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Acer Aspire TimelineUltra M5-481T-6642
Introduction
This laptop is something in between a traditional laptop and an ultrabook, it has an optical drive but not a VGA port.
This page is just for discussing using Linux on the Acer Aspire TimelineUltra M5-481T-6642. For a general discussion about this laptop you can visit the Acer Aspire TimelineUltra M5-481T-6642 page on LapWik.
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Specifications
For full specifications see the Acer Aspire TimelineUltra M5-481T-6642 specifications page.
| Name | Acer Aspire TimelineUltra M5-481T-6642 |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-3317M (dual-core, 1.7 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.6 GHz, 3 MB L3 cache) |
| Screen | 14-inch 1366 x 768 pixels (HD), 16:9 aspect ratio 112 ppi pixel density Active Matrix TFT Color LCD LED backlight & CineCrystal technology |
| RAM | Up to 6 GB |
| HDD | 500 GB 5400 rpm HDD 20 GB SSD (Hybrid) |
| Optical Drive | 8X DVDRW DL |
| Graphics | Intel HD Graphics 4000 |
| Network | Gigabit Ethernet(RJ-45 port) Broadcom 43228 802.11 a/g/n or Atheros AR9462 |
Linux Compatibility
| Device | Compatibility | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Works | |
| Screen | Works | |
| HDD | Works | |
| SSD | Not tested | |
| Graphics Chip | Works | |
| HDMI Out | Works | Audio and video :) see the notes below |
| Optical Drive | Works | |
| Sound | Works | |
| Microphone | Works | |
| Microphone Port | Not Tested | |
| Headphone Port | Works | |
| Ethernet | Works | |
| Wireless | Works | Tested for Atheros AR9462 with the solution below |
| Bluetooth | Does not work | Tested for Atheros AR9462 |
| USB3 | Works | |
| Card Reader | works | Tested with a micro SD card inside an adapter |
| Webcam | Works | |
| Keyboard | Works | even the backlight Fn+F9 works |
| TouchPad | Works | Use Ctrl+Fn+F7 to enable |
| Suspend/Resume | Works |
Notes
Wireless
Before doing anything check you wireless card model with
lspci | grep -i wireless
(You can also tether the wifi, through usb, from an android phone)
Atheros AR9462
There is a known issue (for many Atheros AR9xxx cards) related to the kernel version, see here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/40876/how-do-i-get-an-atheros-ar9287-working
My sugestion is to use
echo "options ath9k nohwcrypt=1" > /etc/modprobe.d/ath9.conf
Broadcom 43228
There is a known issue described at the bottom of this page: http://wiki.debian.org/wl, to fix this my sugestion is
apt-get install laptop-mode-tools
and then “set WIRELESS_BATT_POWER_SAVING=0 within /etc/laptop-mode/conf.d/wireless-power.conf”
HDMI
The first time I tried to use the HDMI (with gnome 3 and pulseAudio) the thing didn't worked, a “dummy device” apeared, to get rid of it use (not with root, with your normal user)
pulseaudio --kill pulseaudio --start
now is working with “Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output + Analog Stereo Input” in the hardware tab of the gnome sound settings
Touchpad
There are two ways to enable it:
- Press Fn+F7 before logging in.
- Press Ctrl+Fn+F7 once logged in.
Card reader
In order to make it work I had to place a card in the slot and reboot the system with the card inside.
USB Mouse
The usb mouse freezes, to fix this what I did was to install the `laptop-mode-tools`
apt-get install laptop-mode-tools
then use
lsusb
to get the mouse USB ID, something like `abcd:1234`, and then place that in the `AUTOSUSPEND_USBID_BLACKLIST` within the file
/etc/laptop-mode/conf.d/usb-autosuspend.conf
Bluetooth
to fix it (if you have the Atheros AR9462 card) I recommend you read this
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1024884
Summary
You can enter a summary of how well the Acer Aspire TimelineUltra M5-481T-6642 works with Linux here.
Discussion
Note: the card Atheros AR9462 has both: wifi and bluetooth
I'm trying to edit this page but I can't find the way, may be the “edit this page” button is missing.
The laptop works very well (Debian Wheezy, and Ubuntu 12.04) but there are a few things to know:
You must enable the touch pad before logging in (Fn F7).
The wireless does not work perfectly, it goes down every 5 or ten minutes, really annoying but usable.
The bluetooth does not work at all, you cannot see other devices nor they can see you.
lovely things:
- suspend mode works very well (Fn f4), the battery can last a whole day with, say, 4 hours of real use.
- the gnome 3 feels smooth