I am currently running Ubuntu 11.10 on my IdeaPad V570. (Posting from it, actually) A dual boot with Windows 7 installed as my secondary OS. The only issues I'm aware of at this time are that I cannot use my fingerprint reader This is not really an issue, since it has been proven time and time again that the use of fingerprint readers actually adds an unnecessary security hole. Look it up if you don't believe me.

The other problem is that when resuming from sleep the screen remains dark (aka, no backlight). I can still log in, but until I do, the backlight remains off and the fn(up) combination does nothing. Once authenticated everything works as it should.

I highly recommend this laptop as an Ubuntu Linux machine. 4.5 stars (-1/2 for backlight/resume issue)

Edit:

I can confirm that the memory card reader works in 11.10. I have a MicroSD/Adapter combo plugged in right now with pictures from my camera loaded.

Edit #2:

I can't exactly recall, but I may have had to manually install Grub2 from a livecd. It's not hard to do, just involves a little remounting, chroot, and apt-get. Again, I cannot confirm that I had to do this for this laptop, but I have had to do it recently. If you have trouble booting after a fresh install, queue up your LiveCD and look for a Grub2 installation tutorial.

Edit #3:

The wireless did not work properly right off the bat, but none of the fixes I found worked. I plugged in to my wired connection to make sure my system has been updated to the latest fixes and the WiFi card has been champ ever since.

Final words of wisdom:

If something isn't working, run your update manager. If there is a new version of the OS, Kernel, Software, whatever, download it, update, and reboot. If your stuff still doesn't work after updating, post a bug report.

I don't know how many times I've hammered at a problem for hours or even days to find that it's been fixed with a patch or update that had already been released.

Save yourself the headache and update first.

EDIT #4:

Okay, not as final as I thought... I just reinstalled Ubuntu X86_64 userland/kernel over PXE when I realized I was running a 32 bit userland in my last installation. Wireless does not fix with updates, you need to open /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf and add an entry to block the Acer Wireless module.

• Open a terminal and:

        gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

• Add this line to the bottom:

        blacklist acer_wmi

• Step one, Save


• Step two, Reboot


• Step three...


• Step four, World Domination

Nathanael out.