Overview
I used a non-official install-cd image of the new debian-installer with xfs support (not yet included in official image).
So / is a xfs filesystem in /dev/hda3 (4GB), grub bootloader is installed in the MasterBootRecord, I installed kernel 2.4.24 initially and 2.6.2 soon thereafter. The -i386 kernels work, the -686 did lock up during boot.
The AmiBios version is 0206.
| feature | description | works | comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpu | intel pentium m centrino 0.6 ... 1.4 GHz | ok | with -386 stock kernel |
| memory | 256+512 MB (upgrade) | ok. | |
| acpi | ok | needs boot options and modules | |
| graphics chip | onboard intel i810/855GM | ok | needs XFree86 4.3 |
| display | 1024x768 | ok | |
| touchpad | synaptics | ok | package tpconfig |
| external usb mouse | ok | needs modules | |
| disk | 40 GB Toshiba | ok | |
| wireless lan | haven't tried | as with all centrino chips, this needs ndiswrapper and the Windows drivers, or the drivers by linuxant.com (cost some money). Or someday Intel will publish native linux drivers, maybe. | |
| ethernet | 10/100 Mbit/sec | ok | module 8139too |
| dvd-rom | not tested | ||
| cd-rom/r/rw | Toshiba | ok | needs module ide-scsi with 2.4, ide-cd with 2.6 kernel |
| pcmcia | ok | needs module yenta_socket | |
| usb | 2 ports usb 2.0 | ok | tested with memory stick and usb-storage |
| firewire | not tested | modules load ok. | |
| sound | ac97 compatible | ok | OSS: i810_audio module, ALSA: to do |
| parport | not tested | modules load ok | |
| IrDA | not tested | modules load ok, daemon starts ok, too | |
| external display | not tested | ||
| Function Keys | Fn-5,6 change display brightness | ok | /proc/acpi/events works, no hacking |
| Powerbutton | to shutdown | ok | with acpid |
| closing lid | ok | does switch off display | |
| suspend to ram | not tested | ||
| suspend to disk | not tested | apparently needs kernel patches (swsusp) |
Initial Installation
I used an unofficial image of the new debian-installer in a variant including the xfs filesystem. I installed a minimal sarge system (did not run tasksel, did not install X) with bootloader "grub" installed into MBR (master boot record). I'm not going into details here, since the new debian-installer is still under heavy development.
Alternatively, install a woody minimal system, edit /etc/apt/sources.list to point to "testing" (currently same as "sarge"), and "apt-get update", "apt-get dist-upgrade" should get you to a working "sarge" system as well.
The network works out of the box (module 8139too) and is assumed functional for the rest of this article.
Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst to add vga=791 for more characters on the display.
< # kopt=root=/dev/hda3 ro --- > # kopt=root=/dev/hda3 ro vga=791
run update-grub to activate these settings.
Install hdparm and run hdparm /dev/hda to check
that DMA is enabled. hdparm -t /dev/hda does timed disk
writes. The resulting rate should be larger than 20 MB/sec.
pallas:~# hdparm /dev/hda /dev/hda: multcount = 16 (on) IO_support = 3 (32-bit w/sync) unmaskirq = 0 (off) using_dma = 1 (on) keepsettings = 0 (off) readonly = 0 (off) readahead = 256 (on) geometry = 65535/16/63, sectors = 78140160, start = 0 pallas:~# hdparm -t /dev/hda /dev/hda: Timing buffered disk reads: 82 MB in 3.05 seconds = 26.91 MB/sec
Neccessary changes can be made on the command line but will be lost during reboot. To make changes persistent over boot, add the settings to /etc/hdparm.conf
/dev/hda {
mult_sect_io = 16
io32_support = 1
dma = on
}
Make ACPI work
Add the following acpi boot parameters into /boot/grub/menu.lst like described above.
acpi=on acpi_irq_balance acpi_irq_isa=3,12
Add the following modules to /etc/modules
acpi ac battery button fan processor thermal
Now reboot. Check that the modules are loaded, check that acpi if functional by playing with the LEDs on the front side:
echo 1 > /proc/acpi/asus/mled echo 1 > /proc/acpi/asus/wled echo 0 > /proc/acpi/asus/mled echo 0 > /proc/acpi/asus/wled
Install a daemon to control cpu-speed (powernowd, cpufreqd, cpudyn, maybe more). I selected powernowd. Of course it needs a few more modules to run:
speedstep-centrino cpufreq-powersave cpufreq-userspace
Load them with modprobe -v modulename and add them to
/etc/modules. I have not yet checked, whether powernowd really
does something. However, the daemon starts up without complaints.
