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Linux on the Road
Linux with Laptops, Notebooks, PDAs, Mobile Phones and Other Portable
Devices
Werner Heuser
<wehe[AT]tuxmobil.org>
Linux Mobile Edition Edition
Version 3.22
TuxMobil
Berlin
Copyright © 2000-2011 Werner Heuser
2011-12-12
Revision History
Revision 3.22 2011-12-12 Revised by: wh
The address of the opensuse-mobile mailing list has been added, a
section power management for graphics cards has been added, a short
description of Intel's LinuxPowerTop project has been added, all
references to Suspend2 have been changed to TuxOnIce, links to
OpenSync and Funambol syncronization packages have been added, some
notes about SSDs have been added, many URLs have been checked and
some minor improvements have been made.
Revision 3.21 2005-11-14 Revised by: wh
Some more typos have been fixed.
Revision 3.20 2005-11-14 Revised by: wh
Some typos have been fixed.
Revision 3.19 2005-11-14 Revised by: wh
A link to keytouch has been added, minor changes have been made.
Revision 3.18 2005-10-10 Revised by: wh
Some URLs have been updated, spelling has been corrected, minor
changes have been made.
Revision 3.17.1 2005-09-28 Revised by: sh
A technical and a language review have been performed by Sebastian
Henschel. Numerous bugs have been fixed and many URLs have been
updated.
Revision 3.17 2005-08-28 Revised by: wh
Some more tools added to external monitor/projector section, link to
Zaurus Development with Damn Small Linux added to cross-compile
section, some additions about acoustic management for hard disks
added, references to X.org added to X11 sections, link to
laptop-mode-tools added, some URLs updated, spelling cleaned, minor
changes.
Revision 3.16 2005-07-15 Revised by: wh
Added some information about pcmciautils, link to SoftwareSuspend2
added, localepurge for small HDDs, added chapter about FingerPrint
Readers, added chapter about ExpressCards, link to Smart Battery
System utils added to Batteries chapter, some additions to External
Monitors chapter, links and descriptions added for: IBAM - the
Intelligent Battery Monitor, lcdtest, DDCcontrol updated Credits
section, minor changes.
Mobile computer devices (laptops, notebooks, PDAs, mobile cell
phones, portable audio and video players, digital cameras,
calculators, wearables, ...) are different from desktop/tower
computers. They use certain hardware such as PCMCIA cards, infrared
and BlueTooth ports, wireless LAN, LCD displays, batteries, docking
stations. Hardware parts cannot be changed as easily as in a
desktops, e.g. the graphics card. Often their hardware is more
limited (e.g. disk space, CPU speed). Though the performance gap to
desktops is becoming smaller, e.g. in many instances, laptops or
notebooks can become a desktop replacement.
Hardware support for Linux (and other operating systems) and mobile
computer devices is sometimes more limited (e.g. graphics chips,
internal modems). They often use specialized hardware, hence finding
a driver can be more difficult. Many times they are used in changing
environments, so there is a need for multiple configurations and
additional security strategies.
Though there are laptop, notebook, PDA and mobile phone related
HOWTOs available already, this guide contains a concise survey of
documents related to mobile computer devices. Also Linux features,
such as installation methods for laptops, notebooks and PDAs as well
as configurations for different (network) environments are described.
Although there are some caveats, Linux is a better choice for mobile
computer devices than most other operating systems, because it
supports numerous installation methods, works in many heterogeneous
environments and needs smaller resources.
Copyright (c) 2000-2011 Werner Heuser. For all chapters except
"Lectures, Presentations, Animations and Slideshows" permission is
granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the
terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later
version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the Invariant
Sections being "Preface" and "Credits", with the Front-Cover Texts
being "Linux on the Road - the First Book on Mobile Linux", and with
the Back-Cover Texts being the section "About the Author". A copy of
the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free
Documentation License".
________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
Preface
1. About the Author
2. Sponsoring
3. About the Document
4. Contact
5. Disclaimer and Trademarks
I. Laptops and Notebooks
1. Which Laptop to Buy?
2. Laptop Distributions
3. Installation
II. Handheld Devices - Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)
4. Palmtops, Personal Digital Assistants - PDAs, Handheld PCs -
HPCs
5. History of Linux on PDAs
6. Linux PDAs
7. Non-Linux PDAs - Ports and Tools
8. Connectivity
III. Tablet PCs / Pen PCs
9. Tablet PCs / Pen PCs
IV. Mobile (Cellular) Phones, Pagers, Calculators, Digital Cameras,
Wearable Computing
10. Mobile (Cellular) Phones, Pagers
11. Calculators, Digital Cameras, Wearable Computing
V. Mobile Hardware in Detail
12. Hardware in Detail: CPU, Display, Keyboard, Sound and More
13. Accessories: PCMCIA, USB and Other External Extensions
VI. Kernel
14. Kernel History
VII. On the Road
15. Different Environments
16. Solutions with Mobile Computers
VIII. Appendix
A. Other Operating Systems
B. Other Resources
C. Repairing the Hardware
D. Survey about Micro Linuxes
E. Dealing with Limited Resources or Tuning the System
F. Ecology and Laptops
G. NeoMagic Graphics Chipset Series NM20xx
H. Annotated Bibliography: Books For Linux Nomads
I. Resources for Specific Laptop Brands
J. Credits
K. Copyrights
List of Tables
12-1. Arguments for the -t and -R option of gpm.
List of Figures
6-1. Screenshot of the YOPY PDA
6-2. Screenshot of the SHARP Zaurus SL-5500 PDA.
7-1. Screenshot of the HELIO PDA.
7-2. Screenshot of the iPAQ PDA.
7-3. Screenshot of the PALM-Pilot emulator POSE.
12-1. Screenshot of cardinfo
E-1. Screenshot of blackbox.
________________________________________________________________
Preface
Life is the first gift, love is the second, and understanding is the
third.
[http://www.margepiercy.com/] Marge Piercy
________________________________________________________________
1. About the Author
People like either laptops or desktops. I like to work with laptops
rather than with desktops. I like Linux too. My first HOWTO was the
[http://tuxmobil.org/howtos.html] Linux-Infrared-HOWTO about infrared
support for Linux. My second is this one and my third the
[http://computerecology.org/] Linux-Ecology-HOWTO , about some ways
to use Linux in an ecology aware manner.
Also I have written some pages about Linux with all the laptops I had
a chance to put Linux on. You may find them at
[http://tuxmobil.org/mylaptops.html] TuxMobil Linux Laptop and
Notebook Survey.
During the work with the Linux-Mobile-Guide I have also collected
some surveys about laptop related hardware:
[http://tuxmobil.org/graphic_linux.html] graphics chips ,
unofficially supported PCMCIA cards ,
[http://tuxmobil.org/modem_linux.html] internal modems ,
[http://tuxmobil.org/ir_misc.html] infrared chips and other hardware.
In May 2000 I have founded the German vendor [http://xtops.de/]
Xtops.DE: Linux, Laptops, Notebooks, PDAs pre-installed, to sponsor
the TuxMobil project.
________________________________________________________________
2. Sponsoring
2.1. How to and Why Sponsor?
This guide is free of charge (except the printed version, which
contains an additional part) and free in the sense of the General
Public Licence - GPL. Though it requires much work and could gain
more quality if I would have some more hardware. So if you have a
spare laptop, even an old one or one which requires repair, please
let me know. For the curious, the first issues of this guide have
been written on a [http://tuxmobil.org/hp800e.html] HP OmniBook 800CT
5/100.
Or sponsor a banner ad at [http://tuxmobil.org/] TuxMobil: Linux with
Laptops, Notebooks, PDAs, Mobile Phones and Portable Computers.
You can hire me for readings or workshops on Linux with Laptops,
Linux with PDAs, Repairing of Laptops and other Linux topics, too.
________________________________________________________________
2.2. Table of Sponsors
This guide is currently sponsored by:
* AgendaComputing (Berlin, Germany out-of-business)
* [http://xtops.de/index.html] Xtops.DE - Pre-Installed Linux on
Laptops, PDAs and Mobile Phones
________________________________________________________________
3. About the Document
Mirrors, Translations, Versions, Formats, URLs
________________________________________________________________
3.1. URLs in this Document
Many times I have mentioned MetaLab formerly known as SunSite. This
site carries a heavy load, so do yourself a favor, use one of the
[http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/MIRRORS.html] MetaLab mirrors .
For Debian/GNU Linux the mirror URLs are organized in the scheme
http://www.<country code, e.g. uk>.debian.org .
Nearly all of the programs I mention are available as
[http://www.debian.org/] Debian/GNU Linux package, or as RPM package.
Look up your favorite RPM server, for instance [http://rpmfind.net/]
rpmfind .
________________________________________________________________
3.2. Latest Version, Mirrors
Former issues of this text are available at the [http://tldp.org/]
THE LINUX DOCUMENTATION PROJECT - TLDP.
The latest version of this document is available at
[http://tuxmobil.org/howtos.html] TuxMobil - HOWTOs.
________________________________________________________________
3.3. Proposed Translations
The following translations are under construction:
* Chinese, John Lian <johnlian_AT_riverrich.com.tw>
* Greek, Vassilis Rizopoulos <mscyvr_AT_scs.leeds.ac.uk>
* Italian, Alessandro Grillo <Alessandro_Grillo_AT_tivoli.com>,
* Japanese, Ryoichi Sato <rsato_AT_ipf.de>,
* Portuguese, Gledson Evers <pulga_linux_AT_bol.com.br>
* Slovenia, Ales Kosir <ales.kosir_AT_hermes.si>
* Spanish, Jaime Robles <ea4abw_AT_amsat.org>
Please contact me before starting a translation to avoid double work.
Since a translation is a great amount of work, I recommend to do this
work as a group, for instance together with your
[http://lugww.counter.li.org/] local Linux Users Group - LUG.
________________________________________________________________
4. Contact
This document isn't ready yet. If you like to write a chapter or even
a smaller part by yourself, please feel free to contact me. Also your
suggestions and recommendations and criticism are welcome. But please
don't expect me to solve your laptop related problems if the solution
is already documented. Please read all appropriate manual pages,
HOWTOs and WWW sites first, than you may consider to contact me or
search in the chapter Appendix B Other Resources mentioned below.
Werner Heuser <wehe_at_tuxmobil.org>
________________________________________________________________
5. Disclaimer and Trademarks
This is free documentation. It is distributed in the hope that it
will be useful, but without any warranty. The information in this
document is correct to the best of my knowledge, but there's a always
a chance I've made some mistakes, so don't follow everything too
blindly, especially if it seems wrong. Nothing here should have a
detrimental effect on your computer, but just in case, I take no
responsibility for any damages incurred from the use of the
information contained herein.
Some laptop manufacturers don't like to see a broken laptop with an
operating system other than the one shipped with it, and may reload
MS-Windows if you complain of a hardware problem. They may even
declare the warranty void. Though in my humble opinion this isn't
legal or at least not fair. Always have a backup of both the original
configuration and your Linux installation if you have to get your
laptop repaired.
Though I hope trademarks will be superfluous sometimes (you may see
what I mean at [http://www.opensource.org/osd.html] Open Source
Definition ), I declare: If certain words are trademarks, the context
should make it clear to whom they belong. For example "MS Windows NT"
implies that "Windows NT" belongs to Microsoft (MS). "Mac" is a
trademark by Apple Computer. Many of the designations used by
manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed
as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and I
was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in
caps or initial caps. All trademarks belong to their respective
owners.
I. Laptops and Notebooks
Table of Contents
1. Which Laptop to Buy?
1.1. Introduction
1.2. Portables, Laptops/Notebooks, Sub/Mini-Notebooks, Palmtops,
PDAs/HPCs
1.3. Linux Features
1.4. Main Hardware Features
1.5. Sources of More Information
1.6. Linux Compatibility Check
1.7. Writing a Device Driver
1.8. Buying a Second Hand Laptop
1.9. No Hardware Recommendations
1.10. Linux Laptop and PDA Vendor Survey
2. Laptop Distributions
2.1. Requirements
2.2. Recommendation
3. Installation
3.1. Related Documentation
3.2. Prerequisites - BIOS, Boot Options, Partitioning
3.3. Linux Tools to Repartition a Hard Disk
3.4. Laptop Installation Methods
3.5. Common Problems During Installation
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 1. Which Laptop to Buy?
1.1. Introduction
Portable computers may be divided into different categories. This is
a subjective decision, but I try to do so. My groupings roughly
follow the generally accepted marketing categories. The criteria
could be:
1. Weight: Often expressed in terms like Portables,
Laptops/Notebooks, Sub/Mini-Notebooks, Palmtops/PDAs. There is no
standard method to define the weight of a laptop, therefore the
data provided by the manufacturers (and which are given below)
have to be considered as approximations. The question is how the
power supply (whether external or internal) or swappable parts
like CD and floppy drive, are included in the weight.
Most peripheral cables are appallingly heavy. If you get a
subnotebook and carry it around with a bunch of external drives,
cables, and port expander dongles and power converter, you may be
lugging a heavier bag than if it were all in one box.
Subnotebooks are useful mainly if you can afford to leave all the
other junk behind.
2. Supported Operating Systems: proprietary versus open
3. Price: NoName versus Brand
4. Hardware Features: display size, harddisk size, CPU speed,
battery type, etc.
5. Linux Support: graphics chip, sound card, infrared controller
(IrDA®), internal modem, etc.
________________________________________________________________
1.2. Portables, Laptops/Notebooks, Sub/Mini-Notebooks, Palmtops, PDAs/HPCs
1.2.1. Portables
Weight greater than 4.0 kg (9 lbs). Features like a PC, but in a
smaller box and with LCD display. Examples: lunchbox or ruggedized
laptops (e.g. [http://www.bsicomputer.com/] BSI Computer ).
________________________________________________________________
1.2.2. Laptops/Notebooks
Weight between 1.7 and 4.0 kg (4 to 9 lbs). Features custom hardware
and usually a special CPU. Examples: HP OmniBook 3100, COMPAQ Armada
1592DT. The terms laptop and notebook seem equivalent to me.
________________________________________________________________
1.2.3. Sub-Notebooks/Mini-Notebooks
Weight between 1.3 and 1.7 kg (3 to 4 lbs). Features: external floppy
drive, external CD drive. Examples: HP OmniBook 800CT, Toshiba
Libretto 100, COMPAQ Aero, SONY VAIO 505.
________________________________________________________________
1.2.4. Palmtops
Weight between 0.7 and 1.3 kg (1.5 to 3 lbs). Features: proprietary
commercial operating systems. Examples: HP200LX.
________________________________________________________________
1.2.5. Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)/Handheld PCs (HPCs)
Weight below 0.7 kg (1.5 lbs). Features: proprietary commercial
operating systems and often non-Intel CPU with commercial operating
systems like PalmOS, EPOC32, GEOS, Windows CE. Examples: Newton
Message Pad, Palm III (former Pilot), Psion Series 3 and 5, CASIO
Z-7000.
________________________________________________________________
1.2.6. Wearables
Watches, digital pens, calculators, digital cameras, cellular phones
and other wearables.
________________________________________________________________
1.3. Linux Features
Due to a lack of support by some manufacturers, not every feature of
a laptop is always supported or fully operational. The main devices
which may cause trouble are: graphics chip, IrDA® port, sound card,
PCMCIA controller , PnP devices and internal modem. Please try to get
as much information about these topics before buying a laptop. But
often it isn't quite easy to get the necessary information. Sometimes
even the specifications or the hotline of the manufacturer aren't
able to provide the information. Therefore I have included a Linux
Compatibility Check chapter in every section of Part V in Linux on
the Road Hardware In Detail below.
Depending on your needs, you might investigate one of the vendors
that provide laptops pre-loaded with Linux. By purchasing a
pre-loaded Linux laptop, much of the guesswork and time spent
downloading additional packages could be avoided. See TuxMobil for a
survey of Linux laptop, notebook, PDA and mobile phone vendors.
________________________________________________________________
1.4. Main Hardware Features
Besides its Linux features, there often are some main features which
have to be considered when buying a laptop. For Linux features please
see Part V in Linux on the Road Hardware In Detail below.
________________________________________________________________
1.4.1. Weight
Don't underestimate the weight of a laptop. This weight is mainly
influenced by:
1. screen size
2. battery type
3. internal components, such as CD drive, floppy drive
4. power supply
5. material used for the case, usually they are either from plastics
or from magnesium.
________________________________________________________________
1.4.2. Display
Recent laptops come with active matrix (TFT) displays. Laptops with
passive matrix (DSTN) are no longer manufactured. Active matrix
displays have better color and contrast, but usually cost more and
use more power. Also consider the screen size. Laptops may be
purchased with screens up to 17". A bigger screen weighs more, costs
more, and is harder to carry, but is good for a portable desktop
replacement.
________________________________________________________________
1.4.3. Batteries
The available battery types are Lithium Ion (LiIon), Nickel Metal
Hydride ( NiMH) and Nickel Cadmium (NiCd). Though almost all current
laptops come with LiIon batteries.
LiIon batteries are the most expensive ones but a lot lighter than
NiCd for the same energy content, and have minimal - but present -
memory effects. NiMH is better than NiCd, but still rather heavy and
does suffer some (although less than NiCd) memory effects.
Unfortunately most laptops come with a proprietary battery size. So
they are not interchangeable between different models.
________________________________________________________________
1.4.4. CPU
1.4.4.1. Supported CPU Families
For details about systems which are supported by the Linux Kernel,
see the [http://www.tux.org/lkml/] The linux-kernel mailing list FAQ.
1. i286: Linux doesn't support this CPU family yet. But there are
some efforts at [http://elks.sourceforge.net/] ELKS. If you like,
you may use [http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/minix.html] Minix, which is
also a free Unix operating system. Minix supports 8088 to 286
CPUs with as little as 640K memory. Actually there are some
[http://tuxmobil.org/286_mobile.html] laptops with ELKS and MINIX
around.
2. i386: This covers PCs based on Intel-compatible processors,
including Intel's 386, 486, Pentium, Pentium Pro and Pentium II,
and compatible processors by AMD, Cyrix and others. Most of the
currently available laptops use Intel compatible CPUs and have
quite good Linux support.
3. m68k: This covers Amigas and Ataris having a Motorola 680x0
processor for x>=2; with MMU. And the early Apple/Macintosh
computers.
There was a long series of Apple PowerBooks and other laptops
based on the m68k chip. Macintosh Portable (an ugly 16-pound
first attempt); PowerBook 100, 140, 170, 145, 160, 180c, 165c,
520c, 540c, 550c, 190; Duo 210, 230, 250, 270c, 280. The
PowerBook Duos were available at the same time as the PowerBooks,
they were a sort of subnotebook, but were designed so that you
could plug them into a base station (a DuoDock) with more RAM,
peripherals, etcetera, so that they could also act as a desktop
computer. The first PowerPC PowerBooks were the ill-starred
PowerBook 5300 (after the 190) and the Duo 2300c.
For a complete list of all Macintosh computers ever made, with
specifications, see [http://www.apple-history.com/] Apple-History
. For Linux installation reports see
[http://tuxmobil.org/apple.html] Linux Laptop and Notebook
Survey: Apple.
The proper place to go for information on running Linux on m68k
Macintoshes is [http://www.mac.linux-m68k.org/] linux-m68k.
"Much like laptops of the Intel/Linux world, Mac laptops have
generally different setups that can be very hard to figure out.
Also, because of a general lack of machines to test, we are only
aware of boots on the Powerbook 145, Powerbook 150, Powerbook
170, Powerbook 180, and Powerbook 190. Even if it boots, we
currently have no support for Powerbook-style ADB, the APM
support, or just about anything else on them. This means the only
way to log in is with a terminal hooked up to the serial
interface, this has been tested on the 170."
"Several Powerbooks have internal IDE which is supported. PCMCIA
drivers will be forthcoming if someone can supply the necessary
hardware information to write a driver. As always, an FPU is
needed also. Many of the later models have the 68LC040 processor
without FPU, and many of these processors are broken with respect
to the FPU trap mechanism so they can't run regular Linux
binaries even with FPU emulation. Current status on Powerbooks
140, 160, 165, 165c, 180c, 190, 520 and Duos 210, 230, 250, 270c,
280, and 280c is unknown."
Also there are two Atari laptops, for which I don't have enough
information. The following quotations are from the
[http://capybara.sk-pttsc.lj.edus.si/yescrew/eng/atari.htm] Atari
Gallery.
"The STacy was released shortly after the Mega ST to provide a
portable means of Atari computing. STacy computers were shipped
with TOS v1.04.
Designed to replace the STacy as the defacto portable ST
computer, the ST Book brought the basic computing power of an ST
to a lightweight notebook computer. This machine was only
released in Europe and Atari only shipped a very small quantity.
The ST Book was shipped with TOS v2.06."
From Stok, Leon <stok_AT_YIS.NL>: The STacey and the ST Book,
both can't run Linux since they are only shipped with an 68000
CPU, which doesnt have a MMU unit.
As far as I know Amiga has never produced laptops. One company
manufactured kits to convert desktop Amigas to portables. These
used regular Amiga motherboards so any Linux setup that supports
the regular Amiga setups will support these.
4. Alpha, Sparc, Sparc64 architectures: These are currently under
construction. As far as I know there are only the
[http://www.tadpole.com/] Tadpole SPARC and ALPHA laptops, and
some other ALPHA laptops available.
[http://www.naturetech.com.tw/] NatureTech offers also SPARC CPUs
in laptops. The TuxMobil survey of
[http://tuxmobil.org/mobile_solaris.html] Solaris on laptops and
notebooks may also be helpful.
5. StrongARM: a very low-power CPU found in [http://www.rebel.com/]
Rebel.com's popular NetWinder (some kind of mobile computer,
too), and actively supported in the Debian project, it is also in
several WinCE machines, such as HP's Jornadas. Only the lack of
tech specs prevents Linux from being ported to these tiny,
long-battery-life machines. A full-scale StrongARM-based laptop
would make a superb Linux platform.
For PDAs with ARM/StrongARM CPU see the Part II in Linux on the
RoadHandheld Devices part below.
6. MIPS: Used in SGI mainframes and Cobalt Micro intranet
appliances, chips based on this architecture are used in many
Windows-CE machines. Linux has been ported to a few of these.
7. AMD Processor: More about Linux on AMD processors may be found at
[http://www.x86-64.org/] x86-64 org . At TuxMobil there is also a
survey of [http://tuxmobil.org/cpu_amd.html] laptops with AMD
CPUs .
8. 64bit CPUs: At TuxMobil there is a survey of
[http://tuxmobil.org/cpu_64bit.html] laptops with 64bit CPUs .
________________________________________________________________
1.4.4.2. Miscellaneous
At higher speed, a CPU consumes more power and generates more heat.
Therefore, in many laptops a special low-power CPU is used. Usually,
this special CPU doesn't use as much power as a similar processor
used in a desktop. These special CPUs are also more expensive. As a
side effect you may find that laptops with a desktop CPU often have a
quite noisy fan.
________________________________________________________________
1.4.5. Number of Spindles
Laptops and notebooks are often described by the number of spindles.
1. one spindle: harddisk. Usually sub-notebooks, often provided with
an external optical drive (CD/DVD).
2. two spindles: harddisk, optical drive (CD/DVD).
3. three spindles: harddisk, optical drive (CD/DVD), floppy drive.
These laptops are often used as desktop PC replacement.
________________________________________________________________
1.4.6. Cooling
An enormously important issue. Anything based on PPC or Pentium will
generate enormous amounts of heat which must be dissipated.
Generally, this means either a fan, or a heat sink the size of the
case. If it's a fan, the air path shouldn't get blocked, or it will
overheat and burn out. This means machines with a fan mounted in the
bottom are a big, big mistake: you can't use them on a soft surface.
________________________________________________________________
1.4.7. Keyboard Quality
Though you might use your desktop computer to do longer writings, a
good keyboard can save you some head- and fingeraches. Look
especially for the location of special keys like: <ESC>, <TAB>,
<Pos1>, <End>, <PageDown>, <PageUp> and the cursor keys.
________________________________________________________________
1.4.8. Price
Laptops are quite expensive if you compare them with desktops (though
maybe not if compared with LCD, IrDA®, PCMCIA capabilities). So you
may decide between a brand or no-name product. Though I would like to
encourage you to take a no-name product, there are some caveats. I
have experienced that laptops break often, so you are better off,
when you have an after-sales warranty, which is usually only offered
with brand products. Or you may decide to take a second hand machine.
When I tried this, I discovered that the laptop market is changing
quite often. A new generation is released approximately every three
months (compared by CPU speed, harddisk capacity, screen size etc.).
So laptops become old very quick. But this scheme often isn't
followed by the prices for second hand laptops. They seem too
expensive to me. Anyway if you plan on purchasing a second hand
machine, review my recommendations on checking the machine.
________________________________________________________________
1.4.9. Power Supply
If you travel abroad pay attention to the voltage levels which are
supported by the power supply. Also the power supply is usually one
of the heavier parts of a laptop. Another caveat is the power plug,
which often is different from country to country.
________________________________________________________________
1.5. Sources of More Information
Specifications, manuals and manufacturer support often are not
helpful. Therefore you should retrieve information from other sources
too:
1. [http://tuxmobil.org/mylaptops.html] TuxMobil Linux Laptop and
Notebook Survey , this survey covers other UniXes (for example
BSD, Solaris), too.
2. [http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/] Linux on Laptops.
General information about manufacturer support you may find in my
[http://tuxmobil.org/laptop_manufacturer.html] Linux Status Survey of
Laptop and Notebook Manufacturers , though don't expect to much Linux
support from them yet. Sometimes the
[http://tuxmobil.org/laptop_oem.html] Matrix of OEM/ODM Relations may
help to find information for your laptop under another brand name.
________________________________________________________________
1.6. Linux Compatibility Check
1.6.1. Related Documentation
1. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Hardware-HOWTO/] Hardware-HOWTO
2. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Kernel-HOWTO/] Kernel-HOWTO
3. PCMCIA-HOWTO
4. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/PCI-HOWTO.html] PCI-HOWTO
5. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Plug-and-Play-HOWTO.html]
Plug-and-Play-HOWTO
________________________________________________________________
1.6.2. Check Methods in General
If you can't find the necessary information through the above
mentioned sources, you are on your own. Luckily, Linux provides many
means to help. For details see the section Part V in Linux on the
Road Hardware In Detail below. In general you may use:
1. First of all the kernel itself. Look up what kind of hardware is
detected by the kernel. You get this information during boot time
or by dmesg or by looking into /var/log/messages. For the very
first boot messages check /var/log/boot.
2. If your kernel supports the /proc file system you may get
detailed information about PCI devices by cat /proc/pci Please
read the kernel documentation pci.txt. You may get further
information about unknown PCI devices at the
[http://pciids.sf.net/] Linux PCI ID Repository, the home of the
pci.ids file. From 2.1.82 kernels on you may use the lspci
command from the pci-utils package.
3. To retrieve information about Plug-and-Play (PNP) devices use
isapnp-tools .
4. Use scsi_info by David Hinds for SCSI devices or scsiinfo.
If you don't want to install a complete Linux you may retrieve this
information by using a micro Linux ( see Appendix A Appendix A). The
package muLinux provides even a small systest program and TomsRtBt
comes with memtest. To use memtest you have to copy it on a floppy dd
if=/usr/lib/memtest of=/dev/fd0 and to reboot from this floppy.
If your laptop came with Windows, you may determine a lot of hardware
settings from the installation. Boot into DOS or Windows to get the
information you need.
Using Windows9x/NT to get hardware settings, basically boot Windows,
then Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> System -> Device Manager
and write down everything, or make a hardcopy from the display using
the <PRINT> key, plus keep a log of settings, hardware, memory, etc.
Using MS-DOS and Windows3.1x you can use the command msd, which is an
akronym for MicroSoft Diagnostics. Or you might try one of the
numerous DOS shareware utilities: CHECK-IT, DR.HARD and others.
Sometimes it's difficult to know what manufacturer has built the
machine or parts of it actually. The
[http://www.fcc.gov/oet/fccid/help.html] FCC "Federal Communications
Commission On-line Equipment Authorization Database may be used, if
you are having problems identifying the manufacturer of a laptop or
notebook computer (or other electronic device,) this site lets you
search the FCC database based on the FCC ID number you can usually
find on the equipment if it was marketed in the United States of
America."
Many laptops are no more compatible with Windows than Linux. David
Hinds, author of the PCMCIA drivers, points out that Toshiba
notebooks use a proprietary Toshiba PCMCIA bridge chip that exhibits
the same bugs under Windows as under Linux. IBM(TM) Thinkpads have
serious BIOS problems that affect delivery of events to the power
management daemon apmd. These bugs also affect MS-Windows, and are
listed in IBM(TM)'s documentation as considerations.
Some incompatibilities are temporary, for instance laptops that have
Intel's USB chip will probably get full USB support, eventually.
________________________________________________________________
1.7. Writing a Device Driver
If you encounter a device which is not yet supported by Linux, don't
forget it's also possible to write a driver by yourself. You may look
at the book from Alessandro Rubini, Andy Oram: Linux Device Drivers.
There is even a free online issue [http://www.oreilly.com/openbook/]
here .
________________________________________________________________
1.8. Buying a Second Hand Laptop
Some recommendations to check a used laptop, before buying it:
1. Review the surface of the case for visible damages.
2. Check the display for pixel faults. Maybe it's useful to take a
magnifying glass therefore. By the way: There is a standard for
pixel faults etc. ISO 13406-2.
3. Do an IO stress-test, .e.g. with the tool bonnie.
4. You may use memtest and crashme to achieve a memory test.
5. Do a CPU stress test, e.g. with the command md5sum /dev/urandom
or by compiling a kernel.
6. Check the floppy drive by formatting a floppy.
7. Check the CD/DVD drive by reading and writing a CD/DVD.
8. To check the battery seems difficult, because it needs some time:
one charge and one work cycle. You may use battery-stats to do
so, but note this tool only offer APM support, it is not
available with ACPI support yet.
9. To check the surface of the harddisk you may take e2fsck. There
is also a Linux tool dosfsck or the other fsck tools.
10. To test the entire disk (non-destructively), time it for
performance, and determine its size, as root do: time dd
if=/dev/hda of=/dev/null bs=1024k .
11. Check whether the machine seems to be stolen. I have provided a
[http://tuxmobil.org/stolen_laptops.html] survey of databases for
stolen laptops.
AFAIK there is no Linux tool like the DOS tools CHECK-IT, DR. HARD,
SYSDIAG and others. These tools include many of the tests in one
integrated suite. One of the best in my humble opinion is the tool
[http://members.datafast.net.au/~dft0802/] PC Diagnostics 95 made by
Craig Hart. Despite the 95 in its name it's plain DOS, tiny ( 76KB
program and 199KB data) reliable and free. Unfortunately it contains
no check for the IrDA® port.
Please note this quotation from the disclaimer: "This program is
written with the target audience being a trained, experienced
technician. It is NOT designed to be used by those ignorant of
computer servicing. Displays are not pretty but functional.
Information is not explained since we are not trying to educate. This
software should be considered to be just like any other tool in a
tech's toolbox. It is to be applied with care, in the right
situation, in order to find answers to specific problems. If you are
an end user who is less than confident of dealing with computer
hardware, this is probably not a program for you."
Laptop computers, unlike desktop machines, really do get used up.
Lithium batteries are good for no more than 400 recharge cycles,
sometimes much fewer. Keyboards wear out. LCD screen backlighting
grows dim. Mouse buttons fail. Worst of all, connectors get loose as
a result of vibration, causing intermittent failures (e.g. only when
you hit the <Enter> key). We have heard of a machine used on the
table in a train being shaken to unusability in one trip.
________________________________________________________________
1.9. No Hardware Recommendations
It's difficult to give any recommendations for a certain laptop model
in general. Your personal needs have to be taken into account. Also
the market is changing very quickly. I guess every three months a new
generation of laptops (with bigger harddisk space, higher CPU speed,
more display size, etc.) comes into the market. So I don't give any
model or brand specific recommendations. But you may check my
[http://tuxmobil.org/laptop_manufacturer.html] Linux support of
laptop and notebook manufacturers survey.
A good way to check Linux hardware compatibility the next time you go
shopping a laptop is using a [http://www.knoppix.org/] Knoppix
CD/DVD. The Knoppix hardware detection works quite well and is often
capable to check all laptop hardware.
________________________________________________________________
1.10. Linux Laptop and PDA Vendor Survey
You may check the [http://tuxmobil.org/reseller.html] Linux Laptop,
PDA and Mobile Phone Vendor Survey at TuxMobil for a reseller in your
country. Some of them even sell laptops without Microsoft operating
systems.
Often it is difficult to get laptops without a pre-installed
Microsoft operating system. In case you do not want to use it you may
read [http://tuxmobil.org/ms_tax.html] some tips and tricks to get
rid of the Microsoft tax. If you want to buy a recent machine check
the [http://tuxmobil.org/recent_linux_laptops.html] Linux
installation reports for recently available laptops and notebooks.
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 2. Laptop Distributions
2.1. Requirements
From the [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Battery-Powered/]
Battery-Powered-HOWTO I got this recommendation (modified by WH):
A Message to Linux Distributors: If you happen to be a Linux
distributor, thank you for reading all this. Laptops are becoming
more and more popular, but still most Linux distributions are not
very well prepared for portable computing. Please make this section
of this document obsolete, and make a few changes in your
distribution.
The installation routine should include a configuration, optimized
for laptops. The minimal install is often not lean enough. There are
a lot of things that a laptop user does not need on the road. Just a
few examples. There is no need for three different versions of vi.
Some portable systems do not need printing support.
Don't forget to describe laptop-specific installation problems, e. g.
how to install your distribution without a CD/DVD-ROM drive.
Add better power management and seamless PCMCIA support to your
distribution. Add a recompiled kernel and an alternative set of
PCMCIA drivers with apm support that the user can install on demand.
Include a precompiled apmd package with your distribution. Also
include IrDA® infrared support and USB support.
Add support for dynamically switching network configurations. Most
Linux laptops travel between locations with different network
settings (e. g. the network at home, the network at the office and
the network at the university) and have to change the network ID very
often.
Add a convenient PPP dialer with an address book, that does not try
to start multiple copies of the PPP daemon if you click on the button
twice (e.g., the RedHat usernet tool). It would be nice to have the
PPP dialer also display the connection speed and some statistics. One
nice command line dialer that autodetects modems and PPP services is
wvdial from [http://open.nit.ca/] OpenSourceInNitix.
At TuxMobil you may find a huge number of links to
[http://tuxmobil.org/mylaptops.html] laptop and notebook Linux
installation reports. They are ordered by manufacturer and Linux
distribution. Special categories are available for:
* [http://tuxmobil.org/debian_linux.html] Debian,
* [http://tuxmobil.org/gentoo_mobile.html] Gentoo,
* [http://tuxmobil.org/distribution_linux_laptop_redhat.html]
RedHat,
* [http://tuxmobil.org/distribution_linux_laptop_suse.html] SuSE,
* [http://tuxmobil.org/distribution_linux_laptop_ubuntu.html]
Ubuntu,
* [http://tuxmobil.org/distribution_linux_laptop_slackware.html]
SlackWare,
* [http://tuxmobil.org/distribution_linux_laptop_mandrake.html]
Mandrake (Mandriva),
* [http://tuxmobil.org/mobile_minix.html] Minix and
* [http://tuxmobil.org/mobile_bsd.html] different kinds of BSD
flavors.
Some resources are available in [http://tuxmobil.org/lang.html]
different languages, e.g.
* in German [http://tuxmobil.de/] TuxMobil(DE): Linux on Mobile
Computers
* in Russian [http://tuxmobil.ru/] TuxMobil(RU): Linux on Mobile
Computers
* and in Chinese [http://tuxmobil.cn/] TuxMobil(CN): Linux on
Mobile Computers.
________________________________________________________________
2.2. Recommendation
The [http://www.debian.org] Debian/GNU Linux has most of the desired
features for a laptop installation. The distribution has a quite
flexible installation tool. The installation process is well
documented, especially concerning the methods which are useful for
laptops. All the binaries are tiny, because they are stripped. A
mailing list debian-laptop including a searchable archive is
provided. And Debian/GNU Linux is free.
At the end of August 1999 the [http://tuxmobil.org/debian_linux.html]
Debian Laptop Distribution - Proposal was issued. And some more
laptop related packages and a Debian meta-package dedicated to
laptops are on the way.
Note: I know other Linux distributions work well with laptops, too. I
even tried some of them, see my pages about certain laptops mentioned
above.
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 3. Installation
3.1. Related Documentation
1. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/CDROM-HOWTO/] CDROM-HOWTO
2. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/CD-Writing-HOWTO.html] CD-Writing-HOWTO
3. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Config-HOWTO/] Config-HOWTO
4. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Diskless-HOWTO.html] Diskless-HOWTO
5. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Installation-HOWTO/] Installation-HOWTO
6. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Pre-Installation-Checklist/index.html]
Pre-Installation-Checklist-HOWTO
7. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Update.html] Update-HOWTO
8. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Hard-Disk-Upgrade/]
Hard-Disk-Upgrade-HOWTO
9. [http://www.tldp.org/LDP/gs/gs.html] Linux Installation and
Getting Started
10. [http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/install] Installing
Debian/GNU Linux For Intel x86
11. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Install-From-ZIP.html]
Install-From-Zip-HOWTO
12. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/ZIP-Drive.html] ZIP-Drive-HOWTO
________________________________________________________________
3.2. Prerequisites - BIOS, Boot Options, Partitioning
3.2.1. BIOS
When starting a fresh installation you should try with standard BIOS
options. If something doesn't work you should try to modify BIOS
options. For example a well known trouble maker is the Plug-and-Play
- PnP option (which comes with different names). See also the BIOS
section in the hardware section below.
________________________________________________________________
3.2.2. Boot Options
There are many boot options, which have effects on the behavior of
laptops, e.g. apm=on|off and acpi=on|off: For details see
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/BootPrompt-HOWTO.html] BootPrompt-HOWTO and
the Kernel documentation in
/usr/src/linux/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt .
________________________________________________________________
3.2.3. Partitioning
Partitioning can be done in a very sophisticated way. Currently I
have only some first thoughts. I assume that with laptops there are
still some reasons (e.g. updating the firmware of PCMCIA cards and
BIOS) to share Linux and Windows9x/NT. Depending on your needs and
the features of your laptop you could create the following
partitions:
* BIOS, some current BIOSes use a separate partition, for instance
COMPAQ notebooks
* suspend to disk, some laptops support this feature
* swap space Linux
* swap space Windows9x/NT
* Linux base
* Linux /home for personal data (please consider an encrypted
partition for security reasons, for details about encryption see
the according chapter below)
* common data between Linux and Windows9x/NT
* small (~32MB) boot partition for yaBoot (Linux/PPC boot loader),
in HFS MacOS Standard format.
Note this chapter isn't exhausting yet. Please read the appropriate
HOWTOs first, e.g. the [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Partition/]
Partition-HOWTO .
________________________________________________________________
3.3. Linux Tools to Repartition a Hard Disk
3.3.1. GNU parted
[http://www.gnu.org/software/parted] GNU parted allows you to create,
destroy, resize and copy partitions. It currently supports ext2 and
fat (fat16 and fat32) filesystems, Linux swap partitions, and MS-DOS
disklabels, as well as Macintosh and PC98. For NTFS file systems see
[http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/ntfsresize.html] ntfsresize .
________________________________________________________________
3.3.2. ext2resize
[http://ext2resize.sourceforge.net/] ext2resize is a program capable
of resizing (shrinking and growing) ext2 and ext3 filesystems. Checks
whether the new size the user gave is feasible (i.e. whether the
filesystem isn't too occupied to shrink it), connected to the parted
project.
________________________________________________________________
3.3.3. fixdisktable
Something was recently published on the
<linux-kernel_at_vger.rutgers.edu> mailing list about a partition
recovery program. I have neither used , nor examined, nor read much
about it (except for the HTML page.) It may be useful to some of you
if you have problems with [http://www.igd.fhg.de/~aschaefe/fips/]
FIPS , Ranish Partition Manager/Utility or Partition Magic destroying
your partition information. You can find information on this
partition-fixer named "fixdisktable" at
[http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/people/chaffee/fat32.html] his pages. It is
quite a ways down in that page. Or look for it
[ftp://bmrc.berkeley.edu/pub/linux/rescue/] via ftp and locate the
latest "fixdisktable" in that FTP directory. (Source and binary dist
should be available.)
________________________________________________________________
3.3.4. Caveats
Before repartitioning your hard disk take care about the disk layout.
Especially look for hidden disk space or certain partitions used for
suspend to disk or hibernation mode. Some laptops come with a
partition which contains some BIOS programs (e.g. COMPAQ Armada
1592DT). Search the manual carefully for tools like PHDISK.EXE,
Suspend to Disk, Diagnostic TOOLS.
[http://www.procyon.com/~pda/lphdisk/] Patrick D. Ashmore has
recently released a Linux utility to prepare hibernation partitions
for use with laptops and notebooks using Phoenix NoteBIOS. "This
utility isn't needed to utilize the APM "Suspend-To-Disk" feature ...
if you already have a valid hibernation partition, you should be able
to use it from any operating system that can handle APM suspends.
However, if one ever upgrades hard drive, memory, or repartitions
their hard drive, they discover that they either have to do without
the suspend-to-disk feature or boot to DOS and use the PHDISK.EXE
program provided with their laptop or directly from Phoenix
Technologies.
Now, Linux users are free from this restriction. lphdisk is a Linux
utility that properly prepares these partitions for use. Not only
does this eliminate having to boot to DOS, but my utility does not
exhibit some of the nastier bugs that its DOS counterpart has."
Please see chapter DOS Tools to Repartition a Hard Disk, too.
________________________________________________________________
3.3.5. Multi Boot
Please see the chapter chapter Chapter 15 Different Environments, for
information about booting different operating systems from the same
harddisk.
________________________________________________________________
3.4. Laptop Installation Methods
There's More Than One Way To Do It - TMTOWTDI
Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen & Randal L. Schwartz: Programming
Perl, Sec. Ed. 1996 p. 10
From the [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Battery-Powered/]
Battery-Powered-HOWTO : "Installing and using Linux on a laptop is
usually no problem at all, so go ahead and give it a try. Unlike some
other operating systems, Linux still supports and runs well on even
very old hardware, so you might give your outdated portable a new
purpose in life by installing Linux on it."
One of the great benefits of Linux are its numerous and flexible
installation features, which I don't want to describe in detail.
Instead I try to focus on laptop specific methods, which are
necessary only in certain circumstances.
Most current distributions support installation methods which are
useful for laptops, including installation from CD-ROM/DVD, via
PCMCIA and NFS (or maybe SMB). Please see the documents which are
provided with these distributions for further details or take a look
at the above mentioned manuals and HOWTOs.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.1. From a Boot Floppy plus CD/DVD-ROM - The Traditional Way
With modern laptops, the traditional Linux installation method (from
one boot floppy, one support floppy and a package of CD-ROMs or one
DVD) should be no problem, if there is a floppy drive and a CD-ROM
drive available. Though with certain laptops you might get trouble,
if you can not use the floppy drive and the CD/DVD-ROM drive
simultaneously, or if the floppy drive is only available as a PCMCIA
device, as with the Toshiba Libretto 100. Some laptops support also
booting and therefore installation completely from a CD drive, as
reported for the SONY VAIO in the
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/VAIO+Linux.html] VAIO+Linux-HOWTO . Note:
Check the BIOS for the CD boot option and make sure your Linux
distribution comes on a bootable CD.
Certain laptops will only boot zImage kernels. bzImage kernels won't
work. This is a known problem with the IBM(TM) Thinkpad 600 and
Toshiba Tecra series, for instance. Some distributions provide
certain boot floppies for these machines or for machines with limited
memory resources, [http://www.debian.org] Debian/GNU Linux for
instance.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.2. From a CD/DVD-ROM - The Usual Way
Newer laptops are able to boot a Linux distribution from a bootable
CD/DVD-ROM. This allows installation without a floppy disk drive. If
the CD/DVD drive is only available as a PCMCIA device, as with the
SONY VAIO PCG-Z600TEK, see the chapter about installing from PCMCIA
devices below.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.3. From a DOS or Windows Partition on the same Machine
This is a short description of how to install from a CD-ROM under DOS
without using boot or supplemental floppy diskettes. This is
especially useful for notebooks with swappable floppy and CD-ROM
components (if both are mutually exclusive) or if they are only
available as PCMCIA devices. I have taken this method from
[http://www.us.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanual] Installing
Debian GNU/Linux 2.1 For Intel x86 - Chapter 5 Methods for Installing
Debian :
1. Get the following files from your nearest Debian FTP mirror and
put them into a directory on your DOS partition: resc1440.bin
drv1440.bin base2_1.tgz root.bin linux install.bat and
loadlin.exe.
2. Boot into DOS (not Windows) without any drivers being loaded. To
do this, you have to press <F8> at exactly the right moment
during boot.
3. Execute install.bat from the directory where you have put the
downloaded files.
4. Reboot the system and install the rest of the distribution, you
may now use all the advanced features such as PCMCIA, PPP and
others.
This should work for other distributions as well. Maybe you have to
do some appropriate changes.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.4. From a Second Machine With a Micro Linux On a Floppy
3.4.4.1. Introduction
Because of their small or nonexistent footprint, micro-Linuxes are
especially suited to run on laptops, particularly if you use a
company-provided laptop running Windows9x/NT. Or for installation
purposes using another non Linux machine. There are several micro
Linux distributions out there that boot from one or two floppies and
run off a ramdisk. See Appendix A Appendix A for a listing of
distributions.
