How to: Karmic Koala on Acer 1410 / 1810T/ 1810TZ

UPDATED FOR UBUNTU 10.04 LUCID LYNX

This guide was first started at Notebook Review Forums. There are a lot of Acer 1410/1810T/1810TZ users over there.

Packard Bell / Gateway clones:
This guide has also been tested on a Packard Bell Dot M/U with bios v3303, and it should also work on the Gateway clone. If you have a 1410/1810 and something doesn't work, please report back.

What's working after a standard Ubuntu 10.04 install:

• Graphics
• Audio out, speaker mutes when pluging in headphones. Good volume.
• Networking, both wireless (intel wifi 1000) and wired (the atheros gigabit)
• FN +:
  
  • F4, suspends fine
  • F6, monitor goes black
  • F7, touchpad on / off
  • F8, mute
  • F9, Bloq Num
  • RePag: Home
  • AvPag: End
  • Up: increase volume
  • Down: decrease volume
  • Righ: increase brightness: skips steps.
  • Left: decrease brightness: skips steps.
  • J,K,L, etc: numeric keyboard ok.
  
  

What's not working:

• Audio in: the integrated mic doesn't work.
• FN + F5: not recognised, doesn't toogle displays

Automated Install (recommended):

I've done a script that should do it all automatically. In detail:

What the script does:

• Configure gnome-power-manager backlight dim and hard disk power saving
• Download, patch, install and setup acerhdf
• Install the power saving script
• Install the debugging script
• If laptop-mode-tools is installed, suggest uninstalling and, if you want, uninstall
• Fix the brightness hotkeys issue (jumps 2 levels on every key press)
• Disable ethernet Wake on Lan (doesn't enable when on AC)
• Disable uneeded services: cron, anacron and atd (they don't enable when on AC)

What the script doesn't:

• Add the noatime parameter to the ext2/3/4 partitions in fstab. You'll have to do it manually.

How it works:

• In a terminal, run ./InstallAcer_11.6_PowerSaving.sh --help

Disclaimer:

• This script comes with no warranty. Use it at your own risk. I won't be responsible for any damage this could do to your system or data.

Manual Install:

Power saving tips:

The Script:

By default, an ubuntu install won't take too much care of saving power, which is very important in an ultra mobile laptop. You can easily setup the system to enter some power saving modes, specifically the sata controller and the sound chip.

I've setup a script which will take care of making the devices entering the power saving mode when the laptop is on battery.

Code:

---

#!/bin/bash

      ## Disable unnecessary services
      service atd stop
      service cron stop
      service anacron stop
      ## Acer 11.6 brightness hotkey fix
      echo N > /sys/module/video/parameters/brightness_switch_enabled
      ## Disable wake on lan
      ethtool -s eth0 wol d

  if on_ac_power; then
  #### Go fast on AC power.  Similar to default Ubuntu settings
 
      # Remount ext3/4 filesystems to default value: every 5 seconds
      mount -o remount,commit=5, /
      mount -o remount,commit=5, /home

      ## Set swap usage back to default
      echo 60 > /proc/sys/vm/swappiness

      ## Disable Sata Power Saving
      for foo in /sys/class/scsi_host/host*/link_power_management_policy;
        do echo max_performance > $foo;
      done

      ## Disable Intel Wlan Power Saving
      iwconfig wlan0 power off

      ## Disable HD Audio Power Saving
      echo 0 > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save
      echo N > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save_controller

      ## Set kernel dirty page value back to default
      echo 20 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_ratio
      echo 10 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_ratio
      echo 500 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_expire_centisecs
      echo 500 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs
     
  else
  #### Save power

      ## Change the ext3/4 commit times to 10 minutes.  Reduces disk activity
      mount -o remount,commit=600 /
      mount -o remount,commit=600 /home

      ## Reduce swap usage as much as possible
      echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/swappiness

      ## Enable Sata Power Saving
      for foo in /sys/class/scsi_host/host*/link_power_management_policy;
        do echo min_power > $foo;
      done

      ## Enable Intel Wlan Power Saving
      iwconfig wlan0 power on

      ## Enable HD Audio Power Saving
      echo 10 > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save
      echo Y  > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save_controller

