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General Hardware Specifications of Aspire 3002LCi:

Misc Specifications:

Input Device
  Keyboard
  Touchpad
  4-Way Scroll Button

Interface Provided
  1 Display / Video VGA
  3 Hi-Speed USB
  1 Audio Line-in / Microphone
  1 Audio Line-out / Headphones
  1 Modem Phone Line
  1 Network Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX

Slots Provided
  2 Memory Banks (1 Free)
  1 CardBus [PCMCIA] Type II Slot

Dimensions & Weight
  Depth   11 in
  Height  1.5 in
  Weight  6.2 lbs
  Width   14.3 in

This laptop is operating under Kernel version 2.6.17-1.2145_FC5

• Why to use Fedora Core 5

  Simply put:
  -- it's stable & runs well
  -- requires little work to setup/configure
  -- all hardware appears to be supported
  

• Obtaining Fedora Core 5

  -- Download ISOs directly from RedHat (http://fedora.redhat.com)
  -- Make install CDs from ISOs downloaded
  -- Use CDs to install Fedora Core 5 to the laptop
  

• Installing

  -- Unlike my FC4 write, I had no problems which prevented use of the GUI installer with FC5.
  -- As such, use of the text install mode (by typing 'linux text' at the boot prompt) was not necessary.
  -- Apply the extra kernel parameters after you install Fedora Core 5, if you like. (optional)
     (add 'apm=off acpi=noirq ec_burst=1' to kernel parameters in '/etc/grub.conf')
  

• Post-Install modifications/tweaks

  -- added the extra kernel parameters to '/etc/grub.conf'. (optional)
     (Tests seams to indicate this is no longer needed [unlike with FC4].)
     (However should you have problems LAN &/or WLAN problems, add it to your setup.)
  -- reboot
  -- as 'root' run commands 'yum -y update', and then 'yum -y upgrade'
  -- reboot
  -- follow steps below to setup the WLAN
  

• Getting Wireless LAN to operate correctly
  -- goto NdisWrapper - Wiki
  -- follow their instructions on how to download/install the NdisWrapper
  -- once the NdisWrapper is installed, run the batch file below as 'root' to activate the WLAN when needed.
• Getting Suspend-to-Disk to operate correctly
  -- never tried this
  -- default is immediate shutdown (same as running 'shutdown -h now' as root)
• Getting the touchpad to operate as more than a PS/2 mouse
  -- touchpad was auto-detected and worked correctly immediately upon installation.
  -- touchpad center button works as a center button and can scroll (up/down & left/right) in most programs.
  -- in Firefox, you can do special navigation tricks when you tap/slide the touchpad in certain ways.
• Any other additional features you can think of
  -- the PCMCIA card slot was detected, but I never tried to use it.

• Problem setting the Shared Video RAM in BIOS to 128MB
  -- upgrading RAM resolved this issue
• Sound may come out distorted
  -- upgrading RAM seamed to help resolve this issue
• Computer randomly hangs (uh-oh)
  -- upgrading RAM seamed to help resolve this issue
  -- ensure you updated your packages via 'yum' & have added the extra kernel parameters to '/etc/grub.conf'
• Battery meter doesn't function correctly
  -- I have verified this has been fixed in FC5, when doing a new/clean install of FC5.
  -- However you will need to upgrade to the BIOS to version 3A32, before installing FC5.
  -- You can download the BIOS from the Acer Euro Support Site or directly from their FTP site.
  -- In order to update the BIOS, you will need to use the winflash utility from Acer (you will need Windows for this app) or you can use OpenDOS and the phlash16 application (this is how I upgraded mine).
  -- NOTE: the meter battery issue is not automatically fixed if you upgrade from FC4 to FC5.
  -- I was told that you can manually fix this, if you edit your dsdt file, after upgrading to BIOS version 3A32 or 3A24. I was also told instructions on how to manually fix this issue is here.
• Anything else that raises concern
  -- LAN network issues are typically fixed by adding the extra kernel parameter noted above.
  -- WLAN network issues are typically fixed by reinstalling 'NdisWrapper' after upgrading to a new kernel.