I tried the following with muLinux ( available at
[http://sunsite.auc.dk/mulinux] muLinux ) to clone my HP OmniBook 800
to a COMPAQ Armada 1592DT. Thanks to Michele Andreoli, maintainer of
muLinux for his support. Since muLinux doesn't support PCMCIA yet,
you may use TomsRtBt instead. In turn TomsRtBt doesn't support PPP
but provides slip. Note: Since version 7.0 muLinux provides an Add-On
with PCMCIA support.
I have described how to copy an already existing partition, but it
might also be possible to achieve a customized installation. Note:
Usually you would try to achieve an installation via NFS, which is
supported by many distributions. Or if your sources are not at a
Linux machine you might try the SMB protocol with SAMBA, which is
also supported by muLinux .
________________________________________________________________
3.4.4.2. Prerequisites
You need two machines equipped with Linux. With the laptop
(client/destination) on which you want to install Linux use the
muLinux floppy. The other machine (server/source) may be a usual
Linux box or also using muLinux. Though its low transfer rate I use a
serial null modem cable because its cheap. You may apply the
appropriate method using a PCMCIA network card and a crossover
network cable or a HUB, or a parallel "null modem" cable and PLIP. As
the basic protocol I used PPP, but you may also use SLIP. For the
data-transfer I used nc. Note: this is an abbrevation for netcat,
some distributions use this as the program name. You may use ftp,
tftp, rsh, ssh, dd, rcp, kermit, NFS, SMB and other programs instead.
If you prefer encrypted connections there is
[http://sourceforge.net/projects/cryptcat/] Cryptcat a lightweight
version of netcat with integrated transport encryption capabilities.
Basic requirements are:
1. A good knowledge about using Linux. You have to know exactly what
you are doing, if not you might end destroying former
installations.
2. A null modem serial cable.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.4.3. Source Machine
At your source machine issue the following commands (attention: IP
address, port number, partition and tty are just examples!):
1. Edit /etc/ppp/options, it should contain only:
/dev/ttyS0
115200
passive
2. With muLinux versions 3.x you may even use the convenient command
setup -f ppp .
3. Start PPP: pppd .
4. Configure the PPP network device: ifconfig ppp0 192.168.0.1 .
5. Add the default route: route add default gw 192.168.0.1 .
6. Check the network connection: ping 192.168.0.2, though the
destination machine isn't up yet.
7. Start the transfer from another console, remember <LEFT-ALT><Fx>:
cat /dev/hda2 | gzip -c | nc -l -p 5555 .
8. After the transfer (there are no more harddisk writings) stop the
ping: killall ping .
________________________________________________________________
3.4.4.4. Destination Machine
At the destination machine issue:
1. Edit /etc/ppp/options, it should contain only:
/dev/ttyS0
115200
passive
2. With muLinux versions >= 3.x you may even use the convenient
command setup -f ppp .
3. Start PPP: pppd .
4. Configure the PPP network device: ifconfig ppp0 192.168.0.2 .
5. Add the default route: route add default gw 192.168.0.2 .
6. Check the network connection, by pinging to the source machine:
ping 192.168.0.1 .
7. Change to another console and get the data from the server: nc
192.168.0.1 5555 | gzip -dc >/dev/hda4 .
8. 400 MB may take app. 6 hours, but your mileage may vary.
9. Stop the transfer, when it is finished with: <CTL><C> . This can
probably be avoided (but I didn't test it) by adding a timeout of
3 seconds using the -w 3 parameter for nc at the destination
machine nc -w 3 192.168.0.1 5555 | gzip -dc >/dev/hda4
10. After the transfer is completed, stop the ping: killall ping .
________________________________________________________________
3.4.4.5. Configuration of the Destination Machine after the Transfer
1. Edit /etc/fstab .
2. Edit /etc/lilo.conf and /etc/lilo.msg and start lilo .
3. Set the new root device to the kernel: rdev image root_device .
________________________________________________________________
3.4.4.6. Miscellaneous
1. You may use bzip2 the same way as gzip (untested).
2. Since rshd, sshd, ftpd daemons are not available with muLinux,
you have to build your own file transfer mechanism with nc also
known as netcat, as described above.
3. I had to set up both PPP sides very quickly or the connection
broke, I don't know why.
4. Speed optimization has to be done. Maybe these PPP options will
help: asyncmap 0 or local.
5. I checked this only with a destination partition greater than the
source partition. Please check dd instead of cat therefore.
Or do the following (untested): At the destination machine cd
into the root directory / and do nc -l -p 5555 | bzip2 -dc | tar
xvf -. At the source machine cd into the root directory / and do
tar cvf - . | bzip2 | nc -w 3 192.168.0.2 5555. This should
shorten the time needed for the operation, too. Because only the
allocated blocks need to be transfered.
6. Don't mount the destination partition.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.5. From a Second (Desktop) Machine With a Hard Disk Adapter
From Adam Sulmicki <adam_AT_cfar.unc.edu> I got this hint: Most but
not all harddisks in laptops are removable, but this might be not an
easy task. You could just buy one of those cheap 2.5" IDE
converters/adapters which allow you to connect this harddisk
temporarily to a desktop PC with IDE subsystem, and install Linux as
usual using that PC. You may do so using the harddisk as the first
IDE drive or besides as the second IDE drive. But then you need to be
sure that the bootloader (e.g. lilo) writes to the right partition.
Also you have to make sure that you use the same translation style as
your laptop is going to use (i.e. LBA vs. LARGE vs. CHS ). You will
find additional information in the
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Hard-Disk-Upgrade/index.html]
Hard-Disk-Upgrade-HOWTO. You might copy an existing partition, but it
is also possible to achieve a customized installation. Instead of a
desktop PC you may use a second laptop, which may offer better
features like a CD/DVD, to put the harddisk in.
The most common adapter formats are 2.5" IDE adapters (Parallel ATA -
PATA). As far as I know Serial ATA (SATA) harddisks are not available
for laptops yet. But they could be attached to Serial ATA interfaces
in a desktop PC even without an adapter (at least I guess, but I will
verify this as soon as I have SATA equipment available). Some small
subnotebooks feature 1.8" harddisks with ZIF connectors. These
connectors are ATA compatible, and IDE adaptors for them are
available also.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.6. From a PCMCIA Device
Since I don't have a laptop which comes with a PCMCIA floppy drive
(for instance Toshiba Libretto 100), I couldn't check this method.
Please see the chapter Booting from a PCMCIA Device in the
PCMCIA-HOWTO. Also I couldn't check whether booting from a PCMCIA
harddisk is possible.
Anyway, when you are able to boot from a floppy and the laptop
provides a PCMCIA slot, it should be possible to use different PCMCIA
cards to connect to another machine, to an external SCSI device,
different external CD and ZIP drives and others. Usually these
methods are described in the documentation which is provided with the
distribution.
The Sony Vaio (PCG-Z600) comes with an external USB-Floppy and an
external CD-ROM (PCMCIA). You can boot from the CD-ROM, but
afterwards Linux doesn't recognize the same drive anymore so that you
can't install from it. You'll have to add the bootparameter linux
ide2=0x180,0x360 (or 0x180,0x386?) at the LILO boot prompt if you
want Linux to recognize a PCMCIA CDROM after the kernel has booted.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.7. From a Parallel Port ZIP Drive
I couldn't check this method by myself, because I don't have such a
device. Please check the appropriate
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Install-From-ZIP.html] Install-From-Zip-HOWTO
. Also I don't know how much these installation methods are supported
by the Linux distributions or the micro Linuxes. I suppose you have
to fiddle around a bit to get this working.
From Jeremy Impson <jdimpson_AT_acm.org>: I installed Red Hat 6.1 on
a Libretto 50CT. It only has a PCMCIA floppy drive. (Which BTW isn't
well supported by the default PCMCIA floppy driver. I needed to
download a patch from some Linux on Libretto web site.)
Linux will boot off the PCMCIA floppy drive, however. It just can't
go back to the floppy after loading the kernel. My Libretto (the
50CT) only has one PCMCIA slot (later models had two slots, or I
could have gotten the enhanced port replicator, which gave it another
slot). So I couldn't boot off a floppy and then mount a remote
filesystem.
So I downloaded ZipSlack (Slackware designed for running from a ZIP
disk) and used another PC to load it onto a ZIP disk. I attached the
ZIP drive to the Libretto (via the parallel port on the regular port
replicator that comes with it) and booted from the Slackware boot
disk in the PCMCIA floppy drive. When booted, I removed the floppy
drive and inserted and configured a network PCMCIA card. At this
point the kernel is in memory and it is using the filesystem on the
ZIP disk.
I partitioned and formatted the Libretto's harddrive and then ftp'd
Red Hat 6.1 installation source onto one of the new partitions (the
partition that would become /home when everything gets done). This is
the key: if you don't have enough disk space to have the installation
files plus enough to actually install the OS on to, this method won't
work.
I shut down the ZipSlack kernel and rebooted it using a RedHat
install disk in the floppy drive. I pointed it at the RH6.1
installation media already on the harddrive and started the install.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.8. From a Parallel Port CD Drive (MicroSolutions BackPack)
I had tried myself to install Linux using the MicroSolutions BackPack
parallel CD-ROM drive. It is fully supported by Linux and I haven't
had any major problem running it. Until version 2.0.36 it is
supported by its own module (bpck) while in later versions it has
been merged in the more general parallel port ide adaptors (the
paride module that relays then of course on more specific low level
drivers, which in the BackPack case is still called bpck).
In RedHat 5.x based installations the bpck module is available
already at installation stage so you'll just have to select the
BackPack cdrom from the Other CD-ROMs at the installation stage and
then give it some more options (but autoprobe should work just fine).
In RedHat 6.x (which uses 2.2.x kernels and should then use paride),
the BackPack support was dropped. So to install the distribution from
such a device, you will have to customize the bootdisk (adding the
necessary modules) and the installation will be done without any
problem.
Federico Pellegrin has customized a RedHat bootdisk that includes all
the parallel CDROM devices that are supported by the distribution
Linux kernel version (2.2.12) that should then work on all the
supported parallel CDROM devices (even if he only tested it on his
MicroSolutions BackPack since he doesn't have other similar
hardware). You can find
[http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://sole.infis.univ.trieste.it/~drze
us/rh_pcd.html] some information on it and the bootdisk image.
As from RedHat 6.2 a supplementary driver disk was included in the
distribution to support the paride devices. You'll just have to
create the driver disk (the image file is paride.img and can be found
in the images/drivers directory) in the usual way and insert it when
the installer will ask for it.
Of course I suppose there isn't any problem in installing any other
Linux distribution using such a device as long as you can add and
configure the appropriate modules at the very beginning of the
installation stage, but I haven't tested any.
You should take care of the mode the parallel port uses (ECP, EPP,
Output only, PS/2) since some of them may cause your laptop to
suddenly freeze or cause serious data corruption. On the other side
some modes make the communication dramatically slow (I found the best
choice on my laptop the PS/2, but you should make some tests).
This chapter is a courtesy of Federico Pellegrin. Please check also
the [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/CDROM-HOWTO/] CDROM-HOWTO.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.9. From a Parallel Port Using a Second Machine
PLIP Network Install
I got this courtesy by Nathan Myers <ncm_AT_cantrip.org>: "Many
distributions support installing via a network, using FTP, HTTP, or
NFS. It is increasingly common for laptops to have only a single
PCMCIA slot, already occupied by the boot floppy drive. Usually the
boot floppy image has drivers for neither the floppy drive itself,
nor the PCMCIA subsystem. Thus, the only network interface available
may be the parallel port.
Installation via the parallel port using the PLIP protocol has been
demonstrated on, at least, Red Hat. All you need is a Laplink
parallel cable, cheap at any computer store. See the
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/PLIP.html] PLIP-HOWTO for details on setting
up the connection. Note that (uniquely) the RedHat installation
requires that the other end of the PLIP connection be configured to
use ARP (apparently because RedHat uses the DOS driver in their
installer). On the host, either export your CD file system on NFS, or
mount it where the ftp or web daemon can find it, as needed for the
installation."
The [http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/PLIP-Install-HOWTO.html] PLIP Install
HOWTO by Gilles Lamiral describes how to install a Linux distribution
on a computer without ethernet card, nor CD drive, but just a local
floppy drive and a remote NFS server attached by a nullmodem parallel
cable.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.10. From a USB Storage Device (Stick, CD, DVD, Floppy)
If booting from an USB device is supported from the BIOS, it is
possible to install Linux from this drive. Besides some old laptops,
almost all laptops equipped with USB ports support this feature.
First you have to configure the BIOS to boot from an USB device.
Sometimes it is possible to use a certain key combination (e.g.
<ESC>) during the boot process to select the boot device.
Second you have to install Linux on the boot medium (let's say an
USB-Stick) and make it bootable. There are some special Linux
distributions available, which are dedicated for such purposes, e.g.:
[http://featherlinux.berlios.de/about.htm] Feather Linux is a Linux
distribution which runs completely off a CD or a USB pendrive and
takes up under 64Mb of space. It is a Knoppix remastered (based on
Debian/GNU Linux), and tries to include software which most people
would use every day on their desktop. See these
[http://featherlinux.berlios.de/usb-instructions.htm] instructions
about installing Feather Linux on an USB drive.
[http://www003.upp.so-net.ne.jp/tshiono/partboot-usb/] Partboot is
dedictated to USB floppy drives and tailored for Linux laptop and
notebook installations (you may find tools to resize your partitions
as well as PCMCIA support and more).
[http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/] Damn Small Linux (DSL) is a
business-card size (50MB) Live CD Linux distribution. Despite its
minuscule size it strives to have a functional and easy to use
desktop.
[http://www.puppyos.com/] Puppy Linux installs anywhere flash drive,
live-CD, zip disk, hard drive, network emulator. All of the
applications are in an approx 50-70MB distribution. So, it all runs
in a ramdisk, and it all installs in a 128M usb flash card with over
half left over for your data.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.11. Installing via Network Interface
On most modern laptops and notebooks with integrated network card, a
network installation via the PXE protocol is easy to achieve. This
comes in handy especially if there is no CD or DVD drive available.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.11.1. How to Prepare the Source Machine
For my installation I have used a Knoppix CD in the source machine.
Just enable the Terminal Server
(KNOPPIX->Server-Dienste->Terminal-Server KNOPPIX-Services-Start->
KNOPPIX Terminal Server) For almost any laptop model the default
network drivers should work. Disable secure options, otherwise you
will not be able to become the root user on the target machine.
Besides using Knoppix, there are numerous ways to prepare the source
machine for PXE. I haven't checked the EtherBoot protocol yet, but
this might work too.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.11.2. How to Prepare the Target Machine
Look up the BIOS for something like a NetBoot Option and set it on.
Boot the machine and choose booting from the network device. This is
usually achieved by pressing a certain key during boot up or by
pre-selecting the network interface as the boot device in the BIOS.
Now Knoppix should come up. Open a shell and do an su to become root.
To achieve a hard disk installation do either knx-hdinstall for
Knoppix <=3.3 or knoppix-installer for Knoppix >=3.3.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.12. Installing via VNC
You might ask why do a laptop installation via the VNC protocol?
Indeed I know only of one reason to do so. Imagine you want to use a
laptop with a broken keyboard you may use the keyboard of the remote
machine to achieve the installation. Though you have to do a few key
stroke to initiate the VNC installation! You have to prepare the
source machine accordingly (instructions how to do so will follow
later). For recent SuSE versions the distribution is already
prepared, see the handbook for details.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.13. Installing Linux on Small Machines
If you have less than 8MB memory and want to install via NFS you may
get the message "fork: out of memory". To handle this problem, use
fdisk to make a swap partition (fdisk should be on the install floppy
or take one of the mini Linuxes described above). Then try to boot
from the install floppy again. Before configuring the NFS connection
change to another console (for instance by pressing <ALT><F2>) and
issue swapon /dev/xxx (xxx = swap partition ). Thanks to Thomas
Schmaltz.
Bruce Richardson has written the
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/4mb-Laptops.html] 4MB-Laptop-HOWTO on
installing a modern Linux distribution (specifically Slackware 7.0)
onto laptops with 4MB RAM and <= 200MB hard disks. Another HOWTO is
[http://www.xs4all.nl/~lennartb/rescuedisk/index.html] Getting Linux
into Small Machines - HOWTO by L.C. Benschop.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.14. Installing Linux on Apple Macintosh PowerBooks and iBooks
Macintosh PowerBooks these days come with a CD/DVD drive but not a
floppy drive, but the Linux distributions for PPC support booting and
installation off of a CD without any need for a floppy.
Sometimes, when you boot the installer on the PowerBooks, the screen
is black; this is easily fixed by tapping the brightness key on the
keyboard (somehow, the screen brightness gets reset to zero).
If you have a very recent PowerBook, it may not be supported by the
kernel on the installation CD. You can get around this by booting off
of a recent kernel downloaded onto your hard drive and using a
ramdisk on the CD or hard drive, while still loading the installation
packages from the CD (the default). (See the instructions available
online for yaBoot or BootX, the Linux/PPC boot loaders; yaBoot is
currently better-supported on the newest machines.)
They can also boot/install from the Macintosh (HFS) partition on the
internal hard disk.
This part is a courtesy of Steven G. Johnson.
For Linux installation reports see [http://tuxmobil.org/apple.html]
Linux Laptop and Notebook Survey: Apple.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.15. Mass Installation
3.4.15.1. 2.5" to 3.5" IDE Adapter
If you have a 2,5" to 3,5" IDE drive adapter you can install one of
the laptops, and with a desktop computer clone this harddisk to the
disks of the other 99 laptops. You can use the DOS utility GHOST
(works pretty with ext2) or with tar if the desktop works in linux.
You only need an additional boot disk for the reinstall of the lilo
in each laptop and change the hostname and IP address. These adapter
are usually quite cheap (app . ten dollar, but difficult to get) .
________________________________________________________________
3.4.15.2. SystemImager
[http://systemimager.sourceforge.net] VA SystemImager is software
that makes the installation of Linux to masses of similar machines
relatively easy. It also makes software distribution, configuration,
and operating system updates easy. You can even update from one Linux
release version to another! VA SystemImager can also be used for
content management on web servers. It is most useful in environments
where you have large numbers of identical machines. Some typical
environments include: Internet server farms, high performance
clusters, computer labs, or corporate desktop environments where all
workstations have the same basic hardware configuration.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.15.3. Debian/GNU Linux
You might want to take a look at
[http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai] FAI - Fully Automatic
Installation.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.15.4. SuSE
The package ALICE - Automatic Linux Installation and Configuration
Environment, offers CVS-based configuration files and configuration
templates.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.15.5. Replicator
Replicator is a set of scripts to automate the duplication of a
Debian GNU/Linux installation from one computer to another.
Replicator makes an effort to take into account differences in
hardware (like HD size, video card) and in software configuration
(such as partitioning). After the initial configuration, the scripts
will create a bootdisk that allows you to completely (re)install a
Debian box by booting from the floppy and answering a yes/no
question.
________________________________________________________________
3.4.15.6. partimage
[http://partimage.sourceforge.net/] Partition Image is a Linux/UNIX
utility which saves partitions in the ext2fs (the linux standard),
ReiserFS (a new journalized and powerful file system) or FAT16/32
(MS-DOS and MS-Windows file systems) file system format to an image
file. The image file can be compressed in the GZIP/BZIP2 formats to
save disk space, and splitted into multiple files to be copied on
floppies (ZIP for example).
________________________________________________________________
3.5. Common Problems During Installation
3.5.1. Display Problems (Missing Lines, Thick Borders)
A common problem during Linux installation (or afterwards) on laptops
are missing lines at the bottom of the text console display, so the
last command lines or the login prompt are not shown on the screen.
Depending on the problem it might help:
* Either using FrameBuffer, e.g. using a Kernel with framebuffer
support and a boot option like vga=791, for details see the
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Framebuffer-HOWTO.html] FrameBuffer-HOWTO.
* Or disabling FrameBuffer, e.g. using a boot option like
vga=normal or another resolution Also, you could try passing
video=vga16:off on the installer boot prompt.
* As a workaround often it is possible to switch to a second
console e.g. <ALT>+<F2> , because this effect is often only
related to the first console.
* Check if there are VGA and video boot options configured in the
bootloader (e.g. grub, lilo). Try to disable them at least
partly, look for options like ywrap, etc.
* Check the BIOS for display settings, often (older) Toshiba
laptops behave like this.
* Issue the command resize to get the correct screen size into the
system.
* If none of the above helps, you may try to run a start-up-script,
which has to run at the end of the boot process. The script has
to contain the clear command and/or the reset.
II. Handheld Devices - Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)
Table of Contents
4. Palmtops, Personal Digital Assistants - PDAs, Handheld PCs - HPCs
4.1. Resources
5. History of Linux on PDAs
5.1. Itsy
6. Linux PDAs
6.1. AgendaComputing: Agenda VR3
6.2. Samsung: YOPY
6.3. SHARP SL-5000/5500/C700-860/C3x00/6000 aka Zaurus
7. Non-Linux PDAs - Ports and Tools
7.1. HELIO
7.2. iPAQ
7.3. Newton Message Pad
7.4. PALM-Pilot
7.5. HandSpring VISOR
7.6. Psion 5
8. Connectivity
8.1. From a Linux Box to a non Linux PDA
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 4. Palmtops, Personal Digital Assistants - PDAs, Handheld PCs -
HPCs
Linux PDAs, because using your palm isn't as good as the real thing.
Motto of [http://zaurus.loveslinux.com] ZaurusLovesLinux
________________________________________________________________
4.1. Resources
1. Highly recommended is the page by Russell King
[http://www.arm.uk.linux.org/~rmk/] ARM Linux about PDAs with ARM
CPU and with links to other Linux related PDA sites.
2. For more information on Virtual Network Computing, see
[http://www.realvnc.com/] VNC .
3. PDAs and infrared remote control, see
[http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA005810/remocon/remocone.htm]
Hiromu Okada .
4. There is also the [http://www.cdpubs.com/hhsys/archives.html]
Handheld Systems(TM) On-line Archives and a search engine about
palmtop related topics [http://www.palmtop.net/] Palmtop.Net/ .
5. I have setup a page about [http://tuxmobil.org/pda_linux.html]
Linux with PDAs and Handheld PCs , too.
6. These newsgroups for PDA application developers are available:
codewarrior.embedded; codewarrior.games; codewarrior.linux;
codewarrior.mac; codewarrior.palm; codewarrior.unix;
codewarrior.windows;
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 5. History of Linux on PDAs
This chapter is not complete yet, there should be more information on
286 based PDAs which were Linux capable.
________________________________________________________________
5.1. Itsy
The Itsy prototype offered considerably more computing power and
memory than other PDAs of its time, enabling demanding applications
such as speech recognition. It was designed as an open platform to
facilitate innovative research projects. The base Itsy hardware
provided a flexible interface for adding a custom daughtercard, and
Itsy software has been based on the Linux OS and standard GNU tools.
________________________________________________________________
5.1.1. Resources
1. COMPAQ/Digital is the manufacturer of the
[http://research.compaq.com/wrl/projects/itsy/] Itsy.
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 6. Linux PDAs
The most known Linux PDAs in these days are the
[http://tuxmobil.org/pda_survey_agenda.html] Agenda VR3 by
AgendaComputing (out-of-production), the
[http://tuxmobil.org/pda_survey_compaq.html] iPAQ by HP/COMPAQ, the
[http://tuxmobil.org/pda_survey_sharp.html] Zaurus series by SHARP,
and the [http://tuxmobil.org/pda_survey_samsung.html] Yopy by Samsung
(out-of-production). Except the iPAQ all of them are true Linux PDAs,
they are pre-equipped with Linux by their manufacturers.
There are different free distributions for Linux PDAs available,
e.g.: [http://www.trolltech.com/] QT Embedded (pre-installed on the
SHARP Zaurus), [http://opie.handhelds.org/] Opie,
[http://familiar.handhelds.org/] Familiar. The
[http://gpe.handhelds.org/] Gnome Palmtop Environment - GPE aims to
provide a Free Software GUI environment for palmtop/handheld
computers running the GNU/Linux operating system. GPE uses the X
Window System, and the GTK+ widget toolkit.
Most of the software for the newer PDAs can be obtained as
pre-compiled IPK packages. You may search the
[http://www.killefiz.de/zaurus/] Zaurus Software Index - ZSI or
[http://ipkgfind.handhelds.org/] ipkgfind for the package you need.
To install these packages you may choose different methods. One
method is to install directly via a HTTP connection called feed. For
an example see the [http://tuxmobil.org/feed.html] TuxMobil IPK feed.
Besides these well-known Linux PDAs I will also try to point to ports
for other PDAs and to tools to achieve connectivity to non-Linux
PDAs, cell phones and desktop computers.
________________________________________________________________
6.1. AgendaComputing: Agenda VR3
6.1.1. Resources
1. The manufacturer of the first dedicated Linux PDA the Agenda VR3
is AgendaComputing (out-of-business).
________________________________________________________________
6.2. Samsung: YOPY
6.2.1. Resources
1. [http://www.samsung.com/] Samsung is the manufacturer of the
Yopy.
2. The German
[http://www.linux-magazin.de/News/index_html?newsid=519]
Linux-Magazin about the YOPY.
Figure 6-1. Screenshot of the YOPY PDA
[yopy.png]
________________________________________________________________
6.3. SHARP SL-5000/5500/C700-860/C3x00/6000 aka Zaurus
The SHARP Zaurus SL-5000/5500 wasn't the first Linux PDA, but the one
with the greatest success in the Linux community and beyond.
Figure 6-2. Screenshot of the SHARP Zaurus SL-5500 PDA.
[zaurus1.png]
________________________________________________________________
6.3.1. The SHARP System
You may find the official site for information about Linux on the
Zaurus at [http://developer.ezaurus.com/] SHARP Japan (in Japanese).
You can get the official kernel, either complete or just the patches
for the Zaurus there. You can also get the official root-filesystem,
that is the initrd, but without the [http://qpe.sourceforge.net/]
QTopia environment. Check the documentation at SHARP how to create
your zImage, bootflag and initrd for flashing the ROM of the Zaurus
with your custom setup. Or go to your country-specific division of
SHARP to get a complete ROM in one file called "ospack", which is
[http://www.zaurus.de/] Zaurus.DE for Germany or
[http://www.myzaurus.com/] MyZaurus for the US versions. The kernel
is rather old: 2.4.6 with 2.4.6-rmk2-patches and some more from
[http://www.lineo.com/] Lineo. The rmk-patches are from
[http://www.arm.uk.linux.org/] Linux ARM Community. The root
filesystem from SHARP is known for its weird structure with symbolic
links all over the place. The custom compile worked. Remember to hit
the "/"-key when the Zaurus displays "Wait... ", so you can choose to
start a login instead of QTopia, which is not available then. Unless
you downloaded QTopia, (cross-)compiled it and installed it into the
root filesystem. BTW, you can create a new user with "adduser", a
command provided by BusyBox. [http://www.busybox.org/] BusyBox ,
provides nearly all UNIX-commands available on the official system.
________________________________________________________________
6.3.2. The Community Systems
Currently I know of two running systems: OpenZaurus and Debian
(unofficial).
________________________________________________________________
6.3.2.1. OpenZaurus
[http://openzaurus.org/] OpenZaurus tries to create the same
environment as the one from SHARP, but based upon free software only.
At the moment, it still uses the old kernel from Sharp, but slightly
modified in regards of usage of the FLASH-ROM as RAM and division of
RAM between RAMDISK and RAM. Unfortunately, the driver for the
SD-controller is binary-only and thus non-free. But also SHARP itself
tries to convince the vendor, SDCA, to provide the sources for the
public. Moreover, [http://openzaurus.org/] OpenZaurus created a sane
root-filesystem we all know from our regular Linux systems. It also
replaces QTopia by [http://opie.handhelds.org] Open Palmtop
Integrated Environment - OPIE , which is a fork from QTopia with no
relations to Trolltech anymore. All applications from QTopia should
run on OPIE, but not quite: The Doom-like game called Zraycast does
not run on OPIE, but does on QTopia (more or less). You can download
a ready zimage, bootflag and initrd directly or checkout the sources
from CVS. The downloaded images worked fine.
________________________________________________________________
6.3.2.2. Debian
The current, unofficial version of
[http://people.debian.org/~mdz/zaurus/] Debian Zaurus really tries to
be a regular Debian system with apt and X. A simple version of dpkg
is already shipped with [http://www.busybox.org/] BusyBox , which
makes it a little bit easier. The maintainer has therefore stripped
down some more tools to fit them into the Flash-ROM. It uses the
kernel provided by [http://openzaurus.org/] OpenZaurus and thus the
one from Sharp. There are some issues with the RAMdisk, calibration
of the stylus and sleep / power-off/-on. As soon as it is in a more
stable state, it will join forces with
[http://emdebian.sourceforge.net/] EmDebian and the sources will
become available (probably already furnished upon request). The
downloaded images still have to be tweaked. :) All systems, including
the sources from SHARP, are set to use the US keyboard layout (or the
German keyboard). It seems that the keymap available is fixed in the
kernel and there are no user-space tools installed per default to
change this. Perhaps I will give the package "console-tools" on
Debian a try.
________________________________________________________________
6.3.2.3. PocketWorkStation
Here are some of the features of [http://www.pocketworkstation.net/]
PocketWorkStation a Debian/GNU Linux distribution for PDAs:
* Full Debian GNU/Linux operating environment, with easy access to
the many GB of available software. Want the Konqueror web browser
and have 50MB free space on your SD card? Run apt-get install
konqueror, go eat lunch and come back to find it ready to run. No
porting needed.
* Includes X11 able to run most Linux applications - it supports
virtual screens larger than the physical screen, realtime
anti-aliased scaling and rotation, 3-mouse-button emulation and a
full keyboard (useful i.e. if you need to send Ctrl-Alt-Del to an
application).
* VNC client fbvnc (same features as X11 above) - remote administer
your NT box from your Zaurus.
* Runs completely out of a single directory (a 256MB SD card is
ideal), no re-flashing or modification of the existing operating
system is required.
* Switch between QTopia and X11 whenever you like without rebooting
or needing to stop any of your X11 applications.
________________________________________________________________
6.3.3. Synchronization with your Linux PC
The QTopia-Desktop is available as a download from
[http://www.trolltech.com/developer/download/qtopia.html] Trolltech
for free (as in beer): There is a [http://docs.zaurus.com] FAQ, which
explains the necessary steps for setup (Ethernet-over-USB). It is not
quite up-to-date, because SHARP has tightened the security with their
current ROM-release, so you have to give the IP-address 192.168.129.1
to your usb0 network device. You have to download and compile a patch
for your kernel to use the driver usbdnet (see aforementioned
website). Afterwards, a connection between the QTopia-Desktop and the
Zaurus is possible. I had a lot of problems with the usb network
layer on my system and could not sync properly. A switch from the
driver uhci to usb-uhci for my host dit it. Just recently I had to
reboot my notebook and the Zaurus due to a hiccup in the
corresponding usb-net drivers. The network via an ethernet-card in
the CF-slot is much more reliable than the connection via usb and you
can still use the keyboard. The disadvantage is, that you cannot have
a storage device in your CF-slot while you are on-line.
________________________________________________________________
6.3.4. External Serial Keyboard
So far I was not able to get it going. There is a site which offers a
[http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~jpc1/linux/ipaq/serial.html] serial
keyboard driver and a patch for the iPAQ . Since the iPAQ and the
Zaurus are based on the same CPU architecture, StrongArm, I hope that
the driver provided there will also work on the Zaurus. You also need
a user-space tool called inputattach, which you can also get from
there (source or binary for ARM). I got a Happy Hacking Keyboard Lite
with a PS/2 connector. An adaptor translates to serial which itself
is plugged into to the Collie serial <-> serial connector. I do not
know if this chain is even possible to work. The provided patch
applied with only one failing hunk which made a trivial change in the
sources (include/linux/serio.h) necessary; check the output. After
having re-configured the SHARP kernel config and having compiled the
modules, I transferred them to the Zaurus. The modules marked and
created are: newtonkbd.o, serio.o, serport.o and perhaps stowaway.o
from drivers/char/joystick/ and input.o and keybdev.o from
drivers/input/. When you start inputattach, you have to use the line
inputattach --newtonkbd /dev/ttyS0, _not_ ttySA0 as stated on the
website. For some strange reason, the Collie serial driver does not
comply to the official StrongARM documentation of the kernel, which
states that the serial ports are accessible via /dev/ttySAx. And
because the serial_collie.o is already compiled into the Sharp
kernel, you do not have to load the generic module serial.o. Well, I
also tried the serial_collie.o as a module, while it was still
compiled into the kernel. There were no complaints when loading it,
but the system froze unpredictably, so I had to do a soft-reset quite
often. Why can I load a module whose code is already in the kernel, I
wonder... Anyway, it does not work. :( I tried inputattach in the
--dump mode (you have to undefine a variable in the source and
recompile) and it seems that there is nothing happening between the
serial port and the keyboard. The call for select (man 2 select)
fails due to a timeout.
________________________________________________________________
6.3.5. Cross-Compiling
6.3.5.1. Kernel
In order to build the kernel, initrd and applications you need a
cross-compiling environment, GCC is preferred.
[http://emdebian.sourceforge.net/] EmDebian offers .deb packages for
Debian GNU/Linux i386. Note: you have to look up the download links
in the old site (a link is provided on the new site), because they
are missing on the new site (though the download page exists). There
are some dependancy problems with the g++ and libstdc++-dev packages
which can be "resolved" with a --force-depends. The package
libstdc++-dev has some problems finding an info-file: just create a
symlink from /usr/share/info/iostream.ifo.gz to
/usr/share/info/iostream-295.info.gz. You should get some pointers
for other systems at the [http://www.arm.uk.linux.org/] Linux ARM
Community. Once installed, you can grab a standard kernel, apply the
current ARM-patches and modify the top Makefile to target the
arm-architecture. I did not try that so far.
________________________________________________________________
6.3.5.2. Applications
Check the [http://qpe.sourceforge.net/sharp.html] QTopia pages for
more info and the [http://qpe.sourceforge.net/development.html]
QTopia - Development pages.
________________________________________________________________
6.3.5.3. Tool Chains
Werner Schulte explains how to build a OPIE development Live CD. The
CD contains an ISO image with the tools and methods described in his
[http://www.uv-ac.de/opiedev] Opie Development HOWTO - LiveCD
chapter. The CD allows the user to crosscompile OPIE programs without
having a cross-compiler installed on his linux-box (also i386
embedded available).
Instructions for building a
[http://www.lucid-cake.net/osx_arm/index_en.html] cross-compiling GCC
for the Zaurus under Mac OS X.
A [http://www.pellicosystems.com/demolinux/zdemolinux/index.html]
DemoLinux distribution to show the Trolltech Qtopia development
environment for the SHARP Zaurus Personal Mobility Tool or any ARM
based device running the Trolltech QPE system provided by Pellico
Systems.
[http://kopsisengineering.com/kopsis/SharpZaurusSdkDsl] Zaurus
Development with Damn Small Linux offers a cross-development
environment to build binaries for the ARM processor used in the SHARP
Zaurus Linux PDAs. You may run it either inside the QEMU virtual
machine or from a Live CD.
[http://free-electrons.com/community/tools/kernelkit/en] KernelKit is
a Knoppix derivative dedicated to developers of Linux device drivers
and Free Software embedded systems. In particular, it includes uClibc
cross-compiling toolchains for several embedded architectures
(currently ARM, i386, MIPS, mipsel, PPC, and m68k) and emulators
(currently qemu and SkyEye). It can be used for demonstration or
training purposes, or by developers who cannot install GNU/Linux on
their workstations.
________________________________________________________________
6.3.6. Caveats
SHARP introduced a proprietary serial interface at the bottom of the
Zaurus SL-5x00 series. You can buy an adaptor to a regular serial
interface from them, but unfortunately, the plug is very thick and
you cannot open the slide for the keyboard anymore. Hopefully, you
can still plug an external keyboard into this port! You can at least
plug the power cord into the adaptor so you do not have to run on
battery. There are third-party adaptors available, which overcome
this caveat.
There is no speaker for the soundchip of the SL-5500. You have to use
the socket for the headphones to hear OggVorbis and the alikes. The
buzzer currently supports only 14 different sounds defined in
<kernel-source>/include/asm-arm/sharp_char.h , check for
SHARP_BUZ_ALL_SOUNDS.
________________________________________________________________
6.3.7. Resources
6.3.7.1. Manufacturer: SHARP
1. [http://docs.zaurus.com] ZaurusZone.
2. [http://more.sbc.co.jp/slj/linux.asp] Sharp Linux/Java PDA Linux
Information
3. [http://www.zaurus.com/dev/] Sharp Zaurus Developer's Program
________________________________________________________________
6.3.7.2. Kernel and Community Distributions
1. [http://www.arm.uk.linux.org/] ARM Linux
2. [http://emdebian.sourceforge.net/] Emdebian
3. [http://openzaurus.org/] OpenZaurus Project
4. [http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~jpc1/linux/ipaq/serial.html] Linux
serial keyboards
________________________________________________________________
6.3.7.3. FAQs, Forums, etc.
1. [http://zaurus.help4free.de/html/modules/news/] Sharp Zaurus
Hilfe und Support Community (German)
2. [http://www.zaurususergroup.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=FAQ&f
ile=index] Unofficial Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 FAQ
3. [http://docs.zaurus.com] Sharp Zaurus - Developer Site
4. [http://www.handhelds.org] handhelds.org - mobile Devices
________________________________________________________________
6.3.7.4. Applications, Desktop Environments
1. [http://opie.handhelds.org] Open Palmtop Integrated Environment
(OPIE)
2. [http://gpe.handhelds.org] GPE Palmtop Environment, GTK-based
alternative to OPIE
3. [http://qpe.sourceforge.net] QTopia
4. [http://www.trolltech.com/developer/download/qtopia.html]
QTopia-Desktop
5. The [http://www.uv-ac.de/ipaqhelp] iPAQ and Zaurus Development
using QPE handbook by Werner Schulte describes how to install the
Familiar Linux and Qtopia / OPIE on the Compaq iPAQ Handheld (and
SHARP Zaurus) and how to develop applications for the iPAQ/Zaurus
using the Familiar distribution and QPE desktop from Trolltech or
OPIE (the free clone).
________________________________________________________________
6.3.7.5. Software Indexes
1. [http://www.killefiz.de/zaurus/] Zaurus Software Index - ZSI
2. [http://ipkgfind.handhelds.org] IPKGfind Software Index
________________________________________________________________
6.3.8. Conversion from Palm Pilot to Zaurus
See my [http://tuxmobil.org/go2z.html] survey of applications and
conversion tools between a conventional PDA operating system (only
PalmOS yet, WinCE/Pocket PC and Epoc will follow hopefully) and a
Linux PDA.
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 7. Non-Linux PDAs - Ports and Tools
7.1. HELIO
Currently the HELIO is only available with the proprietary VT
operating system. See [http://www.fms-computer.com] FMS for
information about the Linux port.
________________________________________________________________
7.1.1. Resources
1. The manufacturer of the HELIO is [http://www.vtech.com] VTech .
2. [http://vhl-tools.sourceforge.net/] vhl-tools (dead link) , a
SourceForge project, works on utilities, patches, documentation
and integration of Open Source software for Linux on the VTech
Helio PDA.
3. PocketLinux has a port under the GPL, as well as Debian and
Redhat packages. But the URL http://www.pocketlinux.com/ seems no
longer available.
4. [http://www.kernelconcepts.de/helio/] KernelConcepts
5. [http://www.linux-mips.org/linux-vr/tools.html] VR Org cross
compiler
6. [http://www.linux-community.de/News/] Linux-Magazin
Figure 7-1. Screenshot of the HELIO PDA.
[home_helio_03.png]
________________________________________________________________
7.2. iPAQ
Currently the iPAQ PDAs by COMPAQ/HP are distributed only with a
WinCE operating system.
________________________________________________________________
7.2.1. Resources
1. The manufacturer of the iPAQ PDAs is
[http://www.compaq.com/products/handhelds/pocketpc/index.html]
COMPAQ/HP.
Figure 7-2. Screenshot of the iPAQ PDA.
[h3650.png]
________________________________________________________________
7.2.2. Braille Terminal
[http://pages.infinit.net/sdoyon/] Stephane Doyon wrote to the iPAQ
mailing list: "We (Nicolas Pitre and myself) have successfully ported
BRLTTY to the iPaq and tested the setup by interfacing with a
BrailleLite 18 through the serial port. BRLTTY is a program that
allows access to the Linux text-mode console using various brands of
Braille displays. The BrailleLite is a small electronic Braille
notetaker device which can act as a small refreshable Braille
display. It also has keys so I can not only read but also type. So
there's just the iPaq and the BrailleLite device (with a horrible
cable in between) and that's all I need to fully use the console on
the iPaq (in text-mode). A pretty powerful setup, yet very small. At
the Ottawa Linux Symposium in July, using a network card in my iPaq
and borrowing the internet connection they supplied, I was actually
able to logon to the net and go read my E-mail, using ssh, pine and
lynx! It should be possible to duplicate this setup with other
Braille display models or other PDAs."
________________________________________________________________
7.3. Newton Message Pad
The Newton Message Pad was one of the first PDAs.
________________________________________________________________
7.3.1. Resources
1. Apple is the manufacturer of the [http://www.apple.com] Newton
Message Pad.
2. [http://privat.swol.de/ReinholdSchoeb/Newton/] Newton and Linux
Mini-HOWTO .
________________________________________________________________
7.4. PALM-Pilot
7.4.1. Resources
1. 3COM is the manufacturer of the [http://www.3com.com/]
PALM-Pilot.
2. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/PalmOS-HOWTO/] PalmOS-HOWTO (former
Pilot-HOWTO) by David H. Silber.
3. [http://www.pilot-link.org/] PilotLink and XCoPilot PilotLink is
an utility that performs data transfers from 3com PalmPilot
handheld computers to your Linux machine. XCoPilot is an emulator
of the PalmPilot operating system that runs under Linux.
4. [http://www.uclinux.org/] ucLinux
5. [http://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/~minenko/PalmVNC] PalmVNC is an
implementation of the Virtual Network Client architecture that
will allow you to use a Linux or other UNIX machine to put up a
(tiny) X Window on a 3COM PalmPilot.
6. [http://tuxmobil.org/pda_linux_palm.html] Survey of Linux and BSD
Applications for the Palm
Figure 7-3. Screenshot of the PALM-Pilot emulator POSE.
[pose.png]
________________________________________________________________
7.5. HandSpring VISOR
The HandSpring VISOR is a clone of the PALM-Pilot PDA.
________________________________________________________________
7.5.1. USB
From /usr/src/linux/Documentation/usb/usb-serial.txt:
HandSpring Visor USB docking station. There is a
[http://usbvisor.sourceforge.net/] webpage and mailing lists.
Handspring VISOR Platinum serial port is tunneld through USB, so load
usbserial.o with modul parameters vendor=0x82d product=0x100
(usbmgr.conf) USB is made active by starting the HotSync
synchronisation per: pilot-xfer /dev/ttyUSB0 -b -/visor/
________________________________________________________________
7.6. Psion 5
Currently I have information about a port for the Psion 5 and nothing
about the Psion 3 series.
________________________________________________________________
7.6.1. Resources
1. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Psion-HOWTO.html] Psion-HOWTO.
2. [http://plptools.sourceforge.net/] PLPtools is a set of libraries
and utilities for enabling Unix (mainly Linux) systems to
communicate with a Psion palmtop over a serial line. On Linux, a
connection over IrDA, using the IrCOMM feature is also possible.
A shared library encapsulates the highlevel protocol
(PsionLinkProtocol) and thus makes it easy to write applications
without extensive knowledge of the protocol itself. A daemon
(ncpd) handles the serial connection and provides it's services
on a local TCP socket.
3. The [http://linux-7110.sourceforge.net/] OpenPsion (formerly
PsiLinux/Linux7k) is a project to port the unix-like operating
system Linux to a small group of palmtops.
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 8. Connectivity
8.1. From a Linux Box to a non Linux PDA
[http://www.adaptive-enterprises.com.au/~d/software/xcerdisp/]
Xcerdisp is an X Windows equivalent of Microsoft's Remote Display
Control powertoy. It listens for connections from the Windows CE
cerdisp client on your PocketPC, and lets you see and control your
handheld via X. It may be necessary to use the
[http://synce.sourceforge.net/] SynCE tools to get your handheld
connected to the network.
The purpose of the [http://synce.sourceforge.net/] SynCE project is
to provide a means of communication with a Windows CE or Pocket PC
device from a computer running Linux, *BSD, or another Unix system.
[http://www.jardino.nildram.co.uk/] KDE Pocket PC Contacts Import
lets you import your Windows CE (or PocketPC) contacts into KDE's
address book.
Some more information about connectivity and synchronisation tools,
as well as emulators and other software you may find at
[http://tuxmobil.org/pda_linux.html] TuxMobil - PDA and in the
[http://tuxmobil.org/howtos.html] Linux-Infrared-HOWTO .
III. Tablet PCs / Pen PCs
Table of Contents
9. Tablet PCs / Pen PCs
9.1. Introduction
9.2. Display
9.3. Handwriting Recognition
9.4. Keyboard
9.5. Wireless LAN
9.6. Examples
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 9. Tablet PCs / Pen PCs
9.1. Introduction
Tablet PCs are a special kind of notebooks. Usually without keyboard
(or equipped with an external and remote keyboard), they feature a
touchscreen (therefore they were also named Pen PCs) and access to
wireless LAN. In a certain sense they can be compared with PDAs.
