Just “downgraded” from a Ubuntu-powered MacBook Pro* to the new wide-screen Acer Aspire One**. Reason1: heavy macbook, reason2: got tired of waiting for the release of the HP Mini 2140 HD. This new Acer netbook comes with an ultra-low power Intel Atom Z520 processor and the Mobile Intel US15W Express chipset.
acer aspire one 751 and hp mini 2133
Few minutes after the unpacking the latest 9.04 Ubuntu was installed, and seemed, that everything (sound, touchpad, keyboard, WiFi, Bluetooth, Hibernation) worked. However, the US15W chipset is not supported by recent Linux kernels [1]. This is frustrating from several reasons:
a) every change on the screen (opening or moving a window) is updated unbelievably slowly
b) Youtube and other videos do not play smoothly
c) the 1366×768 resolution is not supported by ubuntu 9.04, therefore the 1024×768 screen is stretched through the screen.
UPDATE1: 1366×768 needs some hacking, but works. For more detail see A.P.’s comment below.
UPDATE2: video playback is doable by enabling soft frame dropping in players supporting it, like KMplayer. More details in comments below.
UPDATE3 (Sept 27, 2009): VIDEO PLAYBACK FULLY SUPPORTED! you just need to install the poulsbo-driver-2D by adding some repos acc to this page: http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/poulsbo But be careful, new kernels (2.6.28.14 and 15) make extra problems, so follow the tutorial.. Tested with Kernel 2.6.28.11 here, and Youtube HD, and MP4 movies play perfectly. (Thanks, James for the hint!!!)
UPDATE- DEC 2009:
After updating the distro, it might happen that the whole screen resolution incl the 2D acceleration is messed again. I this case what you need to do is the following:
$ sudo apt-get remove psb-kernel-source $ sudo apt-get install psb-kernel-source $ Sudo apt-get install psb-kernel-source $ sudo shutdown -r now $ Sudo shutdown-r now
Audio:
-Output works
-Mic input not
I will keep looking for the solution and post my achievements here. If you know a short-cut, pls let me know. Here is the command line output regarding the graphics card:
lspci | grep VGA 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation System Controller Hub (SCH Poulsbo) Graphics Controller (rev 07)*2.00GHz, 2GB, 320GB, 1440×900, 2.3kg
**1.33GHz, 1GB, 160GB, 1366×768, 1.3kg
[0] http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/poulsbo
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poulsbo_(chipset)
[2] http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=129379&postcount=21
[3] http://wiki.x.org/wiki/
[4] Intel Pousbo Linux driver in Dell Mini12
June 2, 2009 at 8:47 pm |
UPDATE 1:
0. lspci | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation System Controller Hub (SCH Poulsbo) Graphics Controller (rev 07)
1. sudo apt-get install xresprobe
{http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-use-linux-ddcprobe-command/}
2. ddcprobe | grep dtiming
{you get 59, which means that the LCD is running at 60Hz,
acc to http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-779038.html
dtiming is sometimes off a bit.}
3. gtf 1366 768 60
{this creates a line for xorg.conf with all the details.
here the 3rd nr is exactly what we were looking for through ddcprobe,
while the first and second nr are horizontal and vertical resolution of the LCD}
4. put the output of gtf into xorg.conf
5. restart ubuntu
6. give feedback here
June 2, 2009 at 8:47 pm |
UPDATE 1:
0. lspci | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation System Controller Hub (SCH Poulsbo) Graphics Controller (rev 07)
1. sudo apt-get install xresprobe
{http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-use-linux-ddcprobe-command/}
2. ddcprobe | grep dtiming
{you get 59, which means that the LCD is running at 60Hz,
acc to http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-779038.html
dtiming is sometimes off a bit.}
3. gtf 1366 768 60
{this creates a line for xorg.conf with all the details.
