Debian GNU/Linux Laptop & Notebook Distribution - Unofficial Proposal

Though laptops and notebooks are different from desktops, there is currently no Linux distribution with a dedicated laptop and notebook support. This proposal provides an outline of such a project for Debian .

Back to Debian/GNU Linux and Knoppix for Laptops, Notebooks, PDAs, Mobile Phones, Portable Players, ...

Intro

Writing the Linux Mobile Guide - Installing, Maintaining and Tuning of Linux on Mobile Computers, I noticed there is no Linux distribution dedicated to the needs of laptop and notebook users available. Since Debian/GNU Linux is my favorite distribution I started to collect information about laptop and notebook related Debian packages. Though this text reflects my personal thoughts only. It's not an official Debian document. I'm following two objectives:

• making a suggestion for a laptop related distribution/package of Debian
• providing a survey of laptop related Debian packages, even if not included in the official distribution

Desktops and laptops are different. Usually:

• they use certain hardware (PCMCIA, IrDA, graphics controller, LCD display ..).
• their resources are more limited (disk space, CPU speed, memory size, screen size ..).
• they are often used in different environments (home, office, university, on the go ..).

Therefore Debian support for laptops should contain:

• a kernel which excludes features, which don't make sense in a laptop yet (e.g. non PCMCIA network cards, though they might be useful for a docking station) and includes features like PCMCIA, APM and IrDA support
• the other packages should be nearly the same as in 'standard' and additionally contain packages like anacron, irda-utils, apmd, etc.

Kernel

Kernel support should consist of two parts: laptop devices and optimization.

Support of Laptop Devices and Different Network Configurations

The following devices should be considered: PCMCIA, USB, IrDA, (Video In and Out), Sound, APM, Framebuffer, GGI. Also support for certain laptop models should be included, e.g. Thinkpad, Toshiba. And different network configurations, e.g. Mobile IP, DHCP can be supported.

Framebuffer

Usually for every new graphics card there has to be a Linux X server developed. Framebuffer is kind of 'generic' graphics card support, at least if the card manufacturers follow the VESA VBE standard.

Framebuffer devices could use the hardware better, they avoid the current video memory mapping 'concept'. Please see Framebuffer-HOWTO for detailed arguments.

General Graphics Interface - GGI

GGI "is a complete rewrite of the Linux console subsystem that gives the standard Linux Virtual Consoles (VCs) pixel-graphics drawing and display capabilities, an enhanced and flexible message-based console IO subsystem, and a suite of GGI-native userspace libraries, platforms, APIs, utilities and applications." GGI Project

Similar arguments as for framebuffer support. Though I'm not sure whether there is support for laptop graphics chips yet. Please read the GGI-FAQ for further arguments.

Optimization

Optimization could be done in size, speed and flexibility. Therefore a kernel should be build as modularized as possible, which seems Debian standard already (though I didn't check Debian-Policy yet). And CPU dependent compile flags should be used for certain processor architectures e.g. Pentium, Pentium-M, single-core, multi-core.

Since there are so many kernel options related to laptops and so much different machines and user profiles around, I think no distribution can satisfy every laptop user. As a laptop user you should love to build your custom anyway.

Packaging

Metapackages/Tasksel

Debian support for laptops can be done as a suggested 'metapackage'. Metapackages are a new feature of Debian. They are "packages that depend on a group of packages that relate to a common activity, like playing games or developing C programs." Therefore it might better not to call such a project a 'distribution'.

The tasksel package contains a "laptop" entry already:

Task: laptop
Section: hware
Description: Laptop
 This is a collection of tools that laptop users will expect to find on a
 system. It includes some special utilities for IBM Thinkpad, Sony Vaio,
 Toshiba, and Dell Inspiron laptops.
Key:
 apmd
 pcmcia-cs
Packages:
 # XXX What about acpi?
 anacron
 guessnet
 irda-tools
 irda-common
 noflushd
 wireless-tools
 bluez-utils
 hdparm
 smartmontools
 # Hardware-specific
 # for toshiba:
 toshset
 # for thinkpads:
 tpb
 mwavem
 # Note that this needs a kernel module, and prebuild modules are not
 # currenlty available.
 thinkpad-base
 tpctl
 # vaio
 sjog
 # Left out until there is less assembly required.
 #vaiostat

Optimization

Optimizations could be done in speed , file size and memory usage.