Microsoft has created a special edition of their operating system for
Tablet PCs and published a so-called specification. In 2003 the first
Tablet PCs according to this specification entered the market. Though
there have been appropriate devices with Linux many years before. See
the [http://tuxmobil.org/touch_laptops.html] survey of Linux touch
screen laptops and the [http://tuxmobil.org/detach_disp.html] survey
of Linux laptops with detachable displays and finally a
[http://tuxmobil.org/tablet_unix.html] survey about Linux on Tablet
PCs, WebPads, NotePads and PenPCs. They are used for data acquisition
in stores, in the field or in hospitals. Or as a book reader or
webbrowser (therefore they are also named WebPads). Their hardware
features require some dedicated Linux solutions.
________________________________________________________________
9.2. Display
9.2.1. Touchscreen
The [http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/XFree86-Touch-Screen-HOWTO.html]
XFree86-Touch-Screen-HOWTO describes how to setup X11 for
touchscreens. There is also a short
[http://tuxmobil.org/touch_laptops.html] survey of Linux laptops,
which feature a touchscreen and/or have a pen as an input device and
a [http://tuxmobil.org/tablet_unix.html] survey about Linux on Tablet
PCs.
________________________________________________________________
9.2.2. Screen Rotation
9.2.2.1. X-Windows
Some XFree86 drivers support a rotation of the display content. Use
this entry in the configuration file (DEGREE can become CW - 90
degree clockwise , CCW - 90 degree counterclockwise , UD - 180 degree
upside down, but which options actually work depends on the drivers:
Option "Rotate" "DEGREE"
From version 4.3 on [http://xfree86.org/] XFree86 contains the RandR
extension (X resize and Rotate Extension), which makes it possible to
change the display resolution on the fly without restarting X11. The
tool xrandr supports only resolution settings but no rotation. But
the Tiny-X server by RandR developer Keith Packard (Xkdrive)
implements all of the RandR features. But this is usually not
included in the major distributions. Currently [http://x.org/] X.Org
doesn't seem to support rotate and resize.
________________________________________________________________
9.2.2.2. Utilities
There are some rotation utilities for Linux PDAs available, but I
haven't tested them for Tablet PCs yet. Search the
[http://killefiz.de/zaurus/] Zaurus Software Index - ZSI.
________________________________________________________________
9.3. Handwriting Recognition
[http://handhelds.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/apps/xstroke/] xstroke is a
full-screen gesture recognition program written for the X Window
System. It captures gestures that are performed with a pointer
device, (such as a mouse, a stylus, or a pen/tablet), recognizes the
gestures and performs actions based on the gestures. xstroke has been
developed on Linux systems, (i386 and StrongARM), but should be quite
portable to any UNIX-like system with X.
[http://www.handhelds.org/projects/xscribble.html] Xscribble is an X
application that allows a user of a touch screen to input characters
into X applications, using a uni-stroke (Graffiti like) alphabet. It
uses the X test extension to allow synthesis of characters as though
they had been typed on a keyboard. Though it was designed for Linux
on PDAs it might work with Tablet PCs as well.
[http://www.yudit.org/] Yudit is a Unicode text editor for the X
Window System. It can do True Type font rendering, printing,
transliterated keyboard input, and handwriting recognition with no
dependencies on external engines. Its conversion utilities can
convert text between various encodings. Keyboard input maps can also
act like text converters.
________________________________________________________________
9.4. Keyboard
9.4.1. Soft Keyboard / On Screen Keyboard
9.4.1.1. xvkbd
[http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/] xvkbd is a virtual
(graphical) keyboard program for X which provides a facility to enter
characters onto other clients software by clicking a keyboard
displayed on the screen. It also has facility to send characters
specified as the command line option to other client.
________________________________________________________________
9.4.1.2. GNOME On-screen Keyboard (GOK)
The [http://www.gok.ca/] GNOME On-screen Keyboard (GOK) is a dynamic
on-screen keyboard for UNIX and UNIX-like operating systems. It
features Direct Selection, Dwell Selection, Automatic Scanning and
Inverse Scanning access methods and includes word completion.
________________________________________________________________
9.4.2. Remote Keyboard
Some Tablet PCs are equipped with a remote keyboard. Data between
keyboard and Tablet PC may be interchanged via InfraRed, BlueTooth or
other means. If these solutions are hardware based only, they should
work easily with Linux. Otherwise you probably need the technical
specifications from the manufacturer.
________________________________________________________________
9.4.3. Virtual Keyboard
There are different approaches for virtual (non physical) keyboards.
Whether they work with Linux or not I could not verify yet.
* [http://www.vkb.co.il/] Viki made by VKB
* [http://www.canesta.com/] Keyboard Perception Chipset made by
Canesta
* [http://www.senseboard.com/] SenseBoard
* [http://www.lightglove.com/] LightGlove
* [http://www.sait.samsung.co.kr/] Scurry made by SAIT
* [http://www.kittytech.com/] Kitty
________________________________________________________________
9.5. Wireless LAN
Please see the chapter Section 12.35 Wireless LAN below.
________________________________________________________________
9.6. Examples
* [http://www.softwarekombinat.de/linux-point510.html] Fujitsu:
Point 510
* [http://libxg.free.fr/point/point.htm] Fujitsu: Point 510
* [http://www.paceblade.de/?a=2&p=1493] PaceBlade: PaceBook
* [http://simpad.sourceforge.net] Siemens: SimPAD
At TuxMobil there is a survey of
[http://tuxmobil.org/tablet_unix.html] Linux installations on Tablet
PCs, Pen PCs and WebPads.
IV. Mobile (Cellular) Phones, Pagers, Calculators, Digital Cameras,
Wearable Computing
Table of Contents
10. Mobile (Cellular) Phones, Pagers
10.1. Mobile (Cellular) Phones
10.2. Pagers - SMS Messages
11. Calculators, Digital Cameras, Wearable Computing
11.1. Digital Cameras
11.2. Pocket Calculators
11.3. Wearable Computing
11.4. Watches
11.5. Play Station Portable
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 10. Mobile (Cellular) Phones, Pagers
You may find a [http://tuxmobil.org/phones_linux.html] Linux
compatibility survey of mobile phones at TuxMobil. This survey
contains also links to useful applications and to mobile phones
driven by the Linux operating system.
________________________________________________________________
10.1. Mobile (Cellular) Phones
10.1.1. Connectivity to Mobile (Cellular) Phones with non-Linux Operating
System
For NOKIA cellular phones see [http://www.gnokii.org/] GNOKII
project. And Linux [http://www.version6.net/misc/nserver.html]
Nserver. This project aims to produce a GPL replacement for Nokia's
Windows Nserver, and maybe improve upon it along the way. Initially
it will emulate the Windows 3.1 version (ie. allow backup, restore
and install).
[http://www.openwap.org/] openWAP is an open source project for the
implementation of the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) for use
with browsers, servers and tools. WAP is used by PDA devices, cell
phones, pagers and other wireless devices to transmit internet
content to these devices. The project is still in its early stages
and nothing can be downloaded yet.
[http://www.pxh.de/fs/gsmlib/download/] GSMLIB is a library to access
GSM mobile phones through GSM modems. Features include: modification
of phonebooks stored in the mobile phone or on the SIM card, reading
and writing of SMS messages stored in the mobile phone, sending and
reception of SMS messages. Additionally, some simple command line
programs are provided to use these features.
[http://www.kannel.org/] Kannel is an open source WAP gateway. It
attempts to provide this essential part of the WAP infrastructure
freely to everyone so that the market potential for WAP services,
both from wireless operators and specialized service providers, will
be realized as efficiently as possible.
Kannel also works as an SMS gateway for GSM networks. Almost all GSM
phones can send and receive SMS messages, so this is a way to serve
many more clients than just those using a new WAP phone.
________________________________________________________________
10.1.2. Mobile (Cellular) Phones with a Linux Operating System
There are some [http://tuxmobil.org/phones_linux.html] mobile phones
with Linux operating system available. As well as
[http://tuxmobil.org/mobile_phone_linux_distributions.html] Linux
distributions for mobile (cell) phones.
________________________________________________________________
10.2. Pagers - SMS Messages
[http://www.qpage.org/] QuickPage is a client/server software package
that enables you to send messages to an alphanumeric pager. The
client accepts a message from the user and forwards it to a server
using SNPP. The server uses a modem to transmit the message to the
recipient's paging service using the TAP protocol (also known as the
IXO protocol).
[http://daniel.haxx.se/projects/mail2sms/] mail2sms converts a (MIME)
mail to a short message, allowing search/replace, conditional rules,
date/time dependent actions, customizing the output format, etc. The
output defaults to 160 characters, which is perfectly suitable for
sending the text to a GSM telephone as an SMS message. This software
does not include any code for actually sending the text to anything
else but another program or stdout.
[http://www.new.ox.ac.uk/~adam/computing/email2sms/] email2sms is a
filter written in Perl which converts an e-mail into a form suitable
for sending as an SMS message. Its main advantage over the
alternatives is that it uses the CPAN module Lingua::EN::Squeeze to
compress the text down to as little as 40% of its original size, so
you can get much more of your e-mail into the 160 character limit
imposed by SMS. It is fully MIME compatible, and has many
configurable options, including removal of quoted text. Ideal for use
with procmail. A Perl script for sending the output to a typical
e-mail to SMS web gateway is included.
[http://smslink.sourceforge.net/] SMSLink implements a client/server
gateway to the SMS protocol. It requires the use of dedicated
hardware though (a serial GSM module). Both SMS emission and
reception are supported. The server only runs under Linux at the
present time and also supports interactive mode via telnet. The
command-line client already exists for Linux, Solaris and HP-UX. A
basic web interface is provided. A Win32 client is in the works.
[http://lide.pruvodce.cz/~wayne/] nmsms is a very simple program to
announce incoming email to an SMS address (email address) defined at
compile time. The original From: and Subject: header are included in
each mail announced.
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 11. Calculators, Digital Cameras, Wearable Computing
We are all cyborgs.
probably from "Cyborg Manifesto" by Donna J. Haraway in Simians,
Cyborgs, and Women. The Reinvention of Nature. New York: Routledge,
1991
Though in my opinion related to the topic, these devices are not much
covered in this text, yet. For general information about Embedded
Systems, see [http://www.embedded.com] Embedded.com . For Linux
information, see [http://elks.sourceforge.net/] ELKS and the
[http://uclinux.org/] uCLinux project. See also the news group
comp.arch.embedded
________________________________________________________________
11.1. Digital Cameras
11.1.1. Related Documentation
1. [http://www.marblehorse.org/projects/documentation/kodak/]
Kodak-Digital-Camera-HOWTO by David Burley
<khemicals_AT_marblehorse.org> .
________________________________________________________________
11.1.2. Introduction
For information about cellular phones and digital cameras see the
[http://tuxmobil.org/ir_misc.html] Infrared Devices and Linux Survey
and my [http://tuxmobil.org/howtos.html] InfraRed-HOWTO .
Newsgroup: rec.photo.digital .
The Flashpath adapter is a diskette like device which is used to
transfer data from a digital camera to a computer. See
[http://www.smartdisk.com/Downloads/FPDrivers/LinuxDownload.htm]
Flashpath for Linux and James Radley's
[http://www.susie.demon.co.uk/flashpath.html] flashpath homepage .
Note: it is not officially certified and released under GPL.
________________________________________________________________
11.2. Pocket Calculators
Information about calculators e.g. HP-48 is at
[http://www.hpcalc.org/] HP-Calculator.Org, they are hosting the
[http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/docs/faq/48faq.html] HP-48 FAQ.
[http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/hp48.html] HP-48 Kermit Hints and
Tips shows how to talk to the HP48 via its serial-line Kermit
protocol. The HP-48 may also be used as a
[http://www.opensourcepartners.nl/~costar/hp48/] Linux terminal.
See also at my pages about [http://tuxmobil.org/ir_misc.html] Linux
with Infrared Devices and [http://tuxmobil.org/calculators_unix.html]
Linux and Pocket Calculators .
[http://www.multimania.com/rlievin/] GtkTiLink is a program which
allows you to transfer data between a Texas Instruments calculator
and a computer. It works with all cables (parallel, serial, Black and
Gray TI Graph Link). It supports the TI82, TI89, TI92 and TI92+
calculators. It can send/receive data and backups, make a capture of
the calculator screen and do remote control.
________________________________________________________________
11.3. Wearable Computing
Also related to Linux and mobile computers seems wearable computing.
See also [http://www.media.mit.edu/wearables/] MIT ,
[http://wearables.blu.org/] Wearables Central and
[http://www.wearcomp.org/] WearComp .
________________________________________________________________
11.4. Watches
The [http://datalink.fries.net/] datalink library allows sending
information to the Timex DataLink watches. The original datalink
library supports the DataLink models 70 , 150 and 150 S watch and has
been extended to work with the DataLink Ironman Triathlon watch. It
has been tested with the SVGA output on the Ironman watch only, other
output devices and other watches may or may not work, I have no
reports either way. The display must be a CRT display (not a LCD).
________________________________________________________________
11.5. Play Station Portable
[http://qpspmanager.sourceforge.net/] qpspmanager is a program to
manage the files on a memorystick as used by a Sony Playstation
Portable.
V. Mobile Hardware in Detail
Table of Contents
12. Hardware in Detail: CPU, Display, Keyboard, Sound and More
12.1. Introduction
12.2. BIOS
12.3. CPU
12.4. Centrino(tm), Centrino-Duo(tm)
12.5. PCMCIA Controller
12.6. Graphics Chip
12.7. DVI Port
12.8. Video Port / ZV Port
12.9. LCD Display
12.10. Sound
12.11. Keyboard
12.12. Extra Keys / Hot Keys
12.13. Function Key
12.14. Power Key
12.15. Extra LEDs
12.16. Numeric Keypad
12.17. Pointing Devices - Mice and Their Relatives
12.18. Advanced Power Management - APM
12.19. ACPI
12.20. Power Management Unit - PMU (PowerBook)
12.21. Batteries
12.22. Memory
12.23. Plug-and-Play Devices (PnP)
12.24. Docking Station / Port Replicator
12.25. Network Connections
12.26. Built-In Modem
12.27. GPRS
12.28. SCSI
12.29. Universal Serial Bus - USB
12.30. FireWire - IEEE1394 - i.Link
12.31. Floppy Drive
12.32. Optical Drives (CD/DVD)
12.33. Hard Disk
12.34. Hot-Swapping Devices (MultiBay, SelectBay, ..)
12.35. WireLess Network - WLAN
12.36. BlueTooth
12.37. Infrared Port
12.38. FingerPrint Reader
13. Accessories: PCMCIA, USB and Other External Extensions
13.1. PCMCIA Cards
13.2. ExpressCards
13.3. SmartCards
13.4. SDIO Cards
13.5. Memory Technology Devices - RAM and Flash Cards
13.6. Memory Stick
13.7. Card Readers for SD/MMC/Memory Stick
13.8. USB Devices
13.9. Printers and Scanners
13.10. Serial Devices
13.11. External Storage Devices
13.12. Power and Phone Plugs, Power Supply
13.13. Bags and Suitcases
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 12. Hardware in Detail: CPU, Display, Keyboard, Sound and More
12.1. Introduction
The following text about mobile hardware, is applicable to all kinds
of mobile devices running Linux: laptops, notebook, PDAs, handheld
PCs, mobile phones, wearables and more. Though sometimes you have to
make the appropriate changes.
________________________________________________________________
12.2. BIOS
Before setting up any hardware you should have a look into the BIOS.
Often you may find a solution already there, e.g. options to set up
the display, APM or ACPI, DMA, IrDA, PCMCIA, sound, SpeedStep, and
more.
If you run into unresolvable trouble when configuring the hardware,
try a BIOS upgrade from the manufacturer. For this task you usually
need one of the Microsoft so-called operating systems. Or at least a
DOS disk or CD.
Flashing BIOSes has become often quite complex as both DOS and
floppies are fading away. Things aren't any easier when running
exclusively GNU/Linux. Luckily, it is possible to
[http://freshrpms.net/docs/bios-flash/] create a bootable CD-ROM with
GNU/Linux, which enables one to actually flash a BIOS using a DOS
utility without requiring Windows, MS-DOS or a floppy drive.
Some newer laptops e.g. ASUS M5200A are equipped with a BIOS, which
is able to update itself.
The [http://www.nenie.org/misc/flashbootcd.html] Motherboard Flash
Boot CD from Linux Mini HOWTO gives a short summary of how to create
a boot disk to flash a BIOS on a PC, from Linux (or another Unix)
when one has no floppy drive and no access to a DOS/Windows machine.
[http://www.linuxbios.org] LinuxBIOS aims to replace the normal BIOS
found on PCs, Alphas, and other machines with a Linux kernel that can
boot Linux from a cold start. LinuxBIOS is primarily Linux - about 10
lines of patches to the current Linux kernel. Additionally, the
startup code - about 500 lines of assembly and 5000 lines of C -
executes 16 instructions to get into 32-bit mode and then performs
DRAM and other hardware initialization required before Linux can take
over. There are even two reports about LinuxBIOS on laptops.
Alternative approaches are [http://openbios.org/] OpenBIOS and
[http://freebios.sourceforge.net/] FreeBIOS.
________________________________________________________________
12.2.1. SMBios
[http://www.dmtf.org/standards/dmi/] Desktop Management Interface
(DMI) Standards generate a standard framework for managing and
tracking components in a desktop pc, notebook or server. DMI was the
first desktop management standard. The DMI Home Page is a repository
of all DMI-related information from the specification to tools to
support to the Product Registry of DMI-certified products.
[http://www.nongnu.org/dmidecode/] Dmidecode reports information
about your system's hardware as described in your system BIOS
according to the SMBIOS/DMI standard (see a sample output). This
information typically includes system manufacturer, model name,
serial number, BIOS version, asset tag as well as a lot of other
details of varying level of interest and reliability depending on the
manufacturer. This will often include usage status for the CPU
sockets, expansion slots (e.g. AGP, PCI, ISA) and memory module
slots, and the list of I/O ports (e.g. serial, parallel, USB).
There is also an alternative implementation of a DMI table decoder.
[http://linux.dell.com/libsmbios/main/index.html] Libsmbios is a
cross-platform library intended to be used to obtain common
information available in a BIOS using a unified API. Currently, it
can programmatically access any information in the SMBIOS tables. It
also has the ability to obtain Dell system-specific information such
as the Dell System ID number, service tag, and asset tag. Future
plans include APIs for $PIR and mptable mapping. There is a C API for
some of the more commonly used functions, and example binaries to
show off most of the facilities.
________________________________________________________________
12.3. CPU
You may find a survey about CPUs used in mobile devices, which are
Linux-supported in the chapter Chapter 1 Which Laptop to Buy? above.
________________________________________________________________
12.3.1. SpeedStep
Speedstep is a feature of recent CPUs made by Intel, which lets you
set CPU frequency. There are different Linux tools to get this to
work. Similar features are also available for other CPUs from AMD or
the StrongARM CPU, I will describe this in a later issue (assistance
welcome).
Before configuring SpeedStep have a look into the BIOS options.
________________________________________________________________
12.3.1.1. SpeedStep Tool
The [http://www.goof.com/pcg/marc/speedstep.html] SpeedStep tool
works with Mobile Pentium-III CPUs only. See output from cat
/proc/cpuinfo:
model name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) III Mobile CPU 1000MHz
It does not work with the mobile version of the Pentium-III:
model name : Pentium III (Coppermine)
________________________________________________________________
12.3.1.2. CPUFREQ
You might want to check into the
[http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/cpufreq/cpufreq.html]
cpufreq patch for the linux-2.4/2.5 kernels: CPU clock frequency
scaling for Linux, on x86 and ARM based processors. This module
provides a user-space and standard kernel-space interface to this
feature, along ARM system-on-a-chip devices to cope with processor
clock changes. Since the power consumed by a processor is directly
related to the speed at which it is running, keeping the clock speed
as low as possible allows you to get more run-time out of your
battery. Some people use this to adjust their clock speed many times
a second to optimise performance vs battery life. See also the
[http://www.arm.linux.org.uk/cvs/] CVS repository .
________________________________________________________________
12.3.1.2.1. cpufreqd
[http://www.sf.net/projects/cpufreqd] cpufreqd is meant to be a
replacement of the speedstep applet you can find on some other
operating systems, it monitors battery level, AC state and running
programs and adjusts the frequency governor according to a set of
rules specified in the config file. It works both with APM and ACPI.
________________________________________________________________
12.3.1.2.2. cpudyn
[http://mnm.uib.es/~gallir/cpudyn/] cpudyn controls the speed in
Intel SpeedStep and PowerPC machines with the cpufreq compiled in the
kernel. It saves battery and lowers temperature, without affecting
the performance of interactive applications.
________________________________________________________________
12.3.1.2.3. cpuspeedy
[http://cpuspeedy.sourceforge.net] cpuspeedy allows you to change the
clock speed and voltage of CPUs using Linux's CPUFreq driver. It is a
user space program, so it will work on every processor supported by
the kernel's CPUFreq driver.
________________________________________________________________
12.3.1.2.4. powernowd
[http://www.deater.net/john/powernowd.html] PowerNowd is a simple
client daemon for the Linux cpufreq driver using the sysfs interface.
It sits in the background and changes CPU speed in configurable
"steps" according to usage. Written in C, its emphasis is on speed
and simplicity. It is very configurable, and supports non-x86 and SMP
systems.
________________________________________________________________
12.3.1.3. Laptop Mode
[http://samwel.tk/laptop_mode/] Laptop mode is a kernel "mode" that
allows you to extend the battery life of your laptop. It does this by
intelligently grouping write activity on your disks, so that only
reads of uncached data result in a disk spinup. It has been reported
to cause a significant improvement in battery life (for usage
patterns that allow it).
The [http://samwel.tk/laptop_mode/] Laptop Mode Tools package spins
down your hard drive like noflushd, but it works also on journalling
filesystems. It integrates with apmd/acpid/pbbuttonsd to enable this
behaviour only when you are running on battery power. It also adjusts
some hdparm settings and remounts your filesystems noatime, and it
can adjust your maximum CPU frequency.
________________________________________________________________
12.3.1.4. SONY VAIO SPIC Daemon
The [http://spicd.raszi.hu/] SONY VAIO SPIC daemon is a fast and
small hack to create a working apmd to Sony VAIO laptops. It uses the
sonypi kernel module to detect the AC adapter status and the LCD
backlight, and cpufreq for CPU frequency scaling.
________________________________________________________________
12.3.1.5. CPUIDLE
A [http://www.heatsink-guide.com/cpuidle.htm] software utility that
will make your CPU run cooler? Sounds pretty strange, huh? Let me
explain: Have you ever thought of the fact that your CPU is idle most
of the time when you're using your computer? For example, when you're
using your word processor, writing emails, browsing the web, the CPU
does nothing else than just wait for user input. In fact, it will use
up to 30W and produce substantial amounts of heat doing nothing. Good
operating systems, like Linux, NT and OS/2 have a so-called "idle
loop" - a loop that's always executed when the CPU has nothing to do.
This loop consists of halt (HLT) instructions. CPUs like the AMD K6,
the Cyrix 6x86 and 6x86MX have a special feature called
"suspend-on-halt". This means that everytime the CPU executes a hlt
instruction, it will go into "suspend mode" for a short time. So,
while the idle loop is being executed, the CPU will be in suspend
mode, use much less power, and stay much cooler. Of course, this does
not affect performance at all! The user won't even notice that his
CPU is in suspend mode most of the time (unless he touches the
heatsink).
________________________________________________________________
12.3.1.6. ACPI
If you have enabled ACPI support in the Kernel you may also set the
SpeedStep parameters via the /proc/apci/ interface, e.g. echo 1 >
/proc/acpi/processor/CPU0/performance will make the CPU speed down.
Note: the spaces in the command are important! Note also: this
feature is deprecated for Kernel > 2.6.11. Or use this script
provided by Sebastian Henschel.
#! /bin/sh
# /etc/init.d/slowcpu: slow down cpu or accelerate it via speedstep
test -e /proc/acpi/processor/CPU0/performance || exit 0
case "$1" in
start)
echo "Setting CPU0-Speed to: 733 MHz."
echo 1 > /proc/acpi/processor/CPU0/performance
;;
stop)
echo "Setting CPU0-Speed to: 1133 MHz."
echo 0 > /proc/acpi/processor/CPU0/performance
;;
force-reload|restart)
;;
*)
echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop}"
exit 1
esac
exit 0
________________________________________________________________
12.4. Centrino(tm), Centrino-Duo(tm)
Intels Centrino(TM) technology consists of three parts: a Pentium M
processor, a chipset, and a wireless module. Let's see how these
parts are supported under Linux so far.
Here you may find current information about
[http://tuxmobil.org/centrino.html] Linux on Centrino laptops and
notebooks.
________________________________________________________________
12.4.1. CPU: Pentium-M
Robert Freund has written a concise [http://rffr.de/acpi] HOWTO about
controlling ACPI Centrino(TM) features via software in Linux. He
describes how to control CPU frequency and other energy saving modes,
as well as how to get information about the battery state.
________________________________________________________________
12.4.2. Chipset: 855/915
The Intel 855/915 chipset families are designed to deliver better
performance at lower power. The chipsets are available as discrete
memory controller hub (e.g. Intel 855PM). Or as an integrated
graphics and memory controller hub (e.g. Intel 855GM). Intel provides
the Extreme Graphics driver for Linux, which includes AGP GART and
DRM kernel modules as a binary files. I have no experience with this
drivers, because the chipsets work with XFree86/X.org drivers, too.
The Pentium-M CPU may come accompanied with other graphics chipsets
too, e.g. from ATI, nVIDIA or Trident.
________________________________________________________________
12.4.3. Wireless LAN: PRO/wireless 2100/2200 LAN Mini-PCI Adapter
There are different solutions to get these cards running with Linux:
drivers from Intel, NDIS wrapper and Linuxant driverloader
(commercial).
[http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/] ipw2100, Intel's Open Source driver
with included firmware, for the first Centrino generation (incl. WEP
and WPA together with HostAP). For the second generation of Intel's
miniPCI modules: PRO/Wireless 2200BG (802.11g/802.11i), the
[http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/] ipw2200 project provides a driver.
Third generation PRO/Wireless 2915ABG (IEEE 802.11b, 802.11g und
802.11a) miniPCI cards will be supported by the
[http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/] ipw2200 project, too.
Intel didn't provide drivers, when the begun to sell their Centrino
technology. During this time there have been other solutions: Some
vendors refuse to release technical specifications or even a binary
Linux driver for their WLAN cards. NDIS wrapper tries to solve this
by making a kernel module that can load NDIS (Microsoft-Windows
Network Driver Interface Specification) drivers. Currently there are
two implementations available. The commercial
[http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/] Linuxant Driverloader
supports a broad range of chipsets including Intel's PRO/Wireless
2100 LAN Mini-PCI Adapter. There is also
[http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/] ndiswrapper an Open Source
solution by Pontus Fuchs.
As another workaround was the usage of a Linux-supported
[http://tuxmobil.org/minipci_linux.html] miniPCI WLAN card. These
cards are difficult to get, but some desktop WLAN PCI cards contain
miniPCI cards. Often it is a tedious task to build them into a
laptop. Kernel maintainer Theodore Tytso has written a
[http://www.thunk.org/tytso/linux/t40.html] manual about achieving
this task. You may also use a wireless PCMCIA or CF card instead.
This solution may provide more flexibility, because you may use a
PCMCIA or CF card in different devices and choose the Linux driver of
your choice. You may also extend the wireless range by adding
antennas to some cards. For Linux compatibility there is the
[http://tuxmobil.org/pcmcia_linux.html] TuxMobil PCMCIA/CF Card
Survey. In the future, manufacturers will probably offer alternative
miniPCI solutions. DELL is already doing so for their Latitude D
series.
________________________________________________________________
12.4.4. Conclusion
Though Linux support is not yet complete, some features of the
Centrino(TM) technology already make it worthwhile to take into
account when buying your next laptop. Though the new CPUs are named
so similarly to existing ones that some people mix them up, they are
completely different inside. Compared to the Pentium-4 Mobile CPU,
the Pentium-M will allow a smaller form factor for laptops, making
them more portable and lighter. Because of their higher clockspeed,
the Pentium-4 CPUs have produced too much heat to build them into
slimline notebook cases. Therefore, very flat notebooks have only
been available from Apple or with a Pentium III Mobile CPU. Also, the
battery power the Pentium-M consumes for a given level of performance
will decrease, but I do not have a benchmark about how much the
savings actually are yet. PENN Computing offers a nice
[http://www.upenn.edu/computing/provider/docs/centrinoprovider.html]
comparison of Pentium-M and Pentium-4 Mobile. Note: The character M
in Pentium-M suggests "mobile". Therefore some people mix this kind
of CPU with the mobile versions of the Pentium-III/Pentium-4 CPU.
Laptops based on the Centrino(TM) features are already very popular
in the Linux community. [http://tuxmobil.org/centrino.html]
Installation reports for almost all Centrino based laptops available
at TuxMobil.
________________________________________________________________
12.5. PCMCIA Controller
12.5.1. Linux Compatibility Check
With the probe command, which is included in the PCMCIA-CS package by
David Hinds you can get the type of the PCMCIA controller. Also
available by the command cat /proc/pci.
________________________________________________________________
12.5.2. Related Documentation
1. PCMCIA-HOWTO
________________________________________________________________
12.5.3. PCMCIA Configuration - Survey
In the mailing lists where I'm a member, the question "How can I set
up PCMCIA support, after the Linux installation?" comes up sometimes.
Therefore I try to give a short survey. But the authoritative source
for the latest information about the PCMCIA Card Services for Linux,
including documentation, files, and generic PCMCIA information is the
Linux PCMCIA Information Page . For problems with PCMCIA and APM see
the chapter APM.
________________________________________________________________
12.5.3.1. Software
1. Install the newest available PCMCIA-CS package, if you take a rpm
or deb package it is quite easy.
2. Read the PCMCIA HOWTO, usually included in the PCMCIA-CS package.
3. If necessary, install a new kernel.
4. Make sure your kernel has module support and PCMCIA support
enabled (and often APM support)
5. Make sure your kernel also includes support for the cards you
want to use, e.g. network support for a NIC card, serial support
for a modem card, SCSI support for a SCSI card and so on.
6. If you have a custom made kernel, don't forget to compile the
PCMCIA-CS source against your kernel.
________________________________________________________________
12.5.3.2. PCMCIA Controller
1. Use the probe command to get information whether your PCMCIA
controller is detected or not.
2. Edit the file /etc/sysconfig/pcmcia. It should include PCMCIA=y
and the type of your PCMCIA controller, e.g. PCIC=i82365. Since
Kernel 2.6 there is a standard driver PCIC=yenta_socket.
3. Start the PCMCIA services typically via /etc/init.d/pcmcia start.
If you get two high beeps, everything should be fine.
4. If something doesn't work, check the messages in
/var/log/messages .
________________________________________________________________
12.5.3.3. PCMCIA Card
1. Check your card with cardctl ident .
2. If your card is not in /etc/pcmcia/config, edit the file
/etc/pcmcia/<MYCARD>.conf appropriately. Take an entry in the
first file as a model. You may try every driver, just in case it
might work, for instance the pcnet_cs supports many NE2000
compatible PCMCIA network cards. Note: it is a bad practice to
edit /etc/pcmcia/config directly, because all changes will be
lost with the next update.
3. A list of supported cards is included in the PCMCIA-CS package.
The current list you may find at
[http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/ftp/SUPPORTED.CARDS]
SUPPORTED.CARDS.
Since there are not all cards mentioned I have set up a PCMCIA
Cards Survey of Cards Supported by Linux .
4. If you use a X11 GUI, you can use cardinfo to insert, suspend, or
restart a PCMCIA card via a nice graphical interface.
Figure 12-1. Screenshot of cardinfo
[cardinfo.png]
________________________________________________________________
12.6. Graphics Chip
12.6.1. Linux Compatibility Check
12.6.1.1. Video Mode
Attention: The SuperProbe is deprecated. The tool SuperProbe is part
of XFree86 and is able to check many graphics chips. Please read the
documentation carefully, because it might crash your hardware. From
man SuperProbe:
"SuperProbe is a program that will attempt to determine the type of
video hardware installed in an EISA/ISA/VLB-bus system by checking
for known registers in various combinations at various locations
(MicroChannel and PCI machines may not be fully supported; many work
with the use of the -no_bios option). This is an error-prone process,
especially on UNIX (which usually has a lot more esoteric hardware
installed than MS-DOS system do), so SuperProbe may likely need help
from the user.
At this time, SuperProbe can identify MDA, Hercules, CGA, MCGA, EGA,
VGA, and an entire horde of SVGA chipsets (see the -info option,
below). It can also identify several HiColor/True-color RAMDACs in
use on SVGA boards, and the amount of video memory installed (for
many chipsets). It can identify 8514/A and some derivatives, but not
XGA, or PGC (although the author intends to add those capabilities).
Nor can it identify other esoteric video hardware (like Targa, TIGA,
or Microfield boards).":
For testing reasons start the X11 server with X 2> <error.msg>. And
try to change the resolution by typing <CTL><ALT><+> or
<CTL><ALT><->. Note: the + or - sign have to be taken from the
numeric pad, which can be emulated at the letter pad or with the Fn
key by some laptops.
________________________________________________________________
12.6.1.2. Text Mode
Just watch the display and determine if it works properly. If not,
try to enable different video modes at startup time. Setting up X11
can sometimes be an exercise in trial and error.
________________________________________________________________
12.6.2. Related Documentation
1. First of all the [http://www.xfree86.org/] XFree86 documentation
itself. Often locally available at /usr/share/doc/xfree86*. Or
the [http://x.org/] X.Org documentation.
2. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/XFree86-HOWTO/] XFree86-HOWTO
3. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/XFree86-Video-Timings-HOWTO/]
XFree86-Video-Timings-HOWTO
4. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/XFree86-XInside.html]
XFree86-XInside-HOWTO
5. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/X-Big-Cursor.html] X-Big-Cursor-mini-HOWTO
(useful when running X11 on a notebook with low contrast LCD)
6. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO.html]
Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO
7. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Framebuffer-HOWTO.html] Framebuffer-HOWTO
________________________________________________________________
12.6.3. Survey X11-Servers
You might discover that some features of your laptop are not
supported by [http://www.xfree86.org/] XFree86 or [http://x.org/]
X.Org. , e.g. high resolutions, accelerated X or an external monitor.
Therefore I give a survey of available X11 servers.
1. [http://www.xfree86.org/] XFree86
2. [http://x.org/] X.Org.
3. VESA Frame-Buffer-Device, available with 2.2.x kernels and
XFree86 3.3.2 or greater. See [http://linux-fbdev.org/] FBDev.ORG
and [http://www.strusel007.de/linux/fb.html] FB FAQ and kernel
source /usr/src/linux/Documentation .
Please check the latest release of [http://directfb.org/]
DirectFB for a dedicated Framebuffer Driver for the NeoMagic chip
and other chipsets, with support for acceleration. DirectFB is a
thin library that provides developers with hardware graphics
acceleration, input device handling and abstraction, an
integrated windowing system with support for translucent windows
and multiple display layers on top of the Linux framebuffer
device. It is a complete hardware abstraction layer with software
fallbacks for every graphics operation that is not supported by
the underlying hardware.
4. [http://www.xig.com/] Xi Graphics , commercial, also known under
their former names AcceleratedX or Xinside.
5. [http://www.scitechsoft.com/] SciTech, commercial.
6. [http://www.metrolink.com/] Metro-X, commercial.
If you can't get an appropriate X11 server working, but cannot afford
a commercial X11 server you may try the VGA16 or the mono server
included in XFree86.
________________________________________________________________
12.6.4. Resources
You may find a survey about current graphics chips used in laptops
and notebooks at TuxMobil.
________________________________________________________________
12.6.5. External Monitors: LCD, CRT, TV, Projector
There are several different methods to activate support for an
external monitor: as a BIOS option or during runtime with a keystroke
e.g. <Fn>+<F4>.
Read the X11 docs about your graphics chip carefully, for instance
for the NeoMagic NM20xx chips you have to edit /etc/XF86Config by
configuring intern_disp and extern_disp. Note: As far as I know these
options are only valid for XFree86 3.3.x, for XFree86 4.x I couldn't
find a similar option.
If you can't get the external monitor to work with XFree86, try a
demo version of the commercial X11 servers mentioned above. Also
check with the RedHat and SuSE WWW sites as they may have new,
binary-only, X11 servers that may work with your laptop. Or check X11
servers from [http://x.org/] X.Org.
________________________________________________________________
12.6.5.1. Tools
The [http://www.stud.uni-hamburg.de/users/lennart/projects/atitvout/]
atitvout utility may be used for executing several configuration
commands for the TV Out connector of ATI Rage Mobility P/M graphics
boards under GNU/Linux on x86. It is intended primarily to enable TV
Out support after bootup and for switching the used TV standard from
NTSC to PAL.
[http://www.probo.com/timr/savage40.html] s3switch will allow you to
switch your display between the various output devices supported by
the Savage (CRT, LCD, TV).
[http://sourceforge.net/projects/nv-tv-out] nv-tv-out is a tool to
enable TV-Out on Linux for NVidia cards. It does not need the kernel,
supports multiple TV encoder chips. You may use all the features of
the chip, down to direct register access, and all resolutions and
sizes the chip supports.
[http://www16.plala.or.jp/mano-a-mano/i810switch.html] i810switch is
an utility for switching the LCD and external VGA displays on and
off, with almost every graphics chip from Intel's i8xx family,
including Centrino.
[http://sourceforge.net/projects/i855crt] i855crt is an userspace
driver that can enable the CRT out (port for external monitor) on
Intel 855GM based laptops.
________________________________________________________________
12.6.5.2. Solutions
Klaus Weidner has described a
[http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/pipermail/linux-thinkpad/2003-Nove
mber/013701.html] Dual monitor setup without using xinerama, but
x2vnc instead. This approach allows to add and remove the second
monitor dynamically without reconfiguring or restarting anything.
________________________________________________________________
12.6.6. Power Management for Graphics Cards
The uptime on batteries can be improved by enabling the power
management features of the graphics card. There are tools available
to change the clock frequency and to shut down the backlight of the
display. Usually these tools are specific for a graphics card or a
graphics card manufacturer. Here are some techniques for graphics
cards made by ATI.
The proprietary fglrx driver from ATI needs to be enabled by adding
the PowerState option to the Device Section in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf
X11 configuration file:
Section "Device"
Identifier "aticonfig-Device[0]"
Driver "fglrx"
Option "PowerState" "1"
EndSection
After rebooting or re-starting X11 you can start the power save mode
with the command aticonfig --set-powerstate=1 --effective=now. Use
aticonfig --list-powerstates to get all available powerstates.
For ATI Radeon graphics cards the rovclock tool can be used to save
power e.g. rovclock -c 80 -m 80 to use only 80MHz chip and memory
frequency. The command radeontool light off switches the backlight
off, if closing the lid or using an extra key is not an option.
The [http://lkml.org/lkml/2006/10/9/83] ACPI backlight driver by
Holger Macht in 2.6.x for IBM, Toshiba, ASUS laptops adds support for
the generic backlight interface below /sys/class/backlight. The patch
keeps the procfs brightness handling for backward compatibility. For
this to archive, the patch adds two generic functions brightness_get
and brightness_set to be used both by the procfs related and the
sysfs related methods.
________________________________________________________________
12.6.7. Miscellaneous
Sometimes you may encounter a display not working properly in text
mode. Currently I don't have any recommendations, please see
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO.html]
Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO .
Take care of the backlight as far as I know this device can only bear
a limited number of uptime circles. So avoid using screensavers too
much.
For problems with X Windows and APM please see the APM chapter.
[http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/vbetool/] vbetool uses LRMI in order
to run code from the video BIOS. Currently, it is able to alter DPMS
states, save/restore video card state, and attempt to initialize the
video card from scratch. It exists primarily in order to increase the
chances of successfully recovering video state after an ACPI S3
suspend-to-RAM.
________________________________________________________________
12.7. DVI Port
As far as I know DVI ports don't work with Linux yet. But anyway here
are links to installation reports about
[http://tuxmobil.org/laptop_dvi_linux.html] Linux on laptops and
notebooks with DVI ports.
________________________________________________________________
12.8. Video Port / ZV Port
Some high end laptops come with a video or ZV port (NTSC/PAL). Since
I don't have a laptop with a ZV or video port yet, I can provide only
some URLs [http://www.thp.uni-koeln.de/~rjkm/linux/bttv.html] BTTV
(driver) [http://www.mathematik.uni-kl.de/~wenk/xwintv.html] xwintv
(tvviewer). For further information see
[http://www.exploits.org/v4l/] Video4Linux . To collect information
about laptops with video port I have setup a page at
[http://tuxmobil.org/hardware.html] TuxMobil - Hardware .
Alternatively to the ZV port you might use the USB port.
________________________________________________________________
12.9. LCD Display
This chapter isn't ready yet, it will contain information about the
lifetime of backlights, differences between CRT and LCD displays,
anti-aliasing with LCD displays, the ISO 13406-2 standard about pixel
defects, a survey of common resolutions: VGA, SVGA, XGA and more
soon. See also the screensaver chapter and the touchscreen section in
the chapter Part III in Linux on the Road Tablet PC and PDA.
________________________________________________________________
12.9.1. Laptop Displays
12.9.1.1. Applications
[http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/software/lcdtest/] lcdtest is a
utility to display LCD monitor test patterns. It may be useful in
finding pixels that are stuck on or off. lcdtest uses the SDL
library, and has only been tested on Linux with X, but may work on
other platforms.
[http://ddccontrol.sourceforge.net/] DDCcontrol is a program used to
control monitor parameters, like brightness and contrast, by
software, i.e. without using the OSD (On Screen Display) and the
buttons in front of the monitor.
________________________________________________________________
12.9.1.2. Fonts
[http://www.iki.fi/too/sw/fat8x16-x-font.readme] fat8x16-x-font is a
8x16 pixel fixed width font to be used in physically small but high
resolution displays. Such displays can be found for example in
notebook computers with 1400x1050 and 1600x1200 14" displays.
________________________________________________________________
12.9.2. PDA Displays
[http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~cantsin/homepage/computing/hacks/pxl20
00/README.html] pxl2000 is a free ISO 8859-15 (i.e. ISO 8859-1 with
Euro symbol) encoded monowidth dot matrix typeface for the X Window
system (X11). It is currently available in nine sizes: 4x8, 5x10,
6x12, 7x14, 8x16, 9x18, 10x20, 11x22 and 12x24 pixels. It's design
objectives are:
* Readability; fitness to be used as a default screen font,
especially on reverse-color X11 terminals
* Optimization for program code through visually distinct
characters L, l, 1, 7, |, I, i and 0, O and more.
* Complete ISO 8859-15 character set.
* Many point sizes to ensure optical consistency across different
computers with different screen resolutions (encompassing
anything from PDA displays to 20" screens).
* Fitness for displaying ASCII art and codework/code poetry, from
viewing graphics in aview, watching TV in ttv and DVDs in mplayer
with -vo aa to reading mailinglists like _arc.hive_, 7-11 and
writing in mutt.
* Clean, minimalist visual design; no serifs, a square minuscule
base matrix, rounded edges. This is a computer terminal font; it
should not look like a low-res imitation of print type.
The author Florian Cramer employs this font in his "anti-desktop"
setup consisting of the ratpoison window manager and GNU screen
inside an rxvt terminal (with reverse color and no scrollbars),
similar to what is described in this
[http://palm.freshmeat.net/articles/view/581/] FreshMeat article .
________________________________________________________________
12.10. Sound
12.10.1. Linux Compatibility Check
The only way I know to check this, is to compile the different sound
drivers into the kernel and check whether they are detected or not.
The best way to do so, is to compile them as modules because it's
easier to load different parameters such as interrupts and IO ports
this way. For the 2.2.x kernels, read
/usr/src/linux/Documentation/sound/Introduction by Wade Hampton. This
document may help you get started with sound. Also, you might try one
of the commercial sound drivers mentionend below. To check whether
sound works or not you may try e.g. xmms and one of the sounds
provided in /usr/share/sounds.
________________________________________________________________
12.10.2. Related Documentation
1. [http://www.tldp.org/] Sound-HOWTO
2. [http://www.tldp.org/] Visual-Bell-mini-HOWTO
3. You may find also some good sound HOWTOs at the
[http://www.djcj.org/LAU/guide/] Linux Audio Users Guide - LAU
________________________________________________________________
12.10.3. Survey Sound Drivers
1. ALSA [http://www.alsa-project.org/] Advanced Linux Sound
Architecture . The Advanced Linux Sound Architecture aims to: be
a fully-modularized sound driver which supports kerneld/kmod,
ensure compatibility with most binary OSS/Lite applications,
create an ALSA Library (C,C++) which covers the ALSA Kernel API
for applications, and create ALSA Manager, an interactive
configuration program for the driver. With Kernel 2.6 these
modules will be part of the Linux Kernel.
2. UNIX Sound System Lite / OSS provides commercial sound card
drivers for most popular sound cards under Linux. These drivers
support digital audio, MIDI, Synthesizers and mixers found on
sound cards. These sound drivers comply with the Open Sound
System API specification. OSS provides a user-friendly GUI which
makes the installation of sound drivers and configuration of
sound cards very simple. OSS supports over 200 brand name sound
cards. OSS drivers provide automatic sound card detection,
Plug-n-Play support, support for PCI audio soundcards and
support.
3. As a last resort you may try the speaker module pcsnd, which
tries to emulate a soundcard.
________________________________________________________________
12.10.4. Additional Soundcards
[http://www.digigram.com/products/VXpocket.html] VXPocket looks like
a finally medium2high-end soundcard solution for onboardwise badly
equipped laptops. Note: I didn't check whether this is a PCMCIA card
or not. PCMCIA sound cards are probably not supported.
