Moma's notes for 20.oct.2009.
History:
20.oct.2009 First version.
09.feb.2010 Added support for Acer Aspire 5610 (thanks to timo).
ACTIVATING WIRELESS CONNECTION IN FUJITSU SIEMENS Li 1718 LAPTOP AND UBUNTU 9.10 (Karmic Koala).
THIS GUIDE IS KNOWN TO WORK ON SOME OTHER AMILO AND ACER MODELS TOO.
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The Atheros driver (ath5h) is automatically loaded but the WLAN hardware (or hotkey) is not turned on.
This guide will tell you how to activate the hotkey by installing the acerhk driver.
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If you do not want to compile the 32bit driver (acerhk.ko) from source, download it directly from my website.
Just do this:
$ wget http://www.edbl.no/karmic/acerhk.ko
$ sudo mkdir -p /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/extra/
$ sudo mv acerhk.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/extra/
$ sudo depmod -a
http://www.edbl.no/karmic/acerhk.ko.md5sum contains the checksum if you want to verify the file.
Then continue from step 3).
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Steps to compile the acerhk driver form source:
0) Install pre-requirements
$ sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)
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1) Download source code
$ cd $HOME
$ wget http://www.edbl.no/karmic/acerhk-fixed.tar.bz2
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2) Unpack and compile it
$ tar -xvjf acerhk-fixed.tar.bz2
$ cd acerhk-0.5.35/
$ make
$ sudo make install
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3) Test the module (do it manually first from CLI ;-)
# This works for Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Li 1718 and Amilo Pro V3505.
$ sudo /sbin/modprobe acerhk force_series=6805 autowlan=1
# If you have Acer Aspire 5610, then type
$ sudo /sbin/modprobe acerhk force_series=2020 poll=0
# Many other models should NOT have the "force_series=####" option, so drop it. Simply test
$ sudo /sbin/modprobe acerhk autowlan=1
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4) Switch the wireless off, the led light should turn off too.
$ echo 0 > /proc/driver/acerhk/wirelessled
And turn it on, watch the led light.
$ echo 1 > /proc/driver/acerhk/wirelessled
Or simply press the Fn + ((o)) buttons.
See this picture: http://www.edbl.no/karmic/Fujitsu-Siemens-Amilo-li1718.jpg
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5) Load the acerhk module at system startup.
5a) Edit the /etc/modules file and add "acerhk" module at the bottom.
$ sudo gedit /etc/modules
loop
lp
acerhk
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5b) Create a new file /etc/modprobe.d/acerhk.conf
$ sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/acerhk.conf
and add _one of_ the following options lines to it.
# This works for Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Li 1718 and Amilo Pro V3505.
options acerhk force_series=6805 autowlan=1
# If you have Acer Aspire 5610 then use this line
options acerhk force_series=2020 poll=0
# If you have any other model (such as Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo A1650g), try this:
options acerhk autowlan=1
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6) Turn the wireless ON at system startup. Edit the /etc/rc.local file.
$ sudo gedit /etc/rc.local
and add the following line BEFORE THE "exit 0" STATEMENT and save the file.
echo 1 > /proc/driver/acerhk/wirelessled
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In case of errors:
Use the lsmod command to check the loaded modules.
$ lsmod | egrep "ath|ace"
ath5k 124260 0 <-- Wifi driver
mac80211 181236 1 ath5k
led_class 4096 1 ath5k
ath 8060 1 ath5k
cfg80211 93052 3 ath5k,mac80211,ath
acerhk 30296 0 <-- Hotkey driver Looks good. Both ath5k (or ath9k) and acerhk modules are loaded. --------- You may also check the system messages. $ dmesg | egrep -i "ath5|acer" [ 11.999082] input: Acer hotkey driver as /devices/virtual/input/input7 [ 12.000945] Acer Travelmate hotkey driver v0.5.35 [ 14.384203] ath5k 0000:02:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[ 14.384215] ath5k 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
[ 14.384231] ath5k 0000:02:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 14.384292] ath5k 0000:02:00.0: registered as 'phy0'
[ 14.508276] ath5k phy0: Atheros AR2425 chip found (MAC: 0xe2, PHY: 0x70)
...
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Remove duplicate copies of acerhk.ko. Find all acerhk.ko drivers in your system.
First, update the file database.
$ sudo updatedb
Then find all acerhk.ko files.
$ locate acerhk.ko
It should find acerhk.ko in the /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/extra/ directory.
Remove (sudo rm...) the other copies.
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You can always unload/load the WLAN driver ath5k (or ath9k).
sudo modprobe -r ath5k
sudo modprobe -vv ath5k
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Literature and references:
1) This is the older guide for Atheros wifi on Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope).
http://futuredesktop.org/jaunty/amilo_1718_wireless_in_linux.txt
2) http://newyork.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1294262
3) https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acerhk/+bug/456123
4) The original source code for acerhk is avail. from the Ubuntu's repo.
$ apt-cache search acerhk-source
$ sudo apt-get install acerhk-source
It puts a tar-ball into /usr/src/ directory. Unpack it with
$ sudo tar -xvjf acerhk.tar.bz2 # use sudo because /usr/src/ is owned by the root.
Then look in the /usr/src/modules/acerhk/ directory.
5) Moma's homepage
http://www.futuredesktop.org (.com)
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Notes and additions from other users:
1) From: playsansara att gmail dott com
The fixed version worked for my Acer Aspire 5610 with Mint 8 installed.
It made made multimedia keys work! Instead of
$ sudo /sbin/modprobe acerhk force_series=6805 autowlan=1
you'll have to use
$ sudo /sbin/modprobe acerhk force_series=2020 poll=0
and enter this to the file instead:
$ sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/acerhk.conf
options acerhk force_series=2020 poll=0
No need to edit the /etc/rc.local in step 6).
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