here the 3rd nr is exactly what we were looking for through ddcprobe,
while the first and second nr are horizontal and vertical resolution of the LCD}
4. put the output of gtf into xorg.conf
5. restart ubuntu
6. give feedback here
June 4, 2009 at 10:20 pm |
UPDATE 2:
Tutorial on How to Watch movies with the standard Vesa driver, ie. without 2D video acceleration:
1. Try Totem player and see how impossible it iś to play a movie on the One 751
2. Install KPlayer from the Synaptic Package Manager
3. Load the Video file
4. Go to View, choose 100% Zoom
5. Start to Play, and see how slow it play, mostly Video out-of-sync from Audio
6. Go to Player > Advanced, Select “Soft Frame dropping”
7. Restart Video Playback.
8. Enjoy!
June 4, 2009 at 10:20 pm |
UPDATE 2:
Tutorial on How to Watch movies with the standard Vesa driver, ie. without 2D video acceleration:
1. Try Totem player and see how impossible it iś to play a movie on the One 751
2. Install KPlayer from the Synaptic Package Manager
3. Load the Video file
4. Go to View, choose 100% Zoom
5. Start to Play, and see how slow it play, mostly Video out-of-sync from Audio
6. Go to Player > Advanced, Select “Soft Frame dropping”
7. Restart Video Playback.
8. Enjoy!
June 5, 2009 at 11:03 pm |
UPDATE 3:
Ubuntu Netbook Remix {UNR} 9.04 tested on the Acer Aspire One 751:.
- if booting from an USB drive, switching between windows is really slow,
- after installing UNR to the Vista boot partition, same speed.
Same Ubuntu UNR on an HP 2133:
- same slow switching between Menue windows if booted from the USB stick.
- installation onto HD not done.
Drivers and Documentation for the US15W chipset:
http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/embedded/SCHUS15W/tools.htm
June 5, 2009 at 11:03 pm |
UPDATE 3:
Ubuntu Netbook Remix {UNR} 9.04 tested on the Acer Aspire One 751:.
- if booting from an USB drive, switching between windows is really slow,
- after installing UNR to the Vista boot partition, same speed.
Same Ubuntu UNR on an HP 2133:
- same slow switching between Menue windows if booted from the USB stick.
- installation onto HD not done.
Drivers and Documentation for the US15W chipset:
http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/embedded/SCHUS15W/tools.htm
June 9, 2009 at 2:13 pm |
There is basic video support for the Intel Poulsbo chip. Please execute the following steps to get native suport for 1366×768 (but no hardware acceleration!):
- add the following line at the end of /etc/apt/sources.list:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mobile/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
- execute the following commands from command line:
sudo gpg –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com –recv 0x99d6b21cc6598a30
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-psb
- reboot
Enjoy!
June 9, 2009 at 2:13 pm |
There is basic video support for the Intel Poulsbo chip. Please execute the following steps to get native suport for 1366×768 (but no hardware acceleration!):
- add the following line at the end of /etc/apt/sources.list:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mobile/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
- execute the following commands from command line:
sudo gpg –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com –recv 0x99d6b21cc6598a30
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-psb
- reboot
Enjoy!
June 9, 2009 at 10:21 pm |
Very good, thanks A.P!!
I will try it hopefully tomorrow. M.
June 9, 2009 at 10:21 pm |
Very good, thanks A.P!!
I will try it hopefully tomorrow. M.
June 11, 2009 at 2:49 pm |
Thanks for being the guinea pig with this! Let me know if you get hardware acceleration working – I really want to pick one of these up but I want it to run linux with full graphics acceleration. Darn you Acer for not putting out Linux drivers!
June 11, 2009 at 2:49 pm |
Thanks for being the guinea pig with this! Let me know if you get hardware acceleration working – I really want to pick one of these up but I want it to run linux with full graphics acceleration. Darn you Acer for not putting out Linux drivers!
June 11, 2009 at 2:56 pm |
Does this help?
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?ProductID=3036&DwnldID=16751&lang=eng
Supposedly the driver at the bottom has support for Linux:
This package contains release 9.0.2 of the drivers and video BIOS for operation on:
Linux* support for the following distributions:
— Damn Small Linux*
— Fedora Core 5*, 6 & 7
— SUSE Enterprise Server (SLES) 10 and 10+ Linux
— Novel Linux Point of Service (NLPOS) 9 service pack 3
— Red Hat Embedded for US15W
— Red Flag Midinux for US15W
— Wind River Systems Embedded Linux for US15W
- Note: Intel Kernel Module provides code examples to add IEGD to almost any Linux distribution.
