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Table of Contents
Laptop Name
Acer Aspire E1-522
Author
Barry Coughlan
Introduction
This is a compatibility guide to running Linux with the Acer Aspire E1-522 laptop. If you have the Acer Aspire E1-522 and are running Linux on it please consider editing this page or adding a comment below with your compatibility details. By contributing you will help other people running this laptop or trying to make a decision on whether to buy it or not.
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Specifications
Tested with Ubuntu 13.10.
| Name | Acer Aspire E1-522 |
| Processor | AMD Quad-Core Processor A6-5200 (2.0 GHz) |
| Screen | 15.6“ 1366×768 |
| RAM | 6GB |
| HDD | 500GB |
| Optical Drive | None |
| Graphics | Radeon HD 8400 |
| Network | Ethernet: Qualcomm Atheros QCA8171 Wireless: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565/AR9565 No Bluetooth |
Linux Compatibility
| Device | Compatibility | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Yes | |
| Screen | Yes | See note 2 |
| HDD | Yes | |
| Graphics Chip | Yes | Only proprietary driver. See note 1. |
| VGA Out | Not Tested | |
| HDMI Port | Not Tested | |
| Sound | Partial | Works but acts a little quirky. No devices shown in alsamixer. |
| Bulti-in Microphone | Yes | |
| Headphone Jack | Yes | |
| Ethernet | Not Tested | |
| Wireless | Yes | |
| USB | Yes | |
| Card Reader | Yes | |
| Webcam | Yes | |
| Docking Station | Not Tested | |
| Touch Pad | Yes | |
| Suspend/Resume | Yes | |
Notes
1. The open source Radeon drivers are not compatible with the HD-8400 chipset. You need to install the proprietary AMD catalyst driver. This may stop you booting into your distro installation (I got a white screen with Ubuntu 13.10). To work around this you need to use the “nomodeset” option when booting and remove the “quiet” and “splash” options. Alternatively use the text-based installer.
–>The radeon driver needs the linux headers for your kernel installed first. find your kernel with uname -r. Get your linux header name with apt-cache search linux-header. Download the radeon driver, unpack it and run in unpacked directory ./amd <tab> as super user.
2. The backlight does not work until “acpi_osi=Linux” is added to the GRUB configuration. See here for how to do this: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1613132
3. Alsa shows the HDMI card by default, hence alsamixer appears empty. In /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf add the line: options snd_hda_intel index=1 to set card 1 default (check card id with aplay -l) (works with Debian, 3.16.0 kernel)
4. No audio after resume from suspend. Follow the Ubuntu help here (scroll up to “Getting Alsa to work after suspend”)
Summary
There are a few quirks but they can all be solved quite easily. Overall this laptop is compatible but may cause some headaches during setup because of the driver support. The sound/ALSA quirks can probably be fixed.