      ## Reduce disk activity by waiting up to 10 minutes before doing writes
      echo 90 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_ratio
      echo 25 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_ratio
      echo 60000 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_expire_centisecs
      echo 60000 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs
     
  fi

---

To install this power saving script, do the following:

Code:

---

gksudo gedit /etc/pm/power.d/15_saving
# Paste the script above into the file, save and close
sudo chmod +x /etc/pm/power.d/15_saving
sudo ln -s /etc/pm/power.d/15_saving /etc/pm/sleep.d/
sudo chown root /etc/pm/power.d/15_saving
sudo chgrp root /etc/pm/power.d/15_saving

---

gnome-power-manager:

Go the g-p-m preferences, under System -> Preferences -> Power management, and do the following:

• Hard drive power saving: in the battery tab tick on "Reduce hard drive revolutions when possible"
• Battery tab: tick on reduce brightness and dim display.
• AC and Battery tab: configure what to do when closing the lid and what to do on very low battery remaining.
• General tab: configure what to do when pressing the power button and sleep button (Fn+f4).
• General tab: configure when to show the battery icon.

The “noatime” parameter:

In linux, and in ubuntu it's on by default, the filesystem has 3 types of date information: when the file was created, when the file was modified and when the file was last accessed. This last access information means that everytime a file is accessed (everytime you read a file), it does a file system write, to update the information. In My Honest Opinion, this is not necessary, and I would disable the last access information. How? Editing fstab and adding the noatime paramenter to all ext2/3/4 mounted partitions. You can edit fstab by doing gksudo gedit /etc/fstab and, there, add the parameter noatime to all the ext2/3/4 lines. Example on how the relevant fstab lines look in my machine:

Code:

---

UUID=VERY-LONG-NUMBER  /      ext4  errors=remount-ro,noatime  0      1
UUID=VERY-LONG-NUMBER  /home  ext4  defaults,noatime            0      2

---

There may be people who may find the atime parameter interesting, I don't. Hard drives are already the biggest bottlenecks in computers, and doing extra writes won't improves things, so I prefer to avoid them.

Issues:

Fan:

Issue: the fan is controlled by the BIOS, and is running too loud and too often.
Solution: the solution is installing an update acerhdf module. Download the laster version from here. There's a great chance that it will work without any additional work, skip the next lines and go ahead on to how to install acerhdf.
If after installing acerhdf it doesn't work, you'll have to patch it adding your BIOS version. Open the acerhdf.c file and add the following code above this line: '/* pewpew-terminator */':

Code:

---

/* Acer 1410 */
{"Acer", "Aspire 1410", "v0.3108", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
{"Acer", "Aspire 1410", "v0.3113", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
{"Acer", "Aspire 1410", "v0.3119", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
{"Acer", "Aspire 1410", "v0.3117", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
{"Acer", "Aspire 1410", "v1.3204", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
/* Acer 1810T(Z) */
{"Acer", "Aspire 1810T", "v0.3108", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
{"Acer", "Aspire 1810TZ", "v0.3108", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
{"Acer", "Aspire 1810T", "v0.3113", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
{"Acer", "Aspire 1810TZ", "v0.3113", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
{"Acer", "Aspire 1810T", "v0.3117", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
{"Acer", "Aspire 1810TZ", "v0.3117", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
/* Packard Bell clone */
{"Packard Bell","DOTMU","v0.3108", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
{"Packard Bell","DOTMU","v0.3113", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
{"Packard Bell","DOTMU","v0.3115", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
{"Packard Bell","DOTMU","v0.3117", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
{"Packard Bell","DOTMU","v0.3119", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
{"Packard Bell","DOTMU","v1.3204", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },

---

Save and close. Let's go on into compiling it:

Code:

---

cd /to/the/acerhdf/folder
make
sudo make install

---

To make sure the module gets loaded and the fan control is enabled, do the following:

Code:

---

echo "acerhdf" | sudo tee -a /etc/modules
sudo touch /etc/modprobe.d/acerhdf.conf
echo "options acerhdf kernelmode=1" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/acerhdf.conf
sudo modprobe acerhdf

---

That will take care of loading the module when starting the laptop and automatically enable the fan control. After doing that, you should already be enjoying silent fan operation. You can also add, to the /etc/modprobe.d/acerfhdf.conf the values fanon= and fanoff=, followed by a value. For example: fanon=60000 fanoff=52000 will turn the fan on when it reaches 60ºC and will shut it down when it reaches 52ºC.