Also USB may be an alternative. Most USB audio devices are supported
by recent kernels. An example is Labtec Axis 712 Stereo Headset
(headphones and microphone) which works in full-duplex mode. For more
info about this and other Linux-compatible USB audio devices see the
[http://www.qbik.ch/usb/devices/] USB Survey and my
[http://tuxmobil.org/usb_linux.html] Mobile USB Linux Hardware Survey
.
________________________________________________________________
12.10.5. External and Internal CD Drives
For playing CDs/DVDs from an external or internal CD/DVD drive, see
chapter Section 12.32 CD/DVD Drive below.
________________________________________________________________
12.11. Keyboard
12.11.1. Linux Compatibility Check
Usually there are no problems with Linux and the keyboard. Though
there are two minor caveats: First the setleds program might not
work. Second the key mapping might not fit your needs. Some UNIX
users and vi users expect to find the <CONTROL> key to the left of
the <A> key. Many PC-type keyboards have the <CAPS-LOCK> key there.
You may use xmodmap or loadkeys to re-map the keyboard. Some laptops
(e.g., Toshiba) allow you to swap the <CAPS-LOCK> and <CONTROL> keys.
Mark Alexander offered this solution in the linux-laptop mailing
list: On RedHat, it's a one-line patch to
/usr/lib/kbd/keytables/us.map , or whatever file is referenced in
/etc/sysconfig/keyboard:
*** us.map~ Tue Oct 31 14:00:07 1995
--- us.map Thu Aug 28 13:36:03 1997
*** 113,119 ****
keycode 57 = space space
control keycode 57 = nul
alt keycode 57 = Meta_space
! keycode 58 = Caps_Lock
keycode 59 = F1 F11 Console_13
control keycode 59 = F1
alt keycode 59 = Console_1
--- 113,119 ----
keycode 57 = space space
control keycode 57 = nul
alt keycode 57 = Meta_space
! keycode 58 = Control
keycode 59 = F1 F11 Console_13
control keycode 59 = F1
alt keycode 59 = Console_1
________________________________________________________________
12.11.2. External (Second) Keyboard
A second (or external) keyboard can be attached using the PS/2 port
(I suppose this is not possible via the serial port, since there is
no keyboard controller for the serial port) or via USB port. Also
there is one laptop with a detachable keyboard the Siemens Scenic
Mobile 800. This machine uses an infrared connection to the keyboard,
but I don't know whether this works with Linux.
________________________________________________________________
12.11.2.1. External USB Keyboard Configuration
You may not need any operating system support at all to use a USB
keyboard if you have a PC architecture. There are several BIOS
available where the BIOS can provide USB support from a keyboard
plugged into the root hub on the motherboard. This may or may not
work through other hubs and does not normally work with add-in
boards, so you might want to add in support anyway. You definitely
want to add keyboard support if you activate operating system
support, as the Linux USB support will disable the BIOS support. You
also need to use Linux USB keyboard support if you want to use any of
the "multimedia" types keys that are provided with some USB
keyboards.
In the kernel configuration stage, you need to turn on USB Human
Interface Device (HID) support and Keyboard support. Do not turn on
USB HIDBP Keyboard support. Perform the normal kernel rebuild and
installation steps. If you are installing as modules, you need to
load the hid.o, input.o and keybdev.o modules.
Check the kernel logs to ensure that your keyboard is being correctly
sensed by the kernel.
At this point, you should be able to use your USB keyboard as a
normal keyboard. Be aware that LILO is not USB aware, and that unless
your BIOS supports a legacy USB keyboard, you may not be able to
select a non-default boot image using the USB keyboard. I have
personally used a USB keyboard (and USB mouse) and experienced no
problems.
________________________________________________________________
12.11.2.2. External PS/2 Keyboard
Warning
Don't plug the external keyboard in while the laptop is booted, or
plug the mouse in the keyboard port and the keyboard in the mouse
port. On a Toshiba, this caused one user to have to completely
shutdown the laptop, remove the keyboard/mouse, and do a cold reboot.
For PS/2 ports there is a so called Y-Cable available, which makes it
possible to use external mouse and external keyboard at the same time
if your laptop supports this feature.
[http://linuxconsole.sourceforge.net/input/adapters.html] Parport to
AUX port adapter In some cases one kbd port and one aux port is not
enough and you may want to add another keyboard or mouse. You can use
this adapter, together with the parkbd module for that.
On some laptops a splitter works to allow both mouse and keyboard to
be plugged in; on others it doesn't work at all. If you want to use
both, you better check that it works.
________________________________________________________________
12.12. Extra Keys / Hot Keys
12.12.1. Related Documentation
1. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO.html]
Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO
________________________________________________________________
12.12.2. Utilities
Some laptops offer extra buttons, e.g. - internet, mail keys, or zone
keys. If the Linux kernel and XFree86/X.org generate key codes for
them, hotkeys or just plain xmodmap (see the man page of this X11
programm for details) may be helpful. If Linux doesn't know about the
keys, you'll have to patch the kernel first. Though I'm not quite
sure some tools don't seem to require this, I don't understand how it
works yet. You may also use [http://www.geocities.com/wmalms/] xhkeys
. This tool allows you to assign an action to any key that is
otherwise unused in X (such as the "menu" key on a 105 key keyboard,
extra keys on some keyboard models, or odd keys on laptops). The
action assigned to a key or key combination (key and modifiers) can
be a builtin operation, a call to an external application, the
sending of a key event (simulating a key press/release), or the
sending of a mouse button event (simulating a button press/release).
Tip
To get information about unknown keyboard or mouse events you may use
showkey and mev (the last one is from the gpm package) on a console
screen. But some of the extra keys are not found with these tools.
[http://keytouch.sourceforge.net/] keyTouch makes it possible to
easily configure the extra function keys of a keyboard (like
multimedia keys). It allows the user to define which program will be
executed when a key is pressed. By using keyTouch-editor the user can
easily create a keyboard file for his or her laptop to get the laptop
supported.
akdaemon is a userland daemon to invoke "the fun keys" by accessing a
dev node offered by the complementary
[http://sourceforge.net/projects/akdaemon/] kernel patch or the
[http://home.zonnet.nl/vanrein/linux/funkey/] funkey programm .
The [http://ypwong.org/hotkeys/] hotkeys package is supposed to
listen for those multimedia keys.
Special ("easy access") buttons are supported by
[http://lineak.sourceforge.net] LinEAK . Here is an example
lineakd.conf file:
# LinEAK Configuration file for Compaq Easy Access Key 2800 (6 keys)
# Global settings
KeyboardType = CIKP800
CdromDevice = /dev/cdrom
MixerDevice = /dev/mixer
# Specific keys of your keyboard
internet = xosview
search = kfind
mail = kmail
multimedia = "artsdsp xmms"
voldown = "aumix -v -2"
volup = "aumix -v +2"
# end lineakd.conf
[http://hocwp.free.fr/xbindkeys/xbindkeys.html] xbindkeys is a
program that associates keys or mouse buttons to shell commands under
X. After a little configuration, it can start many commands with the
keyboard (e.g. control+alt+x starts an xterm) or with the mouse
buttons.
[http://www.hadess.net/misc-code.php3] ACME is a small GNOME tool to
make use of the multimedia buttons present on most laptops and
Internet keyboards: Volume, Brightness, Power, Eject, My Home,
Search, E-Mail, Sleep, Screensaver, Finance, WWW, Calculator, Record,
Close Window, Shade Window, Play, Stop, Pause, Previous, Next,
Groups, Media, Refresh, and Help buttons. It works on all the
platforms GNOME supports (laptops and PCs). It uses either OSS or
ALSA for Volume control.
For some laptop series there are Linux utilities available to control
special hotkeys and other features.
* [http://www.buzzard.me.uk/toshiba/index.html] toshutils by
Jonathan Buzzard for some Toshiba models.
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/tclkeymon/] Tclkeymon is a
daemon for Toshiba laptops that use ACPI and the Toshiba ACPI
extensions. It monitors function keys and Toshiba-specific
buttons (including the CD player buttons and the state of the
laptop lid) and responds appropriately.
* [http://tpctl.sourceforge.net] tpctl IBM ThinkPad configuration
tools for Linux by Thomas Hood.
* [http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/tpb/] ThinkPad Buttons
enables the special keys that are found on the keyboard of an IBM
ThinkPad. It is possible to bind a program to each of the
buttons. It has an on-screen display (OSD) to show volume, mute,
LCD brightness, and some other things.
* [http://rsim.cs.uiuc.edu/~sachs/tp-scroll/] IBM ThinkPad Scroll
Daemon
* [http://people.debian.org/~dz/i8k/] i8k utils for DELL laptops.
* [http://www.cakey.de/acerhk/] hotkey Linux driver for ACER
laptops.
* [http://www.blinkenlights.ch/cgi-bin/fm.pl?get=osle] OSL is a
simple pbbuttonsd (used on Apple laptops to access the 'special
keys' like volume, eject, etc.) client. It uses the xosd-lib to
display the current values which makes it look a lot more like
OSX than other pbbuttonsd-clients.
* [http://pbbuttons.berlios.de/] PBButtons enables hotkeys on Apple
iBook/PowerBook/TiBook. I have heard it works well on x86
architectures, too.
* [http://www.dreamind.de/ikeyd.shtml] ikeyd is a simple daemon
which sets the volume or ejects a CDROM when hotkeys are pressed
on an iBook/TiBook.
* [http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pascal.brisset/vaio/] jogdiald for the
Jog-Dial on SONY laptops offers support for extra keys, too.
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/omke/] omke is a set of small
programs and patches to configure some advanced features of your
HP OmniBook (usually things that HP has not documented) such as
enabling/disabling the extra onetouch/multimedia keys. This tool
works also for some Toshiba notebooks.
________________________________________________________________
12.13. Function Key
The function key (often labelled Fn on the key) is usually used to
switch on a simulated numeric keyboard, which is provided as a
separate keypad on desktop keyboards. For those who don't want to use
the simulation there are additional external numeric keypads
available for PS/2 ports and I suppose USB ports. Also the function
key may be used in combination with some F-keys to change display
brightness, adjust the speaker volume or mute them, lock the
keyboard, switch between external and internal display, use different
suspend modes and more. Sometimes these key combinations work out of
the box with Linux. Some require dedicated tools, for these tools see
the Hotkey chapter above.
________________________________________________________________
12.14. Power Key
The power key often has different functions, besides power on and off
it may be used to wake up the machine from suspend mode. This is
usually achieved by pressing the power button for just a few seconds
only. If you press it longer (app. more than 5 seconds) it will power
down fully.
With modern laptops supporting ACPI it's also possible to achieve
power off, with ACPI via the /proc/apci/ interface.
________________________________________________________________
12.15. Extra LEDs
Some laptops offer extra LED, e.g. - mail - LEDs. The tool setleds
(which is part of [http://lct.sourceforge.net/] Linux Console Tools)
can be helpful to make use of them.
________________________________________________________________
12.16. Numeric Keypad
On desktop keyboards the numeric keypad is usually separated from the
character set, but laptops don't have a separated numeric keypad.
There are different ways to emulate one, e.g. with the Fn key or with
NUM-LOCK key. Also external numeric keyboards which connect to the
PS/2 port (or USB, RS232) are available.
As described above, the numeric keyboard has to be used if you want
to change the X11 resolution by typing <CTL><ALT><+> or
<CTL><ALT><->. If this doesn't work or is too complicated, you may
use [http://www.dakotacom.net/~donut/programs/gvidm.html] gvidm
Running gvidm will pop up a list of available modes and allows the
user to select one if desired. This makes it perfect for running from
an application menu or a hotkey, so you don't have to use ram for an
applet constantly running. If you are running dual or multi-head
displays, it will give you a list of screens so you can select the
appropriate one. Also you may use xvidtune [-next | -prev ]. To check
the current resolution you may use xwininfo -root, if xvidtune is not
at hand.
________________________________________________________________
12.17. Pointing Devices - Mice and Their Relatives
12.17.1. Linux Compatibility Check
You may check your mouse with the mev command from the GPM package.
________________________________________________________________
12.17.2. Related Documentation
1. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/3-Button-Mouse.html] 3-Button-Mouse-HOWTO
for serial mice
2. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Kernel-HOWTO/] Kernel-HOWTO
________________________________________________________________
12.17.3. Mice Species
1. Trackpad, Touchpad, are used with the majority of current laptops
2. Trackball, e.g. COMPAQ LTE
3. Pop-up-Mouse, e.g. HP OmniBook 800
4. Trackpoint, Mouse-Pin, e.g. IBM(TM) ThinkPad and Toshiba laptops
5. 3 Button Mice, e.g. IBM(TM) Thinkpads at least the 600s and some
COMPAQ models e.g. Armada M700. I have heard rumor about a 3
button mouse for Texas Instruments Travelmates, but couldn't
verify this yet.
6. Touchscreen, e.g. some Fujitsu-Siemens laptops, TabletPCs and
PDAs
________________________________________________________________
12.17.4. PS/2 Mice
Most of the mice used in laptops are PS/2 mice (actually I don't know
one with another mouse protocol). You may communicate with the PS/2
mouse through /dev/psaux or /dev/psmouse. If you use X Windows this
device and the protocol has to be set in /etc/X11/XF86Config. In
earlier releases, sometimes the GPM mouse manager and X Windows had
trouble sharing a mouse when enabled at the same time. But as far as
I know this is no problem anymore for the latest versions.
Speaking of Emulate3Buttons, 100ms is usually better than the 50ms
allowed in most default setups of /etc/X11/XF86Config for XFree86
3.x:
Section "Pointer"
...
Emulate3Buttons
Emulate3Timeout 100
...
EndSection
Or in /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 for XFree86 4.x:
Section "InputDevice"
...
Option "Emulate3Timeout" "100"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
...
EndSection
________________________________________________________________
12.17.5. Touchpad
Usually a touchpad works with the PS/2 mouse device /dev/psaux and
the PS/2 protocol (for GPM and X11, for X11 it seems also worth to
check the GlidePointPS/2 protocol).
The [http://w1.894.telia.com/~u89404340/touchpad/index.html]
Synaptics TouchPad driver has the following functions (some functions
require features from the touchpad that must be present, multifinger
taps for example):
1. Movement with adjustable, non-linear acceleration and speed
(Options: MinSpeed, MaxSpeed, AccelFactor)
2. Button events through short touching of the touchpad (Options:
MaxTapTime, MaxTapMove)
3. Double-Button events through double short touching of the
touchpad
4. Dragging through short touching and holding down the finger on
the touchpad
5. Middle and right button events on the upper and lower corner of
the touchpad (Option: Edges)
6. Scrolling (button four and five events) through moving the finger
on the right side of the touchpad (Options: Edges,
VertScrollDelta)
7. The up/down button sends button four/five events
8. Adjustable finger detection (Option: Finger)
9. Ext Mouse repeater support - Alpha! (Option: Repeater)
10. Multifinger taps: two finger for middle button and three finger
for right button events
11. Online configuration through shared-memory (in development)
(Option: SHMConfig)
The synclient command is provived with the driver sources (note it's
not included in SuSE Linux, at least not until 9.3). The command
queries and modifies the Synaptics TouchPad driver parameters on the
fly.
Tip
Tipping with one, two or three fingers on the touchpad simultaneously
results in pressing the left, middle and respectively the right
mouse-button.
There is also another touchpad driver available.
[http://www.compass.com/synaptics/] The Synaptics Touchpad Linux
Driver - tpconfig supports pointing devices used in notebooks by
Acer, Compaq, Dell, Gateway, Olivetti, Texas Instruments, Winbook,
and others.
Dell and Sony have started incorporating a touchpad, touchstick from
ALPS. They are in at least the Dell Latitude CPx and the Sony VAIO
laptop lines. Maintainer Bruce Kall writes: "tpconfig does NOT
support them at this time, but I am in the process of getting the API
from ALPS and will be incorporating this in the next version of
tpconfig. The Dell's also incorporate the ALPS GlideStick in the
middle of the keyboard (like the stick pointer in some of the IBM
Thinkpads). I also intend to support the disabling of "tapping" the
GlideStick as well. Tapping of the touchpad/touchsticks drives me
crazy, I'm not sure about you (causes the "selection" of things on
the screen when you don't want to)!"
tpconfig is a command-line utility to set options on Synaptics
Touchpad and (now) ALPS Glidepad/ Stickpointers. Most people
primarily use it to turn off the "tap mode" on laptop touchpads.
How to use tpconfig: tpconfig is currently supported as a
command-line configuration tool. The PS/2 port does not currently
support sharing. Therefore the tpconfig utility will not work while
any other mouse driver is loaded (e.g. gpm). This also means that you
cannot use tpconfig while X Windows is running. The suggested use of
tpconfig is to run it from a startup script before gpm is started.
[http://rsim.cs.uiuc.edu/~sachs/tp-scroll/] IBM ThinkPad Scroll
Daemon
Not all touchpads are being from Synaptics, e.g some Gateways
incorporate an EZ-Pad (Registered TM) and there might be other
brands. The [http://www.synaptics.com/decaf/utilities/tprev.exe]
TPREV.EXE utility will verify you have a Synaptics touchpad.
The recent [ftp://ftp.prosa.it/pub/gpm/] gpm package (version >=1.8,
maybe earlier versions contain touchpad support, too) includes the
above mentioned Synaptics touchpad device driver. This device driver
has been developed by H. Davies <hdavies_AT_ameritech.net>. Instead
of using the PS/2 compatibility mode of touchpad devices, you can now
use native touchpad mode with some pretty impressive features.
In addition to translating finger motion into mouse motion and
supporting the buttons, this support currently has several features
(from the README):
* a "tap" on the TouchPad causes a left mouse click
* a "tap" followed quickly by a finger motion causes a left button
drag type action.
* a "tap" in one of the corners causes an action the default
configuration is upper right causes middle mouse click and lower
right causes right mouse click
* more pressure on the touch pad speeds the motion of the cursor
* a "tap" with a motion component (default > 2mm) initiates a toss
and catch sequence. This is terminated by a finger touch on the
pad (the toss also ends after 1 sec since that is the idle
timeout period for the touchpad).
* if the finger moves close to an edge then the mouse motion will
be continued in that direction so that you don't need to pick up
your finger and start moving again. This continued motion is
pressure sensitive (more pressure is faster motion).
These features can be enabled/disabled and many of them have time and
speed parameters which can be adjusted to the taste of the user.
It seems gpm is best known as a console biased tool. This is true,
but you may use it as an X11 input device. gpm is used as a repeater
device. In this way you can use both the built-in synaptics touchpad
with all the features and at the same time a serial mouse (with three
buttons). This all works smoothly together. X11 reads the mouse
events from a named pipe /dev/gpmdata in a protocol it understands,
which in my case is Mouse-Systems-Compatible (5bytes). Most 3-button
mice use the default protocol. So a simple reconfiguration in
XF86Config is all that is required, after starting gpm in an
appropriate way, of course.
gpm could be started on your laptop with the following arguments :
/usr/bin/gpm -t synps2 -M -t ms -m /dev/ttyS0 . Both touchpad and
serial mouse work in console and X11 mode. You do have to create the
named pipe /dev/gpmdata yourself.
Tapping with two fingers simultaneously to simulate a middle mouse
button works on Logitech touchpads used in a few machines.
Thanks to Geert Van der Plas for most of the touchpad chapter.
________________________________________________________________
12.17.6. Jog-Dial
The "Jog-Dial" is an input device used in the SONY VAIO laptop
series. You may find a
[http://www004.upp.so-net.ne.jp/t-kinjo/vaio/index_e.html] Jog-Dial
driver by Takaya Kinjo. Probably you have to change two things in the
spicdriver/Makefile:
CCFLAG has to be extended with -D_LOOSE_KERNEL_NAMES
CCFLAG has to be extended with
-I/usr/src/linux-<kernel-version>/include
The README seems to be in Japanese, here is an English version.
$ tar xvzf jogutils.tar.gz
$ cd jogutils
$ make
$ su
# mknod /dev/spic c 60 0
# modprobe spicdriver/spicdriver
# exit
$ cp jogapp/rcfile ~/.jogapprc
$ jogapp/jogapp
ISHIKAWA Mutsumi wrote the
[http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pascal.brisset/vaio/] jogdiald driver, which
runs entirely in user-space (no kernel modules required).
[http://linuxbrit.co.uk/rsjog/] rsjog. is a modification of the
[http://sjog.sourceforge.net/] sjog utility.
________________________________________________________________
12.17.7. Touchscreens
The only modern laptops I know which include a touchscreen are the
Fujitsu Biblo 112/142 (aka MC 30) and the Palmax PD 1000/1100 (aka
IPC 1000/1100).
The latest version of the [http://www.cs.nmsu.edu/~pfeiffer/#pen]
Linux Compaq Concerto Pen Driver is available from Joe Pfeiffer's
home page.
A current survey of drivers you may find at my page
[http://tuxmobil.org/touch_laptops.html] Touchscreen Laptops and
Linux .
________________________________________________________________
12.17.8. Pen Devices, Mousepoints
IBM and Toshiba laptops currently come with a pen devices instead of
a mousepad or trackball.
Tip
It needs some time to get used to this kind of pointer device. It may
help to rest your palm at the front rest. Also it's recommended to
reduce the mouse speed.
________________________________________________________________
12.17.9. External Mouse
For better handling, e.g. with a 3 button mouse you may use an
external mouse. This is usually a serial mouse or a PS/2 mouse, or in
our days a USB mouse, appropriate to the port your laptop offers.
Usually this is no problem. The only thing I currently don't know a
solution for is the automagic detection of a newly plugged in mouse
from X11. To get it work you have to restart your X server.
________________________________________________________________
12.17.9.1. PS/2 Mouse
For PS/2 ports there are so called Y-Cable available, which make it
possible to use external mouse and external keyboard at the same time
if your laptop supports this feature.
Warning
Don't plug in the external mouse while powered up. If you have
separate mouse and keyboard ports, make sure you plug the mouse in
the mouse port and the keyboard in the keyboard port. If you don't,
you may have to do a hard reboot of the laptop to get it to recover.
________________________________________________________________
12.17.9.2. Wheel Mouse
[http://jonatkins.org/imwheel/] Imwheel makes the wheel of your
Intellimouse (and other wheel and stick mice) work in Linux/X11 to
scroll windows up and down, or send keys to programs. It runs in the
background as a daemon and requires little reconfiguration of the
XWindows setup. 4 or more button mice and Alps Glidepad 'Taps' may
also be used. imwheel includes a modified gpm for an alternate method
of wheel input.
See also the [http://www.inria.fr/koala/colas/mouse-wheel-scroll/]
WHEEL Mouse FAQ which describes how to get lots of X applications to
recognise the scrolling action. For current instructions on XFree86
4.x see [http://www.xfree86.org/current/mouse.html] XFree86 4.x -
Mouse Docs.
________________________________________________________________
12.17.9.3. USB Mouse
This part is taken from The Linux USB Sub-System by Brad Hards.
________________________________________________________________
12.17.9.3.1. USB Human Interface Device (HID) Configuration
12.17.9.3.1.1. General HID Configuration
There are two options for using a USB mouse or a USB keyboard - the
standalone Boot Protocol way and the full featured HID driver way.
The Boot Protocol way is generally inferior, and this document
describes the full featured way. The Boot Protocol way may be
appropriate for embedded systems and other systems with resource
constraints and no real need for the full keyboard and mouse
capabilities.
It is important to remember that the HID driver handles those devices
(or actually those interfaces on each device) that claim to comply
with the Human Interface Device (HID) specification. However the HID
specification doesn't say anything about what the HID driver should
do with information received from a HID device, or where the
information that is sent to a device comes from, since this is
obviously dependent on what the device is supposed to be doing, and
what the operating system is. Linux (at the operating system kernel
level) supports four interfaces to a HID device - keyboard, mouse,
joystick and a generic interface, known as the event interface.
________________________________________________________________
12.17.9.3.1.2. HID Mouse Configuration
In the kernel configuration stage, you need to turn on USB Human
Interface Device (HID) support and Mouse Support Do not turn on USB
HIDBP Mouse support. Perform the normal kernel rebuild and
installation steps. If you are installing as modules, you need to
load the input.o, hid.o and mousedev.o modules.
Plug in a USB mouse and check that your mouse has been correctly
sensed by the kernel. If you don't have a kernel message, look for
the changes to /proc/bus/usb/devices.
Since USB supports multiple identical devices, you can have multiple
mice plugged in. You can get each mouse seperately, or you can get
them all mixed together. You almost always want the mixed version,
and that is what will be used together. You need to set up a device
node entry for the mixed mice. It is customary to create the entries
for this device in the /dev/input/ directory.
Use the following commands:
mkdir /dev/input
mknod /dev/input/mice c 13 63
Tip
If you are unsure whether you are configuring the right mouse device,
use cat /dev/input/mice (or other appropriate devices names). In case
you do this for the correct mouse, you should see some bizarre
looking characters as you move the mouse or click any of the buttons.
If you want to use the mouse under X, you have various options. Which
one you select is dependent on what version of XFree86 you are using
and whether you are using only USB for your mouse (or mice), or
whether you want to use a USB mouse and some other kind of pointer
device.
You need to edit the XF86Config file (usually
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config or /etc/X11/XF86Config).
If you are using XFree86 version 4.0 or later, add an InputDevice
section that looks like the following:
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "USB Mice"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
EndSection
or, if you want to use a wheel mouse, something like this may be more
useful:
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "USB Mice"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Buttons" "5"
EndSection
Consult the [http://www.xfree86.org/current/mouse.html] current
XFree86 documentation for a detailed explanation and more examples.
You also need to add an entry to each applicable ServerLayout
Section. These are normally at the end of the configuration file. If
you only have a USB mouse (or USB mice), then replace the line with
the "CorePointer" entry with the following line:
InputDevice "USB Mice" "CorePointer"
If you want to use both a USB mouse (or USB mice) and some other kind
of pointer device, then add (do not replace) the following line to
the applicable ServerLayout sections:
InputDevice "USB Mice" "SendCoreEvents"
If you are using only a USB mouse (or USB mice) with XFree86 3.3,
edit the Pointer section so that it looks like the following:
Section "Pointer"
Protocol "IMPS/2"
Device "/dev/input/mice"
EndSection
If you are trying to use a USB mouse (or USB mice) in addition to
another pointer type device with XFree86 3.3, then you need to use
the XInput extensions. Keep the existing Pointer (or modify it as
required for the other device if you are doing an initial
installation), and add the following entry (anywhere sensible,
ideally in the Input devices area):
Section "Xinput"
SubSection "Mouse"
DeviceName "USB Mice"
Protocol "IMPS/2"
Port "/dev/input/mice"
AlwaysCore
EndSubSection
EndSection
Restart the X server. If you don't have any mouse support at this
point, remember that Ctrl-Alt-F1 will get you a virtual terminal that
you can use to kill the X server and start debugging from the error
messages.
If you want to use the mouse under gpm, run (or kill and restart if
it is already running) gpm with the following options. gpm -m
/dev/input/mice -t imps2 (as superuser). You can make this the
default if you edit the initialisation files. These are typically
named something like rc.d and are in /etc/rc.d/ on RedHat
distributions.
If you have both a USB mouse (or USB mice) and some other kind of
pointer device, you may wish to use gpm in repeater mode. If you have
a PS/2 mouse on /dev/psaux and a USB mouse (or USB mice) on
/dev/input/mice, then the following gpm command would probably be
appropriate: gpm -m /dev/input/mice -t imps2 -M -m /dev/psaux -t ps2
-R imps2. Note that this will make the output appear on /dev/gpmdata,
which is a FIFO and does not need to be created in advance. You can
use this as the mouse "device" to non-X programs, and both mice will
work together.
Table 12-1. Arguments for the -t and -R option of gpm.
option description
ms MicroSoft compatible serial mouse
ps2 PS/2 or C&T 82C710
bm Logitech bus mouse
bm ATI XL bus mouse
mb MicroSoft bus mouse
msc Mouse Systems serial mouse
logi older mouse
mman Mouse Man protocol, serial Logitech mouse
sun SUN mouse, three button
ms3 Intellimouse with wheel, at serial port
imps2 Intellimouse with wheel, at PS/2 port
pnp PnP mice, alternative to ms
mm MM series
bare oldest serial two button mouse
________________________________________________________________
12.17.9.4. Wrist Input Device - Twiddler
The gpm contains a driver for the Twiddler device at the serial port.
For information about the Twiddler see [http://www.handykey.com/]
Handykey Corporation .
________________________________________________________________
12.17.10. Macintosh PowerBooks
PowerBooks have a trackpad and only one button, although you can plug
in external multi-button USB mice. The usual thing is to map a couple
of keys on the keyboard to the middle and right mouse buttons; your
Linux distribution should come with instructions on how to configure
this (it's not specific to laptops, as all Apple mice are
single-button).
If you are using the Xpmac server, the default is option-1 and
option-2, and you can change this by passing -middlekey <keycode>
-rightkey <keycode> arguments to Xpmac, and -nooptionmouse if you
don't want the option key to be needed.
If you are using XFree86, you pass adb_buttons=<middlekey>,<rightkey>
kernel arguments (no option is required). I use adb_buttons=58,55 to
map the option and Apple/command keys (which are little-used in
Linux); use e.g. xev to find out the keycode for a given key.
________________________________________________________________
12.18. Advanced Power Management - APM
12.18.1. Linux Compatibility Check
Start by reading the
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Battery-Powered/index.html]
Battery-Powered-mini-HOWTO.
For APM to work the machine's firmware must implement the APM
Specification. Linux supports versions 1.0 through 1.2 of the
standard. To work with Linux the APM BIOS must support 32-bit
protected mode connections.
To display information about the APM BIOS on your system you can run
dmesg | grep apm command or look in the /proc/apm file.
________________________________________________________________
12.18.2. Introduction
APM support consists of two parts: kernel support and user-land
support.
________________________________________________________________
12.18.2.1. Kernel Support
You need a kernel that has the APM driver compiled in using the
appropriate kernel configuration options. Currently most
distributions do not ship kernels with the APM driver enabled so you
may have to enable the driver using a boot option or to compile a
custom kernel. Please see [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Kernel-HOWTO/]
Kernel-HOWTO or your distribution manual for details.
The APM driver can be modularized but this is not recommended since
many drivers will disable their APM features if the APM driver is not
present when they initialize themselves.
The available APM options are (please see
Documentation/Configure.help in the kernel source tree for more
details):
* CONFIG_APM_IGNORE_USER_SUSPEND Just a workaround for some NEC
Versa M series laptops.
* CONFIG_APM_DO_ENABLE Enable APM features at boot time.
* CONFIG_APM_CPU_IDLE Puts CPU in power save mode, if there is
nothing to do for the kernel.
* CONFIG_APM_DISPLAY_BLANK Some laptops can use this to turn off
the LCD backlight when the screen blanker of the Linux virtual
console blanks the screen. Note that this is only used by the
virtual console screen blanker, and won't turn off the backlight
when using the X Window system.
* CONFIG_APM_POWER_OFF Turns the machine completely down, when
using halt. This feature works with most laptops without
problems.
* CONFIG_APM_IGNORE_MULTIPLE_SUSPEND Just a workaround for IBM(TM)
ThinkPad 560.
* CONFIG_APM_IGNORE_SUSPEND_BOUNCE Just a workaround for Dell
Inspiron 3200 and other notebooks.
* CONFIG_APM_RTC_IS_GMT Stores time in Greenwich Mean Time format.
It is in fact recommended to store GMT in your real time clock
(RTC) in the BIOS.
* CONFIG_APM_ALLOW_INTS Resolves some problems with Suspend to Disk
for some laptops, for instance many newer IBM(TM) ThinkPads.
* CONFIG_SMP Symmetric Multi-Processing support. This enables
support for systems with more than one CPU. If you have a system
with only one CPU, like most personal computers, say N. Though
the default seems to be Y. So it may be enabled if you are
unaware. I have got reports that SMP support enabled does
interfere with APM. So with a single CPU machine like a laptop
you are on the save side, when you N.
Features of the APM driver according to the Kernel documentation file
Documentation/Configure.help: "The system time will be reset after a
USER RESUME operation, the /proc/apm device will provide battery
status information, and user-space programs will receive notification
of APM events (e.g., battery status change). "
________________________________________________________________
12.18.2.2. Userland Support
The most important userland utility is
[http://worldvisions.ca/~apenwarr/apmd/] apmd, a daemon that handles
APM events.
If you run a 2.2.x or later kernel and want to experiment, Gabor Kuti
<seasons_AT_falcon.sch.bme.hu> has made a kernel patch that allows
you to hibernate any Linux system to disk, even if your computers APM
BIOS doesn't support it directly. In my humble opinion you don't need
this features if your laptop provides a function key to invoke
suspend mode directly.
Please see the [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Battery-Powered/] Battery
Powered Linux Mini-HOWTO for detailed information.
Here's what apmd can do:
* apmd(8): logs the battery status to syslog every now and then and
runs a proxy script that can take action before suspend or after
resume
* apm(1): prints the current battery status or suspends the
computer
* apmsleep(1): suspends the machine for a limited time
* xapm(1x): provides a battery meter for X11
* libapm.a: a library for writing APM applications
Some APM firmware fails to restore mixer settings properly which can
result in squeals of feedback in the music after the machine has
resumed. A solution is to set up the proxy script so that it calls a
mixer application after resume.
From the apmsleep(1) man page: Some computers, especially laptops,
can wake up from a low-power suspend to DRAM mode using the Real-time
clock (RTC) chip. Apmsleep can be used to set the alarm time in the
RTC and to go into suspend or standby mode. An interrupt from the RTC
causes the computer to wake-up. The program detects this event, by
waiting for a leap in the kernel time and terminates successfully. If
no time leap occurs within one minute, or something goes wrong, the
exit value will be non-zero. Apmsleep is part of the apmd package.
In 2001 Richard Gooch wrote a simple apmd alternative which is
available in the [http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rgooch/linux/] pmutils
package.
Also, take a look at apmcd (apm based crontab) at
[ftp://ftp.binary9.net/pub/linux/] ftp://ftp.binary9.net/pub/linux/ .
This tool was written by [http://mrnick.binary9.net/] Nicolas J. Leon
<nicholas_AT_binary9.net>.
________________________________________________________________
12.18.3. Caveats
If you use another operating system at the same computer make sure
that its "suspend" and "hibernate" features don't write to partitions
that are used by Linux.
________________________________________________________________
12.18.4. Troubleshooting
If your machine worked with 2.0.x kernels but not with the 2.2.x
series, take this advice from Klaus Franken kfr_AT_klaus.franken.de :
"The default changed in 2.2. Search in the init-scripts for halt and
change it to halt -p or poweroff. See man halt , if you don't have
this option you need a newer version of halt." You may find it in the
SysVinit package.
On some new machines (for instance HP Omnibook 4150 - 366 MHz model)
when accessing /proc/apm, you may get a kernel fault general
protection fault: f000. [http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~sfr/] Stephen
Rothwell explaines: "This is your APM BIOS attempting to use a real
mode segment while in protected mode, i.e. it is a bug in your BIOS.
.. We have seen a few of these recently, except all the others are in
the power off code in the BIOS where we can work around it by
returning to real mode before attempting to power off. Here we cannot
do this."
According to Kernel docs Documentation/Configure.help: "Some other
things you should try when experiencing seemingly random, weird
problems:
1. make sure that you have enough swap space and that it is enabled
swapon -s.
2. pass the no-hlt option to the kernel.
3. switch on floating point emulation in the kernel and pass the
no387 option to the kernel.
4. pass the floppy=nodma option to the kernel.
5. pass the mem=4M option to the kernel (thereby disabling all but
the first 4 MB of RAM).
6. make sure that the CPU is not over clocked (doesn't seem suitable
for mobile machines).
7. read the [http://www.bitwizard.nl/sig11/] sig11 FAQ .
8. disable the cache from your BIOS settings.
9. install a fan for the video card or exchange video RAM (doesn't
seem suitable for mobile machines).
10. install a better fan for the CPU (doesn't seem suitable for
mobile machines).
11. exchange RAM chips (doesn't seem suitable for mobile machines).
12. exchange the motherboard (doesn't seem suitable for mobile
machines).
________________________________________________________________
12.18.5. APM and PCMCIA
From the PCMCIA-HOWTO: "Card Services can be compiled with support
for APM (Advanced Power Management) if you've configured your kernel
with APM support. ... The PCMCIA modules will automatically be
configured for APM if a compatible version is detected on your
system. Whether or not APM is configured, you can use cardctl suspend
before suspending your laptop, and cardctl resume after resuming, to
cleanly shut down and restart your PCMCIA cards. This will not work
with a modem that is in use, because the serial driver isn't able to
save and restore the modem operating parameters. APM seems to be
unstable on some systems. If you experience trouble with APM and
PCMCIA on your system, try to narrow down the problem to one package
or the other before reporting a bug. Some drivers, notably the PCMCIA
SCSI drivers, cannot recover from a suspend/resume cycle. When using
a PCMCIA SCSI card, always use cardctl eject prior to suspending the
system.".
________________________________________________________________
12.18.6. APM and Resuming X Windows
Some machines have APM firmware that fails to save and restore
display controller chip registers across a suspend. Earlier versions
of the XFree86 X server did not restore the screen properly after
resume, a problem which was addressed by
[http://www.linuxlaptops.com/ll/xresume.html] Linux Laptops. However,
contemporary versions of XFree86 mostly do the right thing.
Sometimes X and APM don't work smoothly together. The machine might
even hang. A recommendation from Steve Rader: Some linux systems have
their X11 server hang when doing apm -s. Folks with this affliction
might want to switch to the console virtual terminal and then suspend
chvt 1; apm -s as root, or, more appropiately sudo chvt 1; sudo apm
-s. I have these commands in a script, say, my-suspend and then do
xapmload --click-command my-suspend .
________________________________________________________________
12.18.7. Software Suspend
[http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/swsusp] Software suspend enables
the possibility of suspending a machine. It doesn't need APM. You may
suspend your machine by either pressing Sysrq-d or with swsusp or
shutdown -z (patch for sysvinit needed). It creates an image which is
saved in your active swaps. By the next booting the kernel detects
the saved image, restores the memory from it and then it continues to
run as before you've suspended. If you don't want the previous state
to continue use the noresume kernel option.
Software suspends may even be better than hibernate, because now I
can suspend my Linux system, boot into Microsoft Windows, perform a
few illegal operations and be shut down, and then restart my Linux
setup exactly where I left off! This is something that cannot be done
with hibernation, since that always restores the last state that you
suspended from, be it Microsoft Windows or Linux. So if I want to
switch to Microsoft Windows to play games or do anything else, I can
leave my Linux desktop exactly as it is and return to how I left it.
In recent 2.6 kernels SoftWareSuspend is part of the kernel. You may
find it in the section Power Management. But there are also backports
to 2.4 available.
Since the original Software Suspend code was written by Gabor Kuti
and Pavel Machek back in 1998, three different implementations have
been created for the 2.6 kernel, all forks of the same original
codebase.
[http://www.tuxonice.net/] TuxOnIce, former known as Software Suspend
2, has a long feature list, including the ability to cancel a suspend
by pressing Escape, image compression to save time and space, a
versatile plugin architecture, and support for machines with Highmem,
preemption and SMP.
________________________________________________________________
12.18.8. Tips and Tricks
12.18.8.1. Battery Status on Text Console
You may use the following entry in .bashrc to show the battery level
on the command prompt.
________________________________________________________________
12.18.8.1.1. When Using APM
export PS1="\$(cat /proc/apm | awk '{print \$7}') \h:\w\$ "
________________________________________________________________
12.18.8.1.2. When Using ACPI
# Color the bash prompt in function of the percentage of battery
# with acpi subsystem.
# Based on the originally apm based script that has been posted
# on debian-laptop by
# Jason Kraftcheck <kraftche at cae.wisc.edu>.
#
# This script is licensed under the GNU GPL version 2 or later,
# see /usr/share/common-licences/GPL on a Debian system or
# http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html on the web.
# (c) 2003 Fabio 'farnis' Sirna <farnis at libero dot it>
function acpi_percent()
{
if [ `cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/state | grep present: |cut -d\ -f18` = "ye
s" ]; then
{
CAPACITY=`cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/info |grep "design capacity:"|cut -d\
-f11`
LEVEL=`cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/state | grep remaining|cut -d\ -f8`
ACPI_PERCENT=`echo $(( $LEVEL * 100 / $CAPACITY ))`
if [ "$LEVEL" = "$CAPACITY" ]; then
echo FULL
else
echo $ACPI_PERCENT%
fi
}
else echo "NO BATTERY"
fi
}
function acpi_charge()
{
ACPI_CHARGE=`cat /proc/acpi/ac_adapter/AC/state | cut -d\ -f20`
case $ACPI_CHARGE in
*on-line*)
ACPI_CHARGE="+" ;;
*off-line*)
ACPI_CHARGE="-" ;;
esac
echo $ACPI_CHARGE
}
function acpi_color()
{
if [ "$(acpi_charge)" = "+" ]; then
{
if [ `cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/state | grep present: |cut -d\ -f18`
= "no" ]; then
echo "0;31"
else echo "1;32"
fi
}
else
case $(acpi_percent) in
10?%) echo "0;32" ;;
9?%) echo "0;32" ;;
8?%) echo "0;32" ;;
7?%) echo "0;32" ;;
6?%) echo "0;32" ;;
5?%) echo "0;32" ;;
4?%) echo "0;33" ;;
3?%) echo "0;33" ;;
2?%) echo "0;33" ;;
1?%) echo "0;31" ;;
?%) echo "0;31;5" ;;
*) echo "0;35" ;;
esac
fi
}
function acpi_color_prompt
{
PS1='\[\e[$(acpi_color)m\][$(acpi_charge)$(acpi_percent)][\t] \u:\w\$>\[\
e[0;37m\] '
}
# linux console
if [ "$TERM" = "linux" ]; then
PROMPT_COMMAND=acpi_color_prompt
fi
function echo_acpi
{
echo -n "($(acpi_charge)$(acpi_percent)) "
}
________________________________________________________________
12.18.8.2. Debian GNU/Linux
All "normal" Debian GNU/Linux kernels are APM capable, they just need
an append line added to the boot loader configuration file (e.g.
/etc/lilo.conf.
append="apm=on"
You might use the following parameters (with the appropriate changes)
in your boot loader configuration file (e.g. /etc/lilo.conf to
experiment with ACPI and APM, when compiled in the same kernel. Usage
of APM and ACPI at the same time doesn't work, see Kernel docs for
details.
append="acpi=off apm=on"
________________________________________________________________
12.19. ACPI
12.19.1. Related Documentation
1. [http://xtrinsic.com/geek/articles/acpi.phtml] ACPI-HOWTO I by
Emma Jane Hogbin
2. [http://www.columbia.edu/~ariel/acpi/acpi_howto.txt] ACPI-HOWTO
II by Ariel Glenn. This document describes how to compile,
install, and use the ACPI driver for Linux and its associated
applications.
3. [http://www.cpqlinux.com/acpi-howto.html] ACPI-HOWTO III
4. [http://acpi.sourceforge.net/wiki] ACPI4Linux Project and its
[http://acpi.sourceforge.net/wiki] Wiki
5. [http://www.acpi.info/] ACPI Info provides the ACPI
specification.
6. Section 12.3 the CPU chapter of this guide
________________________________________________________________
12.19.2. ACPI Details
ACPI stands for Advanced Configuration and Power Interface. This is a
specification by Toshiba, Intel and Microsoft. Besides many other
things it also defines power management. This is why it is often
compared to APM.
You might use the following parameters (with the appropriate changes)
in your boot loader configuration file (e.g. /etc/lilo.conf to
experiment with ACPI and APM, when compiled in the same kernel. Usage
of APM and ACPI at the same time doesn't work, see Kernel docs for
details.
append="acpi=on apm=off"
The [http://sourceforge.net/projects/acpi] Linux ACPI Project is
committed to the development of fundamental ACPI (Advanced
Configuration and Power Interface) components for Linux. This
includes a generic ACPI table parser, AML interpreter, bus and device
drivers, policy, user interface, and support tools.
The [http://www.netego.de/hpc?p=acpipower&l=en] E-AcpiPower epplet is
based on E-Power. It is modified to read battery status information
using the new acpi kernel module, making it much more accurate and
reliable than the old APM method.
[http://rffr.de/acpi] TCL/TK script which allows setting the ACPI CPU
performance state using a graphical interface under Linux.
[http://grahame.angrygoats.net/acpi.shtml] Linux ACPI client is a
command-line tool, similar to the apm command, that provides
information on battery status, AC power, and thermal readings.
________________________________________________________________
12.20. Power Management Unit - PMU (PowerBook)
PowerBooks don't support the APM specification, but they have a
separate protocol for their PMU (Power Management Unit). There is a
free (GPL) daemon called pmud that handles power management; it can
monitor the battery level, put the machine to sleep, and set
different levels of power consumption. It was written by Stephan
Leemburg. There is also an older utility called snooze available from
the same sites that just puts the PowerBook to sleep.
[http://pbbuttons.berlios.de/] PBButtons now includes the
functionality of pmud.
Cron works fine on my laptop as I never shut it off completely. I
only put it to sleep. When it wakes up, the unexecuted cron jobs from
the sleep period all run.
This part is a courtesy of Steven G. Johnson.
________________________________________________________________
12.21. Batteries
May the batteries be with you.
Unknown AuthorEss
For information about available battery types, take a look at the
Hardware Features chapter above.
Please see the [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Battery-Powered/] Battery
Powered Linux Mini-HOWTO and the
[http://tuxmobil.org/mobile_battery.html] TuxMobil battery page for
further information. A survey of
[http://tuxmobil.org/energy_laptops.html] other means to supply power
for mobile computers e.g. solar energy is available at TuxMobil. For
general information about batteries see the
[http://www.technick.net/public/code/cp_dpage.php?aiocp_dp=guide_bpw2
_00_toc] Battery FAQ.
