
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss tm pbe syscall nx lm constant_tsc up arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 xsave lahf_lm tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority
bogomips	: 2792.60
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: