ACER

with AMD64

running Debian GNU

Linux

I just bought a new computer, an ACER Aspire T160-MB7Z based on a AMD Athlon 64bit processor.
And of course I wanted to run Debian GNU/Linux using 64bit technology on it :)
Usually I use the netinst CD to install a new Debian system, so this is what I tried first.
Unfortunately, the current image for AMD64 (debian-31r0a-amd64-netinst.iso) does not detect properly the SATA chipset, and so I could not start the installation process.
I'm going to give you the steps I had to follow, in case you want to do the same.
<disclaimer> Please note this is not a "howto" and I won't update this article, so it's just what I did and it worked, but it may not work later... </disclaimer>

First you should install a simple network card (a Realtek for example working with the 8139too driver) because the internal card which should work with "forcedeth" driver is not well recognized (at least it did not work for me). Opening the computer voids the warranty, so just give a try first with the forcedeth driver ;)
You should also disable USB during the installation, because the memory card reader will map the sda/sdb/sdc/sdd drives, and so the SATA disk becomes sde which seems to break the installation process (kernel panic after reboot).
I used the unofficial installer here: http://kmuto.jp/debian/d-i/. This is a minimal netinst installer, so you need an internet network connectivity to complete the installation process.
Burn the ISO image, boot it and follow the instructions here: http://kmuto.jp/b.cgi/debian/d-i-2615-amd64.htm.
When you can, you need to switch to another console (alt-F2) to manually load the module for SATA : modprobe sata_nv.
You will have to go back to the partition screen menu to see your sata drive.
After the installation reboot, you can switch back to standard Debian archives using your favorite mirror.
If you need specific stuff such as: Flash Player in Mozilla/Firefox, mplayer with w32codecs and/or OpenOffice.org, you may want to chroot a part of your drive to Debian 32bit, follow this howto.
Good luck!