X11:
I downloaded the Intel
855 Linux driver from http://support.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-010512.htm
and installed it as per the instructions (I used the tar.gz, but
there's also an rpm). With this, X only ran in 800x600
resolution. I fixed this by changing my XF86Config file (relevant
bits here):
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768" "800x600"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768" "800x600"
EndSubSection
EndSection
and
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Unprobed Monitor"
HorizSync 31.5 - 60
VertRefresh 50.0 - 70.0
Option "dpms"
EndSection
note the 60Hz HSync. Possibly this is unwise? But it made
it work at 1024x768.
I decided to map the three silver buttons to something. Using xev
I found that they were:
WWW keycode 125
Email keycode 128
User keycode 124
I'm running Gnome, and so thought that:
gconftool-2
-t int -s /apps/metacity/global_keybindings/run_command_4 124
would set the button to a run command, and:
gconftool-2
-t string -s /apps/metacity/keybinding_commands/command_4 "xterm"
would then make it spawn an xterm. However, this didn't seem to
work. I eventually made it work after looking at another "linux
on a samsung" page by creating a ~/.Xmodmap file of:
keycode 124 =
XF86Terminal
keycode 125 =
XF86WWW
keycode 128 =
XF86Mail
keycode 160 =
XF86AudioMute
keycode 174 =
XF86AudioLowerVolume
keycode 176 =
XF86AudioRaiseVolume
and then setting the key binding as a string with:
gconftool-2
-t string -s /apps/metacity/global_keybindings/run_command_4
XF86Terminal
and the other two, obviously.
I found I kept pressing 'Func' instead of 'Ctrl' (on my other keyboards
'Ctrl' is in the bottom left corner where 'Func' is), so I thought I'd
map 'Func' to 'Ctrl' .... but xev doesn't respond to either 'Func'
button! Bollox.
The graphics seem pretty quick to me; my OpenGL apps run quite
fast. Though I'm tempted to buy the one from Xig.
Touchpad:
The touchpad worked
fine with the default /dev/mouse driver, including the roller
wheel. I did install a beta Synaptic driver from here, and while
that worked fine, it stopped the rollerwheel from working, so I went
back to the default driver.
I find the 'tap to select' feature of the touch pad irritating (I keep
accidentally triggering it!), but hopefully I'll get used to it.
Ethernet:
The internal
ethernet card worked first time, but I've not tried the wireless card
yet due to not having a wireless hub yet ...
ACPI:
My current kernel is
2.4.21, which doesn't include ACPI support, so I have absolutely no
battery status info. Also the machine won't shut down fully (it
get's to "Shutting down system" and then waits). And there's no
working "Standby" mode, which my old Toshiba Portege had and was very
useful.
I'm hoping that when
the 2.4.22 kernel turns up these will magically be fixed :)
I tried building a
2.6.7 kernel, and that went fine (ish) and created a /proc/acpi
directory with things in it, but the 'battery' sub directory was
suspiciously empty. The Intel 'iasl' program doesn't work on my setup;
"iasl -d /proc/acpi/dsdt" throws up a "Could not install table,
AE_TABLE_NOT_SUPPORTED" error. I'm already out of my depth here, so
I'll have to estimate the battery life by time.
So in a moment of lateral thought, I copied /proc/acpi/dsdt to /tmp
and then ran iasl -d /tmp/dsdt and that worked!. Hope rose again ...
I downloaded the 2.4.26 kernel, and got that working, with ACPI
switched on. I then applied the 2.4.26 kernel ACPI patch from here and rebuilt
the kernel. All the files in /proc/acpi were empty, and dmseg reported
an "EmbeddedControl returned AE_BAD_PARAMETER" type messages.
So.
I broadly following these instructions,
I created a new dsdt.hex file, which I put in
/usr/src/linux-2.4.26/drivers/acpi. I then doctored
/usr/src/linux-2.4.26/drivers/acpi/osl.c to this.
I then rebuilt my kernel and rebooted and BINGO /proc/acpi/ had useful
stuff in it!
But then X failt to start. "startx" put up a blank screen, then nothing. Ctr+Alt+F1 got back to the console, but curiously there were no errors in the logs. After much fiddling, someone on the WBEL mailing list came up with the solution:
mv /lib/tls /lib/tls-dontuse
rebuilt the Intel 855 driver
And that worked! The default Gnome battery monitor works too I found.
I knocked up a little script to control the CPU speed. You have to be root to run it.
Sound:
This out of the box
with things like xine. I'm not actually fussed about the sound
output, so haven't looked into it any further.
CPU Speedstep:
Again, the 2.4.21
kernel doesn't support this, though I think 2.4.22 will do.