Hi All,
This machine, at present, is the baby of the Timeline family, with a
Celeron 723 ULV processor (single core, fixed frequency of 1.2) and a
lower capacity battery than the 3810T, otherwise it seems the same as
the basic version of that machine, integrated graphics, no bluetooth.
I started off with Karmic Alpha 4, but after running into problems
with wireless instability and an external DVD writer, as well as
random crashes, I realised that Alpha 4 was a bit too bleeding edge,
and installed Jaunty. I thought that Jaunty would require quite a lot
of post-install configuration, with this being a pretty new machine,
but all I had to do was compile and install the ethernet driver, as
per the Ubuntu Wiki page. After doing this, everything I have tried so
far (see below) has worked, with the exception of suspend. I did not
have to add anything else to the default install, or change any
configuration or parameters. Well done Ubuntu.
Details:
Boot: fine with default options.
X-resolution detected correctly.
Desktop effects present and correct.
Wired networking - need to obtain and compile a kernel module (see
above).
Wireless network working (ath9k).
Wireless switch works, but is a little confusing, as it only comes on
when there is network traffic, but pressing it, even when unlit,
switches off the wireless, and switching back on works.
Touchpad disable/enable button works.
USB fine.
Webcam works.
Sound (recording and playback) works, but sound quality of the
internal speakers is abysmal (no different in Windows).
Hot Keys for backlight off (F6), sound mute (F8), backlight adjust
(left/right cursors), volume adjust (up/down cursors) work. others not
tested.
Power-saving mode touch key changes brightness to second from lowest
setting.
Hibernate works, no issues on resume.
Suspend - does not work. Appears to suspend, but does not resume -
powers off instead, the same behaviour as other Timeline models, so no
surprise.
Power consumption out of the box runs at around 11 or 12 Watts, with
low screen brightness, and wireless active. I've been running on
battery for 3.5 hours this evening, and powertop thinks there is
about 45 minutes left, but it has been underestimating (with a full
battery it thought about 3.5 hours total), so I'm hoping for about 4.5
hours total, mostly browsing, emailing and playing with system
settings. Acer's headline battery life for this model is 6 hours
(rather than the 8 of the other Timelines, as I said earlier, it has a
lower capacity battery, 4400 mAh rather than 5600 mAh for the 3810).
I'm very pleased with this machine so far, doesn't seem any slower
than my old 32 bit dual core pentium for basic tasks, very light, much
more usable (screen and keyboard) than a netbook, and much better
performance (smooth web video etc).
Again, thanks to Ubuntu for an operating system which works much
better than the default Acer Vista install supplied with this laptop.
When resume from suspend is sorted out (which I am sure will be sooner
rather than later), it will be perfect.
Darrell
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