Last updated: Septembre 9, 2005
If like me you were looking for the cheapest 64 bits laptop that you can buy without O.S., which is also German-made, then you probably ended up buying this one.
General Hardware Specifications:
|
Hardware Components |
Status under Linux |
Notes |
|
Processor: AMD Turion64 3000 (1.6 GHz, ML30, 35W) |
Works (including frequency scaling) |
The new 64bit notebook processor from AMD. |
|
Video: SiS 32MB-128MB (?) shared |
Works |
Driver "sis" |
|
Ethernet: SiS 900 |
Works |
Kernel module: sis900 |
|
Modem: Internal SiS AC97 56k (SmartLink chipset) |
Not tried, reportedly works on Debian |
Check otehr posts on http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/maxdata.html |
|
CD-RW/DVD-RW |
Works |
No special procedure required during installation, could burn DVDs |
|
WLAN: MSI MS-6833 802.11 b+g (RaLink RT2500 chipset) |
Works |
Need to compile it yourself. See comments below |
|
Battery: Lithium-Ion 4400 mAh, 48 W |
Works |
ACPI can read status of battery and AC-Adapter, but once in a while it gives an error message (in dmesg). |
|
Sound: SiS AC97 Stereo |
Works (internal speakers and external) |
Using the intel8x0 module. |
|
USB: SiS 1.0, 2.0 |
Works |
ohci_hcd, ehci_hcd; works with usb mouse, Lacie external HDD |
|
Firewire: Texas Instruments TSB43AB22/A |
Not properly tested |
Seems to work with modules ieee1394, ohci1394 |
|
CardReader: O2 Micro SmartCardBus MultiMediaBay |
Not working |
Seems to have no drivers available. No USB mass storage device. |
|
PCMCIA |
Not properly tested, seems not to work immediately |
Seems to be related to APCI, as there is a 'start PCMCIA' menu item in Klaptop, but I've not tried it enough I guess ... |
This laptop was tested under Kernel version 2.6.11-6 (32bit)
Basic Installation of Mandriva LE 2005:
I purchased this computer with custom configuration options: 512 MB RAM on one slot (1 remaining still free), internal bluetooth (recognized and configured instantly, but not used yet), 60 GB HDD.
Installed from the free bootable CD, downloaded from Mandriva FTP (3CD distro)
Installation works, but installs by default an SMP kernel, which is not compatible with the current version of WLAN (wifi) internal card driver (I guess SMP kernel is good for AMD hyper-threading technology and/or multi-processor mother-board). So depending on whether speed or WLAN is most important for you you may either keep the default SMP kernel, or as I did, use the non-SMP kernel and enjoy your WLAN card, as describe below.
To use the non-smp kernel, after complete default installation, manually install the RPM : kernel-2.6.11.6mdk . You can do this in te Mandriva control center.
To be able to boot with this kernel add the following lines to the file /etc/lilo.conf, and then run in a terminal as root the command 'lilo' without any parameters:
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.11-6mdk
label="2611-6"
root=/dev/hda5
initrd=/boot/initrd-2.6.11-6mdk.img
append="resume=/dev/hda6 splash=silent"
vga=788
read-only
At next boot you will have to select manually this kernel, you can also make it your default boot kernel later on in Mandriva Control Center.
Power Management
Scaling the processors frequency works. This means, under low load the processor will be scaled down to ~800 MHz/1577 bogomips (according to /proc/cpuinfo) and on high load back to ~1600 MHz/>3100 bogomips. Worked only on non-SMP kernel for me.
Suspend to RAM (on Lid-close or Fn-F1) does not work properly for me (see post on Debian for more suggestions)
Display light can be dimmed with hardware buttons.
So far I have not been able to turn off the fan on low processor temperatures (usually it runs around 25°C), e.g. via /proc/acpi/fan, but I have experienced two different fan speeds. This seems to be hardware implemented (?). If somebody has any additions, PLEASE post it!