Optimization of Speed

Better speed could be achieved by compiling the packages with compiler flags according to the CPU, e.g. Pentium. This topic is already discussed controversely at the debian-devel mailing list (e.g. 07/99 subject: Pentium Optimized). I dare to quote Anderson MacKay:

"... be aware that Pentium optimizations only make a big, noticeable difference for the original and MMX Intel Pentium (not PPro, not P2, not P3, not K6, etc.) processors. The big speedup is because the compiler/assembler reschedules integer instructions so that they can execute in parallel inside the Pentium's two integer pipelines (which have rather primitive inter-pipeline conflict/dependency resolution hardware). Most CPUs since then (Cyrix 6x86MX/M2, AMD K6-series, and Intel P6-series including PPro, P2, P3, and Celeron) have better conflict and dependency analysis/resolution hardware (or can execute out-of-order), and don't gain much from Pentium-specific optimizations. In fact, most other CPUs run better with plain old i386 or i486 code than they do with Pentium-optimized code. That said, Pentium optimizations *should* really help out owners of the genuine Intel Pentium (and MMX) processors..."

Available in Potato is a script pentium-builder, which may help recompiling. But I didn't check things like apt-get -b source <packagename> to rebuild a pentium-optimized package, yet. Another method to compile an optimized package could be the use of the build daemon buildd. Quotation from Debian Developer's Reference - Chapter 8 - Porting and Being Ported:

"The buildd system is used as a distributed, client-server build distribution system. It is usually used in conjunction with auto-builders, which are ``slave'' hosts which simply check out and attempt to auto-build packages which need to be ported. There is also an email interface to the system, which allows porters to ``check out'' a source package (usually one which cannot yet be autobuilt) and work on it.

buildd is not yet available as a package; however, most porting efforts are either using it currently or planning to use it in the near future. It collects a number of as yet unpackaged components which are currently very useful and in use continually, such as andrea, sbuild and wanna-build.

...

We are very excited about this system, since it potentially has so many uses. Independent development groups can use the system for different sub-flavors of Debian, which may or may not really be of general interest (for instance, a flavor of Debian built with gcc bounds checking). It will also enable Debian to recompile entire distributions quickly."

Maybe it's not necessary to recompile every package, but some like X, Gnome, Gimp, etc.

You may find the thread 'package compilation madness' started by Drew Parsons in the February 2000 archiv of <debian-laptop@lists.debian.org> useful. It contains some caveats and their solutions.

The topic was mentioned different times in Debian Weekly News - DWN:
CPU optimized Debian builds? Every once in a while, the [29]question pops up why Debian does not support pentium-optimised or athlon-optimised binaries for that particular processor. However, as Michael Stone [30]points out nobody did some research to [31]back up the idea of things running significantly faster. Daniel Burrows also [32]noted that we don't provide an optimised glibc due to unforseen bugs with its optimisation.

Custom Compilation on a Laptop? Johannes Graumann [48] wondered if custom compiling of packages would be better suited for machines with limited resources like a laptop. Russell Coker [49] explained that the resources to compile a package are vastly greater than those required to just install a binary Debian package.

Benchmarking Debian's Performance. Indranath Neogy tried to [35] explained that the discover what kind of gains the source based nature of Gentoo might give it over Debian and Mandrake. The tests included timing how long it took to open a large sheet in Gnumeric, how long to compile the Linux kernel and how long to perform various operations in GIMP. Gentoo was expected to lead in the tests, but the results showed no significant variation between the distributions. Simple recompiling doesn't seem to speed things up, fine grained tuning may.

The package dbuild will take one or more Debian source packages and build the corresponding binary packages. This can, in theory, be used to build the whole distribution from sources.

Optimization of File Size

Smaller package size can be achieved by stripping the binaries. This is Debian standard already.

Optimization of Memory Usage

Instead of CPU optimized compilations it's maybe better to improve memory allocation, to avoid swapping. These techniques include the usage of small and shared libraries. Or usage of one file instead of many C files.

