Acer Timeline 3810T

[Sashin]

There's a script that needs sudo and changes the maximum value of brightness, effectively changing the current value.
It works with KMS, I think, if you don't mind assigning it to a different shortcut and providing your password every time you want to change the brightness.

#!/bin/bash

function getAddr {
        ADDR=`lspci | grep VGA | cut -d' ' -f1`
}

function getBL {
        CURR=`sudo setpci -s $ADDR F4.B`
}

function setBL {
        sudo setpci -s $ADDR F4.B=$1
}

function toDec {
        DEC=`printf "%d" 0x${1}`
}

function toHex {
        HEX=`printf "%02x\n" ${1}`
}

function inc {
        NEWVAL=`expr $1 + 10`
        if [ $NEWVAL -gt 255 ]
        then
                NEWVAL=255
        fi
}

function dec {
        NEWVAL=`expr $1 - 10`
        if [ $NEWVAL -lt 0 ]
        then
                NEWVAL=0
        fi
}

getAddr
getBL
toDec $CURR
case $1 in
        up)
                inc $DEC
                ;;
        down)
                dec $DEC
                ;;
        *)
                echo "Usage: backlightControl.sh (up|down)"
                exit -1
                ;;
esac
toHex $NEWVAL
setBL $HEX 

exit 0

If you're assigning it to shortcuts, remember to write:

gksu /home/USER/backlight.sh up
gksu /home/USER/backlight.sh down

I tried this and it worked
I set it to Super (windows key) + Left/Right, so it's right next to Fn anyway.

This script doesn't seem to work for me, but I'm using lucid.

[Arlanthir]

This script doesn't seem to work for me, but I'm using lucid.

I'll try it on a daily live iso

[miegiel]

...

Then, the good question is: Does the SATA chipset on this laptop supports NCQ?

Yes, as long as you don't disable it in the BIOS.

[Arlanthir]

This script doesn't seem to work for me, but I'm using lucid.

Tried it on a daily iso and it worked just fine, I'm afraid.
Do you get any error messages? You have to repeat the command (eg. ./backlight.sh down) some times to notice a difference.

[chrisjsmith]

New 3810TZ user here trying 9.10 32-bit. I will post back later with problems/solutions if I have anything useful to add.

[chrisjsmith]

New 3810TZ user here trying 9.10 32-bit. I will post back later with problems/solutions if I have anything useful to add.

Ok status update:

WORKS:

Video. Sound. Flash (smoothly). All USB ports. All perfectly.

Doesn't work:

Wireless. It sucks. If I could get a connection, it wasn't stable and managed to top out at ~ 1Mbit.

Fan. Constantly stuck on. I've never heard the fan before until I booted Ubuntu live.

Untested:

Touch pad on/off. WLAN on/off. Flash reader.

Bored with it already. Decided to carry on using Ubuntu server inside VMware on Windows 7 for now rather than hosting my dev environment on Ubuntu Desktop.

[within]

Yes, as long as you don't disable it in the BIOS.

good, but why my system response is soooooooooooo low?

1st, booting time takes ages (my HD is dedictaed to Linux, no more windows), about 58 seconds to get to the login window, then almost 15 seconds to reach the desktop.

2nd, installed system should be optimized as I followed some advices for it:
* / 10240 MB (10 GB)
* /boot 1024 MB (1 GB)
* /swap 2048 MB (2 GB)*
* /usr 20480 MB (20 GB)
* /var 10240 MB (10 GB)
* /tmp 5120 MB (5 GB)
* /usr/local 5120 MB (5 GB)
* /home available left space

3rd, Nautilus or Firefox for examples take also ages to show up... (at least 2 seconds for Nautilus, and 8~9 seconds for Firefox)

why the OS is not responsive as it should be? I really thought it could be related to the HD, as everything else damn fast compared to my 2 other laptops with Ubuntu, but this one is much slower than others...

If anyone has an idea...

[miegiel]

good, but why my system response is soooooooooooo low?

1st, booting time takes ages (my HD is dedictaed to Linux, no more windows)

2nd, installed system should be optimized as I followed some advices for it:
* / 10240 MB (10 GB)
* /boot 1024 MB (1 GB)
* /swap 2048 MB (2 GB)*
* /usr 20480 MB (20 GB)
* /var 10240 MB (10 GB)
* /tmp 5120 MB (5 GB)
* /usr/local 5120 MB (5 GB)
* /home available left space

3rd, Nautilus or Firefox for examples take also ages to show up... (at east 1 second for Nautilus, and 3~4 seconds for Firefox)

why the OS is not responsive as it should be? I really thought it could be related to the HD, as everything else damn fast compared to my 2 other laptops with Ubuntu, but this one is much slower than others...

If anyone has an idea...

Using IDE mode shouldn't make your laptop slow either, AHCI with NCQ just make it a bit faster. Try this to check your disk speed :

user@machine:~$ sudo hdparm -t /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing buffered disk reads:  212 MB in  3.02 seconds =  70.20 MB/sec
user@machine:~$ sudo hdparm -T /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   2374 MB in  2.00 seconds = 1188.25 MB/sec

3810T with 320GB WDC WD3200BJKT-0

[within]

Thanks miegiel,

here is what I get for my Western Digital Model WDC WD3200BEVT-22ZCT0:

thierrite@thierrite-laptop:~$ sudo hdparm -t /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing buffered disk reads:  178 MB in  3.02 seconds =  58.84 MB/sec
thierrite@thierrite-laptop:~$ sudo hdparm -T /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   2082 MB in  2.00 seconds = 1042.28 MB/sec

According to what you say, I don't think now the slow response speed is related to the HD... but what else?

[acermobile]

I received my Timeline back yesterday after 8 days from shipping. The LCD Screen has been replaced and the laptop is back to work. The actual repair was already finished Friday morning (according to the web tracking). However, the box did not get back to me until Tuesday via UPS.

In addition, the e-mail from acer stating that the box is on its way said something about a UPS tracking number - which was not present at all?!?!?

After having heard quite a lot of bad things about the customer service I can say that the repair went very smooth and with small administrative hassle.

Wonder when it will break, again...