F8x86_64 on the Acer Ferrari 3400LMi
handled by the script. The script includes an initialization option that may be used for this. Put the following line in the file /etc/rc.local:
/usr/local/bin/dualhead.sh init
11 Touch-pad
The Synaptics touchpad is properly configured during the installation, and works well. I use it in conjunction with a USB mouse and both works well in parallel. I have seen some reports on problems with the touchpad 4way multi button, but it works without any hassle for me. Likewise does the mouse wheel.
The InputDevice section in xorg.conf configured during the installation works well and needs no modification:
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier | "Synaptics" |
Driver | "synaptics" |
Option | "Device" "/dev/input/mice" |
Option | "Protocol" "autodev" |
Option | "Emulate3Buttons" "yes" |
EndSection |
|
For a complete reference you find my /etc/X11/xorg.conf file in Appendix A.
The special key to toggle the touchpad (FnF7) also works without any special configurations.
12 Wireless NIC
When it comes to the Broadcom BCM4306 802.11b/g WLAN chip on the Ferrari you have two choices. The traditional NdisWrapper or the kernel module b43. When I first got this laptop there was no other option than NdisWrapper, but lately the kernel module b43 has evolved and matured.
As its name implies NdisWrapper is a wrapper for NDIS drivers, meaning that you use a corresponding Windows driver instead of a Linux driver. For some WLAN chips this is still the only option, but lately many chips enjoy almost native Linux support by means of kernel modules. I say “almost” because many chips need to be fed with proprietary firmware in order to operate. Anyway, this is a step in the right direction, and the final goal must be to free the firmware as well.
With FC4 NdisWrapper was the obvious choice, but during FC5 its configuration was (deliberately?) broken by the updates. Most FC5 updates reinstalled the now deprecated bcm43xx kernel module, even though it was previously disabled and blacklisted. Thus, for most FC5 updates I had to disable the kernel module once again and reinstall NdisWrapper. In my opinion, the bcm43xx kernel module was not mature enough to compete with NdisWrapper at that time. So this was an endless struggle to keep my WLAN support alive.
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