Acer AOD250-1613 - ArchWiki

# Acer AOD250-1613

This page assumes that you will be using it for additional reference to Beginners' guide and Acer Aspire One. Note that this netbook does not come with Recovery CDs.

## Hardware Information for Potential Buyers

### lspci

    00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
    00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
    00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
    00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
    00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
    00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
    00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
    00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
    00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
    00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
    00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
    00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
    00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
    00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
    00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
    00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)
    00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
    01:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
    03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Attansic Technology Corp. Atheros AR8132 / L1c Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (rev c0)

### lsusb

    Bus 005 Device 002: ID 0a5c:2151 Broadcom Corp.
    Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
    Bus 002 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 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
    Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:0159 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
    Bus 001 Device 002: ID 04f2:b084 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd
    Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

### lsmod

    Module                  Size  Used by
    sco                    10944  2
    bridge                 53936  0
    stp                     2112  1 bridge
    llc                     5576  2 bridge,stp
    bnep                   10940  2
    btusb                  12656  0
    ipt_REJECT              2908  1
    ipt_LOG                 5568  5
    xt_limit                2432  6
    xt_tcpudp               2844  7
    xt_state                1948  6
    ipt_addrtype            2332  4
    ip6table_filter         2396  1
    ip6_tables             12588  1 ip6table_filter
    nf_nat_irc              2044  0
    nf_conntrack_irc        5024  1 nf_nat_irc
    nf_nat_ftp              2844  0
    nf_nat                 17776  2 nf_nat_irc,nf_nat_ftp
    nf_conntrack_ipv4      14344  8 nf_nat
    nf_defrag_ipv4          1692  1 nf_conntrack_ipv4
    nf_conntrack_ftp        7072  1 nf_nat_ftp
    nf_conntrack           65400  7 xt_state,nf_nat_irc,nf_conntrack_irc,nf_nat_ftp,nf_nat,nf_conntrack_ipv4,nf_conntrack_ftp
    iptable_filter          2556  1
    ip_tables              11436  1 iptable_filter
    x_tables               15776  8 ipt_REJECT,ipt_LOG,xt_limit,xt_tcpudp,xt_state,ipt_addrtype,ip6_tables,ip_tables
    rfcomm                 39116  0
    l2cap                  24124  6 bnep,rfcomm
    bluetooth              57668  7 sco,bnep,btusb,rfcomm,l2cap
    ext3                  134020  1
    jbd                    49136  1 ext3
    hfs                    46720  0
    hfsplus                76864  0
    vfat                   11132  0
    fat                    53052  1 vfat
    isofs                  33764  0
    nls_utf8                1664  0
    udf                    86564  0
    crc_itu_t               1724  1 udf
    i915                  233928  1
    drm                   156160  2 i915
    i2c_algo_bit            5888  1 i915
    aes_i586                8124  1
    aes_generic            27228  1 aes_i586
    ipv6                  279604  12
    cpufreq_userspace       3008  2
    ext2                   68964  1
    loop                   15336  2
    snd_seq_dummy           2720  0
    snd_seq_oss            31232  0
    snd_seq_midi_event      7036  1 snd_seq_oss
    snd_seq                53808  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
    snd_seq_device          6792  3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
    snd_pcm_oss            40320  0
    snd_mixer_oss          17564  1 snd_pcm_oss
    joydev                 10528  0
    snd_hda_codec_realtek   210048  1
    arc4                    1756  2
    snd_hda_intel          27528  0
    ecb                     2812  2
    snd_hda_codec          72700  2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
    snd_hwdep               7712  1 snd_hda_codec
    snd_pcm                74496  3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
    snd_timer              21188  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
    usb_storage            51904  1
    ath9k                 239188  0
    fan                     4448  0
    snd                    58820  11 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer
    soundcore               6944  1 snd
    video                  20116  1 i915
    mac80211              155788  1 ath9k
    ath                     7708  1 ath9k
    iTCO_wdt               11072  0
    output                  2908  1 video
    iTCO_vendor_support     3136  1 iTCO_wdt
    thermal                13912  0
    cfg80211               90364  3 ath9k,mac80211,ath
    pciehp                 37020  0
    led_class               4000  1 ath9k
    psmouse                60084  0
    snd_page_alloc          8900  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
    uhci_hcd               23692  0
    wmi                     6600  0
    battery                10816  0
    intel_agp              28604  1
    ac                      4224  0
    rfkill                 19696  2 bluetooth,cfg80211
    pci_hotplug            28732  1 pciehp
    button                  5612  0
    i2c_i801                9616  0
    sg                     27728  0
    agpgart                32660  3 drm,intel_agp
    ehci_hcd               36620  0
    atl1c                  32160  0
    i2c_core               21808  4 i915,drm,i2c_algo_bit,i2c_i801
    evdev                  10240  13
    serio_raw               5792  0
    usbcore               154032  5 btusb,usb_storage,uhci_hcd,ehci_hcd
    acpi_cpufreq            8648  0
    freq_table              3740  1 acpi_cpufreq
    processor              36076  3 acpi_cpufreq
    rtc_cmos               11344  0
    rtc_core               17976  1 rtc_cmos
    rtc_lib                 2524  1 rtc_core
    ext4                  334112  2
    mbcache                 7104  3 ext3,ext2,ext4
    jbd2                   82016  1 ext4
    crc16                   1660  1 ext4
    sd_mod                 28344  5
    ahci                   35788  2
    libata                169548  1 ahci
    scsi_mod              112468  4 usb_storage,sg,sd_mod,libata