[http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~sfr/] Stephen Rothwell proposed a patch
that will add multiple battery support to the kernel APM.
From the mobile-update page (modified by WH): Discharge the battery.
If your battery runs only for about 20 minutes, you probably suffer
from memory effects. Most laptops do not discharge the battery
properly. With low powered devices like old computer fans they can be
discharged completely. This removes memory effects. You should do so
even with LiIon batteries, though they don't suffer much from memory
effect (the manual of an IBM(TM) Thinkpad says to cycle the batteries
through a full charge/discharge cycle 3 times every few months or
so).
Warning
Try this at your own risk! Make sure the voltage of the fans is
compatible to your battery. It works for me.
In the US, this company has most batteries for anything and can
rebuild many that are no longer manufactured: Batteries Plus, 2045
Pleasant Hill Road, Duluth, GA 30096 +1 770 495 1644.
The [http://karl.jorgensen.com/battery-stats/] battery-stats package
collects statistics about the (lack of) charge on laptop batteries.
It also contains a simple graph utility to show the battery charge
over time or detect a misbehaviour of the battery which might
announce a coming end of batterylife. Battery-stats knows nothing
about electrochemical stuff going on inside batteries - hence it will
not try to make any predictions whatsoever. But somebody with
knowledge of batteries should be able to tell whether they are
behaving OK. This package uses APM; there is no support for ACPI yet.
[http://ibam.sourceforge.net/] IBAM (Intelligent BAttery Monitor) is
an advanced battery monitor for laptops, which uses statistical and
adaptive linear methods to provide accurate estimations of minutes of
battery left or of the time needed until full recharge. This package
uses APM; there is no support for ACPI yet.
[http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~bbense/toys/] A hacked rclock .
Booker C. Bense has hacked the rclock program to include a simple
battery power meter on the clock face.
[http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~daisuke/Linux/xbatstat.html] xbatstat . A
battery level status checker for Linux and X.
________________________________________________________________
12.21.1. Smart Battery Support
The [https://sourceforge.net/projects/sbs-linux/] sbsutils package is
a set of utilities programs to handle the Smart Battery on laptops,
it offers Linux kernel & ACPI support for the Smart Battery System
found in some laptop computers.
________________________________________________________________
12.21.2. How to Improve Battery Uptime
These are the most important factors which have influence on the
battery uptime. Please see the appropriate chapters for power saving
tips:
* Section 12.3 CPU
* fan
* Section 12.22 memory
* Section 12.6graphics card
* Section 12.33 hard disk drive
* Section 12.32 optical drive
Getting your computer to use the least amount of power can be
problematic. Intel's [http://www.linuxpowertop.org/index.php]
http://www.linuxpowertop.org/index.php project provides information
on reducing power usage, tips, and tricks for Intel-based computers
running Linux. As a first step, Intel has released PowerTOP, a tool
that helps you find what software is using the most power. By fixing
(or closing) these applications or processes, you can immediately see
the power savings in the tool. You'll also see the estimated time
left for battery power if you are running a laptop. The Tips & Tricks
page has fixes for a lot of the issues that are already found.
________________________________________________________________
12.22. Memory
Unfortunately some laptops come with proprietary memory chips. So
they are not interchangeable between different models. But this seems
changing. With some models it's very difficult to install the memory
if you have to open the case in detail. But this is also changing.
Places were the memory can be changed easily are dedicated
maintenance cover on the backside or often if you only have to remove
the keyboard.
________________________________________________________________
12.23. Plug-and-Play Devices (PnP)
The Plug and Play driver project for Linux is a project to create
support within the Linux kernel (see [http://linux.org/] Linux.Org
for more information) for handling Plug and Play (and other semi-PnP)
devices in a clean, consistent way. It aims to allow a driver of any
type of hardware to have this hardware configured by the PnP driver
in the kernel. This driver is then notified when the device is
reconfigured, or even removed from the system, so as to allow for
graceful action in these circumstances.
ISA PnP tools is another useful package.
The latest PCMCIA driver package (>3.1.0) has utilities lspnp and
setpnp to manipulate PNP settings.
________________________________________________________________
12.24. Docking Station / Port Replicator
12.24.1. Definitions
First some definitions. There is a difference between docking station
and port replicator.
I use the term docking station for a box which contains slots to put
some interface cards in, and space to put a harddisk, etc. in. This
box can be permanently connected to a PC. A port replicator is just a
copy of the laptop ports which may be connected permanently to a PC.
________________________________________________________________
12.24.2. Other Solutions
I don't use a docking station myself. They seem really expensive and
I can't see any usefulness. Alright you have to deal with some more
cables, but is it worth so much money? Docking stations are useful in
an office environment when you have a permanent network connection,
or need the docking station's expansion bus slots (e.g. for some
excotic SCSI device).
Also all docking stations I know are proprietary models, so if you
change your laptop you have to change this device, too. I just found
one exception a docking station which connects to your laptop via
IrDA® the IRDocking IR-660 by [http://www.tekram.com/] Tekram . It
supports these connectors: 10Base-T (RJ-45); PS/2 Keyboard; PS/2
Mouse; 25-Pin Printer Port (LPT); IR Transceiver; Power (6 VDC). So
it seems that a VGA port and a port to connect a desktop PC directly
are missing. This device should work with Linux/IrDA®, though I
couldn't check it out.
I would prefer to buy a PC instead and connect it via network to the
laptop.
Or use an external display, which usually works well as described
above, and an external keyboard and mouse. If your laptop supports an
extra PS/2 port you may use a cheap solution a Y-cable, which
connects the PS/2 port to an external keyboard and an external
monitor. Note: Your laptop probably has support for the Y-cable
feature, e.g. the COMPAQ Armada 1592DT.
________________________________________________________________
12.24.3. Docking Station Connection Methods
AFAIK there are four solutions to connect a laptop to a docking
station:
1. SCSI port (very seldom)
2. parallel port
3. (proprietary) docking port (common)
4. USB (often offered by third party manufacturers)
From Martin J. Evans "The main problem with docking stations is
getting the operating system to detect you are docked. Fortunately,
you can examine the devices available in /proc and thus detect a
docked state. With this in mind a few simple scripts is all you need
to get your machine configured correctly in a docked state.
You may want to build support for the docking station hardware as
modules instead of putting it directly into the kernel. This will
save space in your kernel but your choice probably largely depends on
how often you are docked.
1) Supporting additional disks on the docking station SCSI card
To my mind the best way of doing this is to:
1. Either build support for the SCSI card into the kernel or build
it as a module.
2. Put the mount points into /etc/fstab but use the "noauto" flag to
prevent them from being mounted automatically with the mount -a
flag. In this way, when you are docked you can explicitly mount
the partitions off any disk connected to the docking station SCSI
card.
2) Supporting additional network adaptors in the docking station
You can use a similar method to that outlined above for the graphics
card. Check the /proc filesystem in your rc scripts to see if you are
docked and then set up your network connections appropriately. "
Once you determine this information, you may use a script, similar to
the following example, to configure the connection to your docking
station at startup. The script is provided by Friedhelm Kueck:
# check, if laptop is in docking-station (4 PCMCIA slots available)
# or if it is standalone (2 slots available)
# Start after cardmgr has started
#
# Friedhelm Kueck mailto:fk_AT_impress.de
# 08-Sep-1998
#
# Find No. of Sockets
SOCKETS=`tail -1 /var/run/stab | cut -d ":" -f 1`
case "$SOCKETS" in
"Socket 3")
echo Laptop is in Dockingstation ...
echo Disabeling internal LCD Display for X11
echo
cp /etc/XF86Config_extern /etc/XF86Config
#
# Setup of PCMCIA Network Interface after start of cardmgr
#
echo
echo "Setting up eth0 for use at Network ..."
echo
/sbin/ifconfig eth0 10.1.9.5 netmask 255.255.0.0 broadcast 10.1.255.255
/sbin/route add -net 10.1.0.0 gw 10.1.9.5
/sbin/route add default gw 10.1.10.1
;;
"Socket 1")
echo Laptop is standalone
echo Disabling external Monitor for X11
cp /etc/XF86Config_intern /etc/XF86Config
echo
echo Network device NOT setup
;;
esac
________________________________________________________________
12.24.4. Universal USB Port Replicators
I have used a Typhoon USB 2.0 7in1 Docking Station made by
[http://www.anubisline.com/] Anubis P/N 83057 to check the Linux
compatibility of such devices. Actually this device should be named
port replicator, because it does not have any extension slots. This
device doesn't have a VGA port to connect to an external display.
Only a few USB docking stations have this feature. It would be nice
to get a report whether a VGA port works or not. Tested with laptop
COMPAQ M700 (USB 1.1) and custom made kernel 2.6.1. Note the port
replicator didn't work with an Apple PowerBook G4.
How does its different ports work with Linux:
* USB 2.0 A-type downstream: works with external hard disk and
mouse out of the box
* USB 2.0 A-type downstream: see above
* PS/2 keyboard: works out of the box
* PS/2 mouse: works, but for 2.6 Kernels you have to specifiy the
right mouse protocol psmouse_proto=imps (if psmouse is compiled
as a module).
* serial port: tested with serial mouse, doesn't seem to work,
/dev/ttyUSB0 was assigned
* parallel port: tested, device /dev/usb/usblp0 assigned, works
e.g. with HP LaserJet 2100
* LAN: usbnet loads, device eth1 was assigned, ifconfig or pump
configures the network device
* transfer port aka host link: works with usbnet module, use
ifconfig usb0 to configure the network interface, (USB 1.1 host
link B-type) untested
Here is the output of dmesg for the Typhoon port replicator:
hub 1-0:1.0: new USB device on port 1, assigned address 26
hub 1-1:1.0: USB hub found
hub 1-1:1.0: 4 ports detected
hub 1-1:1.0: new USB device on port 3, assigned address 27
hub 1-1.3:1.0: USB hub found
hub 1-1.3:1.0: 4 ports detected
hub 1-1:1.0: new USB device on port 4, assigned address 28
eth1: register usbnet at usb-0000:00:07.2-1.4, ASIX AX8817x USB 2.0 Ethernet
hub 1-1.3:1.0: new USB device on port 1, assigned address 29
usb0: register usbnet at usb-0000:00:07.2-1.3.1, Prolific PL-2301/PL-2302
hub 1-1.3:1.0: new USB device on port 2, assigned address 30
drivers/usb/class/usblp.c: usblp0: USB Bidirectional printer dev 30 if 0 alt 1
proto 2 vid 0x067B pid 0x2305
hub 1-1.3:1.0: new USB device on port 3, assigned address 31
pl2303 1-1.3.3:1.0: PL-2303 converter detected
usb 1-1.3.3: PL-2303 converter now attached to ttyUSB0 (or usb/tts/0 for devfs
)
hub 1-1.3:1.0: new USB device on port 4, assigned address 32
HID device not claimed by input or hiddev
hid: probe of 1-1.3.4:1.0 failed with error -5
input: Composite USB PS2 Converter USB to PS2 Adaptor v1.09 on usb-0000:00:07
.2-1.3.4
HID device not claimed by input or hiddev
hid: probe of 1-1.3.4:1.1 failed with error -5
input: Composite USB PS2 Converter USB to PS2 Adaptor v1.09 on usb-0000:00:07
.2-1.3.4
________________________________________________________________
12.25. Network Connections
12.25.1. Related Documentation
1. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/PLIP.html] PLIP-mini-HOWTO
2. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/NET3-4-HOWTO.html] Networking-HOWTO
3. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Ethernet-HOWTO.html] Ethernet-HOWTO
________________________________________________________________
12.25.2. Connection Methods
Almost all recent laptops are equipped with a built-in network card.
This chapter shows some methods to connect older laptops without
internal network cards.
________________________________________________________________
12.25.2.1. PCMCIA Network Card
If your laptop supports PCMCIA this is the easiest and fastest way to
get network support. Make sure your card is supported before buying
one.
________________________________________________________________
12.25.2.2. Serial Null Modem Cable
Probably the cheapest way to connect your laptop to another computer,
but quite slow. You may use PPP or SLIP to start the connection.
________________________________________________________________
12.25.2.3. Parallel Port NIC (Pocket Adaptor)
[http://www.unix-ag.uni-siegen.de/~nils/accton_linux.html] Accton
Pocket Ethernet and Linux This ethernet adaptor uses a parallel port
and delivers approximately 110k Bytes/s throughput for those
notebooks that do not have PCMCIA slots.
________________________________________________________________
12.25.2.4. Parallel "Null" Modem Cable
Offers more speed than a serial connection. Some laptops use chipsets
that will not work with PLIP. Please see
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/PLIP.html] PLIP-HOWTO for details.
________________________________________________________________
12.25.2.5. Docking Station NIC
I don't have experience with a NIC in a docking station yet.
________________________________________________________________
12.25.3. Wake-On-LAN
Wake-On-LAN works with some laptops equipped with built-in network
cards. [http://www.scyld.com/wakeonlan.html] Wake-On-LAN is the
generic name for the AMD "Magic Packet" technology. It's very similar
to the PCMCIA modem "wake on ring" signal line. The basic idea is
that the network adapter has a very-low-power mode to monitor the
network for special packet data that will wake up the machine. The
[http://www.scyld.com/wakeonlan.html] etherwake package as well as
the [http://gsd.di.uminho.pt/jpo/software/wakeonlan/] Wakeonlan Perl
script are able to send 'magic packets' to wake-on-LAN enabled
ethernet adapters and motherboards, in order to switch on remote
computers. You may use ethtool to configure some special Wake-On-LAN
settings.
________________________________________________________________
12.26. Built-In Modem
12.26.1. Modem Types
There are three kinds of modems available: internal, PCMCIA card or
external serial port modems. But some internal modems will not work
with Linux these modems are usually called WinModem. This is caused
by non-standard hardware. So you have to use either a PCMCIA card
modem or an external modem (serial or USB). The
[http://walbran.org/sean/linux/linmodem-howto.html] LinModem-HOWTO by
Sean Walbran provides a detailed instruction how to deal with these
kind of modems. My pages about [http://tuxmobil.org/modem_linux.html]
Internal Modems in Laptops and
[http://tuxmobil.org/minipci_linux.html] miniPCI Devices in Laptops
provide a survey about the modem controllers used in different
laptops.
Quotation from the Kernel-FAQ: "9.Why aren't WinModems supported?
(REG, quoting Edward S. Marshall) The problem is the lack of
specifications for this hardware. Most companies producing so-called
WinModems refuse to provide specifications which would allow
non-Microsoft operating systems to use them. The basic issue is that
they don't work like a traditional modem; they don't have a DSP, and
make the CPU do all the work. Hence, you can't talk to them like a
traditional modem, and you -need- to run the modem driver as a
realtime task, or you'll have serious data loss issues under any kind
of load. They're simply a poor design."
"Win modems are lobotomized modems which expect Windows to do some of
their thinking for them. If you do not have Windows, you do not have
a connection. "
Anyway, I have set up a page collecting information on laptops with
internal modems at [http://tuxmobil.org/hardware.html] TuxMobil -
Hardware . Maybe it's possible to run such modems with
MS-Windows9x/NT emulators like wine or VMware, but I don't know it.
The [http://linmodems.org] Linux WinModem Support and
[http://www.xmodem.org/] the Xmodem.org (former Gromit Winmodem) page
are more or less the standard as to whether a modem is real or not,
and also contain directions to getting drivers for the few winmodems
that do have Linux drivers.
There is a driver for Lucent WinModems available. LucentPCI (binary
only) driver, for PCI driven internal modems, see
[http://linmodems.org] Linux WinModem Support and the
[http://www.close.u-net.com/ltmodem.html] LTModem diagnostic tool.
________________________________________________________________
12.26.2. Caveats
Warning
Pay attention to the different kinds of phone lines: analog and ISDN.
You can't connect an analog modem to an ISDN port and vice versa.
Though there might be hybrid modems available. Connecting to the
wrong port may even destroy your modem. Trick: If you are looking for
an analog phone port in an office building which is usually wired
with ISDN, take a look at the fax lines, they are often analog lines.
Warning
If your machine features an internal modem as well as an internal
ethernet card, pay also attention to plug the right cable into the
plug. Otherwise you may damage your hardware easily. It may even
cause a fire.
For tracking the packets on PPP you may use pppstats. Or pload this
provides a graphical view of the traffic (in and out) of the PPP
connection. It is based on athena widgets hence is very portable. It
also uses very little CPU time.
________________________________________________________________
12.27. GPRS
GPRS is a General Packet Radio Service, an add-on to GSM and TDMA
cellular telephone standards used all over the world. It allows
(almost) always-on Internet connections using GSM (or TDMA)
telephones. It makes mobile internet usage on laptops fairly
inexpensive. The [http://turtiainen.dna.fi/GPRS-HOWTO] GPRS-HOWTO is
written by Esa Turtianen etu_AT_dna.fi and Jari Arkko
Jari_AT_arkko.com
________________________________________________________________
12.28. SCSI
12.28.1. Linux Compatibility Check
If unsure about the right SCSI support, compile a kernel with all
available SCSI drivers as modules. Load each module step by step
until you get the right one.
________________________________________________________________
12.28.2. Related Documentation
1. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/SCSI-2.4-HOWTO/index.html] SCSI-2.4-HOWTO
________________________________________________________________
12.28.3. Survey
There is no current x86 laptop yet with a SCSI harddisk. Though there
have been two models with a built in SCSI port: Texas Instruments TI
4000 and HP OmniBook 800. Maybe the PowerBook G3 has a SCSI disk, but
I didn't check this yet. The old Apple Powerbook Duo models had a
SCSI hard disk.
For other models, if you need SCSI support you may get it by using a
SCSI-PCMCIA card or via a SCSI adapter in a docking station.
________________________________________________________________
12.29. Universal Serial Bus - USB
12.29.1. Linux Compatibility Check
You should get information about the USB controller with cat
/proc/pci and about USB devices with cat /proc/bus/usb/devices.
________________________________________________________________
12.29.2. Miscellaneous
Newer laptops come equipped with the Universal Serial Bus - USB. The
following USB devices are available, not all of them are fully
supported by Linux yet: keyboard, mouse, printer, tablet, camera,
cpia, webcam, MP3 player, modem, wireless LAN, audio, jukebox,
scanner, storage (hard drive, memory stick), floppydrive, ZIP, Super
Disk - LS 120, compact flash reader, CD, BlueTooth, ethernet, serial,
joystick, USB Host-to-Host Cable, hub .
Visit the [http://www.linux-usb.org/] USB Linux home page. Also I
have set up a page collecting information about laptops and mobile
devices using USB at the [http://tuxmobil.org/hardware.html] TuxMobil
- Mobile Hardware Survey .
Warning
Please note, I have got a report that the power by a laptop via USB
is not enough for some kind of devices, e.g. Web Cams or hard disks.
But it seems to depend on the laptop and the specific device. With
desktop Linux machines these USB devices work flawlessly, but with
mobile devices not.
________________________________________________________________
12.30. FireWire - IEEE1394 - i.Link
Firewire, also known as IEEE-1394 and iLink, is a high-speed serial
bus system that was originally developed by Apple Computer.
Currently, its widest implementation is for digital video; however,
it has a lot of other uses. Like USB, Firewire is a serial protocol
that supports hot-swapping. Firewire supports much higher speeds than
USB. The [http://linux1394.sourceforge.net/] Linux IEEE 1394
Subsystem provides support for IEEE 1394 (FireWire, i.Link). It
consists of a kernel subsystem as well as applications.
Also I have set up a page collecting information about laptops and
FireWire at [http://tuxmobil.org/hardware.html] TuxMobil - Mobile
Hardware Survey .
________________________________________________________________
12.31. Floppy Drive
12.31.1. Linux Compatibility Check
Usually there are no problems connecting a floppy drive to a Linux
laptop. But with a laptop floppy drive you may sometimes not be able
to use every feature. I encountered the superformat command (from the
fdutils package) couldn't format more than 1.44MB with my HP OmniBook
800. You may also have difficulty when the floppy drive and CD drive
are mutually exclusive, or when the floppy drive is a PCMCIA device
(as with the Toshiba Libretto 100). With older laptops, there might
be a minor problem if they use a 720K drive. As far as I know all
distributions come with support for 1.44M (and sometimes 1.2M)
floppies only. Though it's possible to install Linux anyway. Please
see Installation chapter. Please see kernel documentation for boot
time parameters concerning certain laptop floppy drives, for instance
IBM(TM) ThinkPad. Or man bootparam .
________________________________________________________________
12.32. Optical Drives (CD/DVD)
12.32.1. CD-ROM
12.32.1.1. Related Documentation
* [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/CDROM-HOWTO/] CDROM-HOWTO
* [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/CD-Writing-HOWTO.html] CD-Writing-HOWTO
________________________________________________________________
12.32.1.2. Introduction
Most notebooks today come with CD drives. If floppy and CD drive are
swappable they are usually mutually exclusive, however many vendors
(HP, Dell) provide cables which allow the floppy module to be
connected to the parallel port. Sometimes the CD drives comes as
external PCMCIA device (e.g. SONY), or as SCSI device (e.g. HP
OmniBook 800), USB device (e.g. SONY), or as Firewire (e.g. SONY VAIO
VX71P). Such an external devices might bear problems to install Linux
from it.
As far as I know there are SONY DiscMans available which have a port
to connect them to a computer or even a SCSI port. I found an article
published by Ziff-Davis Publishing Company (September 1996 issue, but
missed to note the URL) written by Mitt Jones: "Portable PC Card
CD-ROM drives transform laptops into mobile multimedia machines",
which listed: Altec Lansing AMC2000 Portable Multimedia CD-ROM
Center; Axonix ProMedia 6XR; CMS PlatinumPortable; EXP CDS420
Multimedia Kit; H45 QuickPCMCIA CD; Liberty 115CD; Panasonic
KXL-D740; Sony PRD-250WN CD-ROM Discman.
To here music from internal CD drives usually works without problems.
But note:
Tip
Some notebooks come with an external CD drive, you need an extra
cable to connect the sound output of the drive to the sound input of
the notebook.
________________________________________________________________
12.32.2. CD-RW
Most notebooks today even come with internal or external CD writers.
The internal usually work, see
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/CD-Writing-HOWTO.html] CD-Writing-HOWTO for
details. But with the different external (PCMCIA, Firewire, USB)
drives you probably need some tweaking.
________________________________________________________________
12.32.3. DVD Drive
[http://linvdr.org/projects/regionset/] regionset adjusts and shows
the region code of DVD drives.
[http://www.trylinux.com/projects/udf/index.html] Universal Disk
Format (UDF) Driver : "UDF is a newer CDROM filesystem standard
that's required for DVD roms. It's meant to be a replacement for the
ISO9660 filesystem used on today's CDROMs, but the immediate impact
for most will be DVD. DVD multimedia cdroms use the UDF filesystem to
contain MPEG audio and video streams. To access DVD cdroms you would
need a DVD cdrom drive, the kernel driver for the cdrom drive, some
kind of MPEG video support, and a UDF filesystem driver (like this
one). Some DVD cdroms may contain both UDF filesystems and ISO9660
filesystems. In that case, you could get by without UDF support."
[http://www.linuxvideo.org/] DVD Video
DVD formats:
Digital Versatile Disc
DVD-5 4.4GB 1side 1 coat ~ 2h video
DVD-9 8.5GB 1side 2 coat ~ 4h video
DVD-10 9.4GB 2side 1 coat ~ 4.5h video
DVD-18 17 GB 2side 2 coat ~ 8h video
________________________________________________________________
12.33. Hard Disk
12.33.1. Linux Compatibility Check
Useful programms are hdparm, dmesg, fsck and fdisk .
________________________________________________________________
12.33.2. Utilities
The [http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/] smartmontools package
contains two utility programs (smartctl and smartd) to control and
monitor storage systems using the Self-Monitoring, Analysis and
Reporting Technology System (SMART) built into most modern ATA and
SCSI hard disks. In many cases, these utilities will provide advanced
warning of disk degradation and failure.
The [http://www.guzu.net/linux/hddtemp.php] hddtemp utility can read
the temperature of S.M.A.R.T. hard disks.
________________________________________________________________
12.33.3. Solid-State-Disks - SSDs
Solid-State-Disks (SSDS) need some optimization of the Linux file
system before installing the operating system. Here are some
[http://www.thomas-krenn.com/de/wiki/Partition_Alignment] tips and
tricks for partition alignment. Also useful some tips from Theodore
Ts'o about
[http://thunk.org/tytso/blog/2009/02/20/aligning-filesystems-to-an-ss
ds-erase-block-size/] aligning filesystems to an SSD's erase block
size.
________________________________________________________________
12.33.4. Miscellaneous
Be careful when using your laptop abroad. I have heard about some
destroyed harddisks due to a magnetic field emitted from the
magnetic-holds at the backresttable of the seats in a German railway
waggon.
Though I am quite satisfied with the quality of the hard disk in my
laptop, when I removed it from the case I unintendedly dropped it. I
recommend to be very careful.
________________________________________________________________
12.33.5. Form Factors
AFAIK there are only two form factors for harddisks used in laptops.
Since 2003 there is the 1.8" format. But much older and still the
most common format is the 2.5" format. The 2.5" format seems to be
available in different heights (Please note I couldn't verify this
information yet):
* 18mm: laptops built before 1996 usually have drives 18mm high
* 12.7mm: I got a report about such disks but without a notebook
model or manufacturer name
* 11mm: since 1996 the drives are 11mm high
* 9mm: many laptops, including the subnotebooks, now use a 9mm-high
disk drive. The largest available in this format in late 1999 is
IBM(TM) 12GN.
* 9.5mm: Toshiba Libretto L70 and L100 have a 9.5mm HD
* 8.45mm: Toshiba Libretto 20, 30, 50 and 60 have 8.45mm tall HDs
* 6.35mm: Toshiba Libretto L1000 has a 6.35mm HD
It might be possible to use a hard disk wich doesn't fit with some
case modifications.
Some laptops come with a removable hard disk in a tray, for instance
the KAPOK 9600D. There seem to be no SCSI drives for laptops
available.
________________________________________________________________
12.33.6. Manufacturer Tools
Some hard disk manufacturers offer dedicated tools to change hard
disk parameters. For example Hitachi offers
[http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm] Drive Fitness
Test (DFT), which provides a quick, reliable method to test SCSI and
IDE hard disk drives, including Serial-ATA IDE drives. The Drive
Fitness Test analyze function performs read tests without overwriting
customer data. (However, Drive Fitness Test is bundled with some
restoration utilities that will overwrite data.) The
[http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm] Feature Tool is
a DOS-bootable tool for changing various ATA features.
________________________________________________________________
12.34. Hot-Swapping Devices (MultiBay, SelectBay, ..)
Some laptops (usually the more expensive ones) come with a free slot,
which may bear a second hard disk or CD/DVD drive. Every manufacturer
seems to name it differently, names like MultiBay(TM) and
SelectBay(TM) are common. Different Linux tools are available to
handle these hot-swapping devices.
thotswap is part of the [http://www.buzzard.me.uk/toshiba/index.html]
Toshiba(tm) Linux Utilities it makes it possible to hotswap devices
in the SelectBay.
[http://timstadelmann.de/hotswap.html] Hotswap is a utility to
register and deregister hotswappable IDE hardware. It is written to
be used on Laptops with some sort of hardware bay to remove the
module from the machine without rebooting it. Note that this utility
is not required to insert or remove batteries or floppy disk drives;
only for IDE devices.
The hard disk management tool hdparm also comes with a hot swap
option.
Some bays can (in some cases only) carry a second battery. Currently
I don't know how Linux can handle this. For example are there any
tools, which show battery stats for the second battery?
________________________________________________________________
12.35. WireLess Network - WLAN
For this let us found a city/ And we will name it Mahagonny/ That
means: Net City/ She shall be like a Net/ That is set out to catch
edible birds./ Everywhere there is toil and labor/ But here there is
amusement/ For it is the uninhibited lust of men/ Not to suffer and
to be allowed all things/ That is the essence of gold
Bertolt Brecht, 1929
________________________________________________________________
12.35.1. Related Documentation
1. [http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/Linux.Wirel
ess.drivers.html] Wireless-HOWTO I,
2. [http://www.linux-wlan.org/] Wireless-HOWTO II and
3. [http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~pliszka/hints/wireless.html]
Wireless-HOWTO III.
________________________________________________________________
12.35.2. Introduction
Many notebooks now come pre-equipped with wireless network support
for the 802.11 protocol family. These devices are either based on
[http://tuxmobil.org/minipci_linux.html] miniPCI or
[http://tuxmobil.org/pcmcia_linux.html] PCMCIA. You may check that
with either lspci or cardctl ident. External WLAN adapters are
available as PCMCIA or CF-Cards and as USB devices. Details will
follow in a later issue.
________________________________________________________________
12.36. BlueTooth
Some laptops come pre-equipped with built-in BlueTooth support, but I
had no time to investigate that any further. Actually I do not have
such a machine to test Linux on it yet.
________________________________________________________________
12.37. Infrared Port
Better red, than dead.
Unknown AuthorEss
________________________________________________________________
12.37.1. Linux Compatibility Check
To get the IrDA® port of your laptop working with Linux/IrDA® you may
use StandardInfraRed (SIR) or FastInfraRed (FIR).
________________________________________________________________
12.37.1.1. SIR
Up to 115.200bps, the infrared port emulates a serial port like the
16550A UART. This will be detected by the kernel serial driver at
boot time, or when you load the serial module. If infrared support is
enabled in the BIOS, for most laptops you will get a kernel message
like:
Serial driver version 4.25 with no serial options enabled
ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A #first serial port /dev/ttyS0
ttyS01 at 0x3000 (irq = 10) is a 16550A #e.g. infrared port
ttyS02 at 0x0300 (irq = 3) is a 16550A #e.g. PCMCIA modem port
________________________________________________________________
12.37.1.2. FIR
If you want to use up to 4Mbps, your machine has to be equipped with
a certain FIR chip. You need a certain Linux/IrDA® driver to support
this chip. Therefore you need exact information about the FIR chip.
You may get this information in one of the following ways:
1. Read the specification of the machine, though it is very rare
that you will find enough and reliable information to use with
Linux there.
2. Try to find out whether the FIR chip is a PCI device. Do a cat
/proc/pci . The appropriate files for 2.2.x kernels are in
/proc/bus/pci . Though often the PCI information is incomplete.
You may find the latest information about PCI devices and vendor
numbers in the kernel documentation usually in
/usr/src/linux/Documentation or at the page of
[http://members.datafast.net.au/~dft0802/] Craig Hart . From
kernel 2.1.82 on, you may use lspci from the pci-utils package,
too.
3. Use the DOS tool CTPCI330.EXE provided in ZIP format by the
[http://www.heise.de/ct/ftp/ctsi.shtml] German computer magazine
CT. The information provided by this program is sometimes better
than that provided by the Linux tools.
4. Try to get information about Plug-and-Play (PnP) devices. Though
I didn't use them for this purpose yet, the isapnp tools, could
be useful.
5. If you have installed the Linux/IrDA® software load the FIR
modules and watch the output of dmesg, whether FIR is detected or
not.
6. Another way how to figure it out explained by Thomas Davis
(modified by WH): "Dig through the FTP site of the vendor, find
the Windows9x FIR drivers, and they have (for a SMC chip):
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ratbert ratbert 743 Apr 3 1997 smcirlap.inf
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ratbert ratbert 17021 Mar 24 1997 smcirlap.vxd
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ratbert ratbert 1903 Jul 18 1997 smcser.inf
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ratbert ratbert 31350 Jun 7 1997 smcser.vxd
If in doubt, always look for the .inf/.vxd drivers for Windows95.
Windows95 doesn't ship with _ANY_ FIR drivers. (they are all
third party, mostly from Counterpoint, who was assimilated by
ESI)."
7. Also Thomas Davis found a package of small DOS
[ftp://ftp.smsc.com/pub/appsoftware/] utilities made by SMC. The
package contains FINDCHIP.EXE. And includes a FIRSETUP.EXE
utility that is supposed to be able to set all values except the
chip address. Furthermore it contains BIOSDUMP.EXE, which
produces this output:
Example 1 (from a COMPAQ Armada 1592DT)
In current devNode:
Size = 78
Handle = 14
ID = 0x1105D041 = 'PNP0511' -- Generic IrDA SIR
Types: Base = 0x07, Sub = 0x00, Interface = 0x02
Comm. Device, RS-232, 16550-compatible
Attribute = 0x80
CAN be disabled
CAN be configured
BOTH Static & Dynamic configuration
Allocated Resource Descriptor Block TAG's:
TAG=0x47, Length=7 I/O Tag, 16-bit Decode
Min=0x03E8, Max=0x03E8
Align=0x00, Range=0x08
TAG=0x22, Length=2 IRQ Tag, Mask=0x0010
TAG=0x79, Length=1 END Tag, Data=0x2F
Result 1:
Irq Tag, Mask (bit mapped - ) = 0x0010 = 0000 0000 0000 0001 0000
so, it's IRQ 4. (start at 0, count up ..), so this is a SIR only
device, at IRQ=4, IO=x03e8.
Example 2 (from an unknown machine)
In current devNode:
Size = 529
Handle = 14
ID = 0x10F0A34D = 'SMCF010' -- SMC IrCC
Types: Base = 0x07, Sub = 0x00, Interface = 0x02
Comm. Device, RS-232, 16550-compatible
Attribute = 0x80
CAN be disabled
CAN be configured
BOTH Static & Dynamic configuration
Allocated Resource Descriptor Block TAG's:
TAG=0x47, Length=7 I/O Tag, 16-bit Decode
Min=0x02F8, Max=0x02F8
Align=0x00, Range=0x08
TAG=0x22, Length=2 IRQ Tag, Mask=0x0008
TAG=0x47, Length=7 I/O Tag, 16-bit Decode
Min=0x02E8, Max=0x02E8
Align=0x00, Range=0x08
TAG=0x2A, Length=2 DMA Tag, Mask=0x02, Info=0x08
TAG=0x79, Length=1 END Tag, Data=0x00
Result 2:
a) it's a SMC IrCC chip
b) one portion is at 0x02f8, has an io-extent of 8 bytes; irq = 3
c) another portion is at 0x02e8, io-extent of 8 bytes; dma = 1
(0x02 =0000 0010)
Warning
The package is not intended for the end user, and some of the
utilities could be harmful. The only documentation in the package is
in Microsoft Word format. Linux users may read this with
[http://www.fe.msk.ru/~vitus/catdoc/] catdoc.
8. Use the Device Manager of the MicroSoft Windows9x/NT operating
system.
9. You may also use the hardware surveys mentioned below.
10. And as a last resort, you may even open the laptop and look at
the writings at the chipsets themselfs.
________________________________________________________________
12.37.1.3. Hardware Survey
I have made an IrDA hardware survey at
[http://tuxmobil.org/ir_misc.html] TuxMobil . This list also contains
information about infrared capable devices which are not mentioned
here (mice, printers, remote control, transceivers, etc.).
To make this list more valuable, it is necessary to collect more
information about the infrared devices in different hardware. You can
help by sending me a short e-mail containing the exact name of the
hardware you have and which type of infrared controller is used.
Please let me know also how well Linux/IrDA® worked (at which tty,
port and interrupt it works and the corresponding infrared device,
e.g. printer, cellular phone).
Also you can help by contributing detailed technological information
about some infrared devices, which is necessary for the development
of drivers for Linux.
________________________________________________________________
12.37.2. Related Documentation
1. [http://tuxmobil.org/howtos.html] Linux-Infrared-HOWTO
________________________________________________________________
12.37.3. IrDA® Configuration - Survey
12.37.3.1. IrDA®
The Linux infrared support is still experimental, but rapidly
improving. I try to describe the installation in a short survey.
Please read my [http://tuxmobil.org/howtos.html] Linux-Infrared-HOWTO
for detailed information. And visit the [http://irda.sourceforge.net]
Linux/IrDA Project.
________________________________________________________________
12.37.3.1.1. Kernel
1. Get a 2.4.x kernel and the latest Linux/IrDA patches from the
[http://irda.sourceforge.net] Linux/IrDA Project.
2. Compile it with all IrDA® options enabled.
3. Also enable experimental, sysctl, serial and network support.
________________________________________________________________
12.37.3.1.2. Software
1. Get the Linux IrDA® software irda-utils at
[http://irda.sourceforge.net/] The Linux IrDA Project .
2. Untar the package.
3. Do a make depend; make all; make install
________________________________________________________________
12.37.3.1.3. Hardware
1. Enable the IrDA® support in the BIOS.
2. Check for SIR or FIR support, as described above.
3. Start the Linux/IrDA® service with irattach DEVICE -s 1 .
4. Watch the kernel output with dmesg .
________________________________________________________________
12.37.3.2. Linux Infrared Remote Control - LIRC
[http://www.lirc.org] Linux Infrared Remote Control LIRC is a package
that supports receiving and sending IR signals of the most common IR
remote controls. It contains a device driver for hardware connected
to the serial port, a daemon that decodes and sends IR signals using
this device driver, a mouse daemon that translates IR signals to
mouse movements and a couple of user programs that allow to control
your computer with a remote control. I don't have valid information
about how much infrared remote control is working with laptop
infrared devices.
________________________________________________________________
12.38. FingerPrint Reader
UPEK, provider of popular fingerprint sensors to IBM's T42 notebooks
and others, has announced that they will be providing a BioAPI
compliant library to perform biometric authentication under Linux.
There is also a proposed
[http://linuxbiometrics.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=16]
FingerPrint Reade driver.
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 13. Accessories: PCMCIA, USB and Other External Extensions
13.1. PCMCIA Cards
13.1.1. Card Families
1. Ethernet adapter
2. Token Ring adapter
3. Ethernet + Modem / GSM
4. Fax-Modem / GSM adapter
5. SCSI adapter
6. I/O cards: RS232, LPT, RS422, RS485, GamePort, IrDA®, Radio,
Video
7. Memory cards
8. harddisks
9. 2.5" harddisk adapters
For desktops there are PCMCIA slots for ISA and PCI bus available.
________________________________________________________________
13.1.2. Linux Compatibility Check
With the command cardctl ident you may get information about your
card. If your card is not mentioned in /etc/pcmcia/config, create a
file /etc/pcmcia/<MYCARD>.conf appropriately. Take an entry in the
first file as a model. You may try every driver, just in case it
might work, for instance the pcnet_cs supports many NE2000 compatible
PCMCIA network cards. Note: it is a bad practice to edit
/etc/pcmcia/config directly, because all changes will be lost with
the next update. After creating /etc/pcmcia/<MYCARD>.conf restart the
PCMCIA services. This may not be enough to get the card to work, but
works sometimes for no-name network cards or modem cards. If you get
a card to work or have written a new driver please don't forget to
announce this to the developer of the PCMCIA-CS package David Hinds.
Look at the current issue of
[http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/ftp/SUPPORTED.CARDS]
SUPPORTED.CARDS to get information about supported cards.
Since not all cards are mentioned there, I have set up a Survey of
PCMCIA/CardBus/CF Cards Supported by Linux.
________________________________________________________________
13.2. ExpressCards
ExpressCard is the official standard for modular expansion for
desktop and mobile systems based on PCI-Express. These cards offer a
smaller and faster PC Card solution. Here is the Linux Hardware
Compatibility List - HCL for ExpressCards, which includes a survey of
[http://tuxmobil.org/expresscard_linux.html] Linux installations on
laptops and notebooks which feature an ExpressCard slot.
________________________________________________________________
13.3. SmartCards
SmartCard reader, see Project Muscle -
[http://www.linuxnet.com/smartcard/index.html] Movement for the Use
of Smart Cards in a Linux Environment and the
[http://tuxmobil.org/smart_linux.html] Linux Hardware Compatibility
List - HCL for SmartCards.
________________________________________________________________
13.4. SDIO Cards
Looking for [http://tuxmobil.org/sdio_linux.html] Linux drivers for
SDIO cards? There is almost nothing available yet. But here are at
least some pointers.
________________________________________________________________
13.5. Memory Technology Devices - RAM and Flash Cards
[http://www.linux-mtd.infradead.org/] The Linux Memory Technology
Device project aims to provide a unified subsystem for handling RAM
and Flash cards (Memory Technology Devices). It is intended to be
compatible with the Linux PCMCIA code, to prevent duplication of code
and effort, yet its main target is small embedded systems, so it will
be possible to compile the drivers into the kernel for use as a root
filesystem, and a close eye will be kept on the memory footprint.
________________________________________________________________
13.6. Memory Stick
The Memory Stick is a proprietary memory device, in the beginning
only used in devices made by SONY. But now they are available in
mobile computers made by other manufacturers, too. The current sticks
are USB devices and work with all recent kernels. After loading the
usb-storage you may mount them as SCSI devices, often as /dev/sda or
/dev/sdb. For older laptops see the appropriate pages at
Linux-on-Laptops.
There is also a SONY Memory Stick Floppy Adapter - MSAC-FD2M. I don't
know whether this works with Linux.
________________________________________________________________
13.7. Card Readers for SD/MMC/Memory Stick
13.7.1. External Readers
All external SD/MMC/CF-Card/Memory Stick readers are USB devices and
work fine with the usb-storage module. The only caveat which might
occur is that you may have difficulties to determine the device
assignment. Just use dmesg after you have connected the reader. The
command should show a SCSI device like /dev/sda1 assigned to the USB
drive.
________________________________________________________________
13.7.2. Internal Readers
Currently there are three kinds of devices available: USB, PCMCIA and
PCI devices.
USB devices are seldom, but usually work out of the box. They behave
like the external readers mentioned above.
Some readers are PCMCIA/CardBus devices. Often such a reader is
located near the CardBus slot. The command cardctl ident will reveal
these cards.
For some laptops and notebooks a [http://projects.drzeus.cx/wbsd]
driver for the Winbond's W83L518D and W83L519D SD/MMC card reader is
available.
Some proprietary devices are not yet known to work with Linux. Except
the readers built into the SHARP Linux PDAs, but the driver is closed
source and available as a binary only for the ARM CPU.
________________________________________________________________
13.8. USB Devices
For more info about this and other Linux-compatible USB devices see
the [http://www.qbik.ch/usb/devices/] USB Survey and my
[http://tuxmobil.org/usb_linux.html] Mobile USB Linux Hardware Survey
.
________________________________________________________________
13.8.1. Ethernet Devices
From kernel source 2.4.4:
* ADMtek AN986 Pegasus (eval. board)
* ADMtek ADM8511 Pegasus II (eval. board)
* Accton 10/100
* Billington USB-100
* Corega FEter USB-TX
* MELCO/BUFFALO LUA-TX
* D-Link DSB-650TX, DSB-650TX-PNA, DSB-650, DU-E10, DU-E100
* Linksys USB100TX, USB10TX
* LANEED Ethernet LD-USB/TX
* SMC 202
* SOHOware NUB Ethernet
Any Pegasus II based board also are supported. If you have devices
with vendor IDs other than noted above you should add them in the
driver code and send a message to <petkan_AT_dce.bg> for update.
________________________________________________________________
13.8.2. BlueTooth Dongles
There are many dongles around. I have made some experience with the
[http://www.aircable.net/] AIRcable for laptops and PDAs (e.g.
SHARP's Zaurus models SL-5x00 and C-7x0). This USB dongle kit
provides a fast, convenient way of connecting mobile Linux computers
to another personal computer or notebook computer or mobile phone
without any cabling. The AIRcable uses a BlueTooth connection without
the need to set up a complicated BlueTooth configuration. For
example: The AIRcable Zaurus-USB can be used for syncing the Zaurus
(ZaurusManager, Intellisync), for Qtopia desktop and for network
connections through the PC (Linux, Windows and Apple) running pppd.
You may find further details and a
[http://tuxmobil.org/bluetooth_linux.html] survey of compatible
mobile phones etc. at TuxMobil.
________________________________________________________________
13.8.3. Port Replicators/Docking Stations
I do not have experience with these devices yet. But I expect that it
will be difficult, if not impossible, to get them to run with Linux.
For other kinds of port replicators and docking stations see the
appropriate section in the laptop chapter.
________________________________________________________________
13.9. Printers and Scanners
13.9.1. Survey of Mobile Printers and Scanners
For a survey of ports and protocol to print via a mobile or
stationary printer see the Different Environments chapter below.
1. [http://www.canon.com/] CANON : BJC-80 (this printer can also be
used as a scanner with the optional scan head!) David F. Davey
wrote: "I finally have a Canon BJC-80 printer working properly
with IrDA®. By properly I mean as a pseudo-PostScript device by
way of ghostscript and a modified lpd.
How:
+ linux-2.2.7-ac2-irda6
+ /proc/sys/net/irda/slot_timeout increased to 10 (essential
or discovery fails)
+ ghostscript DEVICE set to bjc600
+ printcap includes:
:xc#01777777:\
:fc#017:\
:fs#020000010002:
+ and lpd had to be modified to accept the ulong fs and to
handle xc (which is documented but not coded in the lpd's I
have looked at). "
For further information look at his page
[http://www.windclimber.net/linux/bjc-80.pcgi] BJC-80 .
Tim Auckland wrote: Would my version of lpd help? unixlpr is a
portable version of the lpr/lpd suite, compatible with
traditional versions and [http://rfc.net] RFC 1179 and with a
couple of minor extensions, including the :ms= field (also seen
in SunOS 4) and the ability to print directly to TCP connected
printers without needing special filters. ms allows you to
configure the tty using stty arguments directly, so if stty can
handle the extended flags, my lpd should handle IrDA® out of the
box. You can find the latest unixlpr
[http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hall/7203/Printing/] here
.