• Any Configuration files that you needed to modify

Well this is not exactly a config file, but the following batch file is what I use to activate the wlan.
-- paste the below into a file named 'start_wlan.bat'
-- chmod the file '755'
-- run as 'root' when you want to connect


--------------------------------------------------------------
#!/bin/sh
echo 'Starting Home WLAN'

echo 'Setting Dependency Mod...'
/sbin/depmod -a

echo 'Mod Probing ndiswrapper...'
/sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper

#echo 'Scanning For All Wireless LAN Access Points...'
#/sbin/iwlist wlan0 scan

echo 'Setting Specific Wireless Network Access Point...'
/sbin/iwconfig wlan0 essid YOUR_ESSID

echo 'Scanning For Specific Access Point...'
/sbin/iwlist wlan0 scan

#echo 'Setting Wireless LAN To Managed Mode...'
#/sbin/iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed

echo 'Setting WEP Encryption Key...'
/sbin/iwconfig wlan0 key restricted YOUR_WEP_KEY

echo 'Setting Specific Wireless Network Access Point...'
/sbin/iwconfig wlan0 essid YOUR_ESSID

echo 'Bring Up Wireless LAN Interface...'
/sbin/ifconfig wlan0 up
/sbin/dhclient wlan0
#/sbin/dhcpcd wlan0
--------------------------------------------------------------

Replace 'YOUR_ESSID' with your Wireless LAN's ESSID.
Replace 'YOUR_WEP_KEY' with your Wireless LAN's WEP key.

* Notes:
-- This batch script assumed your WLAN is setup with DHCP & uses WEP security
-- If you don't use WEP, then you can comment out that line.
-- The rest of the lines are comments for making the commands clearer &/or to test under different WLAN configurations.

• df -hl

  Filesystem                      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
  /dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00  35G  4.7G   28G  15% /
  /dev/hda1                        99M   15M   80M  15% /boot
  tmpfs                           569M     0  569M   0% /dev/shm
  

• lspci

  00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 760/M760 Host (rev 03)
  00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SG86C202
  00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS963 [MuTIOL Media IO] (rev 25)
  00:02.1 SMBus: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS961/2 SMBus Controller
  00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE]
  00:02.6 Modem: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] AC'97 Modem Controller (rev a0)
  00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Sound Controller (rev a0)
  00:03.0 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 0f)
  00:03.1 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 0f)
  00:03.2 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller
  00:04.0 Ethernet controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS900 PCI Fast Ethernet (rev 91)
  00:06.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1410 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 02)
  00:0b.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)
  00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
  00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
  00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
  00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
  01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 661/741/760/761 PCI/AGP VGA Display Adapter
  

