Updated: 3/23/2005
I have been running Redhat Linux 9.0 on this laptop for almost two years: Back then I had to disable the pcmcia to get the Linux to install and to boot, and was not able to get my wireless card working on the Linux. For this reason and many other reasons, I have not spent much time on Linux side of the Dual-boot machine (the other side is Windows XP Professional)
Recently I decided to try out Fedora Core 3 on this laptop. And I am pleasantly surprised by the progress of Linux. Here is what I got in a nutshell. Rows in green are improvement from what I got in Redhat 9.0.
|
Hardware Components |
Status under Linux |
Notes |
|
Mobile Celeron 1.33 GHz w/ 256KB L2 Cache |
Works |
No special procedure required during installation. |
|
12.1 1024x768 VGA+ TFT Display |
Works |
Needs to add the 1024x768 mode |
|
SiS 630 Integrated Video Card w/ 32MB Video Memory |
Works |
No special procedure required during installation |
|
384MB PC133 Main Memory (2SODIMMs) |
Works |
No special procedure required during installation |
|
30 GB Hard Drive |
Works |
No special procedure required during installation |
|
Integrated SiS900 Network Card |
Works |
No special procedure required during installation |
|
Internal SmartLink 56K Modem |
Works |
No special procedure required during installation |
|
DVD ROM |
Works |
No special procedure required during installation |
|
Synaptics Touch Pad |
Works |
No special procedure required
during installation |
|
O2Micro OZ6812 PCMCIA controller |
Works |
No special procedure required
during installation |
|
Belkin PCMCIA 802.11b Wireless
Card (F5D6020) |
Works |
Needs to download the atmel
driver. |
|
No Name PCMCIA 3-port USB 2.0
card |
Works |
No special procedure required
during installation |
|
Adaptec PCMCIA Firewire card |
Works |
No special procedure required
during installation |
|
Netgear PCMCIA 10/100Mbps
Network Card (FA511) |
Works |
No special procedure required
during installation |
|
SocketCom PCMCIA Serial I/O Card |
Works |
No special procedure required
during installation |
|
Built-in SiS 7018 Sound Card |
Works |
No special procedure required |
I downloaded the ISO image and burned a DVD from it. It seems that the installation program has some trouble running with the frame buffer, so I had to boot the linux using
linux nofb nousb
to get the installation work correctly.
The other “Got-You” catch was when prompted to install the GRUB, I had to selection the “Advanced Options” to install GRUB on the Linux partition.
PCMCIA works great out of the box. I tried different PCMCIA cards which Network cards, USB 2.0, Firewire, and 802.11b wireless cards, and they all got recognized correctly
The default driver for the wireless card does not work, so I had to download the driver from the http://atmelwlandriver.sourceforge.net.
The following web pages are very useful for me to get my Belkin card working:
The default sound card driver installed is the trident driver from http://www.alsa-project.org/, although the test sound can be successfully played, the PCM does not seem to work.
I was able to install two network based printers: One is a HP LaserJet 4L connected to a JetDirect OfficeConnect 170x, and the other is a Epson Stylus C80 connected to a D-Link DP301U print server. No problems here.
I was able to get Chinese input working using IIIMF, which is quite nice.
One disappointment is that the CD player is not working. It seems that the shipped udev packages has some left-over code. Update the udev package seems to have fixed the problem: It is playing, but no sound yet.
# yum update udev
Here is the announcement from Redhat which explains the problem.
Had to add the GNOME battery monitor to the panel.
So far I have been very happy. Being a person who have not got much time playing with Linux, I am very glad that Linux have been getting better every day.