Arch Linux

justaleaf

Member

Registered: 2007-10-14

Posts: 38

Best compatibility for a Laptop?

Hey guys,

I finally convinced my sister to give Linux a go. We share a laptop and were previously on Windows XP. It was quite slow and did not make half the use of the hardware that it should. When programs were launching like we had a 500mhz processor, she told me I could do whatever I want to it . The laptop is

Acer Aspire 5100
http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/as5100.htm

Long story short, I decided to put her on Ubuntu to keep things simple... or so I thought. It took days of fiddling to get everything working, and even now there are some glaring issues:

*Speed is not acceptable: It's better than XP was, but it has double the specs of my desktop! It should run much faster.

*Orbicam doesn't seem to work no matter what I do

*Suspend and Hibernate do not work (Dealbreaker)

*Screensaver is not properly working

*Boot time is hideous... probably 2+ minutes

So, I'm getting one more chance. I need a distro that can make this laptop shine! Any ideas? I love Arch, but I don't know if it will have everything I need to get this laptop going. Opinions appreciated!

jacko

Member

Registered: 2007-11-23

Posts: 840

Re: Best compatibility for a Laptop?

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/linux- … 100-a.html

elliott

Member

Registered: 2006-03-07

Posts: 296

Re: Best compatibility for a Laptop?

I've got 4 laptops running Arch, 2 of which are Acer's. Both suspend and hibernate without an issue, boot pretty fast, run fast and everything but the soft modems work...because I haven't tried. I don't see a screensaver being an issue, and you will need to find out the chipset used by the camera, Acer used at least 2 totally different ones.

justaleaf

Member

Registered: 2007-10-14

Posts: 38

Re: Best compatibility for a Laptop?

Well, that's encouraging. Maybe I'll get Arch a try before I trying any others.

Do your Acers have the Atheros wireless? That and sound have been the most difficult hurdles for me with this laptop. Ubuntu was the first one to get those right.

elliott

Member

Registered: 2006-03-07

Posts: 296

Re: Best compatibility for a Laptop?

One has the Atheros 5007EG card, which is not supported by madwifi yet, lspci calls it a 5006EG, which is a supported card, but is not what is really in the system. I will have to use ndiswrapper until madwifi gets the new chipset figured out.

thiago907

Member

From: Brazil, Fortaleza

Registered: 2007-09-25

Posts: 28

Re: Best compatibility for a Laptop?

One has the Atheros 5007EG card, which is not supported by madwifi yet, lspci calls it a 5006EG, which is a supported card, but is not what is really in the system. I will have to use ndiswrapper until madwifi gets the new chipset figured out.

madwifi have a patch for atheros 5007eg ->http://madwifi.org/ticket/1679
work fine here (toshiba u305s7432)

Last edited by thiago907 (2007-12-17 00:56:13)