Acer Aspire AS5672 and Xubuntu
Hardware info on main page.
This machine runs the i386 version of Xubuntu.
The internal sata hard drive is sliced up as follows:
slice 1 - 30 GB - Windows XP Home slice 2 - 70 GB - a FreeBSD install (currently RELENG_7) slice 3 - 60 GB - Xubuntu (currently 11.10) slice 4 - 72 GB -
Worklog
2014-01-07: booted the machine, to check a few things. ran update-manager, and selected 130 updates out of 135 (I didn't bother to upgrade Firefox and Opera). It got the machine a new kernel.
tingo@kg-home:~$ uname -a Linux kg-home 3.0.0-28-generic #45-Ubuntu SMP Wed Nov 14 21:40:18 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux tingo@kg-home:~$ lsb_release -a LSB Version: core-2.0-ia32:core-2.0-noarch:core-3.0-ia32:core-3.0-noarch:core-3.1-ia32:core-3.1-noarch:core-3.2-ia32:core-3.2-noarch:core-4.0-ia32:core-4.0-noarch:cxx-3.0-ia32:cxx-3.0-noarch:cxx-3.1-ia32:cxx-3.1-noarch:cxx-3.2-ia32:cxx-3.2-noarch:cxx-4.0-ia32:cxx-4.0-noarch:desktop-3.1-ia32:desktop-3.1-noarch:desktop-3.2-ia32:desktop-3.2-noarch:desktop-4.0-ia32:desktop-4.0-noarch:graphics-2.0-ia32:graphics-2.0-noarch:graphics-3.0-ia32:graphics-3.0-noarch:graphics-3.1-ia32:graphics-3.1-noarch:graphics-3.2-ia32:graphics-3.2-noarch:graphics-4.0-ia32:graphics-4.0-noarch:printing-3.2-ia32:printing-3.2-noarch:printing-4.0-ia32:printing-4.0-noarch:qt4-3.1-ia32:qt4-3.1-noarch Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 11.10 Release: 11.10 Codename: oneiric
After rebooting, it doesn't look like a new kernel. Strange. That is all for now.
2012-12-15: booted the machine, to run my stupid label printer. I also ran update-manager, which pulled in 38 updates. That's all.
2012-12-02: I'm upgrading the machine to Xubuntu 11.10, via upgrade-manager. New info:
tingo@kg-home:~$ uname -a Linux kg-home 3.0.0-28-generic #45-Ubuntu SMP Wed Nov 14 21:40:18 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux tingo@kg-home:~$ lsb_release -a LSB Version: core-2.0-ia32:core-2.0-noarch:core-3.0-ia32:core-3.0-noarch:core-3.1-ia32:core-3.1-noarch:core-3.2-ia32:core-3.2-noarch:core-4.0-ia32:core-4.0-noarch:cxx-3.0-ia32:cxx-3.0-noarch:cxx-3.1-ia32:cxx-3.1-noarch:cxx-3.2-ia32:cxx-3.2-noarch:cxx-4.0-ia32:cxx-4.0-noarch:desktop-3.1-ia32:desktop-3.1-noarch:desktop-3.2-ia32:desktop-3.2-noarch:desktop-4.0-ia32:desktop-4.0-noarch:graphics-2.0-ia32:graphics-2.0-noarch:graphics-3.0-ia32:graphics-3.0-noarch:graphics-3.1-ia32:graphics-3.1-noarch:graphics-3.2-ia32:graphics-3.2-noarch:graphics-4.0-ia32:graphics-4.0-noarch:printing-3.2-ia32:printing-3.2-noarch:printing-4.0-ia32:printing-4.0-noarch:qt4-3.1-ia32:qt4-3.1-noarch Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 11.10 Release: 11.10 Codename: oneiric
I used Synaptic to enable third-party sources, the used update-manager again. This got me Opera 12.11.
2012-12-02: the machine crashed hard (no keyboard or other reaction). No information found in logs afterwards. Nothing in /var/crash either.
