Kernel: 3.1.4-1.fc16.x86_64

I have eventually successfully got Fedora 16 running on a new Acer Aspire 5736Z - specifications here: http://laptops-specs.blogspot.com/2011/01/acer-aspire-5736z-specifications.html

With the help of Google, I had to make the following alterations to the installed Grub command line:

1) Remove from the bootloader command line: modeset

2) Add to the bootloader command line: acpi_osi="Linux" acpi_backlight=vendor

Resulting bootloader command line:

linux   /vmlinuz-3.1.4-1.fc16.x86_64 root=UUID=3630ee6c-d6b0-4bd2-b128-8535ef3d9d37 ro rd.md=0 rd.lvm=0 rd.dm=0 quiet SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 rhgb  KEYTABLE=us rd.luks=0 LANG=en_US.UTF-8 acpi_osi="Linux" acpi_backlight=vendor

3) After the graphical bootup starts (i.e. after the screen with two lines saying loading Linux and loading initial ramdisk disappears), quickly press the keyboard shortcut to alter the brightness (Fn - Left Arrow or Fn - Right Arrow). If you do it too late, then you may (after pressing it) see the growing graphic, but it will never succesfully launch into X - the 'F' of the boot-up graphic will never appear, but only the final stage of the growing graphic proceeding it will remain showing forever. If that happens, then the machine appears to be running, but something stopped it getting into X. If you press Ctrl-Alt-Del then you can watch systemd successfully reboot the machine and you can try again.

4) After the X session gets going, the screen will blank again, and you again need to press one of the alter-brightness combinations.

Similarly, after a suspend-to-disk, you'll need to alter-brightness in order to get your screen back.

This sequence of Google magic and tricks to perform will no doubt be too much for many would-be Fedora users, and it would be great if it was not needed.

# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub (rev 07)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 93)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation ICH9M LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation ICH9M/M-E SATA AHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
04:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43225 802.11b/g/n (rev 01)
05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM57780 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (rev 01)