My Acer Aspire 4720z

I run Arch Linux (x86_64) on an Acer Aspire 4720z with a vanilla kernel. The system has 2 GiB of RAM, a 160 GiB HDD, a Pentium Dual Core (1.73 GHz X 2) and a 14.1″ TFT. It also has a 5 in 1 card reader, an infrared port, Bluetooth, a FireWire port, WiFi and a 1.3 megapixel webcam. All in all the configuration is pretty decent, though it is not a performer when it comes to 3D rendering – it does not have a graphics card. But for my needs the specifications are more than enough.

After some experimentation and a LOT of rebooting I think I have a kernel configuration which runs all of the components in the notebook (cannot say anything about the IrDA though). The configuration file may be downloaded here. Just place it in the root directory of the kernel source as .config and compile the kernel.

I could not find any native way of getting the Broadcom Wireless LAN running – b43-fwcutter simply does not recognize the driver’s firmware. So I resorted to using ndiswrapper and it works perfectly now. But make sure you use the Windows XP drivers, not the Windows Vista ones.

The framebuffer driver is broken in 2.6.30 and you will not get a full 1280×800. The solution is here.

Another nifty thing you can do is map the top-right Acer eKey to open the terminal. It takes only a few hours to realize how easy it makes stuff.