Installing Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake) on an Acer Aspire 1690WLCi Notebook

Most everything works right out of the box.  Ubuntu 6.06 can be installed on the system from the Live CD.  If needed, resizing NTFS partitions has been made safe and easy through the installer.

*Information graciously supplied by Aleksander who tested the PCMCIA under Kubuntu.

Unfortunately, there are a few things that I simply have not been able to test simply because I don't have any way to test them. If anyone would like to supply me with additional information of any kind, I would gladly put it up and give credit to that person. If any of the information is wrong or misleading, tell me and I will gladly fix it.

At boot:

F3 – Other Options

Ubuntu for some reason refuses to install on the notebook using the default switches. To get it to work, at the initial screen for Ubuntu installation, press F3 for other options.

On the line, add noapic to the end of that string of text so that the installation will start.

After that, it should be a straight-forward install.

Thankfully, with the newest beta build of Dapper Drake (at least with the Live CD), there is no longer the need to use the noapic switch during boot.

So, all that's necessary to just click Enter for defaults and proceed to install.

915resolution (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/i915Driver):

Apparently, there's a problem with the BIOS regarding the correct screen resolution.  The native resolution is 1280 x 800.  However, Ubuntu displays 1024 x 768 regardless of what xorg.conf says.  There's a nice fix using 915resolution that'll make a transient (not permanent) change of what the BIOS says in order to allow for a higher resolution.  The only drawback to this program is that it must be run at startup everytime in order to work.

Use Synaptic to download and install 915resolution.

Open the terminal and type sudo gedit /etc/init.d/bootmisc.sh to edit the boot-up script.

Add /usr/sbin/915resolution 58 1280 800 before : exit 0 at the end of the script.

Restart the notebook and the resolution should be correct.

The resolution still incorrectly displays at 1024 x 768.  However, all that is needed is to download 915resolution, and it correctly changes the resolution to 1280 x 800.

Acer Hot Keys (http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de/~tauber/acerhk/):

Hotkeys seem to work on the default installation, but I still install Acerhk anyways. I found this package at the above site.  Admittedly, I used alien to convert the *.rpm file to a *.deb instead of compiling from source, and then I installed it.  I uploaded the *.deb file that I used to install on my notebook.

Download acerhk_0.5.33-1_i386.deb into /tmp or wherever.

Open the terminal and type sudo dpkg -i /tmp/acerhk_0.5.33-1_i386.deb to install the *.deb.

I don't think there's much reason to use the Acerhk module.  All the Acer hotkeys seem to work, and I haven't run into a problem yet.

DSDT (http://www.alkemio.org/wordpress/2005/09/23/patching-your-dsdt-with-ubuntu/):

DSDT needed for battery status. The battery works just fine on default installation. However, to know how much battery is left, one needs to install a fixed DSDT.

Determine the BIOS version and download the corresponding DSDT from http://acpi.sourceforge.net/dsdt/view.php to /tmp or wherever.

(I flashed my BIOS to 3A28. I used the DSDT under ACER > Aspire 1694WLMi > 3A28 for Aspire 1690 DDR2 (custom). The original compiled with errors for me, but the custom worked flawlessly.)

Use Synaptic to download iasl.

Open the terminal and type gunzip /tmp/($name_of_gunzip_file).asl.gz to extract the *.asl file.

Then type iasl /tmp/($name_of_asl_file).asl to compile a *.aml file. Make sure that it comes up with no errors.

Then type sudo mv /tmp/($name_of_aml_file).aml /etc/mkinitramfs to move the file.

Then type sudo mkinitramfs -o /boot/initrd.img-($kernel_version) to incorporate it with the kernel.

Restart the notebook, and it should be able to display the correct amount of battery left.

Very many thanks to the developers of Ubuntu.  Automatically displays the correct amount of battery life and time left.

Hibernation:

Hibernation is one thing that I wish I could get to work correctly on this notebook.  6.04 has added support for Hibernation, and it works.  But there is one flaw.  For some reason, on waking from hibernation, Ubuntu forgets that I need 1280 x 800 resolution, not 1024 x 768.  I haven't found a way to fix that yet.

If there are any questions or any thing else that should be added, please feel free to email me at zachstruck@gmail.com