• ndiswrapper -l

  Installed drivers:
  bcmwl5          driver installed, hardware present
  

• glxinfo

  name of display: :0.0
  display: :0  screen: 0
  direct rendering: No
  server glx vendor string: SGI
  server glx version string: 1.2
  server glx extensions:
      GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating,
      GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_SGI_make_current_read,
      GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_hyperpipe, GLX_SGIX_swap_barrier,
      GLX_SGIX_fbconfig
  client glx vendor string: SGI
  client glx version string: 1.4
  client glx extensions:
      GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context,
      GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_EXT_texture_from_drawable,
      GLX_MESA_allocate_memory, GLX_MESA_swap_control,
      GLX_MESA_swap_frame_usage, GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_OML_sync_control,
      GLX_SGI_make_current_read, GLX_SGI_swap_control, GLX_SGI_video_sync,
      GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig, GLX_SGIX_pbuffer,
      GLX_SGIX_visual_select_group
  GLX version: 1.2
  GLX extensions:
      GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context,
      GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_OML_swap_method,
      GLX_SGI_make_current_read, GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig,
      GLX_SGIX_visual_select_group
  OpenGL vendor string: Mesa project: www.mesa3d.org
  OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect
  OpenGL version string: 1.2 (1.5 Mesa 6.4.2)
  OpenGL extensions:
      GL_ARB_depth_texture, GL_ARB_imaging, GL_ARB_multitexture,
      GL_ARB_point_parameters, GL_ARB_point_sprite, GL_ARB_shadow,
      GL_ARB_shadow_ambient, GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp,
      GL_ARB_texture_cube_map, GL_ARB_texture_env_add,
      GL_ARB_texture_env_combine, GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar,
      GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3, GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat,
      GL_ARB_texture_rectangle, GL_ARB_transpose_matrix, GL_ARB_window_pos,
      GL_EXT_abgr, GL_EXT_bgra, GL_EXT_blend_color, GL_EXT_blend_func_separate,
      GL_EXT_blend_logic_op, GL_EXT_blend_minmax, GL_EXT_blend_subtract,
      GL_EXT_clip_volume_hint, GL_EXT_copy_texture, GL_EXT_draw_range_elements,
      GL_EXT_fog_coord, GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays, GL_EXT_packed_pixels,
      GL_EXT_point_parameters, GL_EXT_polygon_offset, GL_EXT_rescale_normal,
      GL_EXT_secondary_color, GL_EXT_separate_specular_color,
      GL_EXT_shadow_funcs, GL_EXT_stencil_two_side, GL_EXT_stencil_wrap,
      GL_EXT_subtexture, GL_EXT_texture, GL_EXT_texture3D,
      GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp, GL_EXT_texture_env_add,
      GL_EXT_texture_env_combine, GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3,
      GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias, GL_EXT_texture_object, GL_EXT_texture_rectangle,
      GL_EXT_vertex_array, GL_APPLE_packed_pixels, GL_ATI_texture_env_combine3,
      GL_ATI_texture_mirror_once, GL_ATIX_texture_env_combine3,
      GL_HP_occlusion_test, GL_IBM_texture_mirrored_repeat,
      GL_INGR_blend_func_separate, GL_MESA_pack_invert, GL_MESA_ycbcr_texture,
      GL_NV_blend_square, GL_NV_point_sprite, GL_NV_texgen_reflection,
      GL_NV_texture_rectangle, GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap,
      GL_SGIS_texture_border_clamp, GL_SGIS_texture_edge_clamp,
      GL_SGIS_texture_lod, GL_SGIX_depth_texture, GL_SGIX_shadow,
      GL_SGIX_shadow_ambient, GL_SUN_multi_draw_arrays
  glu version: 1.3
  glu extensions:
      GLU_EXT_nurbs_tessellator, GLU_EXT_object_space_tess
  
     visual  x  bf lv rg d st colorbuffer ax dp st accumbuffer  ms  cav
   id dep cl sp sz l  ci b ro  r  g  b  a bf th cl  r  g  b  a ns b eat
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
  0x22 16 tc  0 16  0 r  y  .  5  6  5  0  0 16  0  0  0  0  0  0 0 None
  0x23 16 tc  0 16  0 r  y  .  5  6  5  0  0 16  8 16 16 16  0  0 0 None
  0x24 16 tc  0 24  0 r  y  .  5  6  5  8  0 16  8 16 16 16 16  0 0 None
  0x25 16 tc  0 24  0 r  .  .  5  6  5  8  0 16  8 16 16 16 16  0 0 None
  

• 'start_wlan.bat' Output Example

  --------------------------------------------------------------
  # ./start_wlan.bat
  Starting Home WLAN
  Setting Dependancy Mod...
  Mod Probing ndiswrapper...
  Setting Specific Wireless Network Access Point...
  Scanning For Specific Access Point...
  wlan0     No scan results
  Setting WEP Encryption Key...
  Setting Specific Wireless Network Access Point...
  Bring Up Wireless Lan Interface...
  Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.3-RedHat
  Copyright 2004-2005 Internet Systems Consortium.
  All rights reserved.
  For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/products/DHCP
  