Brightness:

Issue: when changing the brightness using the FN+arrow keys, it will jump 2 levels instead of one.
Solution: add the following into /etc/rc.local, before exit 0 and without quotes: "echo N > /sys/module/video/parameters/brightness_switch_enabled".

Integrated mic:

Issue: the internal microphone is not working. Playing with alsamixer doesn't solve this, all you can hear is noise.
Solution: None at the moment. There's a thing you can try for Skype, though. Do the following, after installing skype from skype.com:

Code:

---

sudo touch /usr/local/bin/skype
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/skype
gksudo gedit /usr/local/bin/skype

---

There, paste the following, save and close:

Code:

---

#!/bin/sh

/bin/sh -c "PULSE_SERVER=127.10.10.1 /usr/bin/skype"

---

After that, you can play a bit with the mic settings under alsamixer and try skype. It shoud kind of work, but there's still some static noise.

Debugging:

In the one of the attachments, you'll find the CheckPowerSaving.sh file. This script should help you debugging and will show you what values are being applied. To run it: cd to the folder where the unzipped file is and then sudo ./CheckPowerSaving.sh. If you need help you can attach the output here.

Next to be done:

• Enable undervolting (nothing until Lucid comes out AND the phc repos are running for lucid).

Changelog

• 20/04/2010: added an automated install script
• 16/04/2010: updated for Lucid. Jaunty, original post: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...2&postcount=91
• 29/12/2009: updated version of acerhdf, added blacklist acer-wmi to blacklist (thanks to all who reported)
• 05/12/2009: acerhdf version 0.5.21 now includes BIOS definitions for acer 1410/1810T(Z) and Packard Bell Dot M/U in v3303 and 3120. Audio alternative solution is now the recommended solution (thanks to iiamjon at notebook review forums, who tried and reported it as working)
• 02/12/2009: added more acerhdf bios definitions and changed acerhdf enabling. Thanks to teprrr.
• 29/11/2009: Initial post

Thanks

• tdavis, from Notebook Review Forums, for the wake on lan tip and adding the 11,6" acer series into acerhdf
• teprrr, from Notebook Review Forums, for the acerhdf modprobe tip and bios definitions
• laramichaels1978: for detecting some errors and suggesting adding the dirty_expire_centiseconds option

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PatrickVogeli

Hi there all,

Issues:
[INDENT]Fan:

Issue: the fan is controlled by the BIOS, and is running too loud and too often.
Solution: we'll patch and install latest acerhdf module. Download the latest version from here (0.5.20 when writing this). Unpack and look for the acerhdf.c file. In this file, look for the acer 1410 section:

Code:

---

/* Acer 1410 */
{"Acer", "Aspire 1410", "v0.3120", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },

---

We have to add the definitions for the 1810T(Z). Add below the following bellow the Acer 1410 section:

Code:

---

/* Acer 1810T(Z) */
{"Acer", "Aspire 1810TZ", "v0.3120", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
{"Acer", "Aspire 1810T", "v0.3120", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
/* Packard Bell clone */
{"Packard Bell","DOTMU","v0.3120", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
/* Bios v3303 */
{"Acer", "Aspire 1410", "v1.3303", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
{"Acer", "Aspire 1810TZ", "v1.3303", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
{"Acer", "Aspire 1810T", "v1.3303", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },
{"Packard Bell","DOTMU","v1.3303", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },

---

Save and close. Let's go on into compiling it:

Code:

---

cd /to/the/acerhdf/folder
make
sudo make install

---

To make sure the module is loaded at boot up:

Code:

---

echo "acerhdf" | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

---

That will take of loading the module when starting the laptop. There's still a step missing: when the module gets loaded, it doesn't enable the kernel fan control. We have to do this manually. To avoid having to do it manually on boot, we'll add it into /etc/rc.local. To do that: gksudo gedit /etc/rc.local and add, before exit 0, the following line (without quotes "): "echo -n "enabled" > /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/mode"

After rebooting, the module will be loaded and will start controlling the fan. Enjoy silent operation!