June 11, 2009 at 2:56 pm |
Does this help?
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?ProductID=3036&DwnldID=16751&lang=eng
Supposedly the driver at the bottom has support for Linux:
This package contains release 9.0.2 of the drivers and video BIOS for operation on:
Linux* support for the following distributions:
— Damn Small Linux*
— Fedora Core 5*, 6 & 7
— SUSE Enterprise Server (SLES) 10 and 10+ Linux
— Novel Linux Point of Service (NLPOS) 9 service pack 3
— Red Hat Embedded for US15W
— Red Flag Midinux for US15W
— Wind River Systems Embedded Linux for US15W
- Note: Intel Kernel Module provides code examples to add IEGD to almost any Linux distribution.
June 11, 2009 at 7:08 pm |
Hi.
Just a feedback: native suport for 1366×768 works, based on A.P.’s tutorial.
Screenshot here:
http://touchmods.wordpress.com/files/2009/06/acer_aspire_one_1366x768.png
BUT:
the GPG line gave this warning:
gpg: WARNING: unsafe ownership on configuration file `/home/m/.gnupg/gpg.conf’
and the apt-get update line this error:
“Reading package lists… Done
W: GPG error: http://ppa.launchpad.net jaunty Release: The following signatures couldn’t be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 99D6B21CC6598A30
W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems”
of course, rerunning apt-get update gives the same error again.
Still, the resolution is ok now. Thanks!!
June 11, 2009 at 7:08 pm |
Hi.
Just a feedback: native suport for 1366×768 works, based on A.P.’s tutorial.
Screenshot here:
http://touchmods.wordpress.com/files/2009/06/acer_aspire_one_1366x768.png
BUT:
the GPG line gave this warning:
gpg: WARNING: unsafe ownership on configuration file `/home/m/.gnupg/gpg.conf’
and the apt-get update line this error:
“Reading package lists… Done
W: GPG error: http://ppa.launchpad.net jaunty Release: The following signatures couldn’t be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 99D6B21CC6598A30
W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems”
of course, rerunning apt-get update gives the same error again.
Still, the resolution is ok now. Thanks!!
June 11, 2009 at 7:30 pm |
Thanks for the update!
Can movies play normally now? What about 3D acceleration? Or is this just a partial fix?
June 11, 2009 at 7:30 pm |
Thanks for the update!
Can movies play normally now? What about 3D acceleration? Or is this just a partial fix?
June 12, 2009 at 10:34 am |
Hi Touchmods,
I received 2 of these babies at work yesterday, and I’ve been fighting with a Ubuntu install. Our fleet of Aspire Ones (both 8.9″ and 10″) all have Ubuntu 9.04 on them, so I wanted to go with a 9.04 on this one too. There is the same problem; the system installs in 1024×768. A full update does not fix the issue. I was fiddling around myself, and I also saw the ubuntu-mobile sources, and adding the ubuntu-mobile source does correct the problem, after updating the xorg packages, the system boots into 1366×768. However, there are other steps to take, since the GMA500 card needs a firmware to be happy. More on that later.
For the time being, I have the 751 in 1366×768, but with little or no acceleration. On an D150 (Aspire One 10″), tunning glxgears gives me around 550FPS throughput on the video card, and on the 751 I get around 75. Just picking up a window and moving it around results in tearing. I will continue to investigate, and report.
James
June 12, 2009 at 10:34 am |
Hi Touchmods,
I received 2 of these babies at work yesterday, and I’ve been fighting with a Ubuntu install. Our fleet of Aspire Ones (both 8.9″ and 10″) all have Ubuntu 9.04 on them, so I wanted to go with a 9.04 on this one too. There is the same problem; the system installs in 1024×768. A full update does not fix the issue. I was fiddling around myself, and I also saw the ubuntu-mobile sources, and adding the ubuntu-mobile source does correct the problem, after updating the xorg packages, the system boots into 1366×768. However, there are other steps to take, since the GMA500 card needs a firmware to be happy. More on that later.
