LinuxQuestions.org - [SOLVED] Acer Aspire One D250-1417

Goal:
The Acer Aspire One D250-1417 netbook came with Win7 Starter installed and worked well out of the box. Now to make it better with Slackware 13 - 32 bit stable!

lspci

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)

00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)

00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)

00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)

00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)

00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)

00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)

01:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)

03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Attansic Technology Corp. Atheros AR8132 / L1c Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (rev c0)

Abbreviated Howto:
The BIOS is accessible using the F2 key and supports USB boot. Before wiping the HD clean I saved an image of the OEM software using a RescueCD USB stick with PartImage to a USB HD just in case I wanted to restore the OEM configuration.

Copy the Slackware DVD contents to a USB HD or just the DVD iso for mounting later as a loop device. Create a Slackware 13 USB boot stick as detailed in the 'usb-and-pxe-installers' directory on the Slackware installation DVD.

Reboot using the Slackware USB stick, F2 into the BIOS and change the initial boot device. Use fdisk or cfdisk to repartition the /dev/sda. I chose 3 partitions, 1GB 'swap', 8GB '/' and 151GB '/home'. I formatted both '/dev/sda2' and '/dev/sda3' with 'ext4' then did a full Slackware 13 install from the USB HD to '/dev/sda2'. I setup 'slackpkg' and used 'slackpkg upgrade-all' to get the latest patches.

The first reboot after install presents a default CLI login. Login as root, create a new user then start 'kdm'. I changed the default session type from the heavier KDE to the lighter XFCE and logged in as the new user.

The eth0 driver does not initially work so upgrade the driver with 'AR81Family-linux-v1.0.0.10.tar.gz' available online. It uses the new 'atheros_eth' driver with both the 'atl1c' & 'atl1e' modules. The wireless works but the activity LED does not illuminate so upgrade the wireless drivers with 'compat-wireless-2.6.32-rc7.tar.bz2' available online. It uses the new 'ath9k' driver and the 'ath9k' module. I choose to install WICD to manage the wired and wireless devices. It's available on the Slackware 13 install DVD in the 'extra/wicd' directory.

Decide if you want to run the smaller 'generic' kernel or the larger 'huge' kernel. If 'generic' then run 'mkinitrd' to create an initrd tree and modify 'lilo.conf' to make both the generic and huge kernels available. I primarily use the 'generic' kernel and make the 'huge' kernel available at the lilo prompt just in case. For hibernation add to the 'generic' section in 'lilo.conf'

Code:

append = "resume=/dev/sda2"

The touch pad needs a HAL policy change to enable the verticle scroll function. Copy the '/usr/share/hale/fdi/policy/10osvendor/11-x11-synaptics.fdi' to '/etc/hal/fdi/policy/11-x11-synaptics.fdi'. Now add to the new file

Code:

merge key="input.x11_options.TapButton1" type="string">1</merge>

Restart HAL or wait until next reboot for the verticle scroll to work.

Both suspend and hibernate with WICD did not auto connect wireless on restore so create the file '/etc/pm/config.d/unload_modules' that contains a single line

Code:

SUSPEND_MODULES="ath9k"

The wireless should auto connect after suspend and hibernate!

The mute, lower volume and raise volume don't work so install 'xbindkeys-1.8.3.tar.gz' from SlackBuild.org. Create '~/.xbindkeysrc' in the user home with the output from 'xbindkeys -mk' and the appropriate 'amixer' commands. To start xbindkeys on login I create '~/.xprofile' in the user home with a single line to start 'xbindkeys' as a daemon

Code:

xbindkeys &

The keys should work on the next login!

Todo List
I'm not using the webcam but 'modprobe uvcvideo' works, '/dev/vido0' is created and 'lsusb' shows all is well. I have not checked the built-in memory card yet so that's a job for another day.