2. [http://www.canon.com/] CANON : BJC-50 65% of the size of the
BJC-80, Li-Ion battery included, and basically the same features
as the BJC-80.
3. [http://www.canon.com/] CANON : BJ-30
4. [http://www.citizen-america.com/] Citizen : CN-60
5. [http://www.pentaxtech.com/] Pentax : Pocketjet
6. HP: DeskJet 340Cbi. This is a small, portable, low-duty-cycle
printer. It prints either black, or color (3 color). I have had
some problems with it loading paper. Overall, the small size and
portability make it a nice unit for use with laptops. I use the
HP 500/500C driver with Linux.
7. Olivetti: JP-90
8. [http://www.maxpointgmbh.de] MaxPoint : TravelScan, mobile
scanner for the PCMCIA port.
AFAIK only the HP DeskJet 340Cbi and the BJC-80 machine have an
infrared port. Pay attention to the supplied voltage of the power
supply if you plan to travel abroad. I couldn't check the scan
functionalities with Linux yet.
________________________________________________________________
13.9.2. Scanner and OCR Software
[http://www.mostang.com/sane/] SANE stands for Scanner Access Now
Easy and is an application programming interface (API) that provides
standardized access to any raster image scanner hardware (flatbed
scanner, hand-held scanner, video- and still-cameras, frame-grabbers,
etc.). The SANE standard is free and its discussion and development
is open to everybody. The current source code is written for UNIX
(including Linux) and is available under the GNU public license
(commercial application and backends are welcome, too, however).
[http://altmark.nat.uni-magdeburg.de/~jschulen/ocr/] GOCR is optical
character recognition software. It converts PGM files into ASC files.
For scanner drivers see [http://www.willamowius.de/scanner.html]
Linux Drivers for Handheld Scanners.
________________________________________________________________
13.9.3. Connectivity
There are different ways to connect a printer or scanner to a laptop.
For printers usually: parallel port, serial port, USB and IrDA® port.
For scanners usually: parallel port, SCSI (via PCMCIA or generic SCSI
port), USB and PCMCIA port. All of them need the appropriate kernel
drivers.
________________________________________________________________
13.10. Serial Devices
13.10.1. Keyspan PDA Serial Adapter
Single port DB-9 serial adapter, pushed as a PDA adapter for iMacs
(mostly sold in Macintosh catalogs, comes in a translucent
white/green dongle). Fairly simple device.
________________________________________________________________
13.11. External Storage Devices
13.11.1. External Hard Disks
There are external hard disk cases with different connectors
available: PCMCIA, USB and FireWire. Cases are available for 2.5"
(laptop hard disks), 3.5" (desktop hard disks) and 5.25" (CD-Writer).
All of them work very well together with Linux. Especially I like the
cases for 2.5" hard disks, you may upgrade your current laptop hard
disk and use the old one to put it into the external box to extend
your hard disk space.
Caveat: After wake up from suspend mode, the external hard drive
can't work. To cure this problem these remedies might help:
Disconnect the external drive and then plug it in again. Or use an AC
adapter to power the external drive. Though this seems unconvenient
in a suspend situation. But since the external drive gets the power
from the adapter, there is no disconnection from power as will be if
power is provided from USB.
Caveat: Take care that the jumpers are set to Master. Almost all
external hard disk cases will not work when the jumpers are set to
Slave or Cable Select.
________________________________________________________________
13.12. Power and Phone Plugs, Power Supply
When travelling abroad you might consider to take a set of different
power and phone plugs with you. Also, it's useful if you can change
the input voltage of the power supply, for instance from 110V in the
US to 220V in Germany. There also power supplies for 12V batteries
from cars.
Some models of power plugs:
____ _
/ () \ _ _ _ _ _(_)_
frontal view: |() ()| (_)=(_) (_) (_) (_) (_)
------
abbrevation.: C13 C8 ?? PS/2 C5
symbol......: ?? ?? -O)- N.N. N.N.
Warning
Though some -O)- shaped plug may seem to be compatible with your
laptop, because of the appropriate physical size, take extreme care
it uses the same plus-minus voltage scheme, for instance plus for the
inner ring and minus for the outer one. Often, but not always, there
are the appropriate symbols near the plug.
More about laptop and PDA power supplies at
[http://tuxmobil.org/energy_laptops.html] TuxMobil.
________________________________________________________________
13.13. Bags and Suitcases
You probably wonder, why I include this topic here. But shortly after
using my COMPAQ Armada 1592DT I recognized that the rear side of the
machine (where the ports are arranged) was slightly damaged. Though I
have taken much care when transporting the laptop, this was caused by
putting the bag on the floor. It seems that the laptop has so much
weight, that it bounces inside the bag on its own rear side. So I
decided to put a soft pad into the bag before loading the laptop. A
good bag is highly recommended if you take your laptop on trips, or
take it home every night.
Laptops computers are frequently demolished in their carrying bag.
The two main causes of demolition are poking the LC display and
banging the edges. A good case has very stiff sides to spread out
pokes, and lots of energy-absorbent padding around the edges to help
when you whack it on the door jamb. Few cases actually have either of
these features.
More laptops are lost to theft than damage, so camouflage is a wise
too. Emerson, Tom # El Monte <TOMEMERSON_AT_ms.globalpay.com> wrote:
"I use for a laptop travelling bag: a Pyrex casserole carrier bag.
Yup, you might think it odd to use a casserole bag for a laptop, but
it turns out it has several advantages:
* The one I use has a microwavable heating pad in it - while I
don't actually heat this pad (it's meant to keep food warm while
in transport), it does provide padding underneath the laptop. The
carrier I have only has a lower - heating - pad, but there is
also a similar carrier that has both a lower - heating - pad and
an upper - cooling - pad - placed in the freezer to get it cold -
-- the intent is that you keep one or the other in the bag to
keep your food hot or cold as desired. A secondary advantage to
the - cooling pad - pad is that if you've - chilled - it before
taking the computer out for the day, it will keep the CPU cooler
while you're running the laptop...
* the top of the bag has a zipper on three sides, so it - opens -
the same way as my laptop - I don't even need to take it out of
the carrier to use the laptop
* there is enough room at the side of the bag to store the external
power supply, a regular Logitech mouseman, and the network -
dongle - with BNC/TP ports - and if I had it, the modem/phone
port as well -
* there is enough clearance on top of the machine to include a
handful of CD's or diskettes, if needed.
* when it's left - unattended - in a car, it's less likely to be
stolen - think about it, if you were a thief walking through a
parking lot and eyeing the contents of cars, a - laptop bag - is
instantly recognizable as holding a laptop computer - something
that can be fenced at a pretty hefty profit, but if you saw a
casserole carrier in the front seat of a car, would you think it
contained anything OTHER than a casserole? - and probably
half-eaten, at that... - Unless you are a hungry thief, chances
are you'll skip this and move on.
* likewise, I've heard that keeping a laptop computer in a diaper
bag is another good - camouflage - technique - who in their right
mind is going to steal a bag of - dirty - diapers?"
VI. Kernel
Table of Contents
14. Kernel History
14.1. Kernel 2.4
14.2. Kernel 2.6
14.3. Kernel Configuration for Laptops
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 14. Kernel History
The kernel chapter isn't ready yet. Just some notes about important
changes with kernel 2.4 and 2.6 related to mobile computers. As well
as some notes about Kernel configurations for laptops.
________________________________________________________________
14.1. Kernel 2.4
14.1.1. PCMCIA
From [http://www.pcmcia.org/] PCMCIA.ORG: " PCMCIA (Personal Computer
Memory Card International Association) is an international standards
body and trade association with over 200 member companies that was
founded in 1989 to establish standards for Integrated Circuit cards
and to promote interchangeability among mobile computers where
ruggedness, low power, and small size were critical. As the needs of
mobile computer users have changed, so has the PC Card Standard. By
1991, PCMCIA had defined an I/O interface for the same 68 pin
connector initially used for memory cards. At the same time, the
Socket Services Specification was added and was soon followed by the
Card Services Specifcation as developers realized that common
software would be needed to enhance compatibility. " The cards are
available in different formats: Type I, II, III.
A quotation from the ../Documentation/Changes file: "PCMCIA (PC Card)
support is now partially implemented in the main kernel source. Pay
attention when you recompile your kernel. If you need to use the
PCMCIA-CS modules, then don't compile the kernel's PCMCIA support. If
you don't need to use the PCMCIA-CS modules (i.e. all the drivers you
need are in the kernel sources), then don't compile them; you won't
need anything in there. Also, be sure to upgrade to the latest
PCMCIA-CS release." Further information you may get from the
README-2.4 included with this package.
You may find an example kernel configuration for laptops in the
Section 14.3.
________________________________________________________________
14.1.2. Powermanagement
At the moment there are two power management drivers in the linux
kernel (AFAIK). They each have different userspace interfaces
/proc/apm/ and /dev/apmctl/ and /proc/acpi/ or something.
For further information see the page of
[http://john.fremlin.de/linux/offbutton/index.html] John Fremlin . He
has also written a program named powermanager.
With kernel 2.4 there is ACPI available, see ACPI chapter below.
The SuSE
[http://forge.novell.com/modules/xfmod/cvs/cvsbrowse.php/powersave/]
Powersave Daemon provides battery, temperature, AC, and CPU frequency
control and monitoring along with proper suspend to disk/RAM and
standby support with shell hooks that are easy to extend. It supports
APM and ACPI machines and can control a hard disk's advanced power
and acoustic management settings. It is perfect for laptops and
workstations that need to run quietly with low power consumption, or
switch to full performance mode if needed. Self definable power
schemes give full control over power control features and allow easy
and automatic switching between performance or power saving settings
for each hardware component.
________________________________________________________________
14.1.3. Hotplug
There is a new
[http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linux-hotplug-devel]
mailing list for developers interested in any aspects of the Linux
kernel hotplug ability and functionality. This would include (but is
not restricted to) USB, PCMCIA, SCSI, Firewire, and probably PCI
developers. There is an initial
[http://sourceforge.net/projects/linux-hotplug/] SourceForge site.
Kernel Support for Hot-Plugable Devices
CONFIG_HOTPLUG
Say Y here if you want to plug devices into your computer while
the system is running, and be able to use them quickly. In many
cases, the devices can likewise be unplugged at any time too.
One well known example of this is PCMCIA- or PC-cards, credit-card
size devices such as network cards, modems or hard drives which are
plugged into slots found on all modern laptop computers. Another
example, used on modern desktops as well as laptops, is USB.
Enable HOTPLUG and KMOD, and build a modular kernel. Get
[http://linux-hotplug.sourceforge.net] agent software
and install it. Then your kernel will automatically call out to a
user mode "policy agent" (/sbin/hotplug) to
load modules and set up software needed to use devices as
you hotplug them.
________________________________________________________________
14.2. Kernel 2.6
14.2.1. PCMCIA
[http://kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/pcmcia/pcmcia.html]
PCMCIAutils contains hotplug scripts and initialization tools
necessary to allow the PCMCIA subsystem to behave (almost) as every
other hotpluggable bus system (e.g. USB, IEEE1394). Please note that
the kernel support for this new feature is only present since
2.6.13-rc1.
________________________________________________________________
14.3. Kernel Configuration for Laptops
You may find an example for 2.4.x kernels
[http://tuxmobil.org/kernel_config_laptop.html] here Please note:
Don't use this file by default, please use always make config, make
menuconfig or make xconfig to create a kernel configuration file. See
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Kernel-HOWTO/] Kernel-HOWTO (from TLDP) for
details. Thomas Hertweck has written another useful
[http://www.thomashertweck.de/kernel.html] Linux-Kernel-HOWTO (but it
is only available in German and Italian).
[http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/laptopkernel/] laptopkernel is a
patchset for the Linux kernel containing several useful patches for
laptop-users. It contains acpi, software suspend, supermount and some
hardware compatibility patches. Unfortunately this project is not
maintained anymore since 2003.
VII. On the Road
Table of Contents
15. Different Environments
15.1. Related Documentation
15.2. Configuration Tools
15.3. E-Mail
15.4. Data Transport Between Different Machines
(Synchronization)
15.5. Backup
15.6. Connections to Servers
15.7. Security in Different Environments
15.8. Theft Protection
15.9. Dealing with Down Times (Cron Jobs)
15.10. Mobile Printing
15.11. Noise Reduction
16. Solutions with Mobile Computers
16.1. Introduction
16.2. Mobile Network Analyzer
16.3. Mobile Router
16.4. Hacking and Cracking Networks
16.5. Mobile Data Collection
16.6. Mobile Office
16.7. Connection to Digital Camera
16.8. Connection to QuickCam (Video)
16.9. Connection to Television Set
16.10. Connection to Cellular Phone
16.11. Connection to Global Positioning System (GPS)
16.12. Connection via Amateur Radio (HAM)
16.13. Satellite Watching
16.14. Aviation
16.15. Blind or Visually Impaired Users
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 15. Different Environments
Tell me and I might forget. Show me and I can remember. Involve me
and I will understand.
Confucius, 450 B.C.
________________________________________________________________
15.1. Related Documentation
1. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Security-HOWTO/index.html] Security-HOWTO
2. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Multiboot-with-LILO.html]
Multiboot-with-LILO-HOWTO
3. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Ethernet-HOWTO.html] Ethernet-HOWTO
4. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/NET3-4-HOWTO.html] Networking-HOWTO
5. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Offline-Mailing.html]
Offline-Mailing-mini-HOWTO
6. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/PLIP.html] Plip-HOWTO
7. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/SLIP-PPP-Emulator/]
Slip-PPP-Emulator-HOWTO
If you are using Debian GNU/Linux then you should refer to the Debian
Reference chapter entitled "Network configuration". Debian contains a
number of packages that help to make roaming among different networks
effortless.
________________________________________________________________
15.2. Configuration Tools
15.2.1. NetEnv
Do you use your laptop in different network environments? At home? In
the office? At a customers site?
If yes, the small package "netenv" might be useful for you. When
booting your laptop it provides you with a simple interface from
which you can choose the current network environment. The first time
in a new environment, you can enter the basic data and save it for
later reuse.
Netenv sets up a file containing variable assignments which describe
the current environment. This can be used by the PCMCIA setup scheme,
e.g. like the one that comes with Debian/GNU Linux and perhaps
others.
The netenv data can be used for things like:
1. Network Device: Configure the network device for different
environments.
2. Choose a proper XF86Config: Think of using your laptop standalone
with touchpad vs. connected to a CRT monitor along with an
external mouse. For example, a wheel mouse could be used when
docked, but the driver is not compatible with the normal
trackpoint or touchpad.
3. Windowmanager: You can set up your windowmanager appropriate to
the current location of your machine.
4. Printing Environment: The netenv data can easily be used to set
up the printing environment.
Netenv is available at [http://netenv.sourceforge.net] netenv home.
It depends on dialog(1) for its menu interface. Netenv was developed
by Gerd Bavendiek.
________________________________________________________________
15.2.2. System Configuration Profile Management - SCPM
SuSE's [http://forge.novell.com/modules/xfmod/project/?scpm] System
Configuration Profile Management - SCPM software allows you to switch
configuration profiles. You can boot directly into one profile and
then switch to another profile at run time. This is the successor of
SuSE's older "scheme" management software.
________________________________________________________________
15.2.3. ifplugd
[http://0pointer.de/lennart/projects/ifplugd/] ifplugd is a
lightweight Linux daemon which configures the network automatically
when a cable is plugged in and deconfigures it when the cable is
pulled. It is primarily intended for usage with laptops. It relies on
the distribution's native network configuration subsystem, and is
thus not very intrusive.
________________________________________________________________
15.2.4. divine
[http://www.fefe.de/divine/] divine is an utility for people who use
their machines in different networks all the time. "The idea is this:
* you describe the possible networks in /etc/divine.conf, including
one or more machines that are probably up (routers and NIS
servers come to mind).
* at boot time, you run divine.
* divine starts a thread that injects fake arp requests into the
network. The thread will try again up to three times, pausing 1
second between retries. If the last try times out again, the
thread will print an error message, leave the interface in the
original state and exit cleanly.
* the main thread just looks for arp replies and exits if one is
found.
* You have one resolv.conf per network, for example
/etc/resolv.conf.default and /etc/resolv.conf.work. divine will
symlink one of them to /etc/resolv.conf for you.
* You can specify a proxy server plus port and divine will write
the proxy server to /etc/proxy. This can be evaluated inside your
shell startup script, like this (zsh):
export http_proxy="http://`</etc/proxy`/"
The included perl script edit-netscape-proxy.pl will edit the
proxy settings in your Netscape 4 preferences file.
* You can even specify an additional script to be run for each
selection. You can use this to edit /etc/printcap or /etc/issue
or do something else I forgot.
The point about divine in contrast to other solutions is that other
solutions normally use ping or something like that. divine can check
a large number of networks instantaneously, assuming that the
machines you ping answer within one second (.4 seconds are normal on
Ethernets). And pinging an unknown address will do an arp request
anyway, so why not do an arp request in the first place?"
________________________________________________________________
15.2.5. Mobile IP
From the [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/NET3-4-HOWTO.html] Networking-HOWTO :
"The term IP Mobility describes the ability of a host that is able to
move its network connection from one point on the Internet to another
without changing its IP address or losing connectivity. Usually when
an IP host changes its point of connectivity it must also change its
IP address. IP Mobility overcomes this problem by allocating a fixed
IP address to the mobile host and using IP encapsulation (tunneling)
with automatic routing to ensure that datagrams destined for it are
routed to the actual IP address it is currently using."
[http://dynamics.sourceforge.net/] Dynamics Mobile IP is a dynamical,
hierarchical Mobile IP system for Linux operating system. The
implementation enables a hierarchical model for IP mobility, thus
decreasing the location update times as a mobile host moves. Dynamics
system has been designed Wireless LAN technology in mind, and the
system has optimized functionality for mobility in WLAN.
See also [http://tuxmobil.org/manet_linux.html] Linux and Mobile
AdHoc Networks - MANETs.
________________________________________________________________
15.2.5.1. Resources
1. [http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/MobileIP/index.ht
ml] Linux Mobile IP from HP Labs Bristol by Manuel Rodriguez.
2. [http://mosquitonet.Stanford.EDU/software/mip.html] MosquitoNet
Mobile IP
3. [http://http.cs.berkeley.edu/~randy/Daedalus/BARWAN/] Bay Area
Research Wireless Access Network - BARWAN
Sources: Kenneth E. Harker and Dag Brattli
________________________________________________________________
15.2.6. DHCP/BootP
DHCP and BootP are also useful for working in different environments.
Please see the [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/DHCP/index.html] DHCP-HOWTO .
________________________________________________________________
15.2.7. PPPD Options
The pppd command can be configured via several different files: pppd
file /etc/ppp/<your_options> .
________________________________________________________________
15.2.8. /etc/init.d
You may even choose to do your configuration by editing the
/etc/init.d files manually.
________________________________________________________________
15.2.9. PCMCIA - Schemes
How can I have separate PCMCIA device setups for home and work? This
is fairly easy using PCMCIA scheme support. Use two configuration
schemes, called home and work. For details please read the
appropriate chapter in the PCMCIA-HOWTO.
________________________________________________________________
15.2.10. Bootloaders
15.2.10.1. LILO
From Martin J. Evans I have taken this recommendation: The first
point to note is that init will take any arguments of the form
name=value as environment variable assignments if they are not
recognized as something else. This means you can set environment
variables from the LILO boot prompt before your rc scripts run. I set
the LOCATION environment variable depending on where I am when I boot
Linux. e.g.
LILO: linux LOCATION=home
Or
LILO: linux LOCATION=work
Or simply
LILO: linux
where failing to set LOCATION means the same as LOCATION=home (i.e.
my default). Instead of typing LOCATION=place each time you boot you
can add an entry to your /etc/lilo.conf file and use the append
instruction. e.g.
# Linux bootable partition for booting Linux at home
#
image = /vmlinuz
root = /dev/hda3
label = linux
read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends
#
# Linux bootable partition for booting Linux at work
#
image = /vmlinuz
root = /dev/hda3
label = work
read-only
append="LOCATION=work"
# Linux bootable partition config ends
With the example above you can use "linux" for booting at home and
"work" for booting at work.
Armed with the facility above, you can now edit the relevant rc
scripts to test ENVIRONMENT before running ifconfig, setting up route
etc.
________________________________________________________________
15.2.10.2. Other Bootloaders
There are several other bootloaders which are often overlooked.
Besides LILO, have a look at loadlin, CHooseOS (CHOS) (not GPL),
GRand Unified Bootloader (GRUB), System Commander and take a look at
[ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/boot/loaders/]
ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/boot/loaders/ . The MicroSoft
Windows-NT boot loader or OS/2 boot loader may even be used.
________________________________________________________________
15.2.11. X-Windows
From Steve <steve_AT_cygnet.co.uk> I got a configuration for X
Windows with an external monitor: Note that I have introduced a neat
trick! For my nice 17" monitor I start X11 with no options and get
the default 16-bit 1152x864 display - but when using the LCD screen I
specify a 15-bit display (startx -- -bpp 15) and get the correct
800x600 resolution automatically. This saves having to have two X11
config files.
________________________________________________________________
15.2.12. More Info
[http://www.ssc.com/lg/issue20/laptop.html] Using a Laptop in
Different Environments by Gerd Bavendiek . This article appeared in
the August, 1997 issue of the [http://www.ssc.com/lg/] Linux Gazette
. This is an excellent, short technical article describing an easy
way to setup your Linux notebook to boot into different network and
printing configurations, especially useful for those who use their
machines at home as well as other locations such as in the office, at
school, or at a customer site.
________________________________________________________________
15.3. E-Mail
15.3.1. Introduction
A short introduction about how to setup email on a laptop used at
home (dial-up) and work (ethernet) by Peter Englmaier
<ppe_AT_pa.uky.edu>:
________________________________________________________________
15.3.1.1. Features
As a laptop user, I have special demands for my email setup. The
setup described below, enables me to:
* Read my email from home using a POP email server, which is
supplied by my university, but could also be setup on a work
place computer.
* Write email from home with the right return address in the email
(which does not mention my computer name).
* Read/write my email while working on a workstation without access
to my laptop or the POP email server (as a backup).
* Read my email while working on my laptop connected to the
ethernet of our institut.
* Direct email while connected via ethernet (faster than the
fetchmail method).
* Indirect email (over pop mail server) while not connected to the
ethernet at work (either at home via modem or somewhere else via
ethernet).
* Use any emailer, e.g. elm or the simple mail command.
* Sort incoming email, delete spam, split email-collections
(digests) into seperate emails
The configuration is based on sendmail, fetchmail, and a remote pop
account for email.
________________________________________________________________
15.3.1.2. Configuration of sendmail
This is the most complicated part. Having installed the sendmail-cf
package, I created a file named /usr/lib/sendmail-cf/laptop.mc:
divert(-1)
include(`../m4/cf.m4')
define(`confDEF_USER_ID',''8:12'')
define(`confBIND_OPTS',`-DNSRCH -DEFNAMES')
# here you define your domain
define(`confDOMAIN_NAME',''pa.uky.edu'')
OSTYPE(`linux')
undefine(`UUCP_RELAY')
undefine(`BITNET_RELAY')
# there we send outgoing email
define(`SMART_HOST',`server1.pa.uky.edu')
# there we send mail to users my laptop does not know
define(`LUSER_RELAY',`server1.pa.uky.edu')
# again the domain, we want to be seen as
MASQUERADE_AS(pa.uky.edu)
FEATURE(allmasquerade)
FEATURE(nouucp)
FEATURE(nodns)
FEATURE(nocanonify)
FEATURE(redirect)
FEATURE(always_add_domain)
FEATURE(use_cw_file)
FEATURE(local_procmail)
MAILER(procmail)
MAILER(smtp)
HACK(check_mail3,`hash -a@JUNK /etc/mail/deny')
HACK(use_ip,`/etc/mail/ip_allow')
HACK(use_names,`/etc/mail/name_allow')
HACK(use_relayto,`/etc/mail/relay_allow')
HACK(check_rcpt4)
HACK(check_relay3)
This looks more complicated as it is. All it does is, that it
redirectes outbound mail to server1 (SMART_HOST) and also mail for
local users which are not known (LUSER_RELAY). That way, I can write
email to my colleques without using their full email address. More
important: the From line in my email points back to my MASQUARADE_AS
domain and not directly to my laptop. If this where not the case,
email returned with the reply button might not reach me. You must
restart sendmail for changes to take effect. Note: this configuration
is for Redhat 5.2 systems. You may have to change some details.
Now, all what is needed is to generate the /etc/sendmail.cf file m4
laptop.mc >/etc/sendmail.cf and to add all possible domain names my
laptop should respond to in /etc/sendmail.cw:
# sendmail.cw - include all aliases for your machine here.
laptop
laptop.pa.uky.edu
128.17.18.30
guest1
guest1.somewhere.org
It is important to have all aliases in this file, otherwise sendmail
will not accept the mail (and will reply we don't relay to the
sender). Finally, you must now test the setup by sending email,
replying to mail for all possible configurations. Any
missconfiguration can result in loss of email.
________________________________________________________________
15.3.1.3. Configuration for fetchmail on Laptop
One method to get the email into your machine is through fetchmail.
Fetchmail periodically checks for new email at one or more remote
mail servers. I use the following fetchmail configuration file (in my
user home directory): fetchmailrc
set postmaster "myusername"
set daemon 900
poll pop.uky.edu with proto POP3
user "mypopusername" there with password "mypoppassword" is mylaptopusername h
ere
Fetchmail will just get the email and send it to sendmail which will
it deliver into your /var/spool/mail/$USER file.
________________________________________________________________
15.3.1.4. Forward E-Mail to the Laptop
On my work station I have the following .forward file:
me@pop.acount.edu,me@server1
Here server1 is the machine where I keep my mailbox. All email is
send to the pop account to be picked up later by my laptop (using
fetchmail). However, when my laptop is connected via ethernet, I want
my email to go directly to the laptop, instead of pop:
me@laptop,me@server1
In both cases, a backup of my email is send to server1 (where I also
can read it, in case I cannot get my laptop). I keep/store all email
on the laptop.
Switching is done by three script files and a crontab file (on the
workstation):
forward_pop
#!/bin/sh
echo "me@pop.acount.edu,me@server1" > ${HOME}/.forward
forward_laptop
#!/bin/sh
echo "ppe@laptop,ppe@server1" > ${HOME}/.forward
crontab ${HOME}/mycrontab
${HOME}/utl/check_laptop
check_laptop
#!/bin/sh
if /usr/sbin/ping -c 1 laptop >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
:
else
# redirect mail to pop
${HOME}/utl/forward_pop
sleep 10
if /usr/sbin/ping -c 1 laptop >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
# back to normal
${HOME}/utl/forward_laptop
else
# deactivate crontab check
/bin/crontab -l | grep -v check_laptop >${HOME}/tmp/mycrontab.tmp
/bin/crontab ${HOME}/tmp/mycrontab.tmp
rm -f ${HOME}/tmp/mycrontab.tmp
fi
fi
mycrontab
# mycrontab
0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * ${HOME}/utl/check_laptop
Each time I connect the laptop to the ethernet, I have to run
forward_laptop, and each time I disconnect I run forward_pop. In case
I forget to run forward_pop, the crontab job runs it for me less then
10 minutes later. To do all that automatically, I change the network
script files on my laptop as follows:
/sbin/ifdown (this script runs, whenever a network device is stopped,
new stuff between BEGIN and END)
...
fi
# BEGIN new stuff
# turn off forwarding email
mail ppe <<EOF
turning off forwarding email
device = ${DEVICE}
hostname = `hostname`
EOF
if [ "${DEVICE}" = "eth0" -a "`hostname`"
= "laptop" ]; then
su -lc "ssh -l myusername server1
utl/forward_pop" myusername >& /dev/null
fi
# END new stuff
ifconfig ${DEVICE} down
exec /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifdown-post $CONFIG
Note, that the script checks for the value of hostname. In case, I am
connected to a foreign ethernet, my hostname and ip-address will be
something else, e.g. guest1.
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifup-post (this script is run,
whenever a network device is started)
# Notify programs that have requested notification
do_netreport
# BEGIN new stuff
# check for email -- I'm using fetchmail for this
if [ "${DEVICE}" = "eth0" -o "${DEVICE}"
= "ppp0" ]; then
su -lc fetchmail myusername >& /dev/null &
fi
# set clock if connected to ethernet, redirect email
if [ "${DEVICE}" = "eth0" -a "`hostname`" = "zaphod" ]; then
( rdate -s server1 ; hwclock --systohc --utc ) >& /dev/null &
# forward email
su -lc "ssh -l myusername gradj utl/forward_laptop" myusername >& /dev/null &
fi
# END new stuff
exit 0
________________________________________________________________
15.3.1.5. Processing Incoming E-Mail with procmail
This step is completely optional. The above described sendmail
configuration calls procmail for each received email, but you could
have called procmail using the .forward file (see the procmail man
page). Procmail is a handy tool to block spam and to sort incoming
email.
You need to setup a .procmailrc file to use procmail. See the man
page for procmail, procmailrc, and procmailex (examples). My setup
demonstrates, how to ignore certain email messages and split
email-collections (digest) into pieces:
# -- mail filtering -- procmail is called by sendmail --
PATH=/bin:/usr/bin
MAILDIR=$HOME/Mail
LOGFILE=$MAILDIR/from
# keep in mind:
# use ":0:" when writing to a file
# use ":0" when writing to a device, e.g. /dev/null, or send email
# - make a backup of *all* incoming mail, but ignore mail tagged below -
:0 c:
*! ^Sissa-Repro
backup
# - keep only last 50 messages
:0 ic
| cd backup && rm -f dummy `ls -t msg.* | sed -e 1,50d`
# - delete email coming through the 'postdocs' email list, when
# it is not of any interest
:0
* ^From.*postdocs
* ^From.*Ernst Richter /dev/null :0
* ^From.*postdocs
* ^Subject.*card charge
/dev/null
# Split mailing list from the sissa preprint server into individual emails
# - this is quite complicated :( I can flip through the list much
# faster and ignore preprints which have uninteresting titles. Instead of
# having to browse through the whole list, my mailer will just present a
# list of papers.
# 1. split it in individual messages
:0
* ^From no-reply@xxx.lanl.gov
| formail +1 -de -A "Sissa-Repro: true" -s procmail
# 2. reformat messages a bit
# 2.1. extract 'Title:' from email-Body and add to email-header
as 'Subject:'
:0 b
* ^Sissa-Repro
*! ^Subject
TITLE=| formail -xTitle:
:0 a
|formail -A "Subject: $TITLE " -s procmail
# 2.2. store in my incoming sissa-email folder. Here, we could
# also reject (and thereafter delete) uninteresting 'Subjects'
# we could also mark more interesting subjects as urgend or send a copy
# to regular mail box.
:0:
* ^Sissa-Repro
* ^Subject
*! ^replaced with
sissa
By the way, there is a tk GUI tool to configure procmail (I think it
is called dotfiles).
________________________________________________________________
15.3.2. Email with UUCP
Another possible solution for Email is to use UUCP. This software was
made for disconnected machines, and is by far the easiest solution if
you have several users on your laptop (we are talking about UNIX,
remember?), each with his/her own account.
Unlike what most people think, UUCP does not need a serial
connection: it works fine over TCP/IP, so your UUCP partner can be
any machine on the Internet, if it is reachable from your network
attachment point. Here is the UUCP sys for a typical laptop:
system mylaptop
time any
chat "" \d\d\r\c ogin: \d\L word: \P
address uucp.mypartner.org
port TCP
________________________________________________________________
15.3.3. MailSync
[http://mailsync.sourceforge.net/] Mailsync is a way of synchronizing
a collection of mailboxes. The algorithm is a 3-way diff. Two
mailboxes are simultaneously compared to a record of the state of
both mailboxes at last sync. New messages and message deletions are
propagated between the two mailboxes. Mailsync can synchronize local
mailbox files in many formats and remote mailboxes over IMAP, POP,
and IMAPS.
________________________________________________________________
15.4. Data Transport Between Different Machines (Synchronization)
I don't have experience with this topic yet. So just a survey about
some means of data transport and maintaining data consistency between
different machines.
________________________________________________________________
15.4.1. Useful Hardware
1. external harddisks
2. ZIP drive
Wade Hampton wrote: "You may use MS-DOS formatted ZIP and floppy
discs for data transfer. You may be able to also use LS120. If you
have SCSI, you could use JAZ, MO or possibly DVD-RAM (any SCSI disc
that you could write to). I have the internal ZIP for my Toshiba
700CT. It works great (I use automount to mount it). I use VFAT on
the ZIP disks so I can move them to Windows boxes, Linux boxes, NT,
give them to coworkers, etc. One problem, I must SHUTDOWN to swap the
internal CD with the ZIP."
________________________________________________________________
15.4.2. Useful Software
15.4.2.1. Version Management Software
Although it is certainly not their main aim, version management
software like CVS (Concurrent Version System) are a perfect tool when
you work on several machines and you have trouble keeping them in
sync (something which is often called "disconnected filesystems" in
the computer science literature). Unlike programs like rsync, which
are asymmetric (one side is the master and its files override those
of the slave), CVS accept that you make changes on several machines,
and try afterwards to merge them. Asymmetric tools are good only when
you can respect a strict discipline, when you switch from one machine
to another. On the contrary, tools like CVS are more forgetful.
To synchronize two or more machines (typically a desktop and a
laptop), just choose a CVS repository somewhere on the network. It
can be on one of the machines you want to synchronize or on a third
host. Anyway, this machine should be easily reachable via the network
and have good disks.
Then, cvs co the module you want to work on, edit it, and cvs commit
when you reached a synch point and are connected. If you made changes
on both hosts, CVS will try to merge them (it typically succeeds
automatically) or give in and ask you to resolve it by hand.
The typical limits of this solution: CVS does not deal well with
binary files, so this solution is more for users of vi or emacs than
for GIMP fans. CVS has trouble with some UNIX goodies like symbolic
links.
For more information on CVS, see the
[http://www.loria.fr/~molli/cvs-index.html] Web page . The CVS
documentation is excellent (in info format).
________________________________________________________________
15.4.2.2. CODA Filesystem
The [http://www.coda.cs.cmu.edu/] CODA File System is a descendant of
the Andrew File System. Like AFS, Coda offers location-transparent
access to a shared UNIX file name-space that is mapped on to a
collection of dedicated file servers. But Coda represents a
substantial improvement over AFS because it offers considerably
higher availability in the face of server and network failures. The
improvement in availability is achieved using the complementary
techniques of server replication and disconnected operation.
Disconnected operation proven especially valuable in supporting
portable computers .
________________________________________________________________
15.4.2.3. unison
[http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/] unison is a
file-synchronization tool for Unix and Windows. It allows two
replicas of a collection of files and directories to be stored on
different hosts (or different disks on the same host), modified
separately, and then brought up to date by propagating the changes in
each replica to the other. Unison was written by researchers with an
eye for well-defined replication semantics: they were very fussy
about safety, and made sure to handle gracefully things like
premature termination etc. Unison is symmetric/bidirectional (unlike
rsync), works fine with binaries (unlike cvs), and is a user-level
program (unlike most distributed filesystems). It also makes a
reasonable attempt to synchronize transparently between Unix/Linux
and Windows filesystems, which is no small feat. Drawbacks: it does
not do version control, and does not handle synchronization among
more than 2 file trees. unison shares a number of features with tools
such as configuration management packages (CVS, PRCS, etc.)
distributed filesystems ( [http://www.coda.cs.cmu.edu/] CODA , etc.)
uni-directional mirroring utilities (rsync, etc.) and other
synchronizers ( Intellisync, Reconcile, etc). However, there are a
number of points where it differs:
* unison runs on both MicroSoft-Windows (95, 98, NT, and 2k) and
Unix (Solaris, Linux, etc.) systems ( for ARM based Linux PDAs
see the [http://tuxmobil.org/feed.html] TuxMobil IPK feed .
Moreover, unison works across platforms, allowing you to
synchronize a Microsoft-Windows laptop with a Unix server, for
example.
* Unlike a distributed filesystem, unison is a user-level program:
there is no need to hack (or own!) the kernel, or to have
superuser privileges on either host.
* Unlike simple mirroring or backup utilities, unison can deal with
updates to both replicas of a distributed directory structure.
Updates that do not conflict are propagated automatically.
Conflicting updates are detected and displayed.
* unison works between any pair of machines connected to the
internet, communicating over either a direct socket link or
tunneling over an rsh or an encrypted ssh connection. It is
careful with network bandwidth, and runs well over slow links
such as PPP connections.
* unison has a clear and precise specification.
* unison is resilient to failure. It is careful to leave the
replicas and its own private structures in a sensible state at
all times, even in case of abnormal termination or communication
failures.
* unison is free; full source code is available under the GNU
Public License.
________________________________________________________________
15.4.2.4. OpenSync, MultiSync
[http://www.opensync.org/] OpenSync is the successor of KitchenSync
and MultiSync. OpenSync is a synchronization framework that is
platform and distribution independent. It consists of a powerful
sync-engine and several plugins that can be used to connect to
devices. OpenSync is very flexible and capable of synchronizing any
type of data, including contacts, calendar, tasks, notes and files.
[http://multisync.sourceforge.net] MultiSync is a free modular
program to synchronize calendars, address books, and other PIM data
between programs on your computer and other computers, mobile
devices, PDAs or cell phones. Currently MultiSync has plugins for
Ximian Evolution calendars and IrMC Mobile Client calendars
(supported by the Sony/Ericsson T68i) via Bluetooth, IrDA, or a cable
connection.
________________________________________________________________
15.4.2.5. Funambol
[http://www.funambol.com/opensource/] Funambol is an open source
mobile application server software that provides push email, address
book and calendar (PIM) data synchronization, application
provisioning, and device management for wireless devices and PCs,
leveraging standard protocols. For users, this means BlackBerry-like
capabilities on commodity handsets. Funambol is also a software
development platform for mobile applications. It provides client and
server side Java APIs, and facilitates the development, deployment
and management of any mobile project. Funambol is the de facto
standard implementation of the Open Mobile Alliance Data
Synchronization and Device Management protocols (OMA DS and DM,
formerly known as SyncML). Funambol is replaces the former sync4J
tools.
________________________________________________________________
15.4.2.6. Tsync
[http://sourceforge.net/projects/tsyncd/] Tsync (Transparent)
Synchronization is a user-level daemon that provides transparent
synchronization amongst a set of computers. Tsync uses a peer-to-peer
architecture for scalability, efficiency, and robustness.
________________________________________________________________
15.4.2.7. InterMezzo
[http://inter-mezzo.org/] InterMezzo is a new distributed file system
with a focus on high availability. InterMezzo is an Open Source
project, currently on Linux (2.2 and 2.3). A primary target of
development is to provide support for flexible replication of
directories, with disconnected operation and a persistent cache. For
example, we want to make it easy to manage copies of home directories
on multiple computers, and solve the laptop/desktop synchronization
problems. On a larger scale we aim to provide replication of large
file repositories, for example to support high availability for
servers. InterMezzo was deeply inspired by the Coda File System, but
totally re-designed and re-engineered.
________________________________________________________________
15.4.2.8. WWWsync
[http://www.alfie.demon.co.uk/wwwsync/] WWWsync/ is a program written
in Perl that will update your web pages by ftp from your local pages.
This was originally written for updating Demon home-pages, but will
work with other providers which provide direct FTP access to your web
pages. I didn't check this for laptop purposes yet.
________________________________________________________________
15.4.2.9. rsync
rsync is a program that allows files to be copied to and from remote
machines in much the same way as rcp. It has many more options than
rcp, and uses the rsync remote-update protocol to greatly speedup
file transfers when the destination file already exists. The rsync
remote-update protocol allows rsync to transfer just the differences
between two sets of files across the network link.
________________________________________________________________
15.4.2.10. Xfiles - file tree synchronization and cross-validation
Xfiles is an interactive utility for comparing and merging one file
tree with another over a network. It supports freeform work on
several machines (no need to keep track of what files are changed on
which machine). Xfiles can also be used as a cross-validating disk
<-> disk backup strategy (portions of a disk may go bad at any time,
with no simple indication of which files were affected.
Cross-validate against a second disk before backup to make sure you
aren't backing up bad data).
A client/server program (GUI on the client) traverses a file tree and
reports any files that are missing on the server machine, missing on
the client machine, or different. For each such file, the file
size/sizes and modification date(s) are shown, and a comparison
(using UNIX diff) can be obtained. For files that are missing from
one tree, similarly named files in that tree are reported.
Inconsistent files can then be copied in either direction or deleted
on either machine. The file trees do not need to be accessible via
nfs. Files checksums are computed in parallel, so largely similar
trees can be compared over a slow network link. The client and server
processes can also be run on the same machine. File selection and
interaction with a revision control system such as RCS can be handled
by scripting using jpython. Requirements Java1.1 or later and
JFC/Swing1.1 are needed. [http://www.idiom.com/~zilla] Xfiles.
________________________________________________________________
15.4.2.11. sitecopy
Sitecopy is for copying locally stored websites to remote web
servers. The program will upload files to the server which have
changed locally, and delete files from the server which have been
removed locally, to keep the remote site synchronized with the local
site, with a single command. The aim is to remove the hassle of
uploading and deleting individual files using an FTP client.
[http://www.lyra.org/sitecopy] sitecopy.
________________________________________________________________
15.4.3. DataConversion: AddressBooks, BookMarks, Todo-Lists, LDAP, Webpages
Transfering user data from one mobile device to another one, often
requires some tools to extract the data from the source device before
importing them into the target device, for example if you want to
change your favorite mobile phone. Or if you want to use the
addressbook from your mobile with your PDA, too. Here are some tools
for [http://dataconv.org/apps_bookmarks.html] bookmark conversion,
[http://dataconv.org/apps_addresses.html] addressbook migration,
[http://dataconv.org/apps_vcard.html] vCard extraction,
[http://dataconv.org/apps_ldap.html] LDAP merging and
[http://dataconv.org/apps_pda.html] data conversion for PDAs and
HandHeld PCs.
________________________________________________________________
15.5. Backup
To me data on mobile computers are even more likely to be damaged or
lost than on desktop computers. So backups are even more important.
There are different solutions for backups in mobile environments. I
will describe them in one of the next issues.
For backups on removable media like CD-R/RW or DVD-R/RW you may boot
from a Knoppix Live CD/DVD using the toram boot option. This way
Knoppix will be completely loaded into RAM and you may remove the
Knoppix CD/DVD from the drive to replace it with the backup media.
Note: this will only work if your laptop provides more than 1GB RAM.
________________________________________________________________
15.6. Connections to Servers
From Dirk Janssen <dirkj_AT_u.arizona.edu>: Here are several good
ways of working on your laptop from your desktop machine. If you have
a separate desktop machine at work, you might want to use that as a
terminal server to your laptop. This means you get the larger screen
and the better keyboard, without having to worry about syncing files.
The easiest way to do this is to install ssh on both sides, and ssh
from your desktop (running X) to the laptop. Ssh will provide a
secure connection and, crucially, a secure X connection between the
two machines. If you type, for example, emacs & in the ssh shell,
emacs will start a window on your desktop machine while running on
your laptop.
There are various ways in which you can make this situation more
productive/complicated. Emacs, for one thing, can open windows
(called frames by emacs) on separate displays by using
make-frame-on-display. This way, you can have the same emacs
displaying on your desktop and your laptop: A dual headed system is
born.
For other programs, you usually have to decide at startup time on
which screen you want them. To run them on the laptop screen, start
them as usual. To run them on the desktop screen, start them from the
ssh shell on the desktop or redirect their screens using the DISPLAY
variable. Some programs also accept a -display option. Read the
documentation on xauth on how to set this up. An easy way out is to
find out which pseudo display ssh has created for you by typing echo
$DISPLAY in the ssh shell. Assuming your desktop is called olli and
your laptop stan, this will usually produce something like stan:10.
This means that processes on stan (the laptop) display on what they
think is the 10th screen of stan, which by some ssh magic is actually
relayed (in a secure way) to the screen of olli.
There are some ways in which you can dynamically move windows from
one machine to another. A very interesting approach is taken by
xmove, but this program lacks a good user interface (any
volunteers?). Xmove creates a pseudo screen (similar to the stan:10
that ssh creates) and windows that have their DISPLAY set to this
pseudo screen can be moved back and forth between real screens
(provided all screens use the same color depth).
Alternatively, you can run an one of the several programs that open a
virtual root window: A window on your desktop that contains other
windows. It looks a lot like running an emulator. With these
programs, you can start your processes on stan, then move all their
windows to olli, then work for a while, and then move them back so
you can continue working on stan. Hibernate your laptop and repeat ad
infinitum. Check out xmx and VNC for this.
If this is all too complicated for you, but you like to use the two
screens at the same time, consider at least installing x2x. This
little tool makes it possible to move your mouse from one screen to
the other, and the keyboard focus goes with it. To run it, you need
another ssh going from stan (the laptop) to olli (the desktop): ie.
type ssh olli in a stan xterm. Keep this shell running and find out
which pseudo screen was created with echo $DISPLAY. This will return
something like olli:10 (see above for explanation). Now, type this in
any shell on olli: x2x -west -to olli:10 (and I mean, in a shell that
runs on olli and displays on olli, not an ssh shell) This creates a
little black band to on the left (west) side of your desktop's
screen. Whenever you move the mouse over this, the mouse on screen
olli:10 will move. Because olli:10 is just an ssh-created alias for
the screen of stan, the mouse on your laptop will move and you can
type there by only moving your head, not your hands.