2012-12-02: today's update-manager brought in 180 updates, and a new kernel.
tingo@kg-home:~$ uname -a Linux kg-home 2.6.38-16-generic #67-Ubuntu SMP Thu Sep 6 18:00:43 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux tingo@kg-home:~$ lsb_release -a LSB Version: core-2.0-ia32:core-2.0-noarch:core-3.0-ia32:core-3.0-noarch:core-3.1-ia32:core-3.1-noarch:core-3.2-ia32:core-3.2-noarch:core-4.0-ia32:core-4.0-noarch:cxx-3.0-ia32:cxx-3.0-noarch:cxx-3.1-ia32:cxx-3.1-noarch:cxx-3.2-ia32:cxx-3.2-noarch:cxx-4.0-ia32:cxx-4.0-noarch:desktop-3.1-ia32:desktop-3.1-noarch:desktop-3.2-ia32:desktop-3.2-noarch:desktop-4.0-ia32:desktop-4.0-noarch:graphics-2.0-ia32:graphics-2.0-noarch:graphics-3.0-ia32:graphics-3.0-noarch:graphics-3.1-ia32:graphics-3.1-noarch:graphics-3.2-ia32:graphics-3.2-noarch:graphics-4.0-ia32:graphics-4.0-noarch:printing-3.2-ia32:printing-3.2-noarch:printing-4.0-ia32:printing-4.0-noarch:qt4-3.1-ia32:qt4-3.1-noarch Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 11.04 Release: 11.04 Codename: natty
All for now.
2012-02-22: today's update-manager brought a new kernel (dmesg output):
tingo@kg-home:~$ uname -a Linux kg-home 2.6.38-13-generic #55-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jan 24 14:27:59 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
That's all.
2012-01-28: today's update-manager brought a new kernel (dmesg output):
tingo@kg-home:~$ uname -a Linux kg-home 2.6.38-13-generic #54-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jan 3 13:44:52 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
thats all.
2011-10-08: today's update-manager brought a new kernel (dmesg output):
tingo@kg-home:~$ uname -a Linux kg-home 2.6.38-11-generic #50-Ubuntu SMP Mon Sep 12 21:18:14 UTC 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
2011-09-03: today's update-manager brought a new kernel (dmesg output):
tingo@kg-home:~$ uname -a Linux kg-home 2.6.38-11-generic #48-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jul 29 19:05:14 UTC 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
2011-08-03: slice 4 - I just noticed; /var/log/messages isn't updated anymore:
tingo@kg-home:~$ uname -a;date;ls -l /var/log/mess* Linux kg-home 2.6.38-10-generic #46-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jun 28 15:05:41 UTC 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux Wed Aug 3 23:14:50 CEST 2011 -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 0 2011-07-26 18:17 /var/log/messages -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 149770 2011-07-11 00:44 /var/log/messages.1 -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 26070 2011-07-10 22:01 /var/log/messages.2.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 13255 2011-04-03 20:41 /var/log/messages.3.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 13752 2010-10-15 11:14 /var/log/messages.4.gz
dmesg still works:
tingo@kg-home:~$ dmesg | tail [ 51.694141] wlan0: authenticate with 00:0f:66:51:aa:41 (try 1) [ 51.696182] wlan0: authenticated [ 51.697162] wlan0: associate with 00:0f:66:51:aa:41 (try 1) [ 51.699575] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:0f:66:51:aa:41 (capab=0x11 status=0 aid=9) [ 51.699579] wlan0: associated [ 51.701322] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready [ 61.732016] wlan0: no IPv6 routers present [ 1652.068512] audit_printk_skb: 18 callbacks suppressed [ 1652.068517] type=1400 audit(1312404949.091:18): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" name="/usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf" pid=5291 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 1652.069757] type=1400 audit(1312404949.091:19): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" name="/usr/sbin/cupsd" pid=5291 comm="apparmor_parser"
I just updated via update-manager, and the machine wants a reboot, we will see if that fixes anything. Nope, it did not:
tingo@kg-home:~$ ll /var/log/mess* -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 0 2011-07-26 18:17 /var/log/messages -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 149770 2011-07-11 00:44 /var/log/messages.1 -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 26070 2011-07-10 22:01 /var/log/messages.2.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 13255 2011-04-03 20:41 /var/log/messages.3.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 13752 2010-10-15 11:14 /var/log/messages.4.gz
Ok, I found out that this change is intentional (see bug 794727). Hrmf. Perhaps the Ubuntu people haven't heard about POLA. Anyway, it can be fixed (see this thread) by editing /etc/rsyslog.d/50-default.conf and uncommenting the following lines:
*.=info;*.=notice;*.=warn;\ auth,authpriv.none;\ cron,daemon.none;\ mail,news.none -/var/log/messages
followed by
tingo@kg-home:~$ sudo restart rsyslog
Good.
