Acer Aspire 4740G VGA Firmware Mod

Originally the performance state of the G310M of the Acer Aspire 4740G is as follows
Default Mode:

135MHZ GPU Clock
270MHZ Shader Clock
135MHZ Memory Clock
0.85 Voltage

2D Mode:

405MHZ GPU Clock
810MHZ Shader Clock
405MHZ Memory Clock
0.85 Voltage

3D Mode:

625MHZ GPU Clock
1350MHZ Shader Clock
790MHZ Memory Clock
1.03 Voltage

 

In fact it is possible to reduce the voltage in Default Mode.
Technically it should save some power, hence I modified the VGA BIOS Module using Nibitor and set the Default Voltage to 0.80 Volts instead.
Flashing BIOS is to be attempted by the tech savy, this BIOS has been tested to be working on my laptop hence any issue with incorrect flashing would be your responsibility.
I share the modified BIOS here.

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Atheros Wireless LAN

I am bring up this post again because I found another Atheros WiFi Driver that has functions not found in other Atheros Driver.
This driver is from HP.
http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp52001-52500/sp52131.exe

Why this driver you might ask? The screenshots below should answer your queries.

Access Additional Function not found in other Atheros Release

Useful Autoroaming Function if you need to move around multiple APs with your Atheros Equipped Laptop

Additional Encryption Schemes Not Found in other Atheros Driver

So you can choose which driver fits your needs.

After installation of Atheros Driver 8.X a utility should appear in the Control Panel.

Here are some screenshots:

Choice of 2 types of Atheros Wireless LAN Drivers:

1. Modded Atheros Driver (Non-WHQL)(Vista & Xp)

Obtained from LaptopVideo2go

1. Atheros Driver Version 8.X (WHQL)

If your Microsoft Virtual WiFi Device Driver disappears try running the following Commands in Command Prompt Administrator Mode.

C:\Windows\System32> netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=NameOfNetwork key=StrongPassword

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Transitioning to KDE

Recently I have taken the switch to KDE instead of GNOME 3.

This is due to the fact that GNOME has taken the route of dumbing down the interface to resemble those of android and Meego, I decided to search for an alternative Desktop, because doing 3 steps to achieve something once done in 1 step is definitely a regression.

An OS on Desktop has to have sufficiently accessible and powerful interface especially for users of Linux who enjoys the level of customization they always had before.

Although I still hate applications that start with the 'K' character the usability of KDE makes this forgivable.

Rule 1: There is always a KDE equivalent of GNOME Application.
Rule  2: You are still running LInux.

The Concept of KDE after running it for a while is the use of Widgets.
You will find it is surprisingly very similar to Windows 7 in terms of GUI
(Actually I think Windows 7 copied UI from KDE as KDE 4 was released first but that is not what we are interested in today).

Some of the tweaks I used in OpenSUSE Gnome 11.4 is still applicable like the fonts and applications.

Some Screenshots on what I think are great in KDE 4.

Managed Thumbdrive Action by Clicking the USB Icon on the TaskBar

 Nice Graph displaying the Data Rates on a Network Interface

Type the program you want to run and it appears on the menu like Windows 7

Right Click on it to add a shortcut Taskbar or Desktop

Personalization Control Panel with Grouping

Able to Group Folders according to types

Sysinfo to display computer information

 Plasma Desktop Windows, Note the glowing borders.

Add Widgets of any type of any number just like Windows 7 gadgets

An Example of a Useful Widget, the weather widget

Desktop Effects Control, you can customize the effects you want, KDE Desktop Effects also has a graceful fail-over when an errors occurs. You can also choose to disable Desktop effects to save power just like Windows 7.

I hope these feature are convincing enough for you to try KDE because because it certainly won me over. Enjoy!

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