Acer Aspire One 522

Here are some notes on installing CentOS 6.3 x86_64 on an Acer Aspire One 522 netbook.

1. Specifications

Note: No CD/DVD drive.

---

/sbin/lspci -nn:

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 14h Processor Root Complex
  [1022:1510]
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc Wrestler [Radeon HD 6250]
  [1002:9804]
00:01.1 Audio device [0403]: ATI Technologies Inc Wrestler HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 6250/6310]
  [1002:1314]
00:11.0 SATA controller [0106]: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA Controller
  [AHCI mode] [1002:4391]
00:12.0 USB controller [0c03]: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
  [1002:4397]
00:12.2 USB controller [0c03]: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
  [1002:4396]
00:13.0 USB controller [0c03]: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
  [1002:4397]
00:13.2 USB controller [0c03]: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
  [1002:4396]
00:14.0 SMBus [0c05]: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 SMBus Controller [1002:4385] (rev 42)
00:14.2 Audio device [0403]: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) [1002:4383]
  (rev 40)
00:14.3 ISA bridge [0601]: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC host controller
  [1002:439d] (rev 40)
00:14.4 PCI bridge [0604]: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge [1002:4384]
  (rev 40)
00:15.0 PCI bridge [0604]: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800/SB900 PCI to PCI bridge
  (PCIE port 0) [1002:43a0]
00:15.2 PCI bridge [0604]: ATI Technologies Inc SB900 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 2)
  [1002:43a2]
00:15.3 PCI bridge [0604]: ATI Technologies Inc SB900 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 3)
  [1002:43a3]
00:18.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 0
  [1022:1700] (rev 43)
00:18.1 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 1
  [1022:1701]
00:18.2 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 2
  [1022:1702]
00:18.3 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 3
  [1022:1703]
00:18.4 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 4
  [1022:1704]
00:18.5 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 6
  [1022:1718]
00:18.6 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 5
  [1022:1716]
00:18.7 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 7
  [1022:1719]
06:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR8152 v2.0 Fast Ethernet
  [1969:2062] (rev c1)
07:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN
  Controller [14e4:4727] (rev 01)

---

/usr/sbin/lsusb:

Bus 001 Device 004: ID 13fe:3123 Kingston Technology Company Inc. 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0402:9665 ALi Corp. Gateway Webcam
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0cf2:6250 ENE Technology, Inc. SD card reader (UB6250)

---

2. Memory Upgrade

I upgraded the memory from 1 GB to 2 GB using the instructions found on the net, in particular at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNRvBjaTw5Y . I found it necessary to use, carefully, a very thin knife to pry open the keyboard (as shown at 0:40 and thereafter) and to insert thin cardboard between the keyboard and each catch as I worked.

The four screws to be removed, as shown at 1:58, are labelled "#1". You then push with a screwdriver into a hole labelled "#2". There's no need to unscrew the back panel.

---

3. OS

CentOS 6.3 x86_64 DVD with a "Desktop" configuration works. CentOS 6.2 also worked; CentOS 6.0 and 6.1 didn't.

---

4. Installation

Since the netbook doesn't have a CD or DVD drive, CentOS must be installed from a USB drive.

---

5. Networking

Ethernet: Install kmod-atl1e from ELRepo, then create the file /etc/sysconfig/network, if it doesn't already exist. Here's a simple example:

NETWORKING=yes
HOSTNAME=localhost.localdomain

If desired, add this:

NETWORKING_IPV6=yes

For PPPoE, as required by many ADSL connections, edit /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf by adding ",keyfile" at the end of the line starting with plugins:

[main]
plugins=ifcfg-rh,keyfile

Note there's no space after the comma.

Then restart the network and Network Manager daemons:

service network restart
service NetworkManager restart

Wireless: Apparently, some models come with Atheros wireless and some come with Broadcom wireless. These notes apply to the Broadcom model.

Build kmod-wl from ELRepo according to its instructions.

It shouldn't be necessary to create the file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 but, if so, here's an example:

DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
ONBOOT=yes
HWADDR=00:1a:a0:d7:6d:9a
IPADDR=10.16.1.101
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
GATEWAY=10.16.1.1
DNS1=10.16.1.112
DNS2=76.242.0.28

Thanks to Russ herrold for suggesting the scripts.

For IPv6 to work with PPP, modify the file /etc/ppp/options as described in CentOS bug 5772.

---

6. USB Mouse

Works out of the box.

---

7. Touchpad

The touchpad works out of the box, as do the buttons. Double tapping must be enabled at System > Preferences > Mouse > Touchpad.

---

8. Graphics

Use the default driver (radeon) or install kmod-fglrx and fglrx-x11-drv from ELRepo, but see the note below about Suspend and hibernate.

AMD's own Catalyst driver worked with CentOS 6.2, but doesn't with CentOS 6.3.

---

9. Sound and microphone

The loudspeaker (one speaker only) works out of the box, including disabling the speaker when headphones are connected.

Microphone: Add load-module module-alsa-source device=hw:1,0,0 to /etc/pulse/default.pa before the line .ifexists module-udev-detect.so. Use alsamixer to adjust the levels for the HDA ATI SB device; for Internal Mic, if the word Capture doesn't appear, press the space bar. Tell your applications that the input device is HDA ATI SB: CONEXANT Analog (hw:1,0): Internal Mic:0.

The default beep is quite loud; you can also adjust it with alsamixer.

---

10. Video camera

Works out of the box.

---

11. Suspend and hibernate

With the default radeon graphics driver, hibernate works properly; however, after resuming from suspend, one of the cores is disabled.

Suspend and hibernate don't work with the kmod-fglrx driver from ELRepo.

---

12. Function keys

After installing kmod-wl for wireless networking, all function keys work out of the box.

---

13. Card reader

I haven't found a way to make it work; I'd appreciate suggestions.

---

14. Links

Reviews of this netbook:

• Tech Report

• PC World

• Notebook Check

• PC Welt (German)

• UMPC Portal

• Ala Test (French)

Using Linux with this netbook:

• Installing various versions of Fedora. Very useful for CentOS users.

• Installing Debian.

• Installing Ubuntu.

• Installing various distributions.

• No distribution specified.

• No distribution specified. I disagree with the procedure it suggests to upgrade the memory.

---

Created by YvesBellefeuille. Thanks to AlanBartlett for his review and suggestions.