2011-07-26: today's update-manager brought a new kernel (dmesg output):
tingo@kg-home:~$ uname -a Linux kg-home 2.6.38-10-generic #46-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jun 28 15:05:41 UTC 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
2011-07-26: I installed VirtualBox 4.0.12 by doing the following: adding a new line to the repository:
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian natty contrib
adding the GPG key:
wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add - update sources and install the software sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install virtualbox-4.0
That's it. For some reasons, the GUI methods (Synapctic, Software Center) just failed to download packages.
2011-07-11: Upgraded to Xubuntu 11.04, using update-manager / upgrade (which started up automatically). dmesg output.
tingo@kg-home:~/work/1_dmesg$ uname -a Linux kg-home 2.6.38-8-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Mon Apr 11 03:31:50 UTC 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux tingo@kg-home:~/work/1_dmesg$ lsb_release -a No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 11.04 Release: 11.04 Codename: natty
Finished for today.
2011-07-10: Another upgrade, this time to Xubuntu 10.10 (I followed MaverickUpgrades) and used update-manager / upgrade. dmesg output.
tingo@kg-home:~/work$ uname -a Linux kg-home 2.6.35-30-generic #54-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jun 7 18:40:23 UTC 2011 i686 GNU/Linux tingo@kg-home:~/work$ lsb_release -a No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 10.10 Release: 10.10 Codename: maverick
Just one more upgrade to go.
2011-07-10: I upgraded, using update-manager / upgrade to Xubuntu 10.04 (10.04.2 LTS), dmesg output.
tingo@kg-home:~$ uname -a Linux kg-home 2.6.32-32-generic #62-Ubuntu SMP Wed Apr 20 21:54:21 UTC 2011 i686 GNU/Linux tingo@kg-home:~$ lsb_release -a No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 10.04.2 LTS Release: 10.04 Codename: lucid
Now, moving on.
2010-06-04: I installed the ntpq command, as follows: sudo apt-get install ntp.
2009-10-30: I upgraded to Xubuntu 9.10, using update-manager / upgrade. dmesg output.
2009-10-30: I upgraded to Xubuntu 9.04, using update-manager / upgrade. dmesg output.
2009-03-08: I installed support for Buypass smartcard solution as follows: install libccid, pcscd, pcsc-tools, and finally wget http://www.buypass.no/support/linux/jnipcsc.tar.gz to get the buypass speciific install files. untar and follow the instructions.
2009-02-28: installed adobe-flashplugin (via synaptic),
2009-02-27: installed Citrix ICA client 10.6 (from CitrixICAClientHowTo), installed openssh-server (via synaptic).
2009-02-24: I installed OpenOffice.org 3.0.1 from these instructions.
2009-02-21: I installed acroread (from the Medibuntu repository),
2009-02-20: I installed the msttcorefonts package to get better-looking fonts in some web forums (diskusjon.no etc). Installed the Opera web browser (instructions), installed smartmontools, xfce4-sensors-plugin, added the coretemp module and an sudo sensors-detect to configure it,
2009-02-19: I installed Xubuntu 8.10 (i386) on slice 3 of the new hard drive (see main page for more info).
2008-11-22: Ok, getting the wireless working again wasn't too hard now that I knew what I was looking for. First I undid all the changes I had done when trying to get the ipw3945 driver working. Then I removed all lines from /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules and restarted udev (/etc/init.d/udev restart). After that the wireless shows up as wlan0 and works. Nice!
