Two main sections here: first there are some informations about running Linux and BSD Unix operating system on some laptops I have tested. Then there are few Unix/Linux related short writings, hopefully more to follow soon.
Standard Disclaimer: the following information is provided as it is (it worked for me, at least ...). Use at your own risk. If you break something, thoust shalt keep both pieces !
- Toshiba Satellite 1730CDT
Files: XFree86-3.3.6 , dmesg output , lspci output , modules.conf
I started installing RedHat 6.2 - soundcard and PCMCIA ethernet card ok out of the box with kernel 2.2.17 (with stock kernel 2.2.14 some tweakings were necessary at the time). X is running at 16bit@800x600. The winmodem works after following the instructions reported here
UPDATE: I have then upgraded to RedHat 7.2 and now I am perfectly fine with Mandrake 9.0, with everything working as before. Usingapm -sunder Xwindow works mostly: to resume press the power button, but 2 problems arise: I need to restart the Xserver (the windows are not movable anymore) and I need to issue "/etc/init.d/pcmcia restart" to resume my pcmcia ethernet card (I have to test/etc/sysconfig/apmd). - Dell Inspiron 4100
Files: XF86Config-4.1 , dmesg output , lspci output , modules.conf
Installed RedHat 7.2 - soundcard and onboard ethernet working out of the box (use sndconfig for the sound card). X is running at 16bit@1024x768. Winmodem and DVD not investigated yet. PCMCIA recognized but not tested. - Dell Latitude C800
Files: XF86Config-4.1 , dmesg output , lspci output , modules.conf
Running RedHat 7.1 - soundcard and onboard ethernet working out of the box (use "sndconfig" for the sound card). X is running at 24bit@1600x1200 (!). Internal modem and DVD not investigated yet. PCMCIA recognized but not tested. - Dell Latitude LS
Files: XF86Config-4.1 , dmesg output , lspci output , modules.conf
Running RedHat 7.1 - onboard ethernet working out of the box. X is running at 16bit@800x600. The winmodem works after following the instructions reported here . DVD not investigated yet. PCMCIA recognized but not tested - Dell Inspiron 7500
Evaluated several Open Source Unix systems on this laptop, currently mostly using FreeBSD and SuSE Linux.
On FreeBSD 5.3 almost everything is working out of the box, X is running at 16bit@1280x1024 (just follow the instruction from the handbook, no tweaking required, XVideo extension ok. DVD playback is ok once you do achmod 644 /dev/acd0, external PS/2 mouse also working out of the box. The soundcard is handled by thesnd_maestrokernel module. The internal winmodem needs the ltmdm package, however to use kppp (port kde/kdenetwork, not in the CD) you need to make a simlinkln -s /dev/cual0 /dev/cuaa4because kppp has hardcoded linux serial devices names (!). Put that simlink command in the start section (case) of the ltadm init script and in kppp choose that device and set the modem speed to 57600 (not faster!).
SuSE 9.2 basically does everything for you, except for the usual winmodem. To cure that install the ltmodem package and add these lines to/etc/modprobe.conf.localalias char-major-62 ltserial alias /dev/tts/LT0 ltserial alias /dev/modem ltserialthen the modem device will be/dev/modem. Note that the preferred dialer is kinternet (rather than kppp).
In October 2005 OpenSuSE 10.0 has been installed on a spare partition and is now my preferred environment, everything works out of the box, suspend to disk very good, additional third parties software trivially added by following instruction here. I believe this is one of the most polished generic purpose unix desktop available in 2005, and it seems it will get even better, check out openSUSE.org. The one issue to fix is the mp3 playback: to fix it get this and follow the instructions in the README. - SONY Vaio VGN-S4XP
Installed Fedora Core 3 upon request. first thing to do is to update all with official patches (including kernel 2.6.12-1.1372_FC3), then onboard ethernet and audio card are working out of the box.
To use the CD burning drive, change/etc/udev/permissions.d/50-udev.permissionsso that /dev/hda has mode 666 (the only IDE device here is the CD/DVD burner). Now K3B can access the DVD drive properly.
For the wireless network card, get the latest firmware ipw2200-fw-2.2.tgz from here and put its contents in/lib/firmware, the wireless device is then identified as eth1eth1 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"ESO_WLAN" Mode:Managed Frequency:2.452 GHz Access Point: 00:0F:34:49:A1:90 Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off Encryption key:off Power Management:off Link Quality=5/100 Signal level=-83 dBm Noise level=-86 dBmAdditional software installed icludes the Java plugin (SUN packagejre-1_5_0_04-linux-i586-rpm.bin), and this to enable it# cd /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/ # ln -s /usr/java/jre1.5.0_04/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so
Also installed acroread7 and yumex (used proper version for FC3!). The Flash plugin is available at here when installing, it will automatically register for mozilla and firefox browsers.
To get the NVIDIA graphic card in better shape I installed the latest vendor drivers:
- preparation: install kernel-devel and kernel.src.rpm packages then (to explode kernel tree) # cd /usr/src/redhat/SPECS/ # rpmbuild -bp --target=i686 kernel-2.6.spec # cd /usr/src/ # ln -s /usr/src/redhat/BUILD/kernel-2.6.12/linux-2.6.12/ linux - nvidia installer 1.0-8178: again go to runlevel 3, run the command, it detects and removes the previous version, builds the driver, add 3 commands as /usr/bin/nvidia* and a gui in menus. It created a template xorg.conf with minumum changes already done (e.g. no need to edit like in the previous version). But id defaults to 800x600, therefore I need to add the proper resolution with # nvidia-xconfig --mode=1280x800 reboot and enjoy X running 16bit@1280x800 (yes, that's a special resolution for the Vaio's)
Additional multimedia chores: for the mp3 playback, setup dag repo (import his GPG key) and install the xmms-mp3 package. RealPlayer is already installed as part of the software distribution. Then get mplayer plugin and video codecs:# yum install mplayer mplayerplug-in
(this is getting along also DVD decryption stuff from DAG because of package dependencies) then get video codecs from here and put them all in the usual/usr/lib/win32/directory.
To access the winXP data install the rpm with a matching kernel module as explained here It is recommended to disable IPV6 by adding these lines to/etc/modprobe.confalias net-pf-10 off alias ipv6 off
Last remark: pressing the power button makes a clean shutdown. - ASUS 8400
Files: XF86Config-4.1 , lspci output , modules.conf
Installed RedHat 7.2 - onboard ethernet working out of the box. X is running at 16bit@1024x768. Soundcard, DVD and Winmodem to be checked. - GERICOM 1st Supersonic M6-T 1200Mhz
Files: XF86Config-4.1 , lspci output , dmesg output
Installed RedHat 7.2 - X is running at 16bit@1024x768. The onboard NIC and sound card have IRQ sharing problems, I couldn't make them work, so I bought a NetGear FA411 ethernet pcmcia adapter which works out of the box. DVD and Winmodem not tested yet.
UPDATE (jul 2003): installed Mandrake 9.1 with PLF addons. All previous problem are resolved: turns out to be a ACPI related issue (boot kernel with the optionacpi=on). Soundcard ok with ALSA, DVD playback ok with xine (configure audio to use OSS emulation tough), builtin Ethernet and 3D acceleration ok (DRI automatically set up).
- RPM notes - Building rpm from source rpm and other related tips.
- (My old) Solaris Desktop - Building a decent (YMMV) desktop environment from source under Solaris 8 (yuk!)
- Patchadd error codes - List of the Solaris patchadd error codes.
- SSH tips - Setting up a Secure Shell tunnel
- Skype Setup - Some tips for setting up Skype under Linux and KDE