Note: (20040222) I found that reading .pdf files with acrobat reader (embedded in mozilla) will push CPU usage to 100% (xserver process), will increase CPU frequency to 1400 MHz, and will power up the fan. Even though the CPU consumption is most probably a bug, it shows that powernowd does it's job, and CPU frequency is indeed adjusted.
To make use of the hotkeys and the powerbutton, install acpid. It will
listen to /proc/acpi/event. Match patterns and actions are
located in /etc/acpi. The powerbutton works out of the box and
issues a init 0 when called. More examples are located in
/usr/share/doc/acpid/examples.
Install XFree86-4.3
I didn't compile XFree86-4.3. Instead I found that it is available in the
experimental section of the Debian apt repositories. My
/etc/apt/sources.list contains these lines:
deb http://artemis/apt-cacher/ftp.de.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free deb http://artemis/apt-cacher/ftp.de.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free deb http://artemis/apt-cacher/ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free deb http://artemis/apt-cacher/ftp.de.debian.org/debian experimental main contrib non-free
I also created the file /etc/apt/apt.conf:
APT::Default-Release "testing"; APT::Cache-Limit 10000000;
This marks testing as the preferred release (maybe sarge would be
more appropriate). Now run apt-get update to fetch the latest
package lists. To install a minimal set of Xfree86 run
apt-get -t experimental install mdetect read-edid x-window-system-core xterm fluxbox
and watch the show. This is what I chose for configuration
subpixel text rendering? yes autodetect hw ? yes xkb ruleset xfree86 keyboard model pc105 keyboard layout de keyboard variant nodeadkeys keyboard options ctrl:nocaps mouse detection? yes mouse /dev/input/mice, ImPS/2 emulate 3 buttons yes enable scroll events yes monitor autodetection? yes LCD device? yes hsync, vsync leave defaults modes 1024x768 800x600 640x480 color depth 24
Note that the keyboard layout is pc105 (not pc104). Plug in the
external usb mouse und run startx. It didn't work on the very
first attempt, but with the second :-)
Note: (20040222) XFree86 4.3 has apparently made it into "unstable", so you should not need the "experimental" section any more for this.
Make the touchpad work
I found out that the so called synaptics package (not to be confused
with the apt frontend synaptic) is available prepackaged as
tpconfig, not to be confused with tpconf. So this was a
piece of cake.
apt-get install tpconfig
Make sure that the modules
mousedev psmouse usbmouse
are loaded. If you run startx now, the touchpad and its 2
buttons should work. Note that the middle scroll button does not
work (yet) with this package.
IMHO this is a good place now, to install all the stuff you want, ranging from anacron, ssh, to kde/gnome/xfce and the like. Just make sure to install the experimental (or unstable) packages for everything in the Xfree86 region.
USB
The USB mouse worked immediately. I also successfully connected a memory stick as a scsi device (module usb-storage). Note that the module names are different between kernel versions 2.4 and 2.6.
CD-R/RW writer
I learned that the use of ide-scsi is deprecated with kernel
2.6. Instead load ide-cd and use /dev/hdc to
access the writer as well.
#/etc/fstab /dev/hdc /cdrom iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0
Test the CD-writer
mkisofs -o test.iso -R -T -J /etc cdrecord -v dev=/dev/hdc -blank fast # unless the CD is blank cdrecord -v dev=/dev/hdc test.iso mount /cdrom umount /cdrom eject
Everything worked well for me. Note that apparently not all CD-RW flavours are liked.
PCMCIA
The default i82365 driver failed to load, but
yenta_socket loads. To make this change permanent, edit
/etc/default/pcmcia accordingly.
If there is still an error message about this during boot, then most
probably discover tries to load i82365. I removed the start
link /etc/rcS.d/S36discover. However, I may remove discover
alltogether.
While searching for the error I found out, that bootlogd is disabled and thus no /var/log/boot file is written, which also receives the error messages during boot. To enable, edit /etc/default/bootlogd
Suspend to Disk
If you want this to work, compiling a custom/patched kernel is the road to go. Check swsusp.sourceforge.net(http://swsusp.sourceforge.net/) for patches and instructions.
Ethernet
In order to make different network connections easy, there is a number of packages available: laptop-net, laptop-netconf (which is a different package and not a configuration front end for the first :), guessnet, divine, netenv, and probably more. All of them try to accomodate different setups for ethernet in different locations (home, office, offline, abroad-with-modem, abroad-with-dsl, and so on).
