Linux on the HP Omnibook 3100 Laptop

Preface

This is a survey about Linux related hardware features of the Hewlett-Packard - HP OmniBook 3100. I don't try to explain the usual installation details (for instance, which partitions I have made). If you like to know more about Linux and laptops take a look at my Linux Mobile Guide - Installing, Maintaining and Tuning of Linux on Mobile Computers.

Introduction

Since July 1997 I maintain a page about the HP OmniBook 800 and Linux. This page was visited by Friedhelm Kueck <friedhelm.kueck_at_impress.de>, which send me his valuable infos about the HP OmniBook 3100 and Linux. Since he didn't have time to build a page about this topic, I put his information down here. - The German Linux Distribution SUSE 5.3 with kernel 2.0.35 is installed.

Note: The HP OmniBook 3100 was on the market just 4 weeks and was immediately followed by its successor HP OmniBook 4100.

Hardwaresurvey

Harddisk

hda: IBM-DTCA-24090, 3909MB w/468kB Cache, CHS=993/128/63, UDMA

PCMCIA

The PCI-PCMCIA controller is a TI1220. A test with a  Xircom 56k/10-100Mbit ethernet card was successful under PCMCIA-CS 3.0.4.

Graphics-Chip

NeoMagic NM2160, is not detected by ``SuperProbe''. Instead the Yamaha 6388 VPDC is found:

First video: Super-VGA
 Chipset: Yamaha 6388 VPDC (Port Probed)
 RAMDAC:  Generic 8-bit pseudo-color DAC
  (with 6-bit wide lookup tables (or in 6-bit mode))

RedHat (XBF)

At RedHat since July 1998 there is a X-Server (binary version) for NeoMagic chips available. This is designed by PrecisionInsight. The version 1.1.0 works well with 1024x768 (16 bit, 72Mhz).

External Display

With the right options in ``/etc/XF86config''(intern_disp or extern_disp) both displays work together (at 1024x768 only with 60Mhz). The monitors are changed by <Fn>+<F5>.

Attention: Please use the right parameters for your monitor, it could be damaged easily.

Sound

SoundblasterPro16-Bit compatible works (without midi yet), take the SB driver in the kernel:

IO=220h
IO=388 # for ADLib
IRQ=5
DMA=1
DMA=0

IrDA

The infrared serial port is detected by the kernel but wasn't tested yet. You may read more about Linux and Infrared in my Linux-Infrared-HOWTO .

CD

hdc: CD-ROM CDR_U240, ATAPI CDROM drive 

USB

USB is detected by the kernel but couldn't be tested yet.

Advanced Power Management (APM)

The BIOS supports APM version 1.2 The kernel function Power-Off-On-Shutdown (CONFIG_APM_POWER_OFF) works alright. Also the commands ``xapm'' , ``apm'' and ``apmd'' work well, when the right parameters are choosen.

Overview PCI Devices

Bus  0, device   7, function  3:
    Bridge: Intel 82371AB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 2).
Bus  0, device   7, function  2:
    USB Controller: Intel 82371AB PIIX4 USB (rev 1).
Bus  0, device   7, function  1:
    IDE interface: Intel 82371AB PIIX4 IDE (rev 1).
Bus  0, device   7, function  0:
    Bridge: Intel 82371AB PIIX4 ISA (rev 2).
Bus  0, device   4, function  1:
    CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments [TI1220] (rev 2).
Bus  0, device   4, function  0:
    CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments [TI1220] (rev 2).
Bus  0, device   2, function  0:
    VGA compatible controller: Neomagic MagicGraph NM2160 (rev 1).
Bus  0, device   0, function  0:
    Host bridge: Intel 82439TX (rev 1).

Source: ``cat /proc/pci''

Docking Station

Linux works well with the docking station. The following sricpt is used to detect, whether the laptop is connected to the docking station, to choose the according parameters for X11 and the network connection.

SOCKETS=`tail -1 /var/run/stab | cut -d ":" -f 1`

case "$SOCKETS" in

'Socket 3')
 echo Laptop is in Dockingstation

 echo Disabeling internal LCD Display for X11
 echo
 cp /etc/XF86Config_extern
 /etc/XF86Config
 echo
 echo "Setting up eth0 for use at Network ..."
 echo
 /sbin/ifconfig eth0 10.1.9.5 netmask 255.255.0.0 broadcast 10.1.255.255
 /sbin/route add -net 10.1.0.0 gw 10.1.9.5
 /sbin/route add default gw 10.1.10.1
;;;
 
'Socket 1')
 echo Laptop is standalone
 echo Disabling external Monitor for X11
 cp /etc/XF86Config_intern /etc/XF86Config
 echo
 echo Network device NOT setup
 ;;

esac

Other Resources

• Unix Laptop Survey
• TuxMobil - hardware section
• Linux Mobile Guide - Installing, Maintaining and Tuning of Linux on Mobile Computers
• Debian Laptop Proposal

Credits

• The members of the linux-laptop_at_vger.rutgers.edumailing list
• Jeff Shorey for his NeoMagic X-Server <js_at_mnsinc.com>
• Overview Linux on Notebooks by David Fox
• Friedhelm Kueck <friedhelm.kueck_at_impress.de> for his advice about the HP OmniBook 3100.
• Others whose names I forgot to record.