Has anyone had any success installing Linux on one of these?

The DVD drive on these is an external Firewire device and while it sort of boots into the installers it seems to lose access to the drive from that point on. I can't get live CD's to work either (Mepis, Knoppix or Ubuntu).

I've tried doing net installs as well, but for some reason it doesn't see to be able to access either the built in Broadcom network adapter or a PCMCIA network card.

So, hasanyone managed to install Linux? or does anyone have suggestions for things to try? My preferred distros are OpenSuse 10.0, Ubuntu Breezy or, at a push Mepis or Debian itself.

Thanks

Terry

I would suggest taking a look at the Linux on Laptop site:

http://www.linux-laptop.net/

If you follow the link for Acer, there is one entry specificly for the model that you are asking about. And a handful of extra entries on some models that look to be fairly similar.

I hope that this helps.

Thanks kvedaa, although not perfect yet (I guess sometimes it takes a while for the software to catch up with the bugs in the hardware/firmware) at least I have a working(ish) Suse 10.0 now...

I am glad to here it. Yes laptops can be a challange, with a wide variety of hardware modifications being made so that a system will fit into a given formfactor. And to comlicate matters, very few vendors seem to release specific information that would help those who are willing / capable of writting drivers for these compomets.

But do keep your eyes open, because new drivers do become available. Good luck with your new install.

I am using Mandriva 2007 on TravelMate 3004WTMi and it works alright for me. There are still things I have not figured how to make work, if there is an actualy possibility: IRDA, Card-reader, Modem, Wifi button light, Acer 4 buttons, suspend to disk, suspend to RAM.

The good news is, it generally works. You can get sound, 1280*800 resolution, wifi, bluetooth,battery meter...