Installation

In some cases laptops need certain installation methods (via PCMCIA, without CD drive, etc.), or specific boot media (e.g. Toshiba Tecra). There is already support for this in Debian. For a survey of installation methods see the Linux Mobile Guide - Installing, Maintaining and Tuning of Linux on Mobile Computers.

Installation from Network

Gilles Lamiral <lamiral_at_mail.dotcom.fr> wrote in his PLIP Install HOWTO: "This HOWTO will be obsolete when every Linux distribution includes a PLIP install option. For example, the Debian installation only needs to add two commands to make this HOWTO obsolete (ifconfig + route). I hope one Debian maintainer will consider this point."

Installation from Floppy

With these USB boot floppy images you can run the installation system of Debian Woody on a system with no floppy drives, using an external floppy/LS-120 drive attached via .

Common Installation Caveats

Question: "I was able to get it to boot off the floppies and start the installation, but my screen size seems to be such that I cannot see the last 4 or 5 lines at the bottom."

Answer: Try to use FrameBuffer mode, e.g. enter vga=791 at the boot prompt or check your BIOS.

Wish List

I know that wishing doesn't help much, therefore this list is meant to show what might be possible.

Hardware Detection

Since the hardware used in laptops is not always supported by Linux, it's is necessary to have some information before buying a new one. Usually the information given by the manufacturers is often not useful. Therefore it is a common custom to describe your laptops features at the WWW. Kenneth E. Harker maintains a great database of these pages. To make this task easier I would like to have a tool, which generates such a report. Though there are numerous hardware detections programs available already. Unfortunately I couldn't find one, which is suitable for laptops.

Some suggested features:

• dedicated to laptops: detects IrDA (SIR and FIR), Framebuffer (VESA), PCMCIA, USB, ...
• portability, using a library
• includes some benchmarks (optional)
• small, has to fit on a "One Floppy Linux" e.g. tomsrtbt, muLinux. Or even a "Debian One Floppy Linux", there are some according packages already available: yard, mkrboot, boot-floppies, ...
• options for different output formats: text, HTML and SGML
• separates between hardware (e.g. CPU, hard disk) and OS configuration (e.g. partitions, host name)
• licence: GPL

Survey of some existing packages, there are probably more.

• si (System Information Viewer) , (Debian package: si)
  is a Linux application (written in C) that displays information about the local computer from data gathered from the /proc filesystem, a readable interface to kernel memory. si displays information in different sections (optional):
  • s - System Section (CPU, IO-ports, interrupts...)
  • h - Hardware Section (TTY, IDE, SCSI devices...)
  • m - Memory Section (total memory, used memory...)
  • k - Kernel Section (kernel version, modules...)
  • f - File-System Section (partitions, mounts...)
  • n - Network Section (host and domain name)
  • p - Process Section (information on running processes)
• hinv , (Debian package: not available)
  is a Perl script which displays the hardware configuration of a running Linux system. It is named after, and tries to emulate, the command of the same name under IRIX.

We shouldn't make a Debian laptop hardware detection program. But the projects I checked, didn't support certain laptop hardware detection yet. For instance, I would like to have IrDA controller, ACPI and VESA/VBE correctly detected. Of course the actual list is longer. - Therefore my intension is, to have some laptop people working together with a good hardware detection program. Personally I prefer the Mandrake - Lothar - Project (but this has to be researched). And an according Debian package should be provided (see also Debian packages hwtools and tpctl).

InterMezzo

InterMezzo is a new distributed file system with a focus on high availability. InterMezzo is an Open Source project, currently on Linux (2.2 and 2.3). A primary target of our development is to provide support for flexible replication of directories, with disconnected operation and a persistent cache. For example, we want to make it easy to manage copies of home directories on multiple computers, and solve the laptop/desktop synchronization problems. On a larger scale we aim to provide replication of large file repositories, for example to support high availability for servers. InterMezzo was deeply inspired by the Coda File System, but totally re-designed and re-engineered.

apmcd

apmcd is used to configure a set of actions to take when the discharge of the batteries reach various states. Can also be triggered by change in AC status and a change in battery status. Note: I didn't check whether this features are merged into one package (apmd eventually) already.

