(Updated Aug 19, 2009, with Jaunty and Kernel 2.6.28)

This laptop (the exact model name is Acer Aspire 5633WLMi) has the following hardware specs:

• Intel Core 2 Duo processor T5500 (1.6GHz, 667MHz FSB, 2MB L2 cache)
• 15.4„ WXGA CrystalBrite LCD (1280×800 pixel)
• 256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300
• 120GB S-ATA Harddisk
• DVD+R Double Layouer / DVD~pm~RW Burner
• 2GB DDR2 (support dual-channel)
• 802.11a/b/g/ WLAN
• Bluetooth
• 1.3 MPixel Webcam
• 5in1 Card reader

lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G72M [Quadro NVS 110M/GeForce Go 7300] (rev a1)
05:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)
06:01.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)
06:04.0 CardBus bridge: ENE Technology Inc CB-712/4 Cardbus Controller (rev 10)
06:04.1 FLASH memory: ENE Technology Inc ENE PCI Memory Stick Card Reader Controller (rev 01)
06:04.2 SD Host controller: ENE Technology Inc ENE PCI Secure Digital Card Reader Controller (rev 01)
06:04.3 FLASH memory: ENE Technology Inc FLASH memory: ENE Technology Inc: (rev 01)
06:04.4 FLASH memory: ENE Technology Inc SD/MMC Card Reader Controller (rev 01)

lsusb:

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 039: ID 046d:0896 Logitech, Inc. OrbiCam
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 003: ID 0a5c:2101 Broadcom Corp. A-Link BlueUsbA2 Bluetooth
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Most hardware components worked out of the box after installation. In particular, the graphics card is automatically supported by the framebuffer as well as by the proprietary nvidia driver. The network driver uses the b44 kernel module, wlan chip is also automatically supported by the ipw3945 module.

Some selected hardware devices with comments:

The BIOS of the laptop didn't work with older kernels (DSDT problems), but it works fine with newer kernels, no custom DSDT required any more.

In earlier kernels: After resuming, the suspend process hangs and cannot be killed. A second suspend does not work.

With newer Kernels >=2.6.18 it works just fine

Driver included in the alsa packages (snd_atiixp_modem module). You'll also need the sl-modem-daemon ubuntu/debian package to use it.

• I have once tried to make the modem work, but although /dev/modem is created, the modem does not seem to work. I have not had the time to investigate.
• Using the alsa module, sound stops working!

Simply load the acerhk module with the following parameters

modprobe -a -k acerhk force_series=290 usedritek=1

To let the module automatically be loaded, simply put the following line into /etc/modules:

acerhk force_series=290 usedritek=1

This enables all the acer special keys (Fn+F[1-8] keys, P, e, Mail, Web, and multimedia keys). They generate scancodes, and most of them are automatically mapped to the correct keycodes. those, that are not correctly mapped, dmesg will produce an output like:

[TODO]

To fix these, you can manually call setkeycodes to assign a keycode to the scancode. I did this in /etc/rc.local:

# Help (?) button does not generate keycode # Fn+F1 Help -> KEY_HELP=138
setkeycodes e026 141 # Fn+F2 Acer eSetting -> KEY_SETUP=141
setkeycodes e027 139 # Fn+F3 ePowerManagement -> KEY_MENU=139
# Sleep (Zz) button does not generate keycode # Fn+F4 Sleep -> KEY_SLEEP=142
setkeycodes e078 154 # Fn+F5, switch display -> KEY_CYCLEWINDOWS=154
# Black screen ([*]>[ ]) button does not generate keycode, but works # Fn+F6 black screen
setkeycodes e072 230 # Fn+F7, disable touchpad
setkeycodes e071 231 # Fn+F7, enable touchpad

setkeycodes e033 222 # Euro key, above "<-" key
setkeycodes e034 223 # Dollar key, above "->" key
# setkeycodes e059 224 # dim brightness
setkeycodes e059 225 # Fn+"->" brightness Up -> KEY_BRIGHTNESSUP=225
setkeycodes e055 232 # disable wlan chip (orange LED), (/sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw3945/0000\:05\:00.0/rf_kill goes from 0 to 2)
setkeycodes e056 233 # enable wlan chip (orange LED), (/sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw3945/0000\:05\:00.0/rf_kill goes from 2 to 0)
setkeycodes e057 146 # Bluetooth on->off -> KEY_DELETEFILE=146
setkeycodes e058 145 # Bluetooth off->on -> KEY_SENDFILE=145
setkeycodes e077 228 # Bluetooth button pushed to the right
# setkeycodes e073 148 #Acer P -> KEY_PROG1=148
# setkeycodes e074 149 #Acer e -> KEY_PROG2=149

Reading CDs and DVDs, as well as watching DVDs works just fine. Burning CDs and DVDs also works fine with kernel >=2.6.18

SD cards work fine (sdhci kernel module),

It appears that a driver for the other slots is developed in the tifmxx project: http://openfacts.berlios.de/index-en.phtml?title=TI_FlashMedia_xx12/xx21_driver (but no driver is yet availble)

The sound card works nicely with the snd_hda_intel ALSA kernel module.

• Sound recording works (it took me a while to figure out that the capture channels were not set to „capture“. Just start alsamixer, go to the capture channels and make sure they have „CAPTURE“ written in red below the volume bars. Press space to enable capture if they are not enabled yet).
• Volume control for input channels does not work (kmixer and alsamixer do not stay in sync!)

The device is an internal USB device, which can be activated via a switch on the front side of the laptop. Works out of the box.

It's a USB Acer/Logitech OrbiCam with USB ID 046d:0896. Some versions of the GSPCA Probject (http://mxhaard.free.fr/download.html) supported this camera, but the latest driver in the kernel does not work.

Bus 005 Device 002: ID eb1a:2881 eMPIA Technology, Inc.

This DVB-T receiver works just nicely with the em2880-dvb kernel module (it still has to be manually loaded until it is moved into the kernel source tree, so put it into /etc/modules). An installation howto can be found at linuxtv.org. Please note that you will also need to download the firmware and make sure the module loads the correct firmware file!

After restarting the laptop, the device worked just out of the box. Starting kaffeine detects the DVB-T receiver and scans for TV stations (and correctly finds the three stations available in Vienna, Austria).

Even the remote control works (added as /dev/input/event3) and generates the numbers 0-9 and the volume up/down/mute functionality. Other buttons generate keycodes, but are not assigned to the correct actions by default.

The analog TV receiver works with the em28xx kernel module alone, which is automatically loaded when plugging in the stick. Only the dvb module needs to be loaded manually.