A note on X-security: Playing around with various screen programs is
much easier if you issue an xhost + on either computer. But this is
extremely unsafe. Do this only when you are not connected to any
larger network. If you have everything working, spend some time on
getting xauth to work. If you use xdm, it is usually easy. Otherwise,
consider starting your Xserver with the same magic cookie all the
time. This is less safe, but still pretty safe, and it means that you
have to copy the cookies only once. Check the startup scripts
(.xserverrc, .xinitrc, .xsession, etc) for something like
cookie="MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 `keygen`" and change that into (invent
your own cookie here): cookie="MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1
12345678901234567890abcdefabcdef"
________________________________________________________________
15.7. Security in Different Environments
15.7.1. Introduction
I am not a computer security expert, but I think that security
associated with mobile devices requires specific attention. Please
read the [http://www.linuxsecurity.com/Security-HOWTO] Security-HOWTO
by Kevin Fenzi and Dave Wreski for more information. I just collected
some information below. Note, these means are just small steps to
additional security, though I recommend that you use them.
Please read also the [https://www.seifried.org/lasg/] Linux
Administrator's Security Guide (LASG) - FAQ by Kurt Seifried.
________________________________________________________________
15.7.2. Means of Security
1. Antivirus policy: For Linux there are some anti virus programms
available. Check the BIOS for an option to disable writing at the
boot sector.
2. Laptop as a security risk itself: Since a laptop can easily be
used to intrude a network, it seems a good policy to ask the
system administrator for permission before connecting a laptop to
a network.
3. Secure Protocol: When connecting to a remote server always use a
secure protocol (for instance ssh) or tunneling tunnelv , pptp
and APOP for POP accounts.
________________________________________________________________
15.8. Theft Protection
15.8.1. Means to Protect the Data
1. Encryption: the Linux Kernel offers different options. This
[http://shappyhopper.co.uk/b2154/sharedencryptedhowto.cgi]
Encrypted dual boot single hard drive system HOWTO, explains how
to secure your system using nothing but Free Software. It was
primarily written for people with a dual boot laptop, describing
free tools to encrypt Microsoft Windows as well as Linux
partitions.
2. Here are some [http://tuxmobil.org/smart_linux.html] Linux guides
for laptops with built-in SmartCard-Reader.
3. User passwords: can be easily bypassed if the intruder gets
physical access to your machine.
4. Hard Disk Passwords:
5. BIOS passwords: are easily crackable at least with older laptop
models. Some manufacturers have now a second boot password (IBM).
If you use a BIOS password/boot loader security, ADVERTISE IT!
Paste a sticker (or tape a piece of paper) on the top of your
laptop, saying something like:
WARNING
This laptop is password protected. The password can only be removed
by an authorized [manufacturer's name] technician presented with
proof of ownership. So don't even think of stealing it, because
it won't do you any good.
6. Before you buy a second hand machine, check whether the machine
seems to be stolen. I have provided a survey of
[http://tuxmobil.org/stolen_laptops.html] databases for stolen
laptops.
________________________________________________________________
15.8.2. Means to Protect the Hardware
1. Laptop lock: Almost all (if not all) of the new laptops come with
a slot for the lock, and if yours doesn't have one, most locks
come with a kit to add a slot. One of Targus' Defcon locks even
has a motion sensor, so you don't have to lock it up to a secure
place, if you don't have one around.
The only drawback that I can think of is that it takes a couple
extra seconds to set up or pack up your laptop. It takes about 30
seconds to snap into place and makes it impossible to quickly
walk away with the laptop. It won't stop a determined thief with
the time to unscrew the legs of the desk or one that wanders
around with a substantial pair of wire cutters in hand, but I
feel pretty secure leaving the laptop on my desk while I go to
meetings or lunch.
Well known manufacturers of dedicated laptop locks are
[http://www.kensignton.com] Kensignton and TARGUS.
2. Name plates: to reduce the possibility of theft, you may want to
have a nameplate (name, phone, e-mail, address) made and affixed
to the cover of the laptop. A nice one will cost you about $12,
and can be made by any good trophy shop. They'll glue it on for
you too. You could use double-sided tape instead, but glue is
more permanent. So it's easy to return, but will look beaten and
abused if these are removed. You may even make an engravement
into the laptop cover (inside). And even better into every
removable part (hard disk, battery, CD/DVD drive, power unit). If
this machine ever gets to a repair office, I might get the
machine back. Make sure you remember to update the plates if you
move.
If you don't mind marking up a piece of equipment worth several
thousand dollars, make sure your laptop has some distinguishing
feature that is easily recognizable, e.g. a bunch of stickers
pasted on it. Not only does it make your laptop easier to
recognize, my guess is that people would be less likely to steal
it.
It might even be useful to have a sticker that clearly says "Does
Not Run Windows". This is at least an argument for having your
bootloader stop at the bootloader prompt, rather than mosey
onwards into a colorful XDM login.
3. Link xlock to apm services. What about setting a system such as
when the laptop is unused for a while, instead of using normal
apm service and suspend the machine, makes it run an xlock,
disable the apm services in a way such that they do not suspend
the machine automatically and start a 'laptop-protection daemon'.
When the xlock disappears, the daemon is stopped and the apm
services are restarted (so you might use the apm services
yourself).
In the case somebody unplugs the machine while under the xlock
(without giving the password), then the daemon would detect it
and could start doing some preventive action, such as: - playing
a sound with maximum volume saying "I am getting stolen". - this
daemon could also register to a fixed local server and do a ping
every now and then. If the ping stops before the daemon
unregister to the server, then server then can take other
actions, such as sending SMS message, starting a video camera, in
the room, etc. The apm services down would make the stealer
unable to use the hot keys to suspend/stop the machine, isn't it?
4. You can change the "pollution preventer" logo at startup on AWARD
BIOSES. See instructions from
[http://geggus.net/sven/linux-bootlogo.html] Sven Geggus. For IBM
ThinkPads there is a dedicated DOS utility for burning your
bizcard data into the BIOS boot screen.
5. Boot loader: a boot loader may be used to put your name and phone
number (or whatever text you choose) into the boot sequence
before the operating system is loaded. This provides a label that
can't be removed by editing files or even doing a simple format
of the harddisk. Some boot loaders (e.g. LILO) offer a password
option, which is highly recommend (note without it's very easy to
get root access).
6. Camouflage: if you carry a dedicated laptop bag, this can be
spotted by a thief easily. So think about getting another kind of
bag.
7. Serial Number: note the serial number in a secure place. This
will be necessary if your laptop gets stolen.
8. Insurance: There are some dedicated insurances, see my page
[http://tuxmobil.org/stolen_laptops.html] Database of Stolen
Laptops.
9. Use of software that connects and identifies itself: As far as I
know there was an old DOS utility that did something like this.
It embedded itself into the bootsector and upon a certain
keycombination it would throw a serial number onto the screen and
play an audio code through the speaker (in case th monitor was no
longer usable for whatever reason). You were supposed to register
the serial number with the company that produced the utility.
The laptop can send a mail with its real IP address if connected
(mail with a print of ifconfig started by /etc/ppp/ip-up or by a
cron job (if connected at a company-network).
10. Always remove the external devices and secure them in another
place/room. Set the BIOS to boot on the hard disk first as a
default setting and remove boot on other devices if possible.
Also try to plug the power supply in the least accessible plug.
So if your machine get stolen in your office the 'quick way'
(e.g. during a 5 sec. cigarette break), the stealer won't perhaps
have time to get the power supply, neither the time to get the
drives. Perhaps he/she will end up with a less useful laptop and
you may recover it.
11. Electronic Devices (Transponders): There are also devices
available, which can be detected remote via satellites, see my
page [http://tuxmobil.org/stolen_laptops.html] about stolen
laptops for a survey.
________________________________________________________________
15.8.3. The Day After
Your primary goal is to prevent your laptop from being stolen in the
first place. Your secondary goal is to recover it after it is stolen.
Report it to the police station ASAP. Check the local newsgroup (in
case...) or even post in it.
I have provided a [http://tuxmobil.org/stolen_laptops.html] survey of
databases for stolen laptops.
________________________________________________________________
15.8.4. Resources
The chapter about theft protection has taken some advantages of ideas
of Lionel "Trollhunter" Bouchpan-Lerust-Juery and a discussion, which
has taken place in the [http://www.debian.org/MailingLists/subscribe]
debian-laptop mailing list in January 2001.
________________________________________________________________
15.9. Dealing with Down Times (Cron Jobs)
A cron-like program that doesn't go by time: anacron (like
"anac(h)ronistic") is a periodic command scheduler. It executes
commands at intervals specified in days. Unlike cron, it does not
assume that the system is running continuously. It can therefore be
used to control the execution of daily, weekly and monthly jobs (or
anything with a period of n days), on systems that don't run 24 hours
a day. When installed and configured properly, anacron will make sure
that the commands are run at the specified intervals as closely as
machine-uptime permits.
[http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/daemons/cron] hc-cron is a
modified version of Paul Vixie's widely used cron daemon. Like the
original program it runs specified jobs at periodic intervals.
However, the original crond relies on the computer running
continuously, otherwise jobs will be missed. This problem is
addressed by hc-cron, that is indended for use on home-computers that
are typically turned off several times a day; hc-cron will remember
the time when it was shut down and catch up jobs that have occurred
during down time when it is started again.
________________________________________________________________
15.10. Mobile Printing
There are different techniques to print from mobile computers. You
may use mobile printer hardware (see chapter Printers and Scanners
above) or print via a stationary printer. To connect to a mobile or
stationary printer or printer server you may use many protocols:
1. InfraRed - IrLPT/IrCOMM: See the
[http://tuxmobil.org/howtos.html] InfraRed-HOWTO.
2. InfraRed - IrOBEX: See the [http://tuxmobil.org/howtos.html]
InfraRed-HOWTO.
3. BlueTooth: See the
[http://www.holtmann.org/linux/bluetooth/cups.html] Bluetooth
printing backend for CUPS At the moment this backend only
provides native printing for Bluetooth serial port enabled
printers, but for the future the support of Basic Printing (BPP)
and Hardcopy Cable Replacement (HCRP) is planned.
4. wireless network - WLAN
5. network - LAN
6. rlpr - remote line printer
7. Server Message Block - SMB, via SAMBA
8. parallel port
9. serial port
10. USB port
________________________________________________________________
15.11. Noise Reduction
Due to the proliferation of cellular phones and walkmans it's not
quite common in our days to take care of a quiet environment. Anyway
I want to give some recommendations for the polite ones.
Computer noises are caused by hardware (fan, optical drive, hard
disk) and applications.
________________________________________________________________
15.11.1. Console (Shell) and X11
The beeping of X11 windows can be configured to a shorter and lower
pitched tone or even to a blunt "thump" with xset b ... options (a
lower pitched tone is usually less annoying and distracting).
Independently of that, most xterm-compatible windows and shells can
be configured to make "visual bell" instead of "audio bell". For the
console setterm -blength 0 and for X11 xset b off turns the bell off.
See also the PCMCIA-HOWTO and much more details in the
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Visual-Bell.html] Visible-Bell-Howto.
________________________________________________________________
15.11.2. PCMCIA
When starting your laptop with PCMCIA-CS configured correctly, this
will be shown by two high beeps. If you want to avoid this put
CARDMGR_OPTS="-q" into the PCMCIA configuration file, e.g.
/etc/default/pcmcia for Debian/GNU Linux.
To avoid the dialtones during the modem dialing add
module "serial_cs" opts "do_sound=0"
to /etc/pcmcia/config.opts (from man serial_cs). This will disable
speaker output completely, but the AT M command should let you
selectively control when the speaker is active, e.g. AT M0 turns off
the modem's speaker.
________________________________________________________________
15.11.3. USB
usbmgr configuration file /etc/usbmgr.conf.
### BEEP
# beep off
# beep on
________________________________________________________________
15.11.4. Hotplug
Add an entry into the configuration file /etc/sysconfig/hotplug.
HOTPLUG_BEEP="no"
________________________________________________________________
15.11.5. Fan
Warning
Please make sure what you are doing, when configuring the fan. Your
laptop may overheat and die, in case you have done something wrong.
Just in case you want to check the fan try to cause a heavy CPU load,
for example by issueing md5sum /dev/urandom. Now top will show an
increased CPU load and the fan should began to run eventually. Note:
usually you need to have been connected to power, otherwise the CPU
might reduce load by itself. Also watch for the CPU temperature acpi
-bt or cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/*.
For some laptop series there are Linux utilities available to control
the fan and other features.
* [http://www.buzzard.me.uk/toshiba/index.html] Toshutils by
Jonathan Buzzard for some Toshiba models.
* [http://tpctl.sourceforge.net] tpctl IBM ThinkPad configuration
tools for Linux by Thomas Hood.
* [http://people.debian.org/~dz/i8k/] i8k utils for DELL laptops.
________________________________________________________________
15.11.5.1. Known Problems
With some laptops the fan is always on or at least very often. Here
are some remedies.
________________________________________________________________
15.11.5.1.1. Reduction of CPU Frequency
In some cases the fan is always on because the CPU is working with
highest frequency. You may use either
[http://sourceforge.net/projects/cpufreqd] cpufreqd or
[http://mnm.uib.es/~gallir/cpudyn/] cpudyn to cure this.
________________________________________________________________
15.11.5.1.2. IRQ Problems with ParPort Module
Sometimes the parport causes the fan to be always on. You may edit
the /etc/modules.conf to cure this:
alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc
options parport_pc io=378 irq=7
The IO address and the IRQ number depend on the hardware settings or
the BIOS configuration. Often the IRQ does not need to be given. The
problem and its solution was discussed in the
[http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-mobile-de/2002-11/msg00174.html]
SuSE Laptop Mailing List (in German).
________________________________________________________________
15.11.5.1.3. ACPI
Sometimes a setting in the /proc/acpi/ might also help.
________________________________________________________________
15.11.5.1.4. Miscellaneous
Pressing the Fn+z key kombination tells the BIOS to recheck the
sensors and stops the fan, for DELL laptops.
________________________________________________________________
15.11.6. Harddisk
To avoid unnecessary hard disk noise you may use the same techniques
as described in the power saving chapter above. Modern laptop and
notebook hard drives come with a so-called "Acoustic Management",
just have a look into the manual to get an overview about the
possible settings.
Some hard disk manufacturers offer dedicated tools, e.g. Hitachi's
[http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm] Feature Tool
allows to change the drive Automatic Acoustic Management settings to
the Lowest acoustic emanation setting (Quiet Seek Mode), or Maximum
performance level (Normal Seek Mode). Also hdparm -M offers some
Acoustic Management options.
________________________________________________________________
15.11.7. Miscellaneous Applications
You may configure vi with the flash option, so it will use a flash in
case of an error, instead of a bell. So just put this line into your
.vimrc or at the vim prompt:
set flash
or try
set visualbell
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 16. Solutions with Mobile Computers
16.1. Introduction
The power and capabilities of laptops and PDAs are sometimes limited
as described above. But in turn, they have a feature which desktops
don't have their mobility. I try to give a survey about applications
which make sense in connection with mobile computers.
________________________________________________________________
16.2. Mobile Network Analyzer
I'm not an expert in this field, so I just mention the tools I know.
Please check also for other applications. Besides the usual tools
tcpdump, netcat, there are two applications I prefer, which may be
used to analyze network traffic:
The [http://www.ee.ethz.ch/stats/mrtg/] Multi Router Traffic Grapher
(MRTG) is a tool to monitor the traffic load on network-links. MRTG
generates HTML pages containing GIF images which provide a LIVE
visual representation of this traffic. MRTG is based on Perl and C
and works under UNIX and Windows NT.
[http://ntop.org/] Network Top - ntop is a UNIX tool that shows the
network usage, similar to what the popular top UNIX command does.
ntop is based on libpcap and it has been written in a portable way in
order to virtually run on every UNIX platform and on Win32 as well.
ntop can be used in both interactive or web mode. In the first case,
ntop displays the network status on the user's terminal. In web mode
a web browser (e.g. netscape) can attach to ntop (that acts as a web
server) and get a dump of the network status. In the latter case,
ntop can be seen as a simple RMON-like agent with an embedded web
interface.
________________________________________________________________
16.3. Mobile Router
Though designed to work from a single floppy, the Linux Router
Project (LRP) , seems useful in combination with a laptop, too.
________________________________________________________________
16.4. Hacking and Cracking Networks
When thinking about the powers of laptops, hacking and cracking
networks may come into mind. I don't want to handle this topic here,
but instead recommend the
[http://www.linuxsecurity.com/Security-HOWTO] Security-HOWTO .
________________________________________________________________
16.5. Mobile Data Collection
16.5.1. Related Documentation
1. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Coffee.html] Coffee-HOWTO
2. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/AX25-HOWTO/] AX-25-HOWTO
3. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Serial-HOWTO.html] Serial-HOWTO
4. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Serial-Programming-HOWTO/]
Serial-Programming-HOWTO
________________________________________________________________
16.5.2. Applications
A Linux laptop can be used to collect data outside an office, e.g.
geodesy data, sales data, network checks, patient data in a hospital
and others. There is support for wireless data connections via
cellular phone modems and amateur radio. I am not sure whether PCMCIA
radio cards are supported, see [http://www.aironet.com/] Aironet
Wireless Communications.
________________________________________________________________
16.5.3. Specific Environments
There are laptops available with cases build for a rugged environment
(even waterproof laptops). In some environments, for instance in
hospitals, take care of the Electro-Magnetic-Compatibility of the
laptop. This is influenced by many factors, for instance by the
material used to build the case. Usually magnesium cases shield
better than the ones made of plastics.
________________________________________________________________
16.6. Mobile Office
With [http://www.kde.org] KDE (K-Office), [http://www.gnome.org/]
Gnome and the commercial products WordPerfect, Staroffice and
[http://www.applix.com/] Applixware Linux has more and more business
software applications. With the corresponding hardware, e.g. a
portable printer and a cellular phone which connects to your laptop,
you will have a very nice mobile office.
________________________________________________________________
16.7. Connection to Digital Camera
AFAIK there are currently three methods to connect a digital camera
to a laptop: the infrared port (IrDA®), serial port and maybe USB.
There are also some auxiliary programs for conversion of pictures,
etc.
Eric <dago_AT_tkg.att.ne.jp> wrote: "I finally succeeded in
downloading pictures from my digital camera, but not exactly the way
I expected, i.e. not through USB port but using PCMCIA card port and
memory stick device, part of digital camera hardware. Anyway, some
interesting things to mention:
Sony (pretending using a standard) uses the msdos format to store
images as JPEG files ; so the best way to have your OS recognizing
them is to mount the raw device like a msdos filesystem; using mount
directly doesn't work (don't know why) but an entry in the /etc/fstab
file allows you to mount the device correctly. i.e.:
/dev/hde1 /mnt/camera msdos user,noauto,ro 0 0
Of course, newfs before mount works too, but there is nothing to see
at all ;-) I think both noauto and ro are important flags; I tried
without it and it didn't work. Somehow the mount I got seems buggy .
And if ro is missing, the camera doesn't recognize back the memory
stick and it needs to be msdos-formatted.
Appropriate to the camera documentation , both PCMCIA and USB port
behave the same (for Mac and Windoze - i.e. you see a file system
auto mounted) - I deduce for Linux it should be the same thing too,
as long as the USB driver is installed. I think now that mounting USB
raw device the way I did with PCMCIA should work, but I still
couldn't find which device to use."
[http://digitalux.netpedia.net/] OpenDiS (Open Digita Support) is a
library and utility program for cameras such as the Kodak DC-220,
DC-260, DC-265, and DC-280, that run Flashpoint's Digita operating
system. The library is a unix implementation of the Digita Host
Interface Specification, intended for embedding Digita support in
other products such as gPhoto. The utility is a simple command-line
program for standalone downloading of photos from the cameras.
[http://www.gphoto.org/] gPhoto enables you to take a photo from any
digital camera, load it onto your PC running a free operating system
like GNU/Linux, print it, email it, put it on your web site, save it
on your storage media in popular graphics formats or just view it on
your monitor. gPhoto sports a new HTML engine that allows the
creation of gallery themes (HTML templates with special tags) making
publishing images to the world wide web a snap. A directory browse
mode is implemented making it easy to create an HTML gallery from
images already on your computer. Support for the Canon PowerShot A50,
Kodak DC-240/280 USB, and Mustek MDC-800 digital cameras.
[http://www.lightner.net/lightner/bruce/ppc_use.html] photopc is a
library and a command-line frontend to manipulate digital still
cameras based on Fujitsu chipset and Siarra Imaging firmware. The
program is known to work with Agfa, Epson and Olympus cameras. Should
also work with Sanyo, but this is untested. The cameras typically
come with software for Windows and for Mac, and no description of the
protocol. With this tool, they are manageable from a UNIX box. Bruce
D. Lightner <lightner_AT_metaflow.com> has added support for Win32
and DOS platforms. Note that the program does not have any GUI, it is
plain command-line even on Windows. For a GUI, check out the phototk
program.
[http://kdc2tiff.sourceforge.net/] kdc2tiff is software to convert
.kdc images from Kodak's DC120 digital camera to .tiff or .jpg files.
This software pays particular attention to aspect ratio, high quality
scaling, contrast adjustment, gamma correction, and image rotation.
[http://www.netspace.net.au/~bmiller/linux/rdc2e/] rdc2e is a command
line tool that downloads images from a Ricoh RDC-2E digital camera.
It is available as either a source tar ball or a RedHat 6.1 i386 RPM.
[http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/graphics/fujiplay.html]
fujiplay Interface for Fuji digital cameras.
________________________________________________________________
16.8. Connection to QuickCam (Video)
AFAIK there are three methods to connect a video camera to a laptop:
a ZV port, FireWire and maybe USB, but I don't know how this works
with Linux. I have heard rumors about using a sound card for video
data transfer to a Linux box, see [http://worldvisions.ca/~apenwarr/]
apenwarr . I have heard rumors about a Linux-QuickCam-mini-HOWTO, but
couldn't find a reliable URL yet. Check the sane package which is
build for scanner support, this should contain support for
still-grabbers as well.
[http://kmc-utils.sourceforge.net/] kmc_remote provides a graphical
interface for controlling Kodak Motion Corder fast digital cameras
over a serial connection. kmc_remote is built on the kmc_serial
library, part of the kmc_utils package. kmc_remote provides a virtual
button panel and simple one-touch commands for changing system
variables which would involve multiple button operations on the real
camera button console. Buttons, record settings (image size, record
rate, shutter speed, trigger mode, burst mode), and playback rate
control should be fully functional. All camera models are supported,
as well as both PAL and NTSC video.
[http://www.intel.com/PCcamera/] Intel PC Camera Pro Pack is one of
the first webcams with USB ports. Also SONY has announced a webcam
with USB port. See a survey at
[http://www.steves-digicams.com/text_navigator.html] Steve's Digicams
.
________________________________________________________________
16.9. Connection to Television Set
If you have a ZV port in the laptop, it should be easy to connect it
to a TV set, using either NSCA or PAL, but I don't know whether
either works with Linux.
________________________________________________________________
16.10. Connection to Cellular Phone
AFAIK there are two methods to connect a cellular phone to a laptop:
via the infrared port (IrDA®) or via the serial port. See the
Linux/IrDA® project for the current status of IrDA® connections. As
far as I know only the Ericsson SH888, the Nokia 8110 and the Siemens
S25 provide infrared support.
________________________________________________________________
16.11. Connection to Global Positioning System (GPS)
From the [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Hardware-HOWTO/] Hardware-HOWTO I
know there is Trimble Mobile GPS available for Linux. You may also
connect a GPS via a serial port. Most GPS receivers have a data port
and can connect to a PC with a special serial cable.
* Differential GPS is a technique to apply a correction factor from
a known location to a GPS signal. This can substantially reduce
the uncertainity in the GPS location. Normally the correction
signal is acquired using a special radio receiver: dgpsip allows
you to receive a DGPS signal via TCP/IP, and send it to the GPS
connected to your serial port.
* [http://www.wombat.ie/gps/] DGPS is a project to put together a
low cost hardware and software solution for Differential GPS (in
both real time mode using RTCM correction format and in post
processed mode).
* [http://www.mayko.com/gpsd.html] gpsd is a daemon that listens to
a GPS or Loran receiver and translates the positional data to
simplified format that can be more easily used by other programs,
like chart plotters. The package comes with a sample client that
plots the location of the currently visible GPS satellites (if
available) and a speedometer. Added support for the DeLame
EarthMate as well as a new 'speedometer' mini client.
* The [http://www.gbdirect.co.uk/] QtGPS package contains a piece
of software for UNIX/Linux/X and a GPS receiver. It performs
logging and replaying of a journey, supporting a moving-map
display. QtGPS works with Lat/Long and British OSGB (Ornance
Survey) co-ordinate systems.
* [http://www.geog.uni-hannover.de/grass/index.php] GRASS
(Geographic Resources Analysis Support System) is a free software
raster and vector based GIS, image processing system, graphics
production system, and spatial modeling system.
* [http://www.eazy.net/users/fgiannan/xaprs/] XASTIR is a free APRS
(Automatic Position Reporting System) program. APRS(tm) was
developed to track mobile GPS stations with two-way radio to
convey position reports, messaging, weather and more. XASTIR
plots this information on a map on your screen where you can see
the entire world or zoom down to street level.
* [http://www.amphibious.org/gps.html] as-gps contains a basic
support library for accessing the inexpensive ($20) Aisin-Seiki
GPS Module previously available at mavin.com. The package also
includes several simple console utilities for dumping satellite
status, location, and time and for synchronizing the system
clock.
* [http://academy.cas.cz/~gis/] gmap is a map viewer with emphasis
on temporal data. It hopes to evolve into a free and powerful
Geographical Information System.
* [http://www.mgix.com/gps3d/] gps3d is a set of utilities that
lets you manipulate your GPS from your Linux box. One nice
feature is the ability to view GPS data (track, waypoints, fix,
etc.) on an OpenGL, 3D texture-mapped model of earth.
________________________________________________________________
16.12. Connection via Amateur Radio (HAM)
As far as I know laptops are used in amateur radio contests. Please
see HAM-HOWTO by Terry Dawson, VK2KTJ,
<terry_AT_perf.no.itg.telstra.com.au>.
[http://www.eazy.net/users/fgiannan/xaprs/] XASTIR is a free APRS
(Automatic Position Reporting System) program. APRS(tm) was developed
to track mobile GPS stations with two-way radio to convey position
reports, messaging, weather and more. XASTIR plots this information
on a map on your screen where you can see the entire world or zoom
down to street level.
________________________________________________________________
16.13. Satellite Watching
Together with an antenna and software like seesat or sattrack you can
use a laptop to locate a satellite for visual observation. You could
also use xephem on a laptop when stargazing. See also the
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Astronomy-HOWTO/] Astronomy-HOWTO .
________________________________________________________________
16.14. Aviation
Many people are using laptops for aviation related topics. The
[http://metalab.unc.edu/fplan/Aviation-HOWTO/] Aviation HOWTO
provides pointers to software packages that run under the Linux
operating system and are useful to private, commercial, or military
pilots. The ultimate goal is to enable pilots to use the Linux
operating system for all their aviation related computing needs.
________________________________________________________________
16.15. Blind or Visually Impaired Users
There are some groups of which could gain a specific profit by using
laptops. For instance blind or visually impaired people (I explicitly
avoid to say handicapped people). See
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Accessibility-HOWTO/] Accessibility-HOWTO and
[http://leb.net/blinux/] Blinux - Linux for blind people for more
information. brltty is a program which supports different braille
terminals. Festival is a speech synthesis system. Screen and cursor
magnifiers are available. See TuxMobil for a
[http://tuxmobil.org/mobile_blind.html] small survey of laptop
installation reports by or for blind people.
VIII. Appendix
Table of Contents
A. Other Operating Systems
A.1. Microsoft DOS and Windows
A.2. BSD UNIX
A.3. OS/2
A.4. NOVELL Netware
A.5. Debian GNU/Hurd (hurd-i386)
B. Other Resources
B.1. Main WWW Resources
B.2. Mailing Lists
B.3. USENET Newsgroups
B.4. Newsletters, RSS Channels
B.5. Magazines, Blogs Newsletters
B.6. General Laptop Information
C. Repairing the Hardware
D. Survey about Micro Linuxes
E. Dealing with Limited Resources or Tuning the System
E.1. Related Documentation
E.2. Introduction
E.3. Small Space
E.4. Hard Disk Speed
E.5. Small Memory
E.6. Low CPU Speed
E.7. Power Saving Techniques
E.8. Kernel
E.9. Tiny Applications and Distributions
E.10. Hardware Upgrade
F. Ecology and Laptops
F.1. Ecological Comparisons of Computers
G. NeoMagic Graphics Chipset Series NM20xx
G.1. Introduction
G.2. Textmode 100x37
H. Annotated Bibliography: Books For Linux Nomads
I. Resources for Specific Laptop Brands
I.1. COMPAQ
I.2. DELL
I.3. IBM/Lenovo(TM) ThinkPad
I.4. Sony VAIO
I.5. Toshiba
J. Credits
K. Copyrights
K.1. Copyrights
K.2. GNU Free Documentation License - GFDL
________________________________________________________________
Appendix A. Other Operating Systems
A.1. Microsoft DOS and Windows
A.1.1. Introduction
There are a few reasons which might make it necessary to put
Micorosoft DOS/Windows and Linux together on one laptop. Often the
support for the flash ROM of PCMCIA cards and modems is not available
for Linux, or you have to retrieve hardware information, which is not
visible with Linux, due to a lack of support by some hardware
manufacturers. I'm not sure whether these tasks can be performed
under an emulation like DOS-EMU, WINE or VMware.
If you want Linux with X11, Netscape, etc., and
Microsoft-Windows9x,NT,2000,XP things will be tight in a 1GB
harddisk. Though I did so with a 810MB disk.
________________________________________________________________
A.1.2. DOS Tools to Repartition a Hard Disk
Often you get a preinstalled version of Microsoft-Windows on your
laptop. If you just want to shrink the Windows partition, you need a
tool to resize the partition. Or you can remove the partition first,
repartition, then reinstall. Most of the following information I
found at the page of [http://libweb.sonoma.edu/mike/fujitsu/] Michael
Egan <Michael.Egan_AT_sonoma.edu>.
A well known and reliable commercial product is
[http://www.powerquest.com/] Partition Magic from Power Quest.
[http://www.bootitng.com] BootitNG is a shareware programm, which is
capable of resizing NTFS, EXT2, EXT3 and ReiserFS partitions.
System Commander 2000 by Symantec? resizes FAT32 partitions, unlike
Partition Magic, SC2000 seems to be able to work without the presence
of an installed Microsoft operating system (tough you may use
Partition Magic from two standalone floppy disks).
One more "newer" utility for repartitioning and resizing FAT
partitions is Ranish Partition Manager/Utility (FAT-32 support is
claimed for this as well, Linux support is taken into account.)
[http://www.ranish.com/part/] Ranish Partition Manager/Utility .
Many people have used FIPS 15c (which may support FAT-32)
[http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/people/chaffee/fips/fips.html] FIPS for
repartitioning FAT partition sizes.) Also, another version from a
different source is FIPS 2.0 (claims to support FAT-32)
[http://www.igd.fhg.de/~aschaefe/fips/] FIPS 2.0 for repartitioning
FAT partition sizes.)
________________________________________________________________
A.1.3. Partition Sharing
You may share your swap space between Linux and Windows. Please see
"Dealing with Limited Resources" section.
With Linux you can mount any kind of DOS/Windows partition of the
type msdos, vfat and even compressed drives (Drivespace, etc.). For
long file names use vfat and if you like autoconversion ( a nice
feature for text files), you may do so by using the conv=auto option.
I have used this in my /etc/fstab, but be aware this might cause some
strange behaviour sometimes, look at the kernel docs for further
details.
/dev/hda8 /dos/d vfat user,exec,nosuid,nodev,conv=auto 0 2
The other way round there are also
[http://www.chrysocome.net/projects] some tools, which provide a
means to read and write ext2 partitions from Windows9x/NT.
[http://www.it.fht-esslingen.de/~zimmerma/software/ltools.htm] LREAD
is a tool suite for Windows 9x and Windows NT (or DOS or Windows 3.x
for those who still have it) for accessing files on Linux harddisks
(Linux's native Extended 2 filesystem).
The tools allow to list directories, to copy files from Linux to DOS
and to copy files from DOS to Linux. You also can delete files or
modify access rights of Linux files from DOS/Windows.
In combination with an included simple server program, you can also
access your files from a remote client over the net (however, this
might be a security risk, as access protection in this case is rather
simple).
________________________________________________________________
A.1.3.1. LINE Is Not an Emulator
[http://line.sourceforge.net] LINE executes unmodified Linux
applications on Windows by intercepting Linux system calls. The Linux
applications themselves are not emulated. They run directly on the
CPU just like all other Windows applications.
________________________________________________________________
A.1.4. Installation without CD Drive
You may use the CD drive of a desktop (or copy the content of the CD
to the hard disk) and connect both machines with a null modem cable.
Then use a DOS boot floppy and the program INTERLNK.EXE to connect
both machines.
________________________________________________________________
A.1.5. Miscellaneous
[http://www.travsoft.com/] TravSoft
Windows/NT offers: RAS - Remote Access Service
Windows/9x/NT offers the PPTP protocol to connect to remote sites via
a TCP/IP tunnel. This protocol is also supported by Linux.
[http://www.moretonbay.com/vpn/pptp.html] PoPToP is the PPTP server
solution for Linux allowing Linux servers to function seamlessly in
the PPTP VPN environment. This enables administrators to leverage the
considerable benefits of both Microsoft clients and Linux servers.
The current pre-release version supports Windows 95/98/NT PPTP
clients and PPTP Linux clients. The PoPToP pre-release server is not
yet fully optimised. On release, PoPToP will be fully compliant with
IETF PPTP Internet Draft and it will seamlessly support Windows PPTP
clients with the full range of encryption and authentication
features.
________________________________________________________________
A.2. BSD UNIX
FreeBSD is a version of the UNIX operating system that runs on PC
hardware. It uses a different set of support for PCMCIA devices, APM,
and other mobility related issues.
1. [http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/] PicoBSD is a one floppy
version of FreeBSD 3.0-current, which in its different variations
allows you to have secure dialup access, small diskless router or
even a dial-in server. And all this on only one standard 1.44MB
floppy. It runs on a minimum 386SX CPU with 8MB of RAM (no HDD
required!). You probably may also use it to install BSD on a
laptop as described with micro Linuxes above.
2. [http://www.jp.FreeBSD.org/PAO/] PAO: FreeBSD Mobile Computing
Package
3. [http://www.monarch.cs.cmu.edu/] The CMU Monarch Project offers
implementations of Mobile-IPv4 and Mobile-IPv6 for FreeBSD.
4. [http://www.yy.cs.keio.ac.jp/~sanpei/note-list.html] XF86Config
Archive . A database of XF86Config files used by Linux and
FreeBSD users. If you need an XF86Config file for your notebook
or laptop, check out this site. (Some documents available in
Japanese only.)
5. AFAIK there is no IrDA® support yet.
6. [http://lists.openresources.com/FreeBSD/freebsd-mobile/] Archive
of the FreeBSD-Mobile mailing list . Sorry don't know how to
subscribe yet.
7. [http://www.jp.freebsd.org/PAO/LAPTOP_SURVEY/] Laptop Survey /
FreeBSD - LTS is a project to collect information of laptop and
NOTE-PC environments running FreeBSD. It provides information in
English and Japanese. Please support this project.
________________________________________________________________
A.3. OS/2
At [http://www.os2ss.com/users/DrMartinus/notebook.htm] The
Notebook/2 Site by Dr. Martinus you may find information about
different notebooks and PCMCIA cards working with OS/2.
________________________________________________________________
A.4. NOVELL Netware
The client side with DOS/Windows9x style operating systems seems to
be no problem, since there are many PCMCIA cards with drivers for
Netware available. For Linux connections see the mars_nwe package.
Also the Caldera Linux distribtion is well known for its Novell
support.
I hadn't time to build a Netware server on a laptop yet and couldn't
check whether there are network connections possible (PCMCIA driver
for Netware server).
________________________________________________________________
A.5. Debian GNU/Hurd (hurd-i386)
The GNU Hurd is a totally new operating system being put together by
the GNU group. In fact, the GNU Hurd is the final component which
makes it possible to built an entirely GNU OS -- and Debian GNU/Hurd
is going to be one such (possibly even the first) GNU OS. The current
project is founded on the i386 architecture, but expect the others to
follow soon.
The
[http://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/hacking/hurd/hurd-hardware.html]
GNU Hurd Hardware Compatibility Guide states that Hurd should work on
laptops, but PCMCIA support isn't ready yet.
________________________________________________________________
Appendix B. Other Resources
B.1. Main WWW Resources
Kenneth E. Harker maintains a quite valuable database at
[http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/] Linux on Laptops . Please have a
look at his site to get current information about laptop related
mailing lists, newsgroups, magazines and newsletters, WWW sites and a
big and up-to-date database about many different laptop pages.
The author of this guide maintains the TuxMobil Linux Laptop and
Notebook Installation Survey and a Linux compatibility database about
different laptop, notebook and PDA hardware, such as
[http://tuxmobil.org/pcmcia_linux.html] PCMCIA/CardBus/CF-Cards,
[http://tuxmobil.org/graphic_linux.html] graphics cards,
[http://tuxmobil.org/sound_linux.html] sound chips,
[http://tuxmobil.org/ir_misc.html] IrDA devices, and more.
________________________________________________________________
B.2. Mailing Lists
A survey of laptop mailing lists. Some of the addresses are taken
from Kenneths page. All comments are by me:
________________________________________________________________
B.2.1. General Lists
To join the Linux-Laptop-Mailing-List at TuxMobil visit the
subscription page. There you may find the list archive, too. This is
a new list, but offers a reasonable amount of members already.
To join the Linux-Laptop-Mailing-List from Kernel.Org write a mail to
<majordomo_at_vger.kernel.org> with subscribe linux-laptop in the
subject. You will get a confirmation message than, which you have to
reply appropriately. Note: This is the list formerly admininstrated
by <majordomo_at_vger.rutgers.edu>. This was a list with much
traffic, current traffic seems to be very low. The list seems to have
lost most of its members since changing the address.
A searchable mailing list archive (of the predecessor) is hosted in
the miscellaneous section of [http://www.geocrawler.com] GeoCrawler.
The [http://www.egroups.com/group/linuxonlaptop] eGroups Discussion
Forum (linuxonlaptop) is dedicated to Linux on laptop issues. It has
almost no traffic and is archived.
Also the [http://www.egroups.com/group/linuxlaptop] eGroups
Discussion Forum (linuxlaptop) is dedicated to Linux on laptop
issues. It has almost no traffic and is archived.
The
[http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~steveh/linux-notebook/discussion.html]
Linux Notebook HQ Discussion Forum is dedicated to Linux on laptop
issues. It has almost no traffic and is archived.
________________________________________________________________
B.2.2. Lists Dedicated to a Linux Distribution
There is now a debian-laptop mailing list. Any questions or
discussions concerning running the Debian/GNU Linux operating
system(s) on laptops are welcome. Send mail to
<debian-laptop-request_at_lists.debian.org> with a subject of
subscribe. Or visit the
[http://www.debian.org/MailingLists/subscribe] Debian/GNU Linux site
and use the online form. The list is archived and has a reasonable
amount of traffic and a good quality.
SuSE offers a mailing list for discussion about mobility in the
openSUSE distribution <opensuse-mobile_AT_opensuse.org>. You may
subscribe at the [http://en.opensuse.org/Communicate] SuSE mailing
list portal. Before asking questions there have a look into the
[http://en.opensuse.org/HCL/Laptops] OpenSuse Hardware Compatibility
List - HCL: Laptops, the [http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-mobile/]
opensuse-mobile mailing list archive and the
[http://en.opensuse.org/Documentation] OpenSuSE documentation portal.
________________________________________________________________
B.2.3. Lists Dedicated to a Laptop or Manufacturer
The [http://www.egroups.com/group/linux-dell-laptops]
linux-dell-laptops is dedicated to Linux on DELL laptop issues. It
has almost no traffic and is archived.
The linux-thinkpad list is dedicated to Linux on IBM ThinkPads
issues. It
The linux-thinkpad list is dedicated to Linux on IBM ThinkPads
issues. It has almost no traffic. Write a mail to
<majordomo_at_bm-soft.com>.
Also the [http://www.topica.com/lists/linux-thinkpad/] linux-thinkpad
is dedicated to Linux on IBM ThinkPads issues. It has almost no
traffic and is archived.
The [http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/linux-on-portege]
linux-toshiba-portege is dedicated to Linux on Toshiba Porteges
issues. It has almost no traffic and is archived.
The linux-tosh-40xx list is dedicated to Linux on Toshiba Satellite
40xx issues. It has almost no traffic. Write a mail to
<majordomo_at_geekstuff.co.uk>.
________________________________________________________________
B.3. USENET Newsgroups
The USENET newsgroups can provide a source of information about
aspects of running Linux on notebooks that haven't yet been
documented. If you are unable to find the information you are looking
for here or on any of the pages linked to from this site, a post to
the USENET newsgroups may turn up an answer from someone that can
help you.
________________________________________________________________
B.3.1. Linux Newsgroups
* [news:comp.os.linux.portable] comp.os.linux.portable As far as I
know there is no archive of this group yet.
* [news:comp.os.linux.announce] comp.os.linux.announce
* comp.sys.mac.portables
* [news:comp.os.linux.answers] comp.os.linux.answers
* [news:comp.os.linux.development.apps]
comp.os.linux.development.apps
* [news:comp.os.linux.development.system]
comp.os.linux.development.system
* [news:comp.os.linux.hardware] comp.os.linux.hardware
* [news:comp.os.linux.misc] comp.os.linux.misc
* [news:comp.os.linux.networking] comp.os.linux.networking
* [news:comp.os.linux.setup] comp.os.linux.setup
* [news:comp.os.linux.x] comp.os.linux.x
________________________________________________________________
B.3.2. PDA Newsgroups and IRC Channels
* comp.sys.handhelds
* comp.sys.newton.misc
* comp.sys.palmtops
* comp.sys.pen
* #zaurus@irc.freenode.net
* irc.freenode.net #opie #opie.de
________________________________________________________________
B.3.3. X Window System Newsgroups
* [news:comp.windows.x] comp.windows.x
* [news:comp.windows.x.announce] comp.windows.x.announce
* [news:comp.windows.x.apps] comp.windows.x.apps
* [news:comp.windows.x.i386unix] comp.windows.x.i386unix
________________________________________________________________
B.3.4. Hardware Newsgroups
* [news:comp.sys.laptops] comp.sys.laptops
* [news:alt.periphs.pcmcia] alt.periphs.pcmcia
* [news:comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips]
comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips
* [news:comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc] comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
________________________________________________________________
B.4. Newsletters, RSS Channels
* The [http://tuxmobil.org/newsfeed.html] TuxMobil News (RDF/RSS)
is also available as a [http:tuxmobil.org/mobile_news.html]
monthly digest via e-mail.
________________________________________________________________
B.5. Magazines, Blogs Newsletters
Magazines, blogs and newsletters about mobile computing in general.
* [http://laptopical.com/] Laptopical: Laptops Weblog
________________________________________________________________
B.6. General Laptop Information
These are sources of information of general use to laptop and
notebook owners, regardless of the operating system used.
[http://www.fcc.gov/oet/fccid/] Federal Communications Commission
On-line Equipment Authorization Database If you are having problems
identifying the manufacturer of a laptop or notebook computer (or
other electronic device,) this site lets you search the FCC database
based on the FCC ID number you can usually find on the equipment if
it was marketed in the United States of America.
________________________________________________________________
Appendix C. Repairing the Hardware
There are several different reasons that could make it necessary to
open the case of a laptop, notebook or PDA.
1. repair broken hardware
2. get some hardware info, which isn't available otherwise, e.g.
reading the sticker on an undetected chipset
3. remove the speakers (speakerektomy, as described in
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Visual-Bell.html] Visual-Bell-HOWTO )
4. install overdrive for CPU
5. reflash the BIOS
6. change BIOS battery
7. upgrade harddisk
8. upgrade memory
9. implement additional hardware, e.g. an internal wireless LAN
miniPCI card
Repairing a laptop can be quite expensive if you don't have a
manufacturer's warranty. Sometimes professional support is bad. But
opening a laptop case can be difficult. Often the procedures to
upgrade the memory and the harddisk are described in the manual. For
further details, you should try to get the maintenance/technical
manual. Just be extremely careful and make notes as to where each
screw goes. You must get most of them back in the right hole or you
could ruin the machine by damaging the system board. Also after you
get all the screws to an assembly out (some will be hidden) the parts
are usually held together with plastic clips molded in, so you still
must exercise care to separate them. Sometimes you need certain
tools, for instance TORX screw drivers or a solder kit. Good luck.
Warning
Usually laptop and PDA manufacturers declare the warranty to be void
if the case was opened by people other than their own staff. If you
want to try it anyway you may find some interesting links about how
to [http://repair4laptop.org/] repair, disassemble, upgrade or mod
laptops or notebooks, [http://repair4pda.org/] dissect, repair and
upgrade broken PDAs and HandHelds, as well as
[http://repair4mobilephone.org/] take apart, repair and upgrade
mobile (cell) phones, [http://repair4player.org/] open, repair and
upgrade mobile audio and video players and
[http://repair4printer.org/] repair and upgrade printers.
________________________________________________________________
Appendix D. Survey about Micro Linuxes
Because of their small or non-existent footprint, micro-Linuxes are
especially suited to run on laptops - particularly if you use a
company-provided laptop running Microsoft-Windows9x/NT. Or for
installation purposes using another non Linux machine. There are
several micro Linux distributions out there that boot from one or two
floppies or CD/DVD.