I have laptop-net at the moment, for no particular reason.
Firewire (ieee1394)
module loads ok (ieee1394). Could not test myself.
IrDA
installed irda-common and irda-tools. Modules
load ok, irattach service starts. But again, I cannot test.
Sound
OSS works out of the box (modules i810_audio, ac97_codec, soundcore).
ALSA I did not get it to work yet. The modules load ok, alsamixer
displays and I can adjust the volume, xmms (configured to alsa output) will
play something happily (watch the visual spectrum thingy), however: no sound.
Note that the CD-Rom will play AudioCDs even when the notebook is shut down. Buttons are on the front side.
Bottom Drawer
- I found that with modest work the battery will last for more than 6 hours!
- I managed to create a blowfish encrypted /home file system, which is
cryptloop mounted. The key is stored on a USB stick. So it is only
available if the stick is there initially. Maybe its possible to
automatically unmount as well, if the stick is removed. (Linux Magazin
03/2004). The bad news is, it didn't survive the kernel update
to 2.6.2 - it mounts fine with the older 2.6.0 kernel.
:-(. So I'll wait for this to become stable.
Todo:
- test whether the cpu frequency is really adjusted up and down. works ok.
- check whether xfree86 is using framebuffer or not.
- test IrDA connection
- test firewire
- get the middle button on the touchpad to work
- test dvd-rom
- maybe get WLAN to work, I don't need it so far
- make ALSA sound work properly
- make software suspend work properly
- make crypto-loop mounted home filesystem again. Make them survive kernel updates
Files
- /etc/X11/XF86Config-4
- /etc/modules
- output of lspci
- output of lsmod (kernel 2.6.2)
/etc/X11/XF86Config-4
# XF86Config-4 (XFree86 X server configuration file) generated by dexconf, the # Debian X Configuration tool, using values from the debconf database. # # Edit this file with caution, and see the XF86Config-4 manual page. # (Type "man XF86Config-4" at the shell prompt.) # # This file is automatically updated on xserver-xfree86 package upgrades *only* # if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xfree86 # package. # # If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated # again, run the following commands as root: # # cp /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.custom # md5sum /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 > /var/lib/xfree86/XF86Config-4.md5sum # dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86 Section "Files" FontPath "unix/:7100" # local font server FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1" FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/CID" FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo" FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc" FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic" FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi" FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi" EndSection Section "Module" Load "GLcore" Load "bitmap" Load "dbe" Load "ddc" Load "dri" Load "extmod" Load "freetype" Load "glx" Load "int10" Load "record" Load "speedo" Load "type1" Load "vbe" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Generic Keyboard" Driver "keyboard" Option "CoreKeyboard" Option "XkbRules" "xfree86" Option "XkbModel" "pc105" Option "XkbLayout" "de" Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys" Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Configured Mouse" Driver "mouse" Option "CorePointer" Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice" Option "Protocol" "PS/2" Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true" Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Generic Mouse" Driver "mouse" Option "SendCoreEvents" "true" Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice" Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2" Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true" Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device" Driver "i810" BusID "PCI:0:2:0" VideoRam 8192 EndSection Section "Monitor" Identifier "Generic Monitor" HorizSync 28-50 VertRefresh 43-75 Option "DPMS" EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "Default Screen" Device "Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device" Monitor "Generic Monitor" DefaultDepth 24 SubSection "Display" Depth 1 Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" EndSubSection SubSection "Display" Depth 4 Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" EndSubSection SubSection "Display" Depth 8 Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" EndSubSection SubSection "Display" Depth 15 Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" EndSubSection SubSection "Display" Depth 16 Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" EndSubSection SubSection "Display" Depth 24 Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" EndSubSection EndSection Section "ServerLayout" Identifier "Default Layout" Screen "Default Screen" InputDevice "Generic Keyboard" InputDevice "Configured Mouse" InputDevice "Generic Mouse" EndSection Section "DRI" Mode 0666 EndSection
/etc/modules
