This is a compatibility guide to running Linux with the Acer TravelMate 8371 laptop. If you have the Acer TravelMate 8371 and are running Linux on it please consider editing this page or adding a comment below with your compatibility details. By contributing you will help other people running this laptop or trying to make a decision on whether to buy it or not.
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For full specifications see the Acer TravelMate 8371 specifications page.
| Name | Acer TravelMate 8371 |
| Processor | Intel® Core™2 Duo ntel® Core™2 Solo |
| Screen | 13.3” 1366 x 768 Widescreen |
| RAM | Up to 8GB |
| HDD | to 500GB |
| Optical Drive | None |
| Graphics | Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4330 |
| Network | 10/100/1000 Ethernet Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 5100 (dual-band quad-mode 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N) |
| Device | Compatibility | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Yes | |
| Screen | Yes | |
| HDD | Yes | |
| Graphics | Yes | |
| Sound | Yes | (Intel HDA/ALC269) Wasn't able to use the internal microphone. Not working out of the box Look into the notes Section for further instructions |
| Ethernet | Yes | |
| Wireless | Yes | |
| Bluetooth | Yes | |
| Modem | n/a | |
| USB | Yes | |
| Card Reader | Yes | |
| Fingerprint Reader | No driver | Egistek |
| Webcam | Yes |
You can enter any specific notes with running Linux on the Acer TravelMate 8371 here.
I tested on Ubuntu 9.10 and got it working. It seems to be a problem of PulseAudio. If there is some expert arround here, who can tell what has to be done to run it with any other distribution, please edit this note.
Also this is only important if you want to use the mic with applications, that do not directly use alsa. Unlike audacity and like Skype, in example.
**Only confirmed for Ubuntu 9.10
Be careful. This may do harm to your system!
The issue with this mic is, that it got a mono input, but the software tries to get it stereo.
So we have to turn of one channel completely.
1.You have to do: sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-alsa-karmic-generic
2.Then reboot.
3.Now install pavucontrol. Open it and go to input. There you have to unmute the mic if it's not already,
click on this “channels together” button. Set as fallback should be activated. Now you mute one channel and set the other one to 40-60% (should be save). And thats it.
If you're able to read some German, feel free to visit http://ubuntu-531.blogspot.com/2009/12/mikrofon-und-pulseaudio.html for the original and pictures.
Careful: Do NOT use your Gnome audio setup to control the microphone - this will destroy your settings and you have to step 3 once again.
Also this doesn't even seem to work for Kubuntu 9.10. So PLEASE suggest a better version of this.
Works like a charm. There doesn't seem to be any driver for the Egistek fingerprint reader built into this laptop.
Discussion
Thank you very much!
It's working now like a charm. :)
WORKAROUND for suspend to ram problem:
Add the i8042.reset=1 kernel parameter in GRUB.
To do this, change the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line in /etc/default/grub to look like GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=“quiet splash i8042.reset=1” and execute “sudo update-grub”
I found that in the german ubuntu forum:
http://forum.ubuntuusers.de/topic/acer-travelmate-8371-fingerscanner/4/#post-2420187
I should rather have mentioned the following source
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/405120?comments=all
Seems to work with many other Acer Laptops as well…
I should rather have mentioned the following source
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/405120?comments=all
Seems to work with many other Acer Laptops as well…
Suspend does not work yet on all Linux distributions. Also the internal mic and the fingerprint reader are issues. Everything else works really perfectly.
Suspend bug report:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/429456
The card reader is working too!
But at the moment I'm trying to get suspend to ram working (kernel 2.6.30-ARCH). The machine suspends correctly but when it tries to wake up from resume the (SATA) disk isn't spinning/doesnt get waked up. Yesterday it worked twice after I changed to IDE mode in BIOS, the disk was spinning and the machine resumed but now everything is broken again… I changed some stuff to try various other methods and now i cant find the working state again. I'm going to look into this…
The card reader is working too!
But at the moment I'm trying to get suspend to ram working (kernel 2.6.30-ARCH). The machine suspends correctly but when it tries to wake up from resume the (SATA) disk isn't spinning/doesnt get waked up. Yesterday it worked twice after I changed to IDE mode in BIOS, the disk was spinning and the machine resumed but now everything is broken again… I changed some stuff to try various other methods and now i cant find the working state again. I'm going to look into this…