ASUS Eee PC 1215N - ArchWiki

# ASUS Eee PC 1215N

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Reason: This article mentions acpi_call and legacy Bumblebee (Discuss in Talk:ASUS Eee PC 1215N#)

Device | Status | Module
Ethernet | Working | atl1c [1]
Wireless | Working | brcmsmac[broken link: invalid section]; broadcom-wl
Video | Working | i915; nvidia[broken link: invalid section]; noveau[broken link: invalid section]
Audio | Working | snd-hda-intel
Camera | Working | uvcvideo
Card Reader | Working | usb-storage
Function Keys | Partial | eeepc-wmi [2]

This page includes general information regarding ASUS Eee PC 1215N and related notes on installing/using Arch Linux on it.

# System Specs

CPU: Intel Atom D525 (Dual Core; 1.8GHz; Codename Pineview)

RAM: 1-2 x 1GB DDR3 SO-DIMM; 800 MHz (Maximum 4 GB)

HDD: 2.5" SATA2 250GB/320GB HDD; 5400 RPM (SATA2)

GPU: nVidia ION2 (GT218; 16 CUDA cores; 475 MHz; 256 MB DDR3) wikipedia:Nvidia_Ion#Ion_2_.28next-generation_Nvidia_Ion.29 / Intel Graphics Media Accelerator on CPU die (Intel GMA 3150; 400 MHz; 256 MB Max Shared Memory [3])

North Bridge: NM10 [4]

South Bridge: Intel ICH7-M wikipedia:List_of_Intel_chipsets#Southbridge_9xx_and_3.2F4_Series_chipsets

Audio: Intel High Definition Audio Controller

Display: 12.1" 1366x768 LED display

Wireless: Broadcom BCM4313 802.11b/g/n

Ethernet: Qualcomm Atheros AR8152 v2.0 10/100 Mb

Bluetooth: BCM4313 Bluetooth v3.0 + HS

Webcam: Azurewave 0.3 MP (VGA)

Expansion / Connectivity: USB (3 x USB 2.0); Video Ports (VGA, HDMI); Audio Ports (Out 3.5 mm, In 3.5 mm); Card Reader (SD/ SDHC/ SDXC/ MMC)

Extras: Two USB 3.0 ports (optional)

# Configuration

## Wireless and Bluetooth

With the Kernel 3.0 and after, there is no need for any of the procedure below, because Wireless and Bluetooth work out of box.

## Media- and FN-keys

example ~/.xbindkeysrc configuration

    #Muter/UnMute
    "amixer set "Master" toggle"
        m:0x0 + c:121
        XF86AudioMute
    #Volume up
    "amixer set "Master" 5%+"
        m:0x0 + c:123
        XF86AudioRaiseVolume
    #Volume down
    "amixer set "Master" 5%-"
        m:0x0 + c:122
        XF86AudioLowerVolume
    #MPD next song
    "mpc next"
        m:0x0 + c:171
        XF86AudioNext
    #MPD stop playing
    "mpc stop"
        m:0x0 + c:174
        XF86AudioStop
    #MPD prev song
    "mpc prev"
        m:0x0 + c:173
        XF86AudioPrev
    #MPD pase/unpause
    "mpc toggle"
        m:0x0 + c:172
        XF86AudioPlay

## nVidia ION 2 with Optimus

nVidia Optimus is basically a software configuration that utilizes an Intel IGP + an nVidia GPU that writes to the Intel IGP's framebuffer. This is all done on the software side. The nVidia GPU is not wired to the outputs (VGA, HDMI etc.) At the time of this writing (September 27, 2010) Optimus on Linux sucks (i.e. doesn't work at all). You can still use the Intel IGP, but there is no way to access the discrete GPU. DO NOT try to install the nVidia binary driver, you have been warned.

Things are not that bad however. There is a kernel module called "acpi_call" which enables you to power off the nVidia GPU, hence you can significantly improve battery life.

David Airlie seems to be working on PRIME support (google it). You can also try "bumblebee-git" from the aur, which is the first working soloution to get the nvidia-card besides the intel gpu working.

Module auto-detection may load the nouveau module, but this sometimes seems to cause X to crash after boot-up, so try blacklisting this module if you encounter this problem.

There is a new project, called Bumblebee (Transformers reference) that allows you to use the Nvidia Optimus ION2, but not natively, you have to instale it, and then call each program on the terminal with a command.

## Bumblebee Installation

Recently tested Bumblebee installation with kernel 3.1.8 and nvidia driver 290.10, which is installed as part of bumblebee package.

Install Bumblebee from AUR and follow instructions here

Output from Optirun Test

After installation, use

    # glxgears

and

    # optirun glxgears

for comparison of integrated and dedicated GPU rendering (integrated GPU ~60 FPS)

The default compression method for the dedicated GPU is "proxy" (lower compression).

By changing the compression method while using Nvidia Optimus, the FPS can be increased or decreased, some results (by compression method and approx. FPS, respectively):

proxy 220, jpeg 340, rgb 280, yuv 330.

Power Management

On the wiki page, there are warnings about using power management with Bumblebee, essentially turning the card on and off using "acpi_call" module. Testing so far hasn't produced any problems....

The two files, cardon and cardoff, containing the commands used to control Nvidia Optimus need to be created in "/etc/bumblebee" for the 1215n with the following commands:

"/etc/bumblebee/cardon"

    \_SB.PCI0.P0P4.GFX0._PS0

"/etc/bumblebee/cardoff"

    \_SB.PCI0.P0P4.GFX0._DSM  {0xF8,0xD8,0x86,0xA4,0xDA,0x0B,0x1B,0x47,0xA7,0x2B,0x60,0x42,0xA6,0xB5,0xBE,0xE0} 0x100 0x1A {0x1,0x0,0x0,0x3}
    \_SB.PCI0.P0P4.GFX0._PS3

## Relevant links

http://airlied.livejournal.com/71734.html

https://launchpad.net/~hybrid-graphics-linux

http://linux-hybrid-graphics.blogspot.com/2010/02/howto-install-vgaswitcheroo-for-linux.html

https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=48866 (AUR for Bumblebee)

https://github.com/MrMEEE/bumblebee/ (Bumblebee Project Git)

# Problems

## Nvidia graphic card

On the default kernel (2.6.36 branch) you cannot suspend system after disabling nvidia card with "acpi_call" module (nor after turning it on once you disabed it). This bug affects also turning off laptop (you'll have to manually power off laptop with power button). Using LTS 2.6.32 kernel ("kernel26-lts" package) allows you to safely power off/suspend netbook with disabled nvidia card (but with older kernel you won't be able to use some eee Fn hotkeys: disabling LCD/external output, volume controls, playback controls).

Update (after a little testing):

With the latest kernel running (3.0) and the "acpi_call" module installed from AUR, the suspend and hibernate scripts used by pm-utils will work (from commandline and in Gnome 3) as long as the acpi_call module is added to the suspend modules list used by the scripts.

Create a file `modules` in `/etc/pm/config.d` and paste in the line below.

     SUSPEND_MODULES="acpi_call"

## Bluetooth

Turning on bluetooth freezes the system. Need to do hard reset. No more info about this atm.

## CPU power consumption

There is a kernel parameter which must be added in linux 3.0 kernel to use energy saving feature of the intel driver: `pcie_aspm=force i915.i915_enable_rc6=1`, see this thread.

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- ASUS

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