For the time being, I have the 751 in 1366×768, but with little or no acceleration. On an D150 (Aspire One 10″), tunning glxgears gives me around 550FPS throughput on the video card, and on the 751 I get around 75. Just picking up a window and moving it around results in tearing. I will continue to investigate, and report.
James
June 16, 2009 at 7:58 am |
TrackSmart: yes, this is only a partial fix for the resolution, but not for acceleration.
Movies play quite smoothly when 150% zoom is used, but when switched to full-screen, the frame dropping effect is visible. Not critical, but visible. Regarding the link you posted, thanks, we will some volunteer to use it
James, thanks for the update. Pls let us know if you have some news regarding the acceleration fix. glxgears gives here 80 +/1 fps. Regards, M.
June 16, 2009 at 7:58 am |
TrackSmart: yes, this is only a partial fix for the resolution, but not for acceleration.
Movies play quite smoothly when 150% zoom is used, but when switched to full-screen, the frame dropping effect is visible. Not critical, but visible. Regarding the link you posted, thanks, we will some volunteer to use it
James, thanks for the update. Pls let us know if you have some news regarding the acceleration fix. glxgears gives here 80 +/1 fps. Regards, M.
June 21, 2009 at 1:25 pm |
it’s work for A.P. TUT
June 21, 2009 at 1:25 pm |
it’s work for A.P. TUT
June 22, 2009 at 8:49 am |
thank you for information
June 22, 2009 at 8:49 am |
thank you for information
June 24, 2009 at 11:14 am |
worked great for me.. i fixed the resolutin problem but sadly compiz didint work for me still
June 24, 2009 at 11:14 am |
worked great for me.. i fixed the resolutin problem but sadly compiz didint work for me still
June 25, 2009 at 6:02 pm |
worked also fo me
resolution is fine but video are slow: youtube plays quite normally (but non ha or full screen): even playing low quality *.avi films made with my camera is very slow ..
June 25, 2009 at 6:02 pm |
worked also fo me
resolution is fine but video are slow: youtube plays quite normally (but non ha or full screen): even playing low quality *.avi films made with my camera is very slow ..
June 25, 2009 at 8:11 pm |
have you tried the soft frame-drop trick, based on the 2nd comment here?
it works for me for most of movies, and i use it as temporal solution till 2D acceleration is solved. btw, many new dell netbooks use the same graphics chipset, so come on, intel..
June 25, 2009 at 8:11 pm |
have you tried the soft frame-drop trick, based on the 2nd comment here?
it works for me for most of movies, and i use it as temporal solution till 2D acceleration is solved. btw, many new dell netbooks use the same graphics chipset, so come on, intel..
June 29, 2009 at 8:55 pm |
Hi touchmods,
The launchpad repositories have been updated, and now a firmware is installed, so dmesg stops complaining. It hasn’t really changed anything for me speed-wise, and moving windows results in some serious tearing, but at least this is a step in the right direction.
June 29, 2009 at 8:55 pm |
Hi touchmods,
The launchpad repositories have been updated, and now a firmware is installed, so dmesg stops complaining. It hasn’t really changed anything for me speed-wise, and moving windows results in some serious tearing, but at least this is a step in the right direction.
June 29, 2009 at 9:28 pm |
thaks, james
let’s hope
June 29, 2009 at 9:28 pm |
thaks, james
let’s hope
July 20, 2009 at 3:20 pm |
hi .. anyone has experience with 3D applications or 3D games ? what is max possible ? are there updates ?
thx for any comments!
August 9, 2009 at 6:48 pm |
video performance enhancement:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne
.. check this part / SEEMS TO HELP ON THE AAO 751:::
VIDEO AND 3D PERFORMANCE: (Optional)
Out of the box, the graphic card Intel GMA 950, is well detected, however you can tweak /etc/X11/xorg.conf to achieve better graphic card performance:
Section “Device”
(…)
Option “MonitorLayout” “LVDS,VGA”
Option “Clone” “true”
Option “AccelMethod” “EXA”
Option “MigrationHeuristic” “greedy”
VideoRam 229376
Option “CacheLines” “1980″
EndSection
The Option Clone is especially usefull, if you want to capture video or photos. Without it you will get a black screen on applications like cheese.