Mergemem Project

Many programs contain memory areas of the same content that remain undetected by the operating system. Typically, these areas contain data that have been generated on startup and remain unchanged for longer periods. With mergemem such areas are detected and shared. The sharing is performed on the operating system level and is invisible to the user level programs. mergemem is particularily useful if you run many instances of interpreters and emulators (like Java or Prolog) that keep their code in private data areas. But also other programs can take advantage albeit to a lesser degree. Note: I didn't check whether this features are merged into the kernel already.

Theft Protection Software

Though there are some solutions to protect laptops from being stolen available already (you may see my Linux-Mobile-Guide and Databases of Stolen Laptops , I find this letter from Jon Anderson <jon_at_locust.co.uk> quite interesting:

"Use the power of the laptop! I read recently that several laptops were recovered as they were running the RC5DES distributed computing client Distributed.Net this exchanged http requests on a regular basis and was used to trap the thief after they went on the net with their new toy!

Perhaps a more targeted system would be if someone (maybe me if anyone is interested) could set up a host on the net and then you just add a ping to that host into your ppp-on script (dial on demand etc) with the -p option to pass data in the packet with a unique reference number. That way if the laptop is ever stolen you could enter in the unique number and get tracking information as to where the laptop was last registered as connecting to the net from etc?"

Maybe it makes sense to develop such a program for Linux.

Theft Protection Hardware

I'm still looking for a sophisticated and payable solution. The only notebook I know, which includes a smartcard protection is the Siemens Scenic Mobile 800.

gLaptop

gLaptop is a front-end for several common laptop functions. "Everything Laptop" software for GNOME. Features include:

• Standby (turn off monitor/hard drive)
• Suspend (save status to disk, and shutdown)
• PC-Card (PCMCIA) swap button
• Battery Meter (percent remaining)
• AC-online indicator (when on AC power)
• Time-Remaining indicator (when on battery)
• Show/hide Battery Meter
• Variable number of customizable toggle buttons

Not yet supported:

• Hot-Swap Drive Support
• Auto-shutdown/suspend at given battery percentage

Apmiser

Apmiser is a daemon that monitors the CPU usage patterns of your laptop and automatically switches between power-saving mode (in which the CPU is underclocked) and normal mode, depending on whether it thinks you will need the extra CPU speed. This lets you leave your laptop in it's power-saving state without having to suffer from poor performance when you need to perform a CPU-intensive task. Apmiser currently only supports IBM Thinkpads via tpctl, but support can be easily added for any laptop that supports switching power-saving modes programmatically.

Updating Firmware

AFAIK there is no Linux program to update firmware (BIOS, PCMCIA). Though I have heard there have been some efforts.

Including of Unofficial Packages

The below mentioned list of suggested packages contains some packages which are not officially Debian yet. Would be nice if they could find their way into official Debian/GNU Linux.

Documentation

Laptop related documentation could be provided by the Linux-Mobile-Guide (since the HOWTO is now part of the Linux Documentation Project - LDP I suppose this is available as a Debian package already, I have applied as a Debian maintainer anyway) and a Debian Laptop FAQ. Laptop related installation methods are already part of the installation docs.

Configuration Settings

Laptop friendly config settings, e.g. cron.daily should only run disk intensive jobs when the laptop is connected to mains.

Promotion

Though this proposal has got a good response already. I would like to have some more promotion.

Contact and Contributions

If you like to contribute a package please read the according documentation (Developers Reference and others). Apply as a Debian maintainer and announce your project at the according Debian mailing list(s). You may also contact me, though it seems better to discuss all projects together. Be aware this is no official Debian project yet.

Discussion

I suppose this proposal needs some discussion and I would appreciate your comments. A discussion of this topic takes place at the debian-laptop mailing list. This list is highly recommended ;-) You may subscribe at Debian/GNU Linux .

If you like to contribute a package please read the according documentation (Developers Reference and others). And announce your project at the according Debian mailing list(s). You may also contact me, though it seems better to discuss all projects together.

Note: My suggestions about optimization are controversial. They probably need some examination and benchmarking before going this way or not.

Though some of the thoughts outlined above, might fit for desktops as well, I will concentrate on laptops here.

