Debian GNU/Linux on Acer Travelmate 292

Overview

Since the latest release, the ipw2200 driver does not include the ieee802.11 framework anymore, it has been moved to a seperate package which is available here as well.

Note that the location of the fglrx repository has changed!

Since I'm not familiar with the creation of debian module packages, they might be a bit ugly, but do work quite fine. The debianized sources are available here. Check this good site for additional information about Debian on the TM292.

Questions & Answers

How do I install the packages?

• add the section described below to your /etc/apt/sources.list
• apt-get update
• apt-get install
• install additional packages for your ATI Mobility Radeon
• check your XFree config; you can take a look at my /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 here
• download the firmware file for you ipw2200 wlan chipset
• edit /etc/modprobe.conf (see below) and add "acerhk" to /etc/modules
• reboot into your new kernel
• enjoy!

What patches are included in the kernel image?

• Software Suspend 2 allows you to suspend your system by writing the RAM content to a swap partition, and later resume where you left. I'm preparing a tutorial about this issue at the moment.
• cpufreq-speedstep-dothan-3.patch equips the kernel with own steedstep tables for a dothan cpu. Acer somehow screwed up the ACPI bios, which will only report 600 and 1500 Mhz as valid frequencies, although 800, 1000, and 1200 Mhz are possible as well.

This patch is not completely undisputed, since there are still some unclear facts about the dothan voltage levels. See the discussion yourself here, and consider this a warning. Don't hold me responsible if your system catches fire.

How do I enable the framebuffer console?

To enable the framebufffer console at the correct resolution, add the statement "video=radeonfb:off vga=834" to you bootloader setup, see below for an excerpt from my grub configuration.

Software Suspend

"Software Suspend 2" is a kernel patch that allows you to suspend your system by saving the memory content into a swap partition and powering down. When booting the system again, the kernel recognizes the frozen image, und restores he former state of the notebook. The use of Software Suspend requires some prerequisites:

• a running kernel with "Software Suspend 2" patched in, e.g. the kernel-image-2.6.11.7-tm292 available here
• a swap partition (swap files do not work) large enough to fit your RAM content into
• the debian package hibernate, which supplies a script that takes care of nasty hard- and software during suspension.

Once the kernel is running, you have to modify your bootloader (lilo or grub, preferred the later) to include the additional commandline statement "resume2=swap:/dev/hda6", where /dev/hda6 is the swap partition you wish to resume to. However, the ATI drivers are breaking Software Suspend, so you have to quit X11 before hibernating your notebook: My hibernate.conf does this automatically by shutting down gdm, it as well restores acpi and acerhk drivers after resume. Just copy it to /etc/hibernate/. If you want to suspend the system, just su to root and enter "hibernate".

If you do not need DRI and OpenGL acceleration, you can use the open source "radeon" driver. Software Suspend 2 works fine with this driver, even without quitting X11. Just replace the driver "fglrx" with "radeon" in you XF86Config-4, and remove "gdm" from the "RestartServices" line of "hibernate.conf". If you want to switch between the two configurations, use the "switch-xconfig.sh" script.

/etc stuff

### Acer TM 292
## kernel, acerhk, ipw2200bg, fglrx-kernel
deb http://stefans.datenbruch.de/acerTM292/debian/ ./
## ATI modules for XFree 4.3
deb http://www.stanchina.net/~flavio/debian-fglrx-xfree86/ ./

# module parameters for acerhk
options acerhk force_series=290 usedritek=1 verbose=1
# reset transceiver on load
install acerhk /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install acerhk && /bin/echo 1 > /proc/driver/acerhk/wirelessled && echo 0 > /proc/driver/acerhk/wirelessled && /bin/echo 1 > /proc/driver/acerhk/wirelessled

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specifiv kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
# kopt=root=/dev/hda2 ro video=radeonfb:off vga=834 resume2=swap:/dev/hda6

Remarks

This Notebook has been sold by Mediamarkt Germany under the name "Extensa 2902" as well.

Disclaimer: Although the packages offered here work fine on my machine, they may fry your notebook without warning. You have been warned, don't sue me for anything.