Acer Aspire 5315-2135 Wal-Mart Special

Here is the step by step instructions for how I installed kubuntu gutsy 7.10 on my Acer Aspire 5315-2135.

Notes:

Since this is a reinstall I had previously backed up my /home directory to my desktop.  

I have already installed the bios update 1.19 running Windows Vista, this fixes the erratic operation of the touchpad:

ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/notebook/aspire_5315

You can skip to Section A - D if you have already installed Gutsy.

Contents:

A. Setup partitions to prepare for install*
B. Start install*
C. Complete install and reboot*
D. Update system
E. Setup Wireless
F. Setup Sound
G. Touchpad Setup
H. Setup Compiz

* CAUTION: These steps will REMOVE VISTA. Please do not follow them if you wish to keep Vista installed on your computer. I have left the restore partition intact, just in case I need to restore vista later.  

References:

ubuntuforums.org
help.ubuntu.com
ubuntuforums.org

Boot into a live session of kubuntu 32-bit.

A. Setup partitions to prepare for install

1 Open konsole (terminal) and install gparted

sudo apt-get install gparted

2 Run gparted and remove the second partition 'sda2'

3 Add new partition at the beginning of the available space
3.1 Set size to 2000MB (installed RAM x2) 
3.2 Format as 'swap'

4 Add new partition to fill remaining space
4.1 Format as 'ext3'

5 Format last partition 'sda4' as 'ext3'

6 Commit changes and close gparted

B. Start install

1 Select 'Manual' partitioning
2 Edit sda3
2.1 Format as 'ext3'
2.2 Mount as '/'
3 Edit sda4
3.1 Format as 'ext3'
3.2 Mount as '/home'

C. Complete install and reboot

D. Update system

1 Open Adept Manager 
2 Fetch Updates
3 Full Upgrade
4 Apply Changes

#Here I installed 'ssh' and logged out. I then restored my /home directory from my desktop using rsync

E. Setup Wireless

1 Install ndiswrapper

sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-common ndiswrapper-utils-1.9

2 Remove restricted driver for Atheros card
2.1 Open kcontrol>System Administration>Restricted Drivers
2.2 Select 'Administrator Mode' and deselect the ath driver
2.3 Select 'OK'

3 Install wireless driver

3.1 Download driver

wget http://blakecmartin.googlepages.com/ar5007eg-32-0.2.tar.gz

3.2 Extract driver

tar xzf ar5007eg-32-0.2.tar-gz

3.3 Install kernel headers and build-essential

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential

3.4 Blacklist the ath_pci driver

echo "blacklist ath_pci" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

3.5 Restart system

3.6 Install driver

cd ar5007eg-32-0.2/ar5007eg/
sudo ndiswrapper -i net5211.inf

3.7 Load module

sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

At this point I was able to use wireless!

3.8 Add ndiswrapper to load on start

echo "ndiswrapper" | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

F. Setup Sound

1 Download alsa-drvers, alsa-lib & alsa-utils

wget ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/driver/alsa-driver-1.0.15.tar.bz2
wget ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/lib/alsa-lib-1.0.15.tar.bz2
wget ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/utils/alsa-utils-1.0.15.tar.bz2

2 Install required tools

sudo apt-get install libncurses5-dev gettext

3 Make source directory and copy alsa files to it

sudo mkdir /usr/src/alsa
cd /usr/src/alsa
sudo cp ~/alsa* .
sudo tar xjf alsa-driver*.bz2
sudo tar xjf alsa-lib*.tar.bz2
sudo tar xjf alsa-utils*.tar.bz2

4 Stop alsa

sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-utils stop
sudo /etc/init.d/alsasound stop

5 Compile alsa-driver

cd alsa-dr*
sudo ./configure --with-cards=hda-intel
sudo make
sudo make install

6 Compile alsa-libs

cd ../alsa-lib*
sudo ./configure
sudo make
sudo make install

7 Compile alsa-utils

cd ../alsa-utils*
sudo ./configure
sudo make
sudo make install

8 Restart system

9 Add acer to module version

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base

Add this to the end and save:

options snd-hda-intel model=acer

10 Run alsaconf

sudo alsaconf

11 Copy drivers to correct folder

sudo cp /lib/modules/2.6*/kernel/sound/pci/hda/snd-hda-intel.ko /lib/modules/2.6*/ubuntu/media/snd-hda-intel/

and

sudo cp -r /usr/src/alsa/alsa-driver-1.0.15/modules/* /lib/modules/2.6*/kernel/sound/

12 Load alsa-driver

sudo depmod -a

13 Restart alsa

sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-utils start
sudo /etc/init.d/alsasound start

14 Restart system

G. Touchpad Setup

1 Edit xorg.conf

1.1 Backup xorg.conf

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup

1.2 Edit xorg.conf

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

1.3 Add the three lines at the end:

Section "InputDevice"
  Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
  Driver "synaptics"
  Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
  Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
  Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
  Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "0"
  Option "SHMConfig" "on"
  Option "MaxTapTime" "0"
  Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
EndSection

2 Save and exit
3 Logout and restart X with 'CTRL-ALT-Backspace'

H. Setup Compiz

1 Install compiz and emerald

sudo apt-get install compiz emerald

2 Configure compiz to work with blacklisted Intel driver

sudo mkdir ~/.config/compiz
sudo touch ~/.config/compiz/compiz-manager
echo "SKIP_CHECKS=yes" | sudo tee -a ~/.config/compiz/compiz-manager

3 Whichever video player you use must be set to use the 'X11' driver instead of the 'xv' driver. Compiz does not play well with the xv driver, which is one of the reasons the Intel driver was blacklisted. X11 works well here.

Thanks to the following for providing what is here, or at least providing directions to it:

ubuntuforums
  mikeserv
  KriKit