Werner Heuser <wehe_at_tuxmobil.org>

Related Projects

Other Debian projects related to mobile computing:

• Netwinder Debian/GNU Linux - Ports - ARM
• PalmPilot, there is a least a mailing list 'debian-pilot'.
• Embedded Debian Cross Development Environments.
• Debian Linux Laptop for Road Warriors [PDF] a highly recommended HOWTO to secure Debian.

Services

Debian offers a `debian-laptop` mailing list. And on IRCnet you may find the #debian-laptop channel.

Useful Packages

Currently I have information about Intel based i386 packages only. My apologies to users of other CPUs. Please let me know if there are Debian packages which work on other portable computers, too. But you may search the build logs for the availability of packages for other architectures. For Apple iBook you may especially look up the Branden Robinson page. Though my suggestions might seem eclectic, I hope they are useful to show the scope of packages which are related to laptops and notebooks in different senses. Unofficial packages not included into Debian yet are marked with an asterisk.

Program	Description	project page
Kernel
Kernel-2.4.x	IrDA, PCMCIA, (USB), (Framebuffer), (Mobile IP)	TuxMobil
pcmcia-cs	PCMCIA Card Services	for Kernel <2.4 only
pcmciautils	PCMCIA utilities for Linux 2.6
hotplug	Linux Hotplug Scripts
hotplug-utils	Linux Hotplug utility programs
murasaki	automatically loads and unloads modules for USB, CardBus, network, etc using "Hotplug" in Linux 2.4 - deprecated
prelink	prelinking utility to speed up dynamic linking
Internal Modem
sl-modem	Driver for SmartLink Win-Modem (backport)
sl-modem-daemon	sl modem daemon
mwavem	Mwave/ACP modem support
Input Devices
gpm	General Purpose Mouse Manager (versions >= 1.18 contain Synaptics touchpad support)
qsynaptics	Qt application to configure Synaptic TouchPad
ksynaptics	KDE application to configure Synaptics TouchPad
gsynaptics	configuration tool for Synaptics touchpad driver of X server
xfree86-driver-synaptics	X11 (X.Org/XFree86) driver for the Synaptics touchpad
cpad-kernel-source	source for the Synaptics cPad driver
xmonobut	simple X11 application that modifys mouse button mapping
rsjog	handler for Sony Vaio "Jog Dial"
vaiostat-source	Sony Vaio status and control kernel module (source)
motioneye	PPM/JPG snapshots or MJPEG compressed video on Sony Vaio laptops
sjog	program to use the "Jog Dial" on Sony Vaio Laptops
spicctrl	Sony Vaio controller program to set LCD backlight brightness
IrDA
irda-utils	utilities to use kernel IrDA support (former packages irda-tools, irda-common)	Linux IrDA Project
openobex-apps	Object Exchange Protocol apps
obexserver	Receive files with OBEX protocol
qobex	swiss army knife for the OBject EXchange (obex) protocol
cobex	connector for mobile devices
obexfs	Mount filesystem of ObexFTP capable devices
ircp	utility for *beaming* files via IrDA
BlueTooth
bluez-sdp	BlueZ Bluetooth SDP daemon and tool
bluez-pcmcia	PCMCIA support files for BlueZ 2.0 Bluetooth tools
bluez-utils	utilities for controlling Bluetooth devices
bluez-pan	personal area networking for Bluetooth devices
bluez-pin	Bluetooth PIN helper with D-BUS support
affix	User space utilities for the Affix Bluetooth protocol stack
bluemon	activate or deactivate programs based on bluetooth link quality
WireLess
wireless-tools	tools for manipulating Linux Wireless Extensions
wpasupplicant	client support for WPA and WPA2 (IEEE 802.11i)
kwlan	WPA-supplicant frontend for KDE
wpagui	GUI for wpa_supplicant
xsupplicant	802.1x and 802.11i supplicant (client)
linux-wlan-ng	utilities for wireless prism2 cards
kwirelessmonitor	wireless interface monitor for KDE systray
antennavis	antenna visualisation software
wmwave	monitor status of an 802.11 wireless ethernet link
kwavecontrol	wireless device monitoring application for KDE
wavemon	Wireless Device Monitoring Application
kwifimanager	KDE Wireless Lan Manager
gkrellmwireless	802.11 wireless link monitor plugin for GKrellM
hostapd	user space IEEE 802.11 AP and IEEE 802.1X/WPA/WPA2/EAP Authenticator
Wireless Sniffing
