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General Hardware Specifications:

This laptop is operating under Kernel version 2.6.16-1 until 2.6.18-4 (current sid)

• Why to use Debian?

Because linux works easier then Windows, and I like the philosophy of Debian GNU/Linux :)

• Obtaining Debian GNU/Linux

Download it from the Debian GNU/Linux site

• Installing

I've installed a etch system via a network install, which I have updated to sid when it was finished. In my opinion, it was fairly easy. All I had to do was 'modprobe tg3' before I used DHCP to get an IP. After that, the installer works like a charm (I haven't tried the graphical one though, I'm text-based fan ;)).

I've installed base system, laptop system and desktop system. When the installation was finished, I couldn't start X, but that's a problem I have with every distribution I've tested. That's why I use my modified xorg.conf, which you can find Here (including synaptics touchpad fix, it requires installing of xserver-xorg-input-synaptics though

The first thing I do when I've installed the system is upgrading to SID, via my sources.list and using a apt-get update && apt-get install sudo && apt-get dist-upgrade.

I use sudo because I think it is easier. You are free not to use it though, if you dont want it, it's fine, but every script I've made uses sudo for admin tasks. Before you can use sudo, config /etc/sudoers file to your needs. Another thing about my scripts is most likely using the path /home/kevin/*, so if your name is different, change it ;). Before rebooting into my new kernel, I wil prepare my wireless card, so it wil work after I've rebooted. I wrote a simple script for it, which you can find here. Now you are ready to reboot into SID

Now it is time to install the ati driver so we can start x. again, i've created a script, which you can find here.This script wil download the neccesary things to compile the kernel modules from ati to get DRI working. If you restart X you will see that X is working now.

As you probably have noticed, the CPU is 'stuck' at 1.73 GHz, so we have to apt-get install powernowd, en load the right modules at startup. These modules, including tg3, from networking, can be found here.

Optionally, if you like fluxbox, you can find my .fluxbox folder here.

• Suspending to ram

This one is a bit f*cked up by ATI. I use framebuffer console (vga=791 in grub) for better readable TTY's, but suspending to ram doesn't work in combination of framebuffer and DRI, so I've made up the following changes.

I've created a few simple scripts which do the following: Check DRI status in Xorg.conf, check running DRI string, copy a non-dri xorg.conf, and copy a DRI-capable xorg.conf.

kinfo shows the information summed up above, mem (root) copies non-dri xorg.conf, dri (root) uses dri-capable xorg.conf. So, when I play unreal tournament, I will do 'sudo dri' followed by control-alt-backspace (x-restart) so I have a DRI-capable Xorg session. When I've done enough UT, I do 'sudo mem', followed by a x-restart. After fluxbox has been reloaded, I will be able to go in standby. I can check the statusses with kinfo (user). You can find the scripts here. It is incredibly lame and simple, but it works ok :) You have to put the 'root' scripts in '/sbin/' and run them as root, while the 'user' scripts go to '/usr/bin/' and can be run as a normal user. .

BEFORE USING THE SCRIPTS, CHECK HOW THEY WORK, OTHERWISE YOU COULD SERIOUSLY F*CK UP YOUR XORG.CONF!!! ALWAYS BACKUP!!!

Another simpeler solution is to just disable the framebuffered console (so by removing vga=xxx from grub). By doing this suspending works like a charm.

• For getting the touchpad to operate as more than a PS/2 mouse, see section 'Installing'
• Changing GPU-speed. I use two profiles, accu, 105/120 MHz [low voltage], and desktop, 358/344 MHz [default state]. I can change these by typing 'accu' or 'desktop' in the console. Just put accu (click)
and desktop (click) in '/usr/bin/' and you are ready to go

• 4-in-1 card reader

• xorg.conf
• modules
• some of my own scripts

• kevin@laptop:~$ df -Hl
  Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
  /dev/hda1 7.6G 3.0G 4.6G 40% /
  tmpfs 531M 0 531M 0% /lib/init/rw
  udev 11M 66k 11M 1% /dev
  tmpfs 531M 0 531M 0% /dev/shm
  /dev/hda3 93G 67G 26G 73% /home
  
• kevin@laptop:~$ lspci
  00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03)
  00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
  00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 04)
  00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 04)
  00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 04)
  00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 04)
  00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 04)
  00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 04)
  00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 04)
  00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 04)
  00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d4)
  00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 04)
  00:1e.3 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 04)
  00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 04)
  00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) IDE Controller (rev 04)
  00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 04)
  01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility X700 (PCIE)
  06:01.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx21/x515 Cardbus Controller
  06:01.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
  06:01.3 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx21 Integrated FlashMedia Controller
  06:03.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection (rev 05)
  06:08.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5788 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 03)
  
• kevin@laptop:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
  processor : 0
  vendor_id : GenuineIntel
  cpu family : 6
  model : 13
  model name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.73GHz
  stepping : 8
  cpu MHz : 800.000
  cache size : 2048 KB
  fdiv_bug : no
  hlt_bug : no
  f00f_bug : no
  coma_bug : no
  fpu : yes
  fpu_exception : yes
  cpuid level : 2
  wp : yes
  flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss tm pbe nx up est tm2
  bogomips : 1597.56
  

• goldensunlord[[at]]gmail[[dot]]com