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Acer Aspire 5720
Introduction
This is a guide to running Linux with the Acer Aspire 5720 laptop.
This guide is intended to provide you details on how well this laptop works with Linux and which modules you need to configure. For details on how to actually install and configure the required modules have a look at our guides section for distribution specific instructions.
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Specifications
| Name | Acer Aspire 5720 |
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2GHz |
| Screen | 15.4” WXGA Widescreen |
| RAM | 2GB |
| HDD | 160GB |
| Optical Drive | None |
| Graphics | Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 |
| Network | Ethernet, Intel 3945 802.11abg, Bluetooth |
Linux Compatibility
| Device | Compatibility | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Yes | |
| Screen | Yes | |
| HDD | Yes | |
| Optical Drive | Yes | |
| Graphics | Yes | |
| Sound | Yes | |
| Ethernet | Yes | |
| Wireless | Yes | Use the iwl3945 driver |
| Bluetooth | Not Tested | |
| 56K Modem | Not Tested | |
| USB | Yes | |
| Firewire | Not Tested | |
| Card Reader | Not Tested | |
| PCMCIA | Not Tested | |
| Camera | Partial |
Notes
You will need kernel 2.6.22 or greater to get the Aspire 5720 working correctly with Linux. Older kernels lack properly hardware support.
While the webcam works the quality is not fantastic yet. You can get the webcam somewhat working with the linux-uvc drivers. Most distribution do not include this driver so you will need to install it manually.
Summary
As long as a recent Linux distribution is used, the Acer Aspire 5720 works just fine with Linux. Just the webcam is a little problematic.
Discussion
If anyone encounters the same problem as lukas , try using Linux Mint.It is based on Ubuntu and worked perfectly for me (webcam included).
broadcom ethernet card
I can't get the ethernet network to work in Ubuntu 8.04 / 8.10. The network constantly freezes. I've come to conclusion that it's caused by the tg3 driver, somebody adviced me to use the bcm5700 driver, but I can't get it compiled (the version from Synaptic is probably indented for Debian and it's not maintained anymore). No idea on what to do.