kismet	wireless 802.11b monitoring tool
prismstumbler	wireless network sniffer
aircrack	wireless WEP cracker
aircrack-ng	Wireless WEP/WPA cracking utilities
airsnort	WLAN sniffer
swscanner	simple wireless scanner
wifi-radar	Graphical utility for managing Wi-Fi profiles
weplab	Tool designed to break WEP keys.
Mobile AdHoc Networking - MANET
olsrd	Optimised link-state routing daemon (unik-olsrd)
mobilemesh	mobile adhoc networking
waproamd	WLAN roaming daemon	obsolet, use wpasupplicant
WireLess LAN Drivers
acx100-source	ACX100/ACX111 wireless network drivers source
atmel-firmware	firmware for Atmel at76c50x wireless networking chips
wmaloader	firmware downloader for Linksys WMA11B media adapter
ipw2100-source	source for the ipw2100 driver
ipw2200-source	source for the ipw2200 driver
firmware-iwlwifi	Binary firmware for Intel Wireless	Intel 4965 WiFi on Debian HOWTO
ndiswrapper	userspace utilities for ndiswrapper
ndiswrapper-source	source for the ndiswrapper linux kernel module
ndiswrapper-intel2100b	installer for the Intel PRO/Wireless Lan 2100b drivers
ndiswrapper-utils	userspace utilities for ndiswrapper
linux-wlan-ng	utilities for wireless prism2 cards
madwifi	Driver for Atheros Wireless Cards
hostap-source	software access point driver for Prism2 based 802.11
hostap-utils	utility programs for Host AP driver for Intersil Prism2/2.5/3
ap-utils	Access Point SNMP Utils for Linux
airo-mpi	Driver for Cisco MPI 350 Wireless Card
Orinoco wireless drivers	deb http://math.mit.edu/~pezz/debian ./
rt2500	configuration tool for wireless RT2500 network cards
rt2500-source	RT2500 wireless network drivers source
wlassistant	user friendly KDE frontend for wireless network connection
airport-utils	configuration and management utilities for Apple AirPort base stations
X11
xresprobe	probes laptop and DDC-compliant screens for their standard resolutions
videogen	small but nice utility to create modelines you can insert to your XF86Config file
fbset	framebuffer device maintenance program
xserver-fbdev	X server for framebuffer-based graphics drivers
xviddetect	detects which X server to install, by running a non-invasive PCI scan	this package is no longer available
xserver-svga	X server for SVGA graphics cards (contains NeoMagic support) XFree86 3.x
XFree86 4.2	unofficial preliminary support
XFree86 4.3	unofficial preliminary support
i810switch	enables/disables video output to CRT/LCD on i810 video hardware	i810switch
nvtv	tool to control TV chips on NVidia cards (TV-Out,VGA)
atitvout	ATI TV out support program
radeontool	utility to control ATI Radeon backlight functions on laptops
855resolution	resolution modify tool for Intel graphics chipset
915resolution	Resolution modify tool for Intel graphics chipset
vbetool	run real-mode video BIOS code to alter hardware state
Power Management
powertop	Linux tool to find out what is using power on a laptop
powermgmt-base	common utils and configs for power management
longrun	Transmeta(TM) Crusoe(TM) LongRun(TM) utility
wmlongrun	a program to monitor longrun status
cpufreqd	SpeedStep applet clone
cpudyn	CPU dynamic frequency control for processors with scaling
powernowd	control cpu speed and voltage using 2.6 kernel interface
athcool	enable powersaving mode for Athlon/Duron processors
laptop-mode-tools	Userland scripts to control "laptop mode"
gnome-cpufreq-applet	CPU Frequency Scaling Monitor applet for GNOME
cpufrequtils	utilities to deal with the cpufreq Linux kernel feature
sleepd	puts a laptop to sleep during inactivity
kpowersave	frontend to powersave for setting user specific policies
powersaved	power management daemon
gnome-power-manager	frontend for gnome-powermanager
pm-utils	utilities and scripts for power management
APM
apmd	utilities for Advanced Power Management (APM) (for older laptops)	apmd
wmapm	an APM display program designed for Windowmaker
lphdisk	utility for preparing a hibernation partition for APM Suspend-To-Disk	Patrick D. Ashmore
ACPI
acpid	supports the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)	acpid
acpi	displays information on ACPI devices