# /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time. # # This file should contain the names of kernel modules that are # to be loaded at boot time, one per line. Comments begin with # a "#", and everything on the line after them are ignored. # acpi asus-acpi ac battery button fan processor thermal # powernowd (speedstep) speedstep-centrino cpufreq-powersave #proc_intf cpufreq-userspace # mouse/touchpad mousedev psmouse # ethernet 8139too #pppoe # usb uhci-hcd ehci-hcd usbmouse usbkbd usb-storage # ieee1394 firewire ieee1394 # cd-rom/r/rw ide-cd #ide-detect
Output of `lspci'
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82852/855GM Host Bridge (rev 02) 00:00.1 System peripheral: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 3584 (rev 02) 00:00.3 System peripheral: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 3585 (rev 02) 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corp. 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02) 00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corp. 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02) 00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB (Hub #1) (rev 03) 00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB (Hub #2) (rev 03) 00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB (Hub #3) (rev 03) 00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB2 (rev 03) 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BAM/CAM PCI Bridge (rev 83) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801DBM LPC Interface Controller (rev 03) 00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801DBM Ultra ATA Storage Controller (rev 03) 00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03) 00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corp. 82801DB AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03) 01:03.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev a9) 01:03.1 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev a9) 01:03.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C552 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 01) 01:04.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) 01:05.0 Network controller: Intel Corp. PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI Adapter (rev 04)
Output of `lsmod' (Kernel 2.6.2)
Module Size Used by snd_pcm_oss 47268 0 snd_mixer_oss 15872 1 snd_pcm_oss agpgart 29608 0 md5 3968 1 ipv6 222144 8 ds 15108 4 yenta_socket 15488 0 pcmcia_core 60512 2 ds,yenta_socket irda 171968 2 snd_intel8x0 28932 0 snd_ac97_codec 45956 1 snd_intel8x0 snd_pcm 87460 2 snd_pcm_oss,snd_intel8x0 snd_timer 22916 1 snd_pcm snd_page_alloc 11140 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm snd_mpu401_uart 7040 1 snd_intel8x0 snd_rawmidi 22688 1 snd_mpu401_uart snd_seq_device 7816 1 snd_rawmidi snd 46820 9 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm, \ . snd_timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device soundcore 9696 1 snd af_packet 20360 0 ipt_state 2048 2 iptable_mangle 2816 0 iptable_nat 21676 0 ip_conntrack 30128 2 ipt_state,iptable_nat iptable_filter 2944 1 ip_tables 16384 4 ipt_state,iptable_mangle,iptable_nat,iptable_filter dm_mod 35104 0 ide_cd 37508 0 cdrom 34464 1 ide_cd ieee1394 73392 0 usb_storage 58304 0 usbkbd 6784 0 usbmouse 5376 0 ehci_hcd 22404 0 uhci_hcd 29456 0 usbcore 98396 7 usb_storage,usbkbd,usbmouse,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd 8139too 22528 0 mii 4864 1 8139too crc32 4608 1 8139too psmouse 17160 0 mousedev 9684 2 cpufreq_userspace 5796 2 cpufreq_powersave 1920 0 speedstep_centrino 4868 0 freq_table 4356 1 speedstep_centrino thermal 13456 0 processor 14372 1 thermal fan 4236 0 button 6296 0 battery 9612 0 ac 5132 0 asus_acpi 10264 0 rtc 11960 0 xfs 516152 3 jfs 156668 0 reiserfs 197488 0 isofs 32184 0 ext3 103720 0 jbd 54168 1 ext3 sd_mod 15520 0 ata_piix 7684 0 libata 35840 1 ata_piix,[permanent] scsi_mod 109112 3 usb_storage,sd_mod,libata ide_disk 15872 5 ide_detect 1408 0 piix 11680 1 [unsafe] ide_core 144792 5 ide_cd,usb_storage,ide_disk,ide_detect,piix unix 25520 192 fbcon 26176 0 font 8576 1 fbcon vesafb 5452 1 cfbcopyarea 3968 1 vesafb cfbimgblt 3328 1 vesafb cfbfillrect 3712 1 vesafb
Links
Debian installer cd images gluck.debian.org/cdimage/testing/(http://gluck.debian.org/cdimage/testing/)
Debian Homepage www.debian.org(http://www.debian.org/)
Debian installer devel site www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/(http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/)
Suspend to Disk patchesswsusp.sourceforge.net(http://swsusp.sourceforge.net/)
Most importantly check www.tuxmobil.org(http://www.tuxmobil.org) and references therein.
site of the original synaptics(http://w1.894.telia.com/~u89404340/touchpad/index.html) package
Also check out linux-on-laptops.com(http://linux-on-laptops.com) and references therein
This report is a courtesy to TuxMobil by by Erich Wälde.
Change History
2004-02-12 initial document
2004-02-22 added note: acpi/powernowd working, xfree86 4.3 moved to unstable
Page created with Emacs
by Erich Wälde.
