Acer's crytal eye webcam is supported by the linux-uvc drivers (http://linux-uvc.berlios.de/)
To install it, just add 'media-video/linux-uvc' to /etc/portage/package.keywords and emerge linux-uvc
It'll install a kernel module that adds support to the webcam, and that's it.
If you want a photo/movie recorder try cheese, it's avaiable at the gentoo sunrise overlay (http://overlays.gentoo.org/ should guide you)
Monday, March 3, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Video, keyboard and touchpad on Xorg
There's no secret to install the proprietary drivers for the video card, just unmask the latest version on /etc/portage/package.keywords by adding:
x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers
And then emerge it. After that you must configure your xorg.conf.
Since synaptics, display and keyboard configuration also goes on xorg.conf, I'll just upload mine to the virtual drive. Download it by clicking 'My config files' on the right bar, links section. Browse to /etc/X11 and download xorg.conf
x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers
And then emerge it. After that you must configure your xorg.conf.
Since synaptics, display and keyboard configuration also goes on xorg.conf, I'll just upload mine to the virtual drive. Download it by clicking 'My config files' on the right bar, links section. Browse to /etc/X11 and download xorg.conf
Installing alsa
The kernels I used so far didn't work with this soundcard (hda-nvidia), so I had to install the stand-alone driver.
Support for kernel 2.6.24 was added on alsa 1.6, but, if you look at portage tree right now (i mean, by the time i'm writing this), you´ll notice that only version 1.5 is available. So the only way to have a working version is using the repository version (9999).
To do this, unmask this version on /etc/portage/package.unmask by adding:
=media-sound/alsa-driver-9999
=media-sound/alsa-headers-9999
And then add this to /etc/portage/package.keywords:
media-libs/alsa-lib
media-sound/alsa-driver **
media-sound/alsa-headers **
media-sound/alsa-utils
Doing this will make you able download the repository versions for alsa driver and headers, and the latest version of alsa-lib and alsa-utils. You'd also like to configure your /etc/make.conf to match the soundcard model by adding this:
ALSA_CARDS="hda-intel"
Just emerge'em'all now and you'll have your soundcard up and running
'rc-update add alsasound boot' will help storing your volume settings
Support for kernel 2.6.24 was added on alsa 1.6, but, if you look at portage tree right now (i mean, by the time i'm writing this), you´ll notice that only version 1.5 is available. So the only way to have a working version is using the repository version (9999).
To do this, unmask this version on /etc/portage/package.unmask by adding:
=media-sound/alsa-driver-9999
=media-sound/alsa-headers-9999
And then add this to /etc/portage/package.keywords:
media-libs/alsa-lib
media-sound/alsa-driver **
media-sound/alsa-headers **
media-sound/alsa-utils
Doing this will make you able download the repository versions for alsa driver and headers, and the latest version of alsa-lib and alsa-utils. You'd also like to configure your /etc/make.conf to match the soundcard model by adding this:
ALSA_CARDS="hda-intel"
Just emerge'em'all now and you'll have your soundcard up and running
'rc-update add alsasound boot' will help storing your volume settings
Monday, February 4, 2008
Kernel configuration
I've spent the last month tinkering with the kernel, in this meantime I compiled and recompiled it something like a thousand times and migrated from gentoo sources to vanilla sources (original linux kernel)
By now I'm using kernel 2.6.24.2 and it at last seems to be finished (it's been a week since I last changed it!)
Since there are too many options to list here, I'll just post my .config file (just place it in the kernel source path and make)
http://www.4shared.com/dir/5856814/5f98f305/sharing.html
There it its, a virtual drive where I'm gonna put my configuration files
Just go to usr/src/linux and download the .config file
ATTENTION: notice that acpi sleep to disk (hibernate) is enabled on this kernel. To use this you MUST have a swap partition big enough to hold your entire ram, and also must point it's location in the kernel configuration. Mine is configured to /dev/sda2, so change it if needed before compiling
By now I'm using kernel 2.6.24.2 and it at last seems to be finished (it's been a week since I last changed it!)
Since there are too many options to list here, I'll just post my .config file (just place it in the kernel source path and make)
http://www.4shared.com/dir/5856814/5f98f305/sharing.html
There it its, a virtual drive where I'm gonna put my configuration files
Just go to usr/src/linux and download the .config file
ATTENTION: notice that acpi sleep to disk (hibernate) is enabled on this kernel. To use this you MUST have a swap partition big enough to hold your entire ram, and also must point it's location in the kernel configuration. Mine is configured to /dev/sda2, so change it if needed before compiling
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Boot-up and install
If you try (don't try) to boot up from the gentoo 2007.0 cd (both live and minimal install), you'll notice that it won't find the ethernet device. That's because those cds were made upon kernel 2.6.19, and support for mcp67 controller was added on kernel 2.6.20. Gentoo team announced that 2008.0 cds will come along with kernel 2.6.24, so that won't be a problem if you're reading this after it's release. But, for now, you must use another live cd for that job (you can use any distro to install gentoo).