2008-11-22: I did what I should have done when Xubuntu 8.10 first came out: I booted the Xubuntu 8.10 (i386) LiveCD (desktop). dmesg output: normal. Here the wireless network works: it hows up as wlan0. Here is the output of lshw:
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo lshw -C network *-network description: Wireless interface product: PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 0 bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0 logical name: wmaster0 version: 02 serial: 00:13:02:3e:d4:ce width: 32 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list logical ethernet physical wireless configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwl3945 ip=10.1.161.11 latency=0 module=iwl3945 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abg *-network description: Ethernet interface product: NetLink BCM5789 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express vendor: Broadcom Corporation physical id: 0 bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0 logical name: eth0 version: 21 serial: 00:16:36:54:a9:ae capacity: 1GB/s width: 64 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pm vpd msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=tg3 driverversion=3.94 firmware=5789-v3.49a latency=0 link=no module=tg3 multicast=yes port=twisted pair *-network DISABLED description: Ethernet interface physical id: 1 logical name: pan0 serial: e6:1f:f4:4a:d5:58 capabilities: ethernet physical configuration: broadcast=yes driver=bridge driverversion=2.3 firmware=N/A link=yes multicast=yes
Now all I need to do is get it working in my upgraded installation. Sigh.
2008-11-16: I tried getting ipw3945 working with the recipe here, with this and this patch from Juergen's site. But I get this in dmesg:
root@kg-home:~# dmesg | grep 3945 [ 21.864415] ipw3945: Unknown symbol escape_essid
2008-11-16: I have installed the drivers from wireless.kernel.org to see if that makes any difference. Later: it doesn't seem to have helped. The wireless still doesn't work, and network interfaces in general act funny.
2008-11-16: upgraded to Xubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex). The new iwl3945 driver isn't working properly. Ugh. But the usb mouse works again. dmesg output: normal.
2008-11-15: upgraded to Xubuntu 8.04.1 (Hardy Heron) via Update Manager. After the upgrade, the usb mouse no longer works. Wireless works, but the wireless LED light doesn't. dmesg output: normal.
2007-11-05: upgraded to Xubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbons) via Update Manager. After the upgrade, I had to link /sbin/ipw3945d-2.6.22-14-i386 to /sbin/ipw3945d-2.6.22-14-generic and do sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart to get the wireless going.
2007-07-19: figured out I should test the camera (OrbiCam) again. I followed these instructions, and after installing Camorama, the camera worked. The colors are wrong though - a newer version of the gspca driver is probably needed.
2007-07-12: various info about the machine: lshw, lshw -short, hwinfo, hwinfo --short, lspci -v, lspci, lsusb -v, lsusb.
2007-07-12: added the argument pci=assign-busses to the kernel command line by editing /boot/grub/menu.lst. No change, other than the error message gone from the dmesg output.
2007-07-12: changed Ubuntu to use the SMP kernel (-generic instead of -i386). New dmesg. Had to link /sbin/ipw3945d-2.6.20-16-i386 to /sbin/ipw3945d-2.6.20-16-generic in order to get the wireless going. For some reason, the sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart trick is no longer necessary. Cool!
2007-??-??: updated to Xubuntu 7.04 using a CD. dmesg here.. Still needs to do sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart to get the wireless going.
2007-02-11: Today I decided to try getting my usb mouse working once more. A quick Google search found me this Howto: Synaptics touchpad and a usb mouse. I implemented the changes to xorg.conf - and now my usb mouse works! Finally!
2006-11-25: I noticed that the usbmouse module wasn't loaded, even if the usbhid module was, so I tried adding the usbmouse module to /etc/modules. The module loaded, but the usb mouse still doesn't work. Annoying.
2006-11-24: upgraded to Xubuntu 6.10, using the apt-get method. Here is the dmesg. I still have to use sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart after boot to
get the wireless working, and I still must figure out how to get the usb mouse working.
See my article Xubuntu on the Acer AS5672 laptop. In short: most things work, except the usb mouse.
After boot, I have to run sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart in order for the wireless network to work.
Here is a Xubuntu 6.06 dmesg, verbose dmesg.