Debian GNU/Linux on Maxdata PRO IW 600

<a href=”http://tuxmobil.org/“><img src=”http://tuxmobil.org/pics/tuxmobil_sticker.png” width=”88” height=”31” border=”0” alt=”TuxMobil - Linux on Laptops, Notebooks, PDAs and Mobile Phones”></a> TuxMobil - Linux on Laptops, Notebooks, PDAs and Mobile Phones

This is a really good “business” notebook, and ships customized: mine has e.g. Italian keyboard and no bundled operating system but preinstalled Caldera DR-DOS.

processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 15
model name      : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU         T7200  @ 2.00GHz
stepping        : 6
cpu MHz         : 1000.000
cache size      : 4096 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 2
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 2
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 10
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips        : 3996.87

processor       : 1
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 15
model name      : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU         T7200  @ 2.00GHz
stepping        : 6
cpu MHz         : 1000.000
cache size      : 4096 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 2
core id         : 1
cpu cores       : 2
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 10
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips        : 3991.89

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) Serial ATA Storage Controller IDE (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)
05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8055 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 11)
07:01.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller
07:01.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCIxx12 OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
07:01.2 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments 5-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO/xD)
07:01.3 Generic system peripheral [0805]: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 SDA Standard Compliant SD Host Controller

Socket 0 Bridge:        [yenta_cardbus]         (bus ID: 0000:07:01.0)

             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          1003        967         35          0         23        276
-/+ buffers/cache:        668        334
Swap:         2863          0       2863

I booted from a Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 (etch) RC1 “netinstall” CD (see the Debian installer homepage), architecture amd64, using the “expertgui” parameter.

I choosed to create an encrypted LVM partition using guided partitioning. This may take some time, but is straightforward and works fine. I didn’t left DR-DOS on the disk.

non-free (and contrib) repository must be included by selection.

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1          31      248976   83  Linux
/dev/sda2              32        9729    77899185    5  Extended
/dev/sda5              32        9729    77899153+  83  Linux

  LV     VG       Attr   LSize  Origin Snap%  Move Log Copy%
  home   patroclo -wi-ao 64,82G
  root   patroclo -wi-ao  6,68G
  swap_1 patroclo -wi-ao  2,80G

(Possibly unnecessary) Run as root

dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

and select “i810” as the video driver. It seems to be a safe choice to leave defaults for all other options.

Then run

aptitude install 915resolution

and edit /etc/default/915resolution as follows:

#
# 915resolution default
#
# find free modes by  /usr/sbin/915resolution -l
# and set it to MODE or set to 'MODE=auto'
#
# With 'auto' detection, the panel-size will be fetched from the VBE
# BIOS if possible and the highest-numbered mode in each bit-depth
# will be overwritten with the detected panel-size.
MODE=5c
#
# and set resolutions for the mode.
# e.g. use XRESO=1024 and YRESO=768
XRESO=1280
YRESO=800
#
# We can also set the pixel mode.
# e.g. use BIT=32
# Please note that this is optional,
# you can also leave this value blank.
BIT=

Resolution will change after reboot or restarting X.org.

Enabling AIGLX: In order to enable AIGLX, I’ve edited /etc/X11/xorg.conf as follows:

under the “Device” section:

        Option          "AddARGBGLXVisuals"     "true"
        Option          "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"

under the “ServerLayout” section:

        Option          "AIGLX"         "true"

and finally one new section:

Section "Extensions"
        Option          "Composite"             "Enable"
        Option          "RENDER"                "true"
        Option          "DAMAGE"                "true"
EndSection

(This just works very well, e.g. with Beryl, although I cannot say those are the best options)

Run as root

aptitude install firmware-ipw3945 ipw3945-modules-2.6-686 ipw3945d

Turn off the radio kill switch, which is in practice the fifth key on the left top of the keyboard, (the related led on the right button must be enlightened).

I’m using powersaved with its front-end for KDE (kpowersave) and it seems to behave well, but cpufreqd and perhaps powernowd and cpudyn should do the same.

Synaptics touchpad may be configured through several graphical tools, provided that the following line is added in the corresponding InputDevice section in /etc/X11/Xorg.conf.

        Option          "SHMConfig"             "on"

Working out of the box.