After wasting a cd (and a lot of time for download) with sabayon (again, don't try), I had success using Ubuntu 7.10 live cd. Use the safe graphical mode to boot (normal mode works too, but it turns into safe graphical on x startup). I didn't experience any problem with the hardware, but some people with slightly different acer models did with the hdd, so if it happens to you, try the 'all_generic_ide=1' boot parameter (Actually it may be needed if you set your disk mode to IDE on bios, mine is set to ahci).
I installed everything using a network with dhcp, and that saved me some time, but it's easy to configure the network by hand if needed, gentoo handbook explains everything. All you've got to do now is follow the handbook to do the installation.
When the time to install the kernel comes, use the 2.6.24 version (by now it's masked by ~, so you'll have to put it on the /etc/package.keywords file), earlier versions have a bug with the sata controller.
The drivers you'll have to add on the kernel at this time are the ahci for the sata controller (and ati/nvidia pata for the dvd drive), and forcedeth for the ethernet device. Also, set your sata controller mode to ahci on the bios.
Doing this shall avoid any problems with the installation and the following boot-up, but of course you'll have to configure the entire kernel to match your needs/preferences.
Now give the ubuntu cd to your girlfriend, I did and she liked =)
After wasting a cd (and a lot of time for download) with sabayon (again, don't try), I had success using Ubuntu 7.10 live cd. Use the safe graphical mode to boot (normal mode works too, but it turns into safe graphical on x startup). I didn't experience any problem with the hardware, but some people with slightly different acer models did with the hdd, so if it happens to you, try the 'all_generic_ide=1' boot parameter (Actually it may be needed if you set your disk mode to IDE on bios, mine is set to ahci).
I installed everything using a network with dhcp, and that saved me some time, but it's easy to configure the network by hand if needed, gentoo handbook explains everything. All you've got to do now is follow the handbook to do the installation.
When the time to install the kernel comes, use the 2.6.24 version (by now it's masked by ~, so you'll have to put it on the /etc/package.keywords file), earlier versions have a bug with the sata controller.
The drivers you'll have to add on the kernel at this time are the ahci for the sata controller (and ati/nvidia pata for the dvd drive), and forcedeth for the ethernet device. Also, set your sata controller mode to ahci on the bios.
Doing this shall avoid any problems with the installation and the following boot-up, but of course you'll have to configure the entire kernel to match your needs/preferences.
Now give the ubuntu cd to your girlfriend, I did and she liked =)
Hello (hardware updated)
I recently bought an Acer Aspire 4520 model 5582, which comes with Windows Vista Home Premium, after some days of use i came to the conclusion that this OS sucks (people say this everywhere, but i had to see for myself), so i decided to move to my favorite linux distro, gentoo.
First of all, the hardware:
AMD Turion X2 TL-52 processor (1.6Ghz, 512KiB of L2 cache for each core)
1GiB of RAM DDR2 (2x512MiB) (Couldn't get the frequency yet)
HDD Toshiba MK1237GSX, 120GiB 5400RPM SATA2
Seiko LCD 14.1" WXGA 1280x800 (doesn't really matter)
NVIDIA 610M chipset / NVIDIA 7000M video card
Audio and Ethernet from the nvidia chipset (mcp67)
Atheros AR5007EG Wi-Fi Adapter
Ricoh R5C822 5-in-1 memory card reader and ieee1394 (firewire)
LG GSA-T20N DVD-RAM drive
4 USB ports
S-video and VGA outputs
Synaptics Touchpad PS/2
SuyIn Crystal Eye webcam (built-in, connected via usb)
56k Modem (I don't think I'll ever use this, so I didn't even look for it's model)
Gentoo is currently up and running with no problems, so I'll post here the steps i did to put the system to work. You may have noticed that I'm from Brazil, but I'll post everything in english so the information can be more universal.
Updates in bold
First of all, the hardware:
AMD Turion X2 TL-52 processor (1.6Ghz, 512KiB of L2 cache for each core)
1GiB of RAM DDR2 (2x512MiB) (Couldn't get the frequency yet)
HDD Toshiba MK1237GSX, 120GiB 5400RPM SATA2
Seiko LCD 14.1" WXGA 1280x800 (doesn't really matter)
NVIDIA 610M chipset / NVIDIA 7000M video card
Audio and Ethernet from the nvidia chipset (mcp67)
Atheros AR5007EG Wi-Fi Adapter
Ricoh R5C822 5-in-1 memory card reader and ieee1394 (firewire)
LG GSA-T20N DVD-RAM drive
4 USB ports
S-video and VGA outputs
Synaptics Touchpad PS/2
SuyIn Crystal Eye webcam (built-in, connected via usb)
56k Modem (I don't think I'll ever use this, so I didn't even look for it's model)
Gentoo is currently up and running with no problems, so I'll post here the steps i did to put the system to work. You may have noticed that I'm from Brazil, but I'll post everything in english so the information can be more universal.
Updates in bold
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