### Wired and Wireless Networking

Both work out of the box.

### Bluetooth

Works out of the box (don't forget to turn it on using the bluetooth button). See Bluetooth.

## Not Losing Android

### Quick Review

Not losing Android, as far as I understand, requires some effort on your part. Here is the gist: do NOT install the bootloader to the MBR but to the partition where you installed Arch.

Caution: You always risk losing data when you are moving or resizing a partition. Don't start the procedure if you do not have a back up, are not sure whether e-recovery (alt+f10 while booting) may work (I do not know if this model has it), do not have recovery CDs ($20 from Acer, does not come with the netbook), or just do not want to risk it.

### Details

When you first turn on your AOD-250 (d250 with android), you will see that it has three partitions:

- /dev/sda1 -> "Compaq Diagnostic" (ie System Recovery partition)
- /dev/sda2 -> NTFS (Windows XP)
- /dev/sda3 -> FAT32 (Android)

I am not quite sure how, but the boot process is initially handled by Acer's tools, not Windows XP's bootloader (NTLDR). In fact, ubuntu's Gparted version identifies this tool as a hidden Windows Vista bootloader. Acer's tool first looks at whether you want (set up) Android to start. If you did, it starts Android up. If you chose Xindows XP, it tells NTLDR to load Windows XP up. So, as far as I understand, if you install another bootloader to the MBR, you lose Android (I did not try it though -I didn't want to take the risk).

So here is what I did:

1. Boot using Ubuntu LiveCD USB (because it had an up to date gparted at time of this writing) to:

- shrink Windows' partition to 20G
- move /dev/sda3 right after /dev/sda2, so that when I create new partitions, the partition number (sda3) will not change.
- create new partitions for Arch installation

2. Install Arch as usual, but tell it to install bootloader to the partition where Arch was installed. In other words, if you install Arch to /dev/sda6, choose /dev/sda6 as the place to install grub when it asks you.

3. Boot with Ubuntu LiveCD USB again to copy the bootloader to a usb disk. If you installed Arch to /dev/sda6:

     dd if=/dev/sda6 of=/path/to/usb/drive/arch.mbr bs=512 count=1

The name of the file should have less than 7 characters, follow DOS file name limitations (keep it simple).

4. Restart: Windows XP will boot. Copy arch.mbr to C:\ (root of Windows).

5. Edit Windows' bootloader to add Arch to NTLDR's list of operating systems that can be booted up. Open up Windows' terminal window and

     cd \
     attrib -s -h -r BOOT.INI
     notepad BOOT.INI

and add a line at the end of that file, like this:

     c:\arch.mbr="Arch Linux"

and finish the edit by saving the file and fixing its attributes again

     attrib +s +h +r BOOT.INI

6. Have Arch be the default OS to boot for NTLDR: use msconfig to set the default entry (find the BOOT.INI tab, click on the line that says, for example, c:\arch.mbr="Arch Linux", and click on "Set as Default". You may also want to change the time out value for NTLDR, see http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/bootini.htm which has nice screenshots on various things to do with the bootloader.

## CPUFREQ and Wrong CPU Freq Reporting

When you load acpi-cpufreq to do cpu frequency scaling, the maximum CPU speed becomes 1.33GHz instead of 1.66Ghz. There is no workaround for this at time of writing except not using said module, which is not helpful in terms of saving power (battery life for the session). See https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cpufreqd/+bug/422858

## Mounting Android from Linux as a Loop Device

This section requires someone to elaborate on what really is happening here.

Assuming that Android is in your /dev/sda3 partition and that you have an fstab entry that mounts Androids partition as a vfat filesystem to a folder called /android, I think you mount Android as a loopback device when you do:

       $ mkdir ~/android-loop #you only need to do this once
       # mount /android
       # mount -t loop /android/firefox.img ~/android-loop

Category:

- Acer