Review on Acer Aspire 5612ZWLMi + Debian Linux

I have been with this laptop for around one and a half month.
So it is a time to write a review on it.

Specification:
- CPU: Intel Core Duo T2060, clocked at 1600MHz. ( It is marketed as “Intel Pentium Dual-core processor T2060″ )
- RAM: 1GB DDR2
- Harddisk: 80GB
- Display card: Intel GMA950
- CD-ROM: CD-RW + DVD-R
- Network chipset: Ethernet: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX; Wireless: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller
- Audio chipset: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller
- Preloaded OS: Windows Vista Home Premium

The first thing I do is to get Vista off my laptop, since it will turn some dual-core CPU into an ancient 80386…

Ok, let me save the crap for later, and comment on Linux’ support on the laptop’s various hardware. Just to note that my kernel version is 2.6.18, and I am using Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 ( Codename `Etch` )

- CPU => OK
This CPU worked quite well. Just that the speedstep wasn’t setup properly by the system by default. A few modprobe solved it:
modprobe cpufreq_ondemand
modprobe speedstep_centrino
echo ondemand > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
echo ondemand > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_governor


- RAM and Harddisk => Good
Of course it works.. -_-”

- Display Card => Good
Auto-detected by default. I didn’t install 915 resolution, because 1024*768 is good enough for me. Beryl worked well with this chipset.

- CD-ROM => Good
Auto-detected by default. Burn CD without trouble. ( Using k3b. )
k3b’s auto burning speed’s around 10x.

- Network Chipset ( Ethernet ）=> Good
Auto-detected by defualt. No problem till now.

- Network Chipset ( Wireless ) => OK
Auto-detected by defualt. But there are transmission power problem. Able to access the network within 10~15 meter from the access point. ( Using Linux’ native driver. )
You might also want to try the ndiswrapper driver, maybe it will work better.

- Audio Chipset => Good
Auto-detected by defualt. No problem till now

- Hotkeys => Doesn’t work
Extra keys on the laptop ( Those on the left most and beside the power button ), that provide shortcut to some functions ( Eg: E-mail, Browser, media player ) doesn’t work, but who cares? =)

- Preloaded OS => Worst + Lousy
echo “Windows Vista” > /dev/null ; install linux