AcerAspire4520
Contact: SteveChurch Make: ACER Brand: ASPIRE Model: 4520-5458
Website: [http://us.acer.com/public/page4.do?link=oln56.redirect&dau22.oid=25985&UserCtxParam=0&GroupCtxParam=0&dctx1=25&CountryISOCtxParam=US&LanguageISOCtxParam=en&ctx3=150&ctx4=United+States&crc=3875885409 http://us.acer.com/]
Tutorial
[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=734691 ubuntuforums.org]
Current Issues
Integrated microphone doesn't work. Microphone jack seems to be detected, but is untested. Bluetooth is untested. ACPI dims display during the boot sequence regardless of AC / battery state. LED indicators for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi do not illuminate. Wi-Fi requires installing a patched version of madwifi.
The 4520 is affected by the HDD cycle count issue as [http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=5039237 observed] frequently in many laptops. (This is an issue afflicting Windows, too, although it's we Linux propeller heads who actually do something about it.) Long story short, frequent head parking on a laptop hard drive can decrease the life of the drive. However, infrequent head parking causes the drive to run hot, as well as making the drive less guarded against bumps. My solution to this is a crontabbed bash script. The script can be found [http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=5039237&postcount=16 here].
System Info
system-manufacturer: ACER
system-product-name: ASPIRE 4520
Hardware details
Screen & Monitors |
||
Device |
Works? |
Bug # |
in Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy) |
||
Screen |
Pretty |
|
Correct resolution? |
YES (1280x800 with proprietary driver nvidia-glx-new) |
|
Correct refresh rate? |
YES |
|
3D Acceleration |
YES (with proprietary driver nvidia-glx-new) |
|
External monitor works? |
Untested |
|
External monitor - mirrors |
Untested |
|
External monitor - extend desktop |
Untested |
|
S-Video output |
Untested |
|
Console Mode 791 |
YES |
|
Power Management |
||
Battery detected? |
YES |
|
Hibernates? |
Untested |
|
Suspend |
YES |
|
Dim monitor on battery |
YES |
|
Blank monitor on inactivity |
YES |
|
Lid Close |
YES |
|
Cpu frequency scaling |
YES |
|
Sound |
||
Sound works? |
YES |
|
Correct volume? |
OK (open volume control and increase PCM volume to max) |
|
Hardware volume switch |
YES |
|
Headphone jack |
YES |
|
Mic jack |
Untested |
|
Integrated Mic |
NO |
|
Networking |
||
Wired NIC |
YES |
|
Wireless NIC |
Yes, with a patched [http://snapshots.madwifi.org/special/madwifi-nr-r3366+ar5007.tar.gz madwifi] |
|
Express Card/54 NIC |
Untested |
|
Firewire |
Untested |
|
Bluetooth |
NO |
|
Modem |
Untested |
|
Infrared |
Untested |
|
Touchpad & Mice |
||
Touchpad |
YES |
|
Touchpad - Doubletap = double click |
YES |
|
Touchpad - Scroll down side |
YES |
|
External mouse - USB |
Untested |
|
External mouse - Serial |
Untested |
|
Docking Station/Port Replicator |
||
AC through replicator |
Untested |
|
USB |
Untested |
|
Serial |
Untested |
|
Parallel |
Untested |
|
External Monitor - VGA |
Untested |
|
External Monitor - DVI |
Untested |
|
Modem |
Untested |
|
NIC |
Untested |
|
PS/2 |
Untested |
|
Additional Hardware |
||
CD/DVD drive |
YES |
|
Express Card/54 cards |
Untested |
|
Parallel Ports |
Untested |
|
Card reader(s) |
YES |
|
LED indicators (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, e-mail, etc) |
NO |
|
Webcam |
OK (Works with Kopete and Cheese, but not Gyache and its derivatives, and other older apps which rely on old versions of Linux Video) |
|
Function and other keys |
||||
Fn key |
Operation |
Keycode |
Works? |
Bug # |
in Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy) |
||||
+ F1 |
Help |
|
YES |
|
+ F2 |
Get Pac-Man Drunk? |
|
NO |
|
+ F3 |
Check your Fish Hooks? |
|
NO |
|
+ F4 |
Suspend / Hibernate |
|
YES |
|
+ F5 |
Mirror to External Display? |
|
Untested |
|
+ F6 |
Clone to External Display? |
|
Untested |
|
+ F7 |
Toggle Touch Pad |
|
YES |
|
+ F8 |
MUTE |
|
YES |
|
+ F11 |
Num Lock |
|
YES |
|
+ F12 |
Scr Lock |
|
Untested |
|
+ Home |
Play / Pause |
|
Untested |
|
+ Pg Up |
Stop |
|
Untested |
|
+ Pg Dn |
Rew |
|
Untested |
|
+ End |
FF |
|
Untested |
|
+ Arrows |
Display Brightness |
|
YES |
|
Other special keys |
||||
Key |
Operation |
Keycode |
Works? |
Bug # |
in Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy) |
||||
Wi-Fi |
Toggle Wi-Fi Radio |
none |
YES (LED does not illuminate) |
|
Browser |
Launch Default Web Browser |
none |
YES (LED does not illuminate) |
|
Launch Default E-mail Client |
none |
YES (LED does not illuminate) |
|
|
Bluetooth |
Toggle Bluetooth Radio |
none |
Unknown (LED does not illuminate) |
|
\o/ |
Toggle lights in a house in Germany |
none |
Unknown (LED does not illuminate) |
|
| |
||||
/ \ |
||||
Empowering Key (big green "e") |
? |
159 |
Registers in xev |
|
Notes
The wireless NIC in this laptop uses an Atheros AR5007 chipset. The kernel misidentifies it as an AR5006.