acpidump	utilities to dump system's ACPI tables to an ASCII file
acpitool	a small, convenient command-line ACPI client
acpi-support	collection of useful events for ACPI
yacpi	ncurses based ACPI monitor for text mode
iasl	Intel ASL compiler/decompiler
hibernate	activates your computer's suspend functionality
suspend2-userui	user-space interfaces for software suspend2
uswsusp	Tools to use userspace software suspend provided by Linux.
Cron Jobs
fcron	cron-like scheduler with extended capabilities well suited to use on laptops
anacron	a cron-like program that doesn't go by time
Hard Disk
noflushd	noflushd monitors disk activity and spins down disks that have been idle for more than <timeout> seconds	noflushd, requires kernel >=2.2.11
hdparm	tune hard disk parameters for high performance
hdaps-utils	HDAPS (IBM Hard Drive Active Protection System) utilities
Battery Management
battfink	GNOME power management configuration
klaptopdaemon	battery monitoring and management for laptops
battstat-applet	battery status applet for GNOME
battery-stats	provides battery statistics and a simple graph	battery-stats
gkrellm-x86info	gkrellm plugin displaying the current processor speed
wmbattery	displays laptop battery info, dockable in Windowmaker
wmacpi	an ACPI battery monitor for WindowMaker
xfce4-battery-plugin	battery monitor plugin for the XFce4 panel
ibam	advanced battery monitor for laptops
gkrellm-ibam	advanced battery monitor for laptops - gkrellm plugin
xapm	X program to monitor APM battery status
xbatt	display battery status
xbattbar	display battery status in X11
Different Environments - Consistent Data
rocks	make network sockets reliable in a transparent way
tra	file-system synchronizer
CODA *	filesystem for mobile computers	CODA
sitecopy	a program for managing a WWW site via FTP
rsync	fast remote file copy program (like rcp)
multisync	program to synchronize PIM data
unison	file-synchronization tool for Unix and Windows
Different Environments - Configurations
Dynamics HUT *	Mobile IP	Dynamics HUT
ifupdown-roaming *	extends the ifupdown package for better support to roam from one network environment to another	Thomas Hood
resolvconf *	contains the infrastructure for sane updating of /etc/resolv.conf as interfaces go up and down and DNS caches start and stop
whereami	automatically reconfigure your (laptop) system for a new location
divine	locates current network address via arp requests and performs light reconfigurations based on its findings, see also intuitively
mobilemesh	mobile adhoc networking
intuitively	select network configuration appropriate to current environment
netenv	at boot time, set environment variables to interactively selected values
dhcpcd	DHCP client for automatically configuring IPv4 networking
laptop-net	continually select network configuration
laptop-net-doc	automatically adapt laptop ethernet - documentation
laptop-netconf	network detection and configuration program
switchconf	switch between system configuration sets
guessnet	mapping script for ifupdown, report current network environment to ifup, allowing ifup to select network configuration appropriate to current environment
Virtual Private Networks/Tunneling
cipe-common	common files for CIPE VPN software
pptp-linux	PPTP Microsoft Compatible Tunneling Protocol
tunnelv	encrypted network connection within a TCP/IP connection
Specific Laptops and Notebooks
ACER TravelMate 292	non-official packages (hotkeys, WLAN, OpenGL, ...)	Linux on ACER Travelmate 292
ASUS M2400N	non-official packages	home
i8kutils	Dell Inspiron and Latitude laptop utilities
gkrellm-i8k	Dell Inspiron and Latitude module for GKrellM2 (i8krellm)
toshiba-fan	turn the fan on a Toshiba Pentium laptop on or off
toshiba-hotkey	display a window when changing modes on a Toshiba laptop
toshset	Toshiba laptop utilities
toshutils	Toshiba laptop utilities	orphaned
thotswap	change the device in the SelectBay of a Toshiba laptop without rebooting	Tim Stadelmann (hotswap)
fnfxd	ACPI and hotkey daemon for Toshiba laptops.	fnfxd
fnfx-client	Client for customize fnfxd hot-keys
