[PLUG] Getting an Acer Extensa 4420-5239 to run Linux wifi

Matt McKenzie lnxknight at gmail.com
Sat Sep 20 19:30:15 UTC 2008


On Sat, Sep 20, 2008 at 8:47 AM, David Kaplan <davek52 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I just ordered this Acer Extensa 4420-5239 from Newegg. I got great reviews
> and for the price I thought I would give it a try. Here's the specs from
> Newegg.com
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115497
>
> Someone mentioned that it has a Broadcom chipset that's not so Linux
> friendly, but I didn't see that listed in the specs. It has a AMD M690G
> chipset.
>
> Has anyone had experience with one of these or other Acer laptops? The
> reason I got this is to promote Linux by sharing the hdd with Vista to show
> people how well Linux works. I'm doing a Linux workshop Oct. 25 and wanted
> to show it off there. I plan to install Linux Mint, PCLOS or openSUSE on
> it.
>
>
> Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks
>
> David
> _______________________________________________
> PLUG mailing list
> PLUG at lists.pdxlinux.org
> http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
>

If the wifi chip is Broadcom, depending on which one it is, you should be
able to use it still in Linux, either with the ndiswrapper (which uses the
Windoze driver), or with fwcutter, which uses a non-free (as in license not
price) firmware loader blob.  Most PPC laptop Macs have Broadcom wifi
chipset, and for ex. on my G4 PowerBook, after installing Ubuntu, using
their restricted drivers tool, it installed fwcutter and the necessary
Broadcom firmware, and it works like a champ.

Next time you are looking for a Linux compatible laptop, check places like
www.linux-laptop.net, for reviews of other Linux users.  Not sure how many
NewEgg reviewers run Linux... ;)
NewEgg is good stuff, no doubt, my current desktop has upgraded innards all
from NewEgg, just have to look elsewhere for Linux compatibility.
There is no review yet for this Acer on linux-laptop.net.... perhaps once
you get it up and running you should post about it on a blog or something
and submit it to them :).


PS- I'll see you at Lindependence Day (and our planning meeting), probably
with a laptop running Fedora.

-- 
----------
Matt M.
LinuxKnight



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