Also a [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bootdisk-HOWTO/index.html]
BootDisk-HOWTO is available. Thanks to Matthew D. Franz maintainer of
[http://www.trinux.org/] Trinux for this tips and collecting most of
the following URLs. Search also for "mini distribution" at
[http://freshmeat.net/] FreshMeat.
1. [http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html] Knoppix by Klaus
Knopper is a bootable CD with a collection of GNU/Linux software,
automatic hardware detection, and support for many graphics
cards, sound cards, SCSI and USB devices and other peripherals.
KNOPPIX can be used as a Linux demo, educational CD, rescue
system, or adapted and used as a platform for commercial software
product demos. It is not necessary to install anything on a hard
disk. Due to on-the-fly decompression, the CD can have up to 2 GB
of executable software installed on it. A kix (Knoppix mini CD)
is now available in the contrib directory.
2. [http://sunsite.auc.dk/mulinux/] MuLinux by Michele Andreoli.
3. [http://www.toms.net/~toehser/rb/] tomsrbt "The most Linux on one
floppy. (distribution or panic disk)." by Tom Oehser.
4. Trinux [http://www.trinux.org/] Trinux "A Linux Security Toolkit"
by Matthew D. Franz.
5. [http://www.psychosis.com/linux-router/] LRP "Linux Router
Project"
6. [http://home.sol.no/~okolaas/hal91.html] hal91
[http://chris.silmor.de/hal91/] hal91 is a very small Linux
distribution that fits on one floppy disk. You need at least a
386 machine (FPU not necessary) with 8 mb ram to run HAL91. The
entire system runs in ram, so you can remove the floppy after
booting. The kernel supports IDE hard disks and ATAPI cdrom
drives. Supported filesystems are ext2, iso9660 and vfat,
optional encryption using AES is possible. Limited support for
ethernet cards (NE2000 only) is also included. Support for scsi
adapters, parallel zip drive and other ethernet cards is possible
by loading kernel modules from an optional package.
7. [http://www.zelow.no/floppyfw/] floppyfw by Thomas Lundquist.
8. [http://www.kiarchive.ru/pub/linux/mini-linux/] minilinux:
Minimal linux package. UMSDOS filesystem (no repartition), TCP/IP
and SLIP/PPP, X Windows including Xmosaic. Support Soundblaster,
mouse, modem, SCSI.
9. [http://sunsite.bilkent.edu.tr/pub/linux/monkey/docs/english.htm]
Monkey Linux is a minimal Linux ELF distribution in 7.5MB archive
(5 diskettes) designed to be used within MSDOS and to allow the
user to experiment with Linux anywhere he/she wants.
10. [http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.wu-wien.ac.at/usr/h93/h9
301726/dlx.html] DLX by Erich Boehm is a full featured linux
system running on Intel PC's. The special thing is that DLX comes
with only one 3,5" floppydisk. DLX boots with a kernel >= 1.3.89
and starts a ramdisk image. In addition to that DLX also has a
writeable ext2 filesystem of about 130 kb on the same disk to
easily store configuration scripts (survives booting, is not on
the ramdisk !). Further is DLX fully prepared for the
paralell-port ZIP-Drive which allows you to mount 100 mb disks.
You can even put large programs like perl5 on the disk because a
special directory on the ZIP-disk is mounted as /usr/local/*!
11. [http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/kernel/images/] C-RAMDISK
creates a bootable X Windows system that fits on two 1.44 MB
floppies. The kernel (2.0.26) includes networking (PPP and dialin
script, NE2000, 3C509) and the driver for the parallel port ZIP
drive as modules. The file system contains pppd, rlogin, tar and
ncftp and a small X Windows system. Requires a Linux system (with
2.0.0 kernel or above) to create the 2 floppies. The cramdisk
floppy set will boot to "xdm" on a 486/pentium with 16MB RAM. For
networking, the IP addresses and/or ppp dialin sequence need to
be set. A method for modifying the floppy image is included.
12. [http://pocket-linux.coven.vmh.net/] pocket-linux
13. [http://www.linuxlots.com/~fawcett/yard/] YARD
14. [http://linux.apostols.org/guru/wen/] ODL
15. [http://www.superant.com/smalllinux/] SmallLinux by Steven
Gibson. Three disk micro-distribution of Linux and utilities.
Based on kernel 1.2.11. Root disk is ext2 format and has fdisk
and mkfs.ext2 so that a harddisk install can be done. Useful to
boot up on old machines with less than 4MB of RAM.
16. [ftp://ftp.blueznet.com/pub/colorg] cLIeNUX by Rick Hohensee
client-use-oriented Linux distribution
17. [http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/kernel] linux-lite by Paul
Gortmaker for very small systems with less than 2MB RAM and 10MB
harddisk space (1.x.x kernel)
18. See also the packages at
[http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/recovery/!INDEX.html]
MetaLab formerly known as SunSite and the
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bootdisk-HOWTO/index.html] Boot-Disk-HOWTO
.
19. You may also consider some of the boot floppies provided by
various distributions falling into this category, e.g. the
boot/rescue floppy of Debian/GNU Linux.
20. If you like to build your own flavour of a boot floppy you may do
so manually, as described in the
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bootdisk-HOWTO/index.html] Boot-Disk-HOWTO
or using some helper tools, for instance mkrboot (provided at
least as a Debian/GNU Linux package) or pcinitrd, which is part
of the PCMCIA-CS package by David Hinds.
21. Also you might try to build your Linux system on a ZIP drive.
This is described in the [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/ZIP-Install.html]
ZIP-Install-HOWTO .
________________________________________________________________
Appendix E. Dealing with Limited Resources or Tuning the System
E.1. Related Documentation
1. [http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/LBX.html] LBX-HOWTO
2. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Small-Memory/] Small-Memory-HOWTO
3. [http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-lwl1/]
Lightweight Linux, Part 1: Hardware is only as old as the
software it runs: a modern operating system and up-to-date
applications return an older system to productivity. This article
provides best practices and step-by-step guidance on how to build
a working Linux system on older hardware or on modern hardware
with limited memory and storage.
________________________________________________________________
E.2. Introduction
As mentioned in the introduction laptops sometimes have less
resources if you compare them to desktops. To deal with limited
space, memory, CPU speed and battery power, I have written this
chapter.
________________________________________________________________
E.3. Small Space
E.3.1. Introduction
There are different types of techniques to gain more disk space, such
as sharing of space, freeing unused or redundant space, filesystem
tuning and compression. Note: some of these techniques use memory
instead of disk space. As you will see, there are many small steps
necessary to free some space.
________________________________________________________________
E.3.2. Techniques
1. Stripping: Though many distributions come with stripped binaries
today it is useful to check this. For details see man strip. To
find every unstripped file you can use the file command or more
convenient the tool findstrip. Attention: don't strip libraries,
sometimes the wrong symbols are removed due to a bad programming
technique. Or use the --strip-unneeded option.
2. Perforation: zum(1) reads a file list on stdin and attempts to
perforate these files. Perforation means, that series of null
bytes are replaced by lseek, thus giving the file system a chance
of not allocating real disk space for those bytes. Example: find
. -type f | xargs zum
3. Remove Odd Files and Duplicates: Check your system for core
files, emacs recovery files <#FILE#> vi recovery files
<FILE>.swp, RPM recovery files <FILE>.rpmorig and patch recovery
files. Find duplicates, you may try finddup. Choose a system to
name your backup, temporary and test files, e.g. with a signature
at the end.
4. Clean Temporary Files: , e.g. /tmp, there is even a tool
tmpwatch.
5. Shorten the Log Files: usually the files in /var/log. You may use
logrotate to achieve this task.
6. Remove Files: Remove files which are not "necessary" under all
circumstances such as man pages, documentation /usr/doc and
sources e.g. /usr/src .
7. Unnecessary Libraries: You may use the binstats package to find
unused libraries (Thanks to Tom Ed White).
8. Filesystem: Choose a filesystem which treats disk space
economically e.g. rsfs. Tune your filesystem e.g. tune2fs. Choose
an appropriate partition and block size.
9. Reduce Kernel Size: Either by using only the necessary kernel
features and/or making a compressed kernel image bzImage.
10. Compression: I didn't check this but as far as I know you may
compress your filesystem with gzip and decompress it on the fly.
Alternatively you may choose to compress only certain files. You
can even execute compressed files with zexec
11. Compressed Filesystems: - For e2fs filesystems there is a
compression version available [http://e2compr.sourceforge.net/]
e2compr.
- [http://cmp.felk.cvut.cz/~pisa/dmsdos/] DMSDOS which enables
your machine to access Windows95 compressed drives (drivespace,
doublestacker). If you don't need DOS/Windows95 compatibility,
i.e. if you want to compress Linux-only data, this is really
discouraged by the author of the program.
12. Partition Sharing: You may share swap-space (see
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Swap-Space.html] Swap-Space-HOWTO) or data
partitions between different OS (see mount). For mounting MS-DOS
Windows95 compressed drives (doublespace, drivespace) you may use
dmsdos
[http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/filesystems/dosfs/]
dosfs/ .
13. Libraries: Take another (older) library, for instance libc5 ,
this library seems to be smaller than libc6 also known as glibc2
.
14. Kernel: If your needs are fitted with an older kernel version,
you can save some space.
15. GUI: Avoid as much Graphical User Interface (GUI) as possible.
16. Tiny Distributions: There are some distributions available which
fit from one 3.5" floppy to 10MB disk space and fit for small
memories, too. See Appendix A Appendix D and below.
17. External Storage Devices (Hard Disks, ZIP Drives, NFS, SAMBA):
Since many notebooks may be limited in their expandability, using
the parallel port is an attractive option. There are external
hard disks and ZIP Drives available. Usually they are also
connectable via PCMCIA. Another way is using the resources of
another machine through NFS or SAMBA etc.
18. Purging of uneeded locales: localepurge for Debian is just a
simple script to recover disk space wasted for unneeded locale
files and localized man pages. Depending on your installation, it
is possible to save some 200, 300, or even more megabytes of disk
space usually dedicated for locales you'll probably never have
any usage for.
________________________________________________________________
E.4. Hard Disk Speed
Use the tool hdparm to set up better harddisk performance. Though I
have seen laptop disk enabled with striping, I can't see a reason to
do so, because in my humble opinion also known as RAID0 striping
needs at least two different disks to increase performance. Before
using hdparm check the BIOS settings for harddisk parameters like DMA
or ATA4 or 32bit transfer. The bad thing is that if something is
disabled there - it can not be enabled with hdparm!
See UNIX and LINUX Computing Journal:
[http://www.diverge.org/ulcj/199910tfsp.shtml] Tunable Filesystem
Parameters in /proc How to increase, decrease and reconfigure
filsystem behavior from within /proc.
________________________________________________________________
E.5. Small Memory
E.5.1. Related Documentation
1. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Small-Memory/index.html]
Small-Memory-HOWTO
2. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Module-HOWTO/] Module-HOWTO
3. [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Kerneld/] Kerneld-HOWTO
________________________________________________________________
E.5.2. Techniques
Check the memory usage with free and top.
[http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/ulrich/mergemem/] Mergemem Project
. Many programs contain memory areas of the same content that remain
undetected by the operating system. Typically, these areas contain
data that have been generated on startup and remain unchanged for
longer periods. With mergemem such areas are detected and shared. The
sharing is performed on the operating system level and is invisible
to the user level programs. mergemem is particularily useful if you
run many instances of interpreters and emulators (like Java or
Prolog) that keep their code in private data areas. But also other
programs can take advantage albeit to a lesser degree.
You may also reduce the kernel size as much as possible by removing
any feature which is not necessary for your needs and by modularizing
the kernel as much as possible.
Also you may shutdown every service or daemon which is not needed,
e.g. lpd, mountd, nfsd and close some virtual consoles. Please see
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Small-Memory/] Small-Memory-HOWTO for details.
And of course use swap space, when possible.
If possible you use the resources of another machine, for instance
with X11, VNC or even telnet. For more information on Virtual Network
Computing (VNC), see [http://www.realvnc.com/] VNC.
________________________________________________________________
E.6. Low CPU Speed
You may want to overdrive the CPU speed but this can damage your
hardware and I don't have experience with it. For some examples look
at [http://www.silverace.com/libretto/] Adorable Toshiba Libretto -
Overclocking.
________________________________________________________________
E.7. Power Saving Techniques
1. If you don't need infrared support, disable it in the BIOS or
shutdown the IrDA® device driver. There are also some IrDA®
features of the kernel which are useful for saving power.
2. PCMCIA services consume much power, so shut them down if you
don't need them.
3. I'm not sure to which extend the backlight consumes power.
Warning
As far as I know this device can only bear a limited number of uptime
circles. So avoid using screensavers, which turn off the backlight.
If you want do it anyhow, you may use xset +dpms and xset dpms 0
0 300 This turns the screen off after 5 minutes of inactivity.
Works only if the display is DPMS capable.
4. For some examples to build batteries with increased uptime up to
8 hours look at [http://repair4laptop.org/notebook_battery.html]
Repair4Laptop: Battery .
5. For information about APM look at the chapter APM above.
6. The "noatime" option when mouting filesystems tells the kernel to
not update the access time information of the file. This
information, although sometimes useful, is not used by most
people. Therefore, you can safely disable it, then preventing
disk access each time you cat a file. Here is an example of a
/etc/fstab with this power-saving option: /dev/hda7 /var ext2
defaults,noatime 0 2
7. [http://sourceforge.net/projects/hdparm/] hdparm hdparm is a
Linux disk utility that lets you set spin-down timeouts and other
disk parameters.
8. [http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/ulrich/linux/tips.html] Mobile
Update Daemon This is a drop-in replacement for the standard
update daemon, mobile-update minimizes disk spin ups and reduces
disk uptime. It flushes buffers only when other disk activity is
present. To ensure a consistent file system call sync manually.
Otherwise files may be lost on power failure. mobile-update does
not use APM. So it works also on older systems.
9. [http://noflushd.sourceforge.net/] noflushd : noflushd monitors
disk activity and spins down disks that have been idle for more
than <timeout> seconds. It requires a kernel >=2.2.11 . Useful in
combination with hdparm and mount with noatime option to bring
down disk activity.
Here are some comments and thoughts by Nat Makarevitch about a
possible approach which may reduce the disk activity under Linux
(sparing energy, especially with noflushd) the file
Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt of the Linux sourcetree
documents some useful features, esp. in the /proc/sys/vm section.
Under Linux 2.2 I used:
echo "100 5000 8 256 500 60000 60000 1884 2" > /proc/sys/vm/bdflush
especially under Linux 2.4 which uses its spare time to
'pre-save' the less-used memory pages into the swap, increasing
the disk activity I tried to figure the more adequate parameters
(Linux 2.4.9, 192 MB RAM, Toshiba 3480 laptop) beware: some of
those parameters may be dangerous or useless (I have not gathered
serious data about the practical efficiency). moreover do not
forget that delaying disk writes of data is intrinsically
dangerous
echo 99 512 32 512 0 300000 60 0 0 > /proc/sys/vm/bdflush
# is '60' the max value for age_super?
echo 1 1 96 > /proc/sys/vm/buffermem
echo 512 128 32 > /proc/sys/vm/kswapd
echo 1 10 96 > /proc/sys/vm/pagecache
10. The [http://www.buzzard.me.uk/toshiba/index.html] Toshiba Linux
Utilities are a set of Linux utilities for controlling the fan,
supervisor passwords, and hot key functions of Toshiba Pentium
notebooks. There is a KDE package Klibreta, too.
11. At Kenneth E. Harker's page there is a recommendation for LCDproc
[http://lcdproc.omnipotent.net/] LCDProc . "LCDproc is a small
piece of software that will enable your Linux box to display live
system information on a 20x4 line backlit LCD display. This
program shows, among other things, battery status on notebooks."
I tried this package and found that it connects only to the
external [http://www.matrixorbital.com/] Matrix-Orbital LCD 20x4
display , which is a LCD display connected to a serial port. I
can't see any use for a laptop yet, but you might use it to build
a wearable.
12. The [http://sourceforge.net/projects/diald/] Diald Dial Daemon
provides on demand Internet connectivity using the SLIP or PPP
protocols. Diald can automatically dial in to a remote host when
needed or bring down dial-up connections that are inactive.
13. [http://www.kde.org] KDE provides KAPM, Kbatmon and Kcmlaptop.
Written by Paul Campbell kcmlaptop is a set of KDE control panels
that implements laptop computer support functions, it includes a
dockable battery status monitor for laptops - in short a little
icon in the KDE status bar that shows how much battery time you
have left. It also will warn you when power is getting low and
allows you to configure power saving options. Similar packages
you may find at the GNOME project [http://www.gnome.org/] GNOME .
See the software maps at both sites.
14. Please see the [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Battery-Powered/]
Battery-Powered-HOWTO for further information.
Some more words about disks spin down with noflushd or hdparm
utilities. The objective is to reduce hard disk usage to minimum,
because on most laptops it is the primary source of noise and energy
consumption. The "noflushd" daemon is a replacement of "update" which
makes buffer updates on disk only when some other data is being read
from the disk (the behavior of "update" is to flush buffers every 5
seconds, and it usually generates constant disk activity, so that the
disk never becomes idle). "noflushd" also sets the disk spindown time
and automatically calls "sync" before spindown. The syntax is
something like "noflushd -n 5 /dev/hda". Using "noflushd" may cause
loss of data if some files were edited while the disk was parked and
not sync'ed, e.g. if the power was suddenly lost.
The hdparm utility can set the sleep time too, and also tune the IDE
disk parameters for better performance. Make sure that the kernel IDE
parameter "Use DMA by default when available" (section "Block
devices") is enabled.
However, it is not enough to enable noflushd or IDE disk sleep time
to make the disk effectively silent, because the system in most
default installations is running many cron jobs, writes to log files,
uses swap and so on. This activity is not always desirable,
especially if the computer is standalone (not on network) and is used
mostly by one user. Here are some recommendations.
First, the cron daemon and friends (anacron, atd, logrotate, sendmail
/ exim / ...) could be removed from the system if the services they
run (such as, cleaning /tmp directories and logs, checking email
etc.) are not needed.
Secondly, the syslogd configuration file /etc/syslog.conf should be
modified to reduce the number of log files and messages logged, and
also to have "-" signs before every file name (which means that the
system will not have to sync the disk every time a message is
logged).
Also, it is advisable to add "mark:none;" to the "syslog" strings, so
that the "strich strich strich MARK strich strich strich" messages do
not get written to the log files every half an hour. Typical Linux
installations today have too many log files for the home user.
Finally, the disk may not go to sleep when a lot of swap space is in
use. Type "free" and see how much swap is being used and how much
free RAM is available. If you think there is enough free RAM to work
without swap, or if there is a lot of swap used AND also a lot of
free RAM, consider freeing the swap space ("su; swapoff -a; swapon
-a") or switching the swap space off altogether ("su; swapoff -a").
Working without swap should be fine on systems with 64MB or more of
RAM. (Working without swap will reduce the available memory, of
course, and some software crashes without warning when it runs out of
memory. But, adding swap will not prevent the crash resulting from
some runaway memory consumuing software, it will only delay it, and
it will make the system swap a lot before it happens.)
With these changes in the system, one could get the laptop to work
for extended periods of time with its hard disk switched off.
The kernel can be configured with "Yes" to "APM Support" and "Enable
console blanking using APM" (section "General setup"). Then the LCD
screen lamp will shut off in console mode (so not just the screen
goes black, but also the lamp). In X mode, the same effect can be
obtained with "xset +dpms" (enable DPMS function) and "xset s blank"
(enable screen blanking). One can add these commands to the X window
session or window manager initialization scripts.
The computer's BIOS energy savings options (hard disk sleep time,
video blanking time and so on) are probably not useful and in some
cases may even cause crashes. Therefore they could be disabled in the
laptop's BIOS.
________________________________________________________________
E.8. Kernel
E.8.1. Related Documentation
* [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Kernel-HOWTO/] Kernel-HOWTO
* [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/BootPrompt-HOWTO.html] BootPrompt-HOWTO
Many kernel features are related to laptops. For instance APM, IrDA®,
PCMCIA and some options for certain laptops, e.g. IBM(TM) ThinkPads.
In some distributions they are not included by default. And the
kernel is usually bigger than necessary. So it's seems a good idea to
customize the kernel. Though this task might seem difficult for the
beginner it is highly recommended. Since this involves dangerous
operations you need to be careful. But, if you can install a better
kernel successfully, you've earned your intermediate Linux sysadmin
merit badge. - I will not handle this here, because this topic is
already covered in other documents.
Compile a modular kernel with modules for CDROM, floppy, pcmcia,
sound and any other peripherals. It will allow to delay loading of
these modules until these devices are actually used, and it may help
recover the system after a hardware failure, e.g. a bad CDROM,
because a module can be removed and re-inserted without restarting
the system.
________________________________________________________________
E.9. Tiny Applications and Distributions
A small collection yet, but I'm looking for more information.
1. BOA - "Lightweight and High Performance WebServer. boa is a
single-tasking HTTP server. That means that unlike traditional
web servers, it does not fork for each incoming connection, nor
does it fork many copies of itself to handle multiple
connections. It internally multiplexes all of the ongoing HTTP
connections, and forks only for CGI programs (which must be
separate processes.) Preliminary tests show boa is capable of
handling several hundred hits per second on a 100 MHz Pentium."
2. MGR - a graphical windows system, which uses much less resources
than X.
3. Low Bandwidth X:
Alan Cox in LINUX REDUX February 1998 " .. there are two that
handle normal applications very nicely. LBX (Low Bandwidth X) is
the official application of the X11 Consortium (now
[http://www.opengroup.org/] OpenGroup.
[http://www.vigor.nu/dxpc/] Dxpc is the alternative most people
prefer. These systems act as proxy X11 servers and compress
datastreams by well over 50 percent for normal requests, often
reaching a reduction to 25 percent of the original bandwidth
usage. With dxpc, X Windows applications are quite usable over a
28.8 modem link or across the Internet."
4. [http://blackboxwm.sf.net/] blackbox - "This is a window manager
for X. It is similar in many respects to such popular packages as
Window Maker, Enlightenment, and FVWM2. You might be interested
in this package if you are tired of window managers that are a
heavy drain on your system resources, but you still want an
attractive and modern-looking interface."
Figure E-1. Screenshot of blackbox.
[blackbox.png]
5. [http://www.xfce.org] xfce is a lightweight and stable desktop
environment for various UNIX systems.
6. linux-lite - distribution based on a 1.x.x kernel for systems
with only 2MB memory and 10MB harddisk. URL see above.
7. [http://www.superant.com/smalllinux/] SmallLinux is a three disk
micro-distribution of Linux and utilities. Based on kernel
1.2.11. Root disk is ext2 format and has fdisk and mkfs.ext2 so
that a harddisk install can be done. Useful to boot up on old
machines with less than 4MB of RAM.
8. cLIeNUX - client-use-oriented Linux distribution.
9. [http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/minix.html] minix , not a Linux but a
UNIX useful for very small systems, such as 286 CPU and 640K RAM
. There is even X11 support named mini-x by
[ftp://ftp.linux.org.uk/pub/linux/alan/] David I. Bell .
10. screen - tiny but powerful console manager. John M. Fisk
<fiskjm_AT_ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu> in
[http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue01to08/lg_issue7.html#screen]
LINUX GAZETTE :"It's a GUI, GUI, GUI, GUI world! " -- or so the
major OS manufacturers would have you belief. Truth is, that
while this is increasingly the case, there are times when the
command line interface (CLI) is still a very good choice for
getting things done. It's fast, generally efficient, and is a
good choice on memory or CPU constrained machines. And don't
forget that there are still a lot of very nifty things that can
be done at the console."
11. tinyirc - "A tiny, stripped down IRC Client. Doesn't have most of
the more advance commands in the ircII family of IRC Clients, nor
does it have any color, but it works, and it's tiny."
12. JOVE Jonathans Own Version of Emacs, a small but powerful editor.
.
________________________________________________________________
E.10. Hardware Upgrade
You may also take into account to upgrade the hardware itself, though
this may have some caveats, see chapter Open a Laptop Case above. If
you need a survey about the possibilities, you can take a look at
[http://repair4laptop.org/] Repair4Laptop: repair, disassemble,
upgrade or mod laptops or notebooks.
________________________________________________________________
Appendix F. Ecology and Laptops
F.1. Ecological Comparisons of Computers
Scientists of [http://www.reuse-computer.de/] ReUse project located
at the [http://tu-berlin.de/] Technical University of Berlin recently
compared the energy consumption of different computer types along the
life cycle. The production of computers actually needs 535 kWh which
is 10 % less than 4 years ago. Most of the energy will be consumed
while the computer is used for example at work for 8 hours/day. The
energy consumption of new computers with 2,5-3 GHz processors is even
in the stand-bye-mode still 100 Watt, whereas a 1,4 GHz PC needs 80
Watt and a 4 year old PC only needed 60 Watt. Therefore from the
ecological point of view it is better to buy an old computer that
didn't need the energy for a new production and which consumes less
electricity while it is being used.
LCD displays need less energy than other monitors. For this reason
laptops are the most ecological types of the compared computers. They
need the smallest amount of energy when they are used. And 3 year old
laptops are better than new ones since their processors need less
energy than new ones. There is also an article in the German computer
magazine [http://heise.de/ct/] C't 21/ 2003.
Some more stuff about Linux as a means to save our environment is
included in the [http://computerecology.org/] Linux-Ecology-HOWTO.
________________________________________________________________
Appendix G. NeoMagic Graphics Chipset Series NM20xx
G.1. Introduction
The NeoMagic graphics chipset series NM20xx has been popular in
laptops build around 1996. For a long time this graphics chip was
only supported by commercial X11 servers, since the middle of 1998
RedHat provided a binary X11 server manufactured by PrecisionInsight.
Since version 3.3.3 the appropriate X11 server is also available in
XFree86.
________________________________________________________________
G.2. Textmode 100x37
This chapter is a courtesy of Cedric Adjih , though I have changed
some minor parts. Please note: Another method to achieve a better
resolution in text mode is the use of the framebuffer driver (as
explained in the X-Windows chapter above). This method requires
kernel reconfiguration (some Linux distributions include an
appropriate kernel already) and a new entry (vga=NNN) in
/etc/lilo.conf. In text mode it works even with VESA BIOSes before
version 2.0, at least on the models I could test it. Though the
SVGATextMode method could be faster (couldn't check this yet).
An apparently little known fact about the Neomagic chipset NM20xx is
that you can run text mode in 100x37 (i.e. 800x600). This text mode
is very nice (as opposed to the 80x25 which is ugly). I tried this
with a HP OmniBook 800 and suppose it might work with other laptops
using the NeoMagic chip, too.
The main problem is that is a bit difficult to set up, and if you're
going wrong with the commands SVGATextMode or restoretextmode some
results on the LCD might be frightening. Although I didn't manage to
break my LCD with many attempts going wrong, DISCLAMER: THIS MIGHT
DAMAGE YOUR HARDWARE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. FOLLOW THE FOLLOWING
INSTRUCTIONS AT YOUR OWN RISKS. I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE IF SOMETHING BAD
HAPPENS.
________________________________________________________________
G.2.1. Survey
You need to do three main steps:
1. Enable Linux to boot in 800x600 textmode. The problem is that you
won't see any text before the following two steps aren't done.
2. Automatically run restoretextmode with correct register data.
3. Automatically run SVGATextMode.
________________________________________________________________
G.2.2. More Details
All the files I have modified, are available for now on
[http://starship.python.net/crew/adjih/data/cda-omni-trick.tar.gz] my
pages
________________________________________________________________
G.2.2.1. Enabling Linux to Boot in 800x600
Recent kernels (2.2.x) need to be compiled with CONFIG_VIDEO_GFX_HACK
defined. Default is off. (look in
/usr/src/linux-2.2.x/arch/i386/boot/video.S)
This is done by passing the parameter vga=770 to older kernels or
vga=7 to 2.2.x kernels. Example with lilo.conf:
image=/boot/bzImage-modif
label=22
append="svgatextmode=100x37x8_SVGA" #explained later
vga=7
read-only
________________________________________________________________
G.2.2.2. Running restoretextmode and SVGATextMode at Boot Time
Running restoretextmode and SVGATextMode at Boot Time. You must
arrange to run restoretextmode <name of some textreg.dat file> and
SVGATextMode 100x37x8_SVGA at boot time.
An example textreg.dat for restoretextmode (obtained using
savetextmode) is in my tar archive in tmp/, and an example
/etc/TextConfig.
Since I'm lazy, I've simply put SVGATextMode and restoretextmode in
the /etc/rc.boot/kbd file from my Debian/GNU Linux which get executed
at boot time (also available in the tar archive).
________________________________________________________________
G.2.2.3. Now the Key Point
Annoying things will be displayed if you don't use the right
SVGATextMode in the right video text mode: this is why I also pass
the environmental variable "svgatextmode=100x37x8_SVGA" (arbitrary
name) to the kernel (using append=xxx in lilo.conf) when I also set
vga=7: the script /etc/rc.boot/kbd tests this variable and calls
restoretextmode and SVGATextMode IF AND ONLY IF.
________________________________________________________________
G.2.3. Road Map
1. Recompile the kernel 2.2.x with CONFIG_VIDEO_GFX_HACK
2. Insert the restoretextmode with the correct parameter in the
initialisation script, with no other changes.
3. Boot with normal text mode (80x25) but restoretextmode: you
should see the screen going to 100x37, but with only 80x25
usable. Don't use SVGATextMode yet.
4. It is much better to conditionnalize your initialize code as I
did, to keep the possibility of booting in both modes: you may
test this now with some reboots (starting restoretextmode or
not).
5. Boot with 100x37 text mode using parameter vga=7 (lilo.conf), you
should see white background at some point, but the characters
will be black on black. This is ok. You'll have to reboot blindly
now.
6. Insert the <path>/SVGATextMode 100x37x8_SVGA after the
restoretextmode in initialization scripts.
7. Reboot with vga=7 (lilo.conf)
8. Should be OK now. Enjoy.
________________________________________________________________
Appendix H. Annotated Bibliography: Books For Linux Nomads
Scott Mueller: Upgrading and Repairing Laptops, 2003
From the publisher: "Scott Mueller goes where no computer book author
has gone before right past all the warranty stickers, the hidden
screws, and the fear factor to produce a real owner's manual that
every laptop owner should have on his desk. This book shows the
upgrades users can perform, the ones that are better left to the
manufacturer, and how to use add-on peripherals to make the most of a
laptop. The CD contains one-of-a-kind video showing just what's
inside a portable PC."
[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789728001/lilaclinuxwithla]
Amazon Order.
Other resources:
* [http://repair4laptop.org/] upgrading, repairing and modding
laptops or notebooks
* [http://repair4pda.org/] upgrading, repairing and modding PDAs
and HandHelds
* [http://repair4mobilephone.org/] upgrading, repairing and modding
mobile (cell) phones
* [http://repair4player.org/] upgrading, repairing and modding
mobile media players
Chris Hurley, Michael Puchol, Russ Rogers, Frank Thornton: WarDriving
- Drive, Detect, Defend, A Guide to Wireless Security, 2004
From the Publisher: "Wardriving has brought some of the top people in
the wireless industry together to put together a truly informative
book on what wardriving is and the tools that should be part of any
IT department's arsenal that either has wireless or is looking to
deploy it." -John Kleinschmidt, Michiganwireless.org Founder The
practice of WarDriving is a unique combination of hobby, sociological
research, and security assessment. The act of driving or walking
through urban areas with a wireless-equipped laptop to map both
protected and un-protected wireless networks has sparked intense
debate amongst lawmakers, security professionals, and the
telecommunications industry. This first ever book on WarDriving is
written from the inside perspective of those who have created the
tools that make WarDriving possible and those who gather, analyze,
and maintain data on all secured and open wireless access points in
very major, metropolitan area worldwide. These insiders also provide
the information to secure your wireless network before it is
exploited by criminal hackers. Wireless networks have become a way of
life in the past two years. As more wireless networks are deployed
the need to secure them increases. This book educates users of
wireless networks as well as those who run the networks about the
insecurities associated with wireless networking. This effort is
called WarDriving. In order to successfully WarDrive there are
hardware and software tool required. This book covers those tools,
along with cost estimates and recommendations. Since there are
hundreds of possible configurations that can be used for WarDriving,
some of the most popular are presented to help readers decide what to
buy for their own WarDriving setup. Many of the tools that a
WarDriver uses are the same tools that could be used by an attacker
to gain unauthorized access to a wireless network. Since this is not
the goal of a WarDriver, the methodology that users can use to
ethically WarDrive is presented. In addition, complete coverage of
WarDriving applications, such as NetStumbler, MiniStumbler; and
Kismet, are covered."
[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1931836035/lilaclinuxwithla]
Amazon Order.
TuxMobil Resources:
* [http://tuxmobil.org/wireless_unix.html] Linux and Wireless LANs
* [http://tuxmobil.org/manet_linux.html] Linux and Mobile AdHoc
Networks - MANETs
* [http://tuxmobil.org/wireless_community.html] Linux and Wireless
Communities Around the World
* [http://tuxmobil.org/linux_wireless_access_point.html] Linux and
Wireless Access Points - WLAN APs
* [http://tuxmobil.org/linux_wireless_sniffer.html] Linux and
Wireless Sniffer Applications
Isidor Buchmann: Batteries in a Portable World - A Handbook on
Rechargeable Batteries for Non-Engineers, 2001
From the Publisher: "Batteries in a Portable World fills a definite
need for practical information about rechargeable batteries. Quite
often, performance specifications for batteries and chargers are
based on ideal conditions. Manufacturers carry out battery tests on
brand new equipment and in a protected environment, removed from the
stress of daily use. In Batteries in a Portable World, Mr. Buchmann
observes the battery in everyday life in the hands of the common
user. By reading Batteries in a Portable World, you will acquire a
better understanding of the strengths and limitations of the battery.
You will learn how to prolong battery life; become familiar with
recommended maintenance methods and discover ways to restore a weak
battery, if such a method is available for that battery type. Knowing
how to take care of your batteries prolongs service life, improves
reliability of portable equipment and saves money. Best of all,
well-performing batteries need replacement less often, reducing the
environmental concern of battery disposal."
[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0968211828/lilaclinuxwithla]
Amazon Order.
TuxMobil Resources:
* [http://tuxmobil.org/energy_laptops.html] Power Supplies for
Laptops and PDAs
* [http://tuxmobil.org/mobile_battery.html] Linux Tools for Laptop,
Notebook and PDA Batteries
[http://www.verysecurelinux.com/] Bob Toxen: Real World Linux
Security: Intrusion Detection, Prevention, and Recovery 2nd Ed., 2002
This book contains a chapter about mobile security.
[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0130464562/lilaclinuxwithla]
Amazon Order.
TuxMobil Resources:
* [http://tuxmobil.org/mobile_security.html] Security for Mobile
Linux Computers
* [http://tuxmobil.org/stolen_laptops.html] Theft and Loss
Protection for Linux Laptops, Notebooks and PDAs
________________________________________________________________
Appendix I. Resources for Specific Laptop Brands
Certain laptops have found some more enthusiastic Linux users, than
other models. This list is probably not comprehensive:
________________________________________________________________
I.1. COMPAQ
[http://www.zenspider.com/~pwilk/aero_stuff.html] COMPAQ Contura
Aero-FAQ.
The latest version of the
[http://www.cs.nmsu.edu/~pfeiffer/index_old.html#linux] Linux Compaq
Concerto Pen Driver is available from Joe Pfeiffer's home page.
________________________________________________________________
I.2. DELL
Mailing list at [http://www.egroups.com/group/linux-dell-laptops]
linux-dell-laptops
Manufacturer Linux information:
[http://linux.dell.com/desktops.shtml] DELL
________________________________________________________________
I.3. IBM/Lenovo(TM) ThinkPad
ThinkPad Configuration Tool for Linux by Thomas Hood
[http://tpctl.sourceforge.net/] tpctl
Running Linux on IBM(TM)ThinkPads, to join send an email to
linux-thinkpad-subscribe_at_topica.com, to post send mail to
linux-thinkpad_at_topica.com . See
[http://www.topica.com/lists/linux-thinkpad/] here for details.
[http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~strauman/pers/tp4utils/] TrackPoint
driver by Till Straumann.
________________________________________________________________
I.4. Sony VAIO
For installation on VAIOs via external CD drive, see chapter
Installation above. Some hints for the Jog-Dial you may find in the
chapter Mice Species. The SONY VAIO C1 series includes some models,
which are based on the first dedicated mobile CPU, the CRUSOE. The
CRUSOE is manufactured by [http://www.transmeta.com/] TransMeta . At
TransMeta you may find information about the binary compatibility of
the CRUSOE. The [http://samba.org/picturebook/] Sony PCG-C1XS
Picturebook Camera Capture program captures images and movies on a
Sony VAIO picturebook PCG-C1XS, taking advantage of the built in CCD
camera and hardware JPEG encoder. It features PPM capture, JPEG
capture (hardware JPEG), AVI capture of MJPEG, MJPEG capture of
separate frames (for MPEG encoding), setting of
brightness/contrast/etc., and a 1:4 sub-sampling option.
There is also a VAIO C1 related Linux mailing list, too
<linux-c1_at_gnu.org>.
[http://frijoles.com/c1-info/faq.html] Sony Vaio C1 FAQ mostly
MS-Windows related, but contains useful hardware information and a
mailing list.
The [http://spicd.raszi.hu/] SONY VAIO SPIC daemon is a fast and
small hack for create a working apmd to Sony VAIO laptops. It uses
the sonypi kernel module to detect the AC adapter status and the LCD
backlight, and cpufreq for CPU frequency change.
[http://www.alcove-labs.org/en/software/sonypi/] spicctrl uses the
sonypi interface provided by /dev/sonypi and the Linux kernel.
________________________________________________________________
I.5. Toshiba
[http://www.buzzard.me.uk/toshiba/index.html] Toshiba Linux Utilities
are a set of Linux utilities for controlling the fan, supervisor
passwords, and hot key functions of Toshiba Pentium notebooks.
Utilities to change supervisor passwords and adjust power/battery
modes are included. There is a KDE package Klibreta, too.
Mailing lists:
[http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/linux-on-portege]
linux-on-portege , Linux on Toshiba Satellite 40xx linux-tosh-40xx
<majordomo_at_geekstuff.co.uk>.
Toshiba itself offers now
[http://linux.toshiba-dme.co.jp/linux/index.htm] Toshiba Linux
Support (Japanese branch) and
[http://newsletter.toshiba-tro.de/main/index.html] Toshiba Linux
Support (German branch) .
________________________________________________________________
Appendix J. Credits
I would like to thank the many people who assisted with corrections
and suggestions. Their contributions have made this work far better
than I could ever have done alone. Especially I would like to thank:
* First of all Kenneth E. Harker , from his page
[http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/] Linux on Laptops I have
included much material into this HOWTO, but didn't always quote
him verbatim.
* The other authors from [http://tldp.org/] THE LINUX DOCUMENTATION
PROJECT - TLDP .
* The members of the Linux/IrDA® Project .
* The members of the Linux-Laptop Mailing List.
* The members of the Debian-Laptop Mailing List.
* The members of the SuSE-Laptop Mailing List.
* The visitors and contributors of my [http://tuxmobil.org/]
TuxMobil project.
* Cedric Adjih , wrote the chapter about the NeoMagic chipset.
* Amlaukka
* Michele Andreoli, maintainer of [http://sunsite.auc.dk/mulinux/]
muLinux.
* [http://www.procyon.com/~pda/lphdisk/] Patrick D. Ashmore
* Ben Attias .
* Gerd Bavendiek , [http://netenv.sourceforge.net] netenv
* John Beimler , provided the URL of photopc.
* [http://www.nemein.com] Henri Bergius
* Ludger Berse .
* Stephane Bortzmeyer for his suggestions about email with UUCP,
the use of CVS or related tools to synchronize two machines, and
the noatime mount option.
* Lionel, "trollhunter" Bouchpan-Lerust-Juery
* Felix Braun .
* David Burley
* David Chien
* Sven Crouse for information about touchpads
* Eric wrote how to transfer pictures from a digital camera.
* [http://home.snafu.de/ingo.dietzel/] Ingo Dietzel , for his
patience with the project.
* Brian Edmonds
* Peter Englmaier , provided the chapter about a sophisticated
email setup.
* Joel Eriksson , for information about Atari laptops.
* Heiko Ettelbrueck
* Gledson Evers , started the Portuguese translation.
* Klaus Franken .
* [http://www.guido.germano.com] Guido Germano , for information
about the Macintosh Powerbook 145B.
* Bill Gjestvang .
* [http://splitbrain.org/] Andreas Gohr prepared some sections of
the PDA chapter and more
* Alessandro Grillo , started the Italian translation.
* Sven Grounsell [http://tuxhilfe.de/] TuxHilfe
* Mikael Gueck
* Marcus Hagn has written some powersaving tweaks
* W. Wade, Hampton , did much of spell, grammar and style checking
and added many valuable information.
* Sebastian Henschel prepared some sections of the PDA chapter and
more
* David Hinds, the maintainer of the PCMCIA-CS package.
* Karsten Hopp
* Scott Hurring
* JK
* Uwe SV Kubosch , hints about Amiga
* Jeremy D. Impson provided instructions about installing on a
Toshiba Libretto 50CT [http://nwc.syr.edu/~jdimpson] Jeremy D.
Impson
* Adrian D. Jensen , provided some notes on removable hard disks
* Steven G. Johnson , provided most of the information about
Apple/Macintosh m68k machines and LinuxPPC on the PowerBook.
* Dan Kegel , pointed me to the Toshiba Linux page.
* [http://www.mk-stuff.de/] Michael Kupsch
* Gilles Lamiral for providing the PLIP Install-HOWTO.
* Sian Leitch , suggestions on style
* [http://www.leo.org/~loescher/] Stephan Loescher
* [http://home.pages.de/~lufthans/] LuftHans , announced this HOWTO
to the maintainer of the [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Hardware-HOWTO/]
Hardware-HOWTO.
* Anderson MacKay , [http://linux.rice.edu] RLUG - Rice University
Linux User Group , gave many different detailed recommendations.
* Nat Makarevitch gave suggestions how to use noflushd
* Jari Malinen, for support with HUT Mobile IP (now Dynamics Mobile
IP).
* Paul Mansfield , ICQ:13391313 information about removable hard
disks
* Stefan Martig .
* Marco Michna , from [http://www.suse.de] SuSE
* Harald Milz , from [http://www.suse.de] SuSE provided numerous
additions.
* Emerson, Tom # El Monte , for his idea about laptop bags.
* Dan Mueth author of the [http://kmc-utils.sourceforge.net/]
kmc_utils
* Louis A. Mulieri , information about removable hard disks
* Nathan Myers , from [http://www.linuxlaptops.com] LL -
LinuxLaptops for numerous additions.
* Leandro Noferin , for proofreading the italian parts.
* Ulrich Oelmann , gave valuable additions about the installation
with muLinux.
* Michael Opdenacker, for tips and tricks about PDAs and moral
support [http://free-electrons.com/] Free-Electrons
* Federico Pellegrin , provided the chapter about installation from
a parallel port CD drive
* Sean 'Shaleh' Perry, , Debian maintainer of anacron and other
packages, for Debian support.
* Igor Pesando .
* Benjamin C. Pierce
* Lucio Pileggi , provided information about the Siemens S25
cellular phone.
* Jacek Pliszka , provided information about miscellaneous topics,
e.g. USB devices, external floppy and CD drives.
* Lorn 'ljp' Potter (Qtopia Community Liaison) gave some
improvements for the PDA chapter
* Steve Rader .
* Bruce Richardson
* [http://jaime.robles.nu] Jaime Robles , gave me some information
about the HAM-HOWTO.
* Pete Rotheroe
* Simon Rowe
* Frank Schneider .
* Hans Schou , FlashPath for Linux
* Martin "Joey" Schulze
* Chandran Shukla .
* Fabio Sirna provided a script to show the battery status in
console mode with ACPI
* Adam Spiers .
* Peter Sprenger .
* Bill Staehle
* Leon Stok
* Christian Stolte
* Peter Teuben , for some suggestions about hard disks.
* Bob Toxen .
* Thomas Traber .
* Geert Van der Plas , provided information about the touchpad
driver included in the GPM.
* Marcel Ovidiu Vlad .
* Michael Wiedmann , [http://www.in-berlin.de/User/miwie/pia/] PIA
- X11 based PalmPilot Address Manager , found many spelling
errors and more.
* Tim Williams , pointed me to System Commander 2000 partition
manager
* Serge Winitzki wrote some recommendations for noise reduction
and/or energy saving
* Richard Worwood
Sorry, but probably I have forgotten to mention everybody who helped.
________________________________________________________________
Appendix K. Copyrights
GNU GPL "The source will be with you ... always!"
N.N.
________________________________________________________________
K.1. Copyrights
For all chapters except "Lectures, Presentations, Animations and
Slideshows" permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify
this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License,
Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software
Foundation; with the Invariant Sections being "Preface" and
"Credits", with the Front-Cover Texts being "Linux on the Road - the
First Book on Mobile Linux", and with the Back-Cover Texts being the
section "About the Author". A copy of the license is included in the
section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
Copyright for the included pictures belongs to their respective
owners.
________________________________________________________________
K.2. GNU Free Documentation License - GFDL
Version 1.1, March 2000
Copyright (C) 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 59 Temple Place,
Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA Everyone is permitted to copy
and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing
it is not allowed.
________________________________________________________________
K.2.1. 0. PREAMBLE
The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other
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the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without
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This License is a kind of "copyleft", which means that derivative
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complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft
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We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free
software, because free software needs free documentation: a free
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________________________________________________________________
K.2.2. 1. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS
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