tpctl	ThinkPad Configuration Tools for Linux	tpctl
tpb	program to use the IBM ThinkPad(tm) special keys
ibm-acpi	IBM ThinkPad ACPI Extras Driver
hdapsd	HDAPS daemon for IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads.
thinkfan	minimalist fan control daemon
thinkfinger		thinkfinger: fingerprint reader configuration
tp-smapi	The harddisk protection does not work with the mainline kernel hdaps driver. Use this package instead.
kernel-patch-tpsmapi	ThinkPad SMAPI BIOS patch for the Linux Kernel
gaim-thinklight	Blinks your ThinkPad's ThinkLight upon new messages
rocklight	Xmms visualisation plugin for Thinklights on IBM Thinkpads.
pommed	Apple MacBook & PowerBook hotkeys event handler	source
gpomme	graphical client for pommed
wmpomme	WindowMaker dockapp client for pommed
pbbuttonsd	PBButtons daemon to handle special hotkeys of Apple computers
pbbuttonsd-dev	Development files for PBButtons
gtkpbbuttons-common	GTK client for pbbuttonsd -- themes and other common data
picturebook	utilities for the SONY VAIO PictureBook
keytouch	Program to configure the extra function keys of multimedia keyboards.
hotkey-setup	auto-configures laptop hotkeys
hotkeys	A hotkeys daemon for your Internet/multimedia keyboard in X.
kmilo	laptop special keys support for KDE
Removable Storage
pmount	mount removable devices as normal user
lsscsi	list all SCSI devices (or hosts) currently on system
usbmount	automatically mount and unmount USB mass storage devices
mountpy	script for quick mounting of removable devices
Mobile Solutions
timidity	a software-only MIDI sequencer, requires no hardware specific MIDI port
lshw	list hardware in TXT or HTML
lanoche	generates a HTML report of laptop hardware (deprecated)	lanoche
dgpsip	correct GPS location with DGPS signal from internet
sattrack	satellite tracker and prediction
seesat5	a satellite location program
Smart Cards
libmusclepkcs11	PKCS support
libcflexplugin	SmartCard support Schlumberger CryptoFlex
libmcardplugin	SmartCard support JavaCard
xcardii	GUI to manage smart cards
muscletools	command line tools to manage smart cards
Limited Resources/Optimization
pentium-builder	force pentium optimized compilation
upx-ucl	an efficient live-compressor for executables
perforate	utilities to save disk space
hdparm	tune hard disk parameters for high performance
systune	writes kernel parameters, previously saved in a configuration file, to the /proc filesystem
parted	allows you to create, destroy, resize and copy partitions
set6x86	modify the internal configuration registers in the 5x86 and 6x86 CPU (note: causes trouble with some hardware, during boot)
dbuild	take one or more Debian source packages and build the corresponding binary packages
task-laptop	meta package for laptop support - deprecated
education-laptop	metapackage containing dependencies for packages required on all laptop installations DebianEdu
powertweak	a tool for tweaking Linux systems to peak performance
gok	GNOME Onscreen Keyboard
tpconfig	A program to configure touchpad devices
hotswap	register/deregister hotswappable IDE hardware
hotswap-gui	(de)register hotswappable IDE hardware (GUI front-ends)
hotswap-text	(de)register hotswappable IDE hardware (command line tool)
bcm4400-source	module source for Broadcom's bcm4400 ethernet driver
Hotkeys/Extrakeys
hotkeys	daemon for your Internet/multimedia keyboard
klineakconfig	KDE configurator for lineakd
acme	provides support for the multimedia keys found on laptops
Miscellaneous
aes2501-wy	userspace software for USB aes2501 fingerprint scanner
laptop-detect	attempt to detect a laptop
xournal	GTK+ Application for note taking.

Credits

• Thanks to the contributors and the members of the Linux-Laptop and Debian-Laptop mailing lists.
• Kenneth E. Harker - Linux on Laptops .
• Hanno Mueller author of the Battery-HOWTO, for the suggestion of a dedicated laptop distribution.
• Sean 'Shaleh' Perry for Debian support.
• Christian Soeller <c.soeller_at_auckland.ac.nz>
• N.N. <sen_ml_at_eccosys.com>
• Thomas Hood

I hope I didn't forget one.