Setting up additional features
Wireless Network
Even with a « working » rt2500 driver on a non-SMP kernel, I still had system crashes when download big files like Mandriva ISO CD copies. I could solve this by downloading the last version of the driver, compiling it myself and installing it. Here is how to proceed:
download the last version of the source code of the driver at http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/wiki/index.php/Downloads (v1.1.0-b3 was working for me)
before you can compile anything you need to install the Mandriva kernel source package; when using a non-smp kernel, just install the package kernel-source-2.6-2.6.11-6mdk
in a terminal move to the driver source folder (rt2500-1.1.0-b3) as root, then move to the subfolder Module
launch command: make
launch command: make install
this creates a file : /lib/modules/2.6.11-6mdkcustom/extra/rt2500.ko
gzip it by typing: gzip /lib/modules/2.6.11-6mdkcustom/extra/rt2500.ko
copy the gzipped file from /lib/modules/2.6.11-6mdkcustom/extra/rt2500.ko.gz to
/lib/modules/2.6.11-6mdk/kernel/3rdparty/rt2500/rt2500.ko.gz from where the boot process takes it (make a backup copy of the previously existing file in case of problems)
That's all, it worked for me like this after reboot, and I could happily download the Mandriva 2006 RC1 x86_64 ISOs .
Unresolved issues
External VGA/S-Video port not yet tested
Some of power management, see above.
battery status once in a while faulty -> makes KDE's battery meter unuseable
Configuration Files
# cat /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ra0
DEVICE=ra0
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
ONBOOT=yes
HWADDR=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
METRIC=10
MII_NOT_SUPPORTED=yes
USERCTL=yes
WIRELESS_MODE=Managed
WIRELESS_ESSID=mynetwork
WIRELESS_ENC_KEY=1234567890
WIRELESS_IWCONFIG="channel 11"
DHCP_CLIENT=dhclient
DHCP_HOSTNAME=myhost
NEEDHOSTNAME=yes
PEERDNS=yes
PEERYP=no
PEERNTPD=no
More Specific Information
# lspcidrake
sis-agp : Silicon Integrated System|Host-to-PCI Bridge [BRIDGE_HOST]
sis-agp : Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]|SG86C202 [BRIDGE_PCI]
unknown : Silicon Integrated System|SiS963 PCI to ISA Bridge [BRIDGE_ISA]
i2c-sis96x : Silicon Integrated System|SiS961/962 SMBus Controller [SERIAL_SMBUS]
sis5513 : Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]|5513 [IDE] [STORAGE_IDE]
slamr : Silicon Integrated System|SiS7013 56k Modem [COMMUNICATION_MODEM]
snd-intel8x0 : Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]|SiS7012 PCI Audio Accelerator [MULTIMEDIA_AUDIO]
usb-ohci : Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]|7001 USB [SERIAL_USB]
usb-ohci : Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]|7001 USB [SERIAL_USB]
ehci-hcd : Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]|7002 USB 2.0 Controller [SERIAL_USB]
sis900 : Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]|SiS900 10/100 Ethernet [NETWORK_ETHERNET]
ohci1394 : Texas Instruments|TSB43AB22 IEEE1394a-2000 OHCI PHY/Link-Layer Ctrlr [SERIAL_FIREWIRE]
yenta_socket : O2Micro, Inc.|OZ711M1 SmartCardBus MultiMediaBay Controller [BRIDGE_CARDBUS]
yenta_socket : O2Micro, Inc.|OZ711M1 SmartCardBus MultiMediaBay Controller [BRIDGE_CARDBUS]
yenta_socket : O2Micro, Inc.|OZ711Mx MultiMediaBay Accelerator [SYSTEM_OTHER]
rt2500 : RaLink|Ralink RT2500 802.11 Cardbus Reference Card [NETWORK_OTHER]
unknown : Advanced Micro Devices|K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration [BRIDGE_HOST]
unknown : Advanced Micro Devices|K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map [BRIDGE_HOST]
unknown : Advanced Micro Devices|K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller [BRIDGE_HOST]
amd64-agp : Advanced Micro Devices|K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control [BRIDGE_HOST]
Card:SiS Real256E: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]|SiS Real256E [DISPLAY_VGA]
hub : Linux 2.6.11-6mdk ehci_hcd|EHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused]
hub : Linux 2.6.11-6mdk ohci_hcd|OHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused]
hci_usb : unknown (0db0/697a/ffff/ffff) [Wireless|Radio Frequency|Bluetooth]
hub : Linux 2.6.11-6mdk ohci_hcd|OHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused]
usbhid : Kensington|Kensington USB Wheel Mouse [Human Interface Devices|Boot Interface Subclass|Mouse]
Links:
http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/maxdata.html
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