---

HELLO!

i hope you can help me.. i tried the suggested method with my acer 1410 but it does not work.the reason therefore is that there does not exist a directory called "thermal_zone0" on my system!

under the subtree of /sys/class/thermal i just have "cooling_device0" and "cooling_device1" but no "mode" file which i could "enable"!

the fan therefore does not change.

also i realized that the fan is just loud as long as the notebook is on the line. as soon as i plug it off, and it goes to battery, the fan gets slower and more silent.

however i would like to have the possibility to change the fan speed as you said..

hope someone can tell me where the directory and the file "mode" went to.

system: ubuntu 9.10 karmic koala
kernel: 2.6.31-15-generic

thank you very much for your help!

greetings,

mario

hi,

after booting do the following:

Code:

---

cd
sudo modprobe acerhdf
dmesg > dmesg.log

---

After doing that, you'll find a file called dmesg.log in your home, please attach that here.

hey thanks for your fast reply!


the problem is when i do "sudo modprobe acerhdf" i get the error:

FATAL: Error inserting acerhdf (/lib/modules/2.6.31-15-generic/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/acerhdf.ko): No such device


after all i did compile the acerhdf and the file also exists in the stated directory!

so i dont understand why i cannot insert it into the kernel.

any help is highly appreciated,

thank you very much,

greetings,

mario

after doing the modprobe acerhdf, you have to do dmesg and post the output here. Without the output of dmesg, I can't help ;)

hello,

ok sorry so here the output of "tail dmesg" after the modprobe command:

[ 563.500145] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:12:80:e1:93:83 (capab=0x421 status=0 aid=6)
[ 563.500151] wlan0: associated
[ 570.100129] wlan0: no probe response from AP 00:12:80:e1:93:83 - disassociating
[ 571.322869] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:12:80:e1:93:83
[ 571.400174] wlan0: authenticated
[ 571.400180] wlan0: associate with AP 00:12:80:e1:93:83
[ 571.500173] wlan0: RX ReassocResp from 00:12:80:e1:93:83 (capab=0x421 status=0 aid=6)
[ 571.500179] wlan0: associated
[ 589.825504] acerhdf: Acer Aspire One Fan driver, v.0.5.20
[ 589.825514] acerhdf: unknown (unsupported) BIOS version Acer/Aspire 1410/v0.3115, please report, aborting!


it seems to have something to do with the actual version of my bios?

anyway, thank you for helping,

greetings,

mario.

Hi, yeah, you are right: your bios version is different from the deffined ones. I don't know if your bios version will work (I'm nearly sure it will, though) but you can try:
Add the following into the acerhdf file:

{"Acer", "Aspire 1410", "v0.3115", 0x55, 0x58, {0x9e, 0x9e, 0x00} },

and then rebuild the module again (make clean, make, sudo make install) and the you can modprobe it and it should report no errors. Maybe a reboot is necessary. Then you can enable it.

Now it works?

hey thank you man,

YOU MADE MY DAY! :popcorn:

worked and enjoying my netbook much more now!

thanks again..

long live the community :guitar:

greetings,

mario

Hi,
I'm using your howto on my 1810tz, everything works fine except for the "15_saving" script.
The problem is that it is not invoked wher ac power is disconnected, but it is on ac power connection. I noticed that when I plug off the cable the battery icon (and its status) change for a few second to fully charged/on ac power (ie a fully charged battery with a thunderbolt on it), then switches to discarging.
May this be an acpi related bug?

edit: this happens on karmic i386 with pae-kernel

I think this isn't an acpi bug, or at least not a blocker, since that happens to me too and the scripts work fine.

Is the script invoked when you are on battery and connect AC?

What happens when you start on battery power?

You can do something really simple to check if it's working and/or when, change the script to the following:

Code:

---

#!/bin/sh

/usr/bin/touch /home/YOUR_USER_NAME_HERE/Desktop/script_executed

if on_ac_power;

/usr/bin/echo "ON AC - $(date)" >> /home/YOUR_USER_NAME_HERE/Desktop/script_executed

else # Save power

/usr/bin/echo "ON BAT - $(date)" >> /home/YOUR_USER_NAME_HERE/Desktop/script_executed

fi

---

After saving the file, unplug or plug AC and check if the file script_executed is being created and if has the expected contents.

You could also try renaming it to 10_saving, there's where I have it.

Make sure the script is executable.

Let's see what we get from that..