  /sbin/dhclient-script: configuration for wlan0 not found. Continuing with defaults.
  /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/network-functions: line 62: wlan0: No such file or directory
  Listening on LPF/wlan0/0a:1b:2c:3d:4e:5f
  Sending on   LPF/wlan0/0a:1b:2c:3d:4e:5f
  Sending on   Socket/fallback
  DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 6
  DHCPOFFER from 192.168.1.1
  DHCPREQUEST on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
  DHCPACK from 192.168.1.1
  /sbin/dhclient-script: configuration for wlan0 not found. Continuing with defaults.
  /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/network-functions: line 62: wlan0: No such file or directory
  bound to 192.168.1.3 -- renewal in 38763 seconds.
  --------------------------------------------------------------
  * Note: MAC address was changed for security
  
  

• Other Relevant/Useful Info
  -- Despite some posts that I've read to the contrary, you do not need to hold down or press the WLAN button on the front of this laptop to make the WLAN hardware initialize at the time of bootup. The batch file provided is all you need to activate the WLAN.
    * UPDATE: If after installing the NdisWrapper & running the batch file, however still cannot connect to your WLAN, you should press the WLAN button once & then re-run the batch file. With some FC5 kernels, I found this may be necessary...
  -- Pay very close attention to the NdisWrapper setup instructions. If you skip steps, your WLAN will not work correctly.
  -- Keep a copy of the NdisWrapper setup instructions, source code & Windows XP WLAN drivers files on your laptop's hard drive. You will need to use it again...
  -- When you install a new kernel (even via an APT or YUM upgrade) you will need to reinstall NdisWrapper to make the WLAN work once again.
    * UPDATE: You should not need to redo everything. You should only need to run the 'make distclean', 'make' & 'make install' commands. Reinstalling the Windows XP driver should not be necessary, as it should remain after a reinstall.
  -- Upgrading from FC4 to FC5 with the CDs is also very straight forward. It worked quite well, should you not want to start with a fresh/clean install & start from an working FC4 setup. The only thing you will will really need to do is manually update with your YUM Repositories, before running YUM for the first time -- in this process you need to remove the DAG repository, since that repository cannot be used with FC5 at this time. Fixing the battery meter is optional.
• My Acer 3002LCi Laptop Review (short, sweet, & to the point)
  I like this laptop for general purpose usage, especialy when running linux. After rebates, I paid a little over $400 [RAM upgrade excluded]. It's no gaming machine, but that is not the reason why I purchased it. Adding additional RAM greatly enhances the performance of this system. Battery life is sad (only 1.5 hours at best), but I've read in some forums that after-market batteries can be purchased to nearly double the battery life. However I have never seen any for sale online. General Sound & MP3 playback (via XMMS with the Enhanced Stereo module enabled) is good. DVD playback via Xine was good, but jerked a little during heavy action sceens without the RAM upgrade. After the RAM upgrade, DVD playback & overall graphical performance was much smoother. The laptop fan doesn't seam to come on nearly as much or as loud as some claim. My only annoyance with this laptop is with the touchpad. It is very sensitive. Slight touches or vibrations while typing will cause the pointer/cursor to jump. There is no way to adjust this, so type carefully! ;-) After a while you just get used to typing on it, and the jumping cursor is not as much of an issue. Other then that, I like the laptop for my everyday usage. Overall I would give this laptop a 8.5 out of 10.

• NdisWrapper
• NdisWrapper - Wiki
• Acer - Laptop Manufacturer
• Linux on Laptops
• TuxMobile

Plus other useful things I may have forgotten

• Fedora - Core
• Fedora - Updates
• Fedora - Extras
• FreshRPMs
• Dries
• Linva

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