Acer Timeline 3810T

[mr bob]

Sure!
I'm gettin' 7hrs using wifi so i guess you could do the same!
That's what i did:
Install powertop
Enable Laptop_mode
when i'm on battery i run powertop and do what it sugests to me
Enable wifi power_saving.
7hrs of autonomy!
Easy!

I've found out to enable laptop mode it needs these instructions:

sudo laptop_mode start
sudo hdparm -S 4 /dev/sda

Where would I stick these to ensure this always enables on startup?

I can't find the commands to enable wifi power saving, can you tell me what they are?

thanks for any help.

[tomfool]

sudo gedit /etc/default/acpi-support

Scroll until you find Enable_laptop_mode and set it to true.

For wifi use this command:sudo iwconfig wlan0 power on^C (Actually i don't know if you need to do it everytime you go on battery)
For using wifi powersaving you need to turn on the backports.

Use powertop!it can help you very much!

[acermobile]

Dispatched an e-mail toi Acer Germany yesterday adressing the technical issues (DSDT mainly) and, in addition, the customer service problem (no/unsatisfactory replies).

Let's see what the reply (if any...) says.

[Literati]

I too sent out an email to customer service. I figure if we all make our voices heard, we might have a better shot. At least, it couldn't hurt right?

UPDATE: They answered by just plugging their Telephone Service (Which is a complete ripoff haha.) and avoiding my point / questions all together. I've sent a follow-up email, and will keep you all updated.

[jimmy the saint]

Dispatched an e-mail toi Acer Germany yesterday adressing the technical issues (DSDT mainly) and, in addition, the customer service problem (no/unsatisfactory replies).

Let's see what the reply (if any...) says.

I too sent out an email to customer service. I figure if we all make our voices heard, we might have a better shot. At least, it couldn't hurt right?

Please consider snail mailing the letter, or a similar one, to the corporate headquarters. The customer service arm is serving as a firewall and not sending on our feature requests. I am hoping that by targeting management, we may be able to get through. When I had issues with the recall I contacted the headquarters and got an American at the recall center rather than an Indian customer service rep reading from a card. They were actually quite helpful once you got ahold of them.

Edit: I also got ahold of the corporate customer service line and explained the issue. He said he would try to get word down, since we have thus far been unable to get word up from the bottome

[Literati]

Not a big fan of Snail Mail. Never really know who reads it (Also, quite a hassle. )

Anyway, I just got off the phone with "kevin" at Acer Support, who after much time passed me to "Victor", his Supervisor. He gave me the usual line of we don't support other OS etc. Until it was clearly explained that

1. 4810T had Suspend To RAM Issue under Linux.
2. Acer fixed this issue.
3. 3810T has same problem.
4. Acer has not fixed this problem.

Then he got what I was saying, typed up a whole bunch of stuff, and will pass it to his higher ups. I don't actually know if we'll see anything come of this, but again, steps in the right direction. Enough complaints (Hell, even a good Digg article or Consumerist) and we're golden.

[caelestis2]

Does the 4810 and 3810 have different BIOS's?

[miegiel]

Does the 4810 and 3810 have different BIOS's?

The x810T and x810TG series must have different BIOSes (I assume) because of the TG series needs to be able to switch graphics cards in the BIOS. I don't know of any differences in the 3810T, 4810T and 5810T motherboards and if they're identical, the BIOSes should be interchangeable, if the BIOSes are not identical already.

The problem is that if you try it you'll be in deep faeces if you brick your laptop. The only safe thing you can do is download the BIOSes and compare the files (don't ask me how to do that, I'll need to look it up). If 2 BIOSes of the same version for different timeline models are identical, the other BIOSes are probably interchangeable too.

But even if the BIOS files are not identical it doesn't exclude the possibility that they are interchangeable. It would surprise me if the motherboards in the laptops are not exactly the same electronically.

edit:
4810T and 5810T have the same motherboard. 3810T's motherboard is different. See citizenofnowhere's post

[jimmy the saint]

I doubt they are the same. If they were, it seems like they would release the BIOS updates at the same time and have the same version. The 4810 has had far more BIOS releases and is in 2XX series, while the 3810T is still at 1.17.

[miegiel]

I doubt they are the same. If they were, it seems like they would release the BIOS updates at the same time and have the same version. The 4810 has had far more BIOS releases and is in 2XX series, while the 3810T is still at 1.17.

True, but I can see no sane reason for acer to use a different motherboard in the 4810T. After all, disregarding the screen size and the DVD player, the specs are exactly the same. Maybe someone with a 4810T can compare the motherboard with the pics of the 3810T motherboard I posted here.

If someone knows a good way to compare 2 BIOS files (opening the BIOS file in gedit gives no joy) I wouldn't mind wasting some time on it. It could very well be that the older BIOSes are (almost) identical.

edit:
4810T and 5810T have the same motherboard. 3810T's motherboard is different. See citizenofnowhere's post