Also add this to your /etc/profile:
export INTEL_BATCH=1
August 9, 2009 at 6:54 pm |
GMA 500 (hires LCD netbooks) vs. GMA 950 (other 1024 x 768 netbooks):
http://www.netbookmarket.net/intel-gma950-vs-gma500/
September 5, 2009 at 9:16 pm |
Is anyone else trying to use an Aspire One (atom CPU, running XP) with video projectors or videoconferencing systems. It wont work with a Tandberg system. Someone suggested likely problem with synch rate. Limited resolution choices (2!) makes we worry that the netbook might have problems with various video projectors too. Thanks for any feedback on this.
September 14, 2009 at 9:08 pm |
yesterday i decided to try an older ubuntu netBook remix,
mainly coz several sources indicated that THAT edition has got
2D acceleration and correct 1366×768 resolution…
False! not only the distro was unbelievably slow on the AAO,
and the resolution was completely down without the option to change it..
the installation routine did not ask anything about partitions,
just displayed a message that everything will be lost..
so pls everybody, BE CAREFUL!!! older ubuntu remixes do delete
your HD completely once you press Enter when booting!!!!
September 22, 2009 at 12:12 am |
Intel Poulsbo (GMA500) Dissatisfaction Group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=62711517402
the time will show..
September 22, 2009 at 7:11 pm |
here a short article on how to reach 120 fps with glxGears:
http://www.mail-archive.com/debian-laptop@lists.debian.org/msg51520.html
September 26, 2009 at 2:26 pm |
news:
http://www.happyassassin.net/2009/09/26/gma-500-poulsbo-driver-for-fedora-11-soon-to-be-in-rpm-fusion/
October 25, 2009 at 1:20 pm |
acer aspire one copper
It is a really nice product for the road, specially when you are on vacations and need to check for info on the web, ligthweigh but powerfull enough to do the job.
November 19, 2009 at 9:48 am |
Acer Aspire One AOD250-1165
This model is fairly new. So it has the usual features, i.e. built in wi-fi, camera, 160 GB drive, etc, etc. This is the 3 hr battery model. I have no idea where Amazon gets their tech specs. We just bought this and the manual states that it comes with 1 GB of RAM, and is upgradeable to 2 GB. It recognized 4 wireless connections in my area the instant it was powered on. So far it’s great for what it was bought for, the internet, small low demand games, music, simple word processing…
January 18, 2010 at 12:43 am |
Hello!
I am a newbie, who just bought Acer Aspire One and installed Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala. After four hours of frustration and suffering I finally managed to change the native resolution to 1366×768.
The nifty save published in this post does not work for the new Karmic, since Karmic doesn’t use xorg.conf files. After several attempts to create my own and going through the terrifying attempts to delete these files in shell format since Xserver did not work with these files I gave up this attempt.
I attempted to install the ppa repositories recommended by A.P. on June 9 2009 here above, but again, the packages required, libdrm-poulsbo1 and xserver-xorg-video-psb, did not show up on Synaptic manager as promised.
Finally, I found the answer on the Ubuntu Wiki, a new method of installation of the poulson repositories for Karmic (see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupportComponentsVideoCardsPoulsbo).
I executed the command:
wget http://gma500re.altervista.org/scripts/poulsbo_ppa.sh && sh ./poulsbo_ppa.sh
rebooted, and voila, after four hours, the native resolution is 1366×768.
January 25, 2010 at 9:16 pm |
Hello BO! Thanx a lot for the update! I am still on 9.04 but soon….
March 14, 2011 at 10:35 pm |
Hi I have Acer Aspire 751h and have the same problem, only I have Fedora 14 instead of Ubuntu. Can someone suggest how to get the 1366×768 resolution on it?