I want to describe my experiences with Debian GNU/Linux on the Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook C1110.
For more accurate information you should take a look at the output of lspci below or of lspci -v.
| CPU | Pentium M 1.5 GHz, 2 MB L2 Cache |
| Memory | 512 MB |
| Hard disk | 40GB |
| WLAN | Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 B/G |
The Pentium M is fairly well supported by the 2.6 kernel series. Frequency scaling works well at least with the newer 2.6er kernels. For CPU frequency control you can chose between cpufreqd, an user space demon, and various kernel space governors. I use the 'on demand' governor and I'm quite happy both with performance and battery life time
Power management works well. With kernels equal to or earlier than 2.6.9 the power-off on shutdown works, but the laptop starts again as soon as the lid-switch is released.
"Real" power-off works since ~2.6.14
The function keys for change display brightness work without software support (the even work in BIOS setup)
topThe C1110 comes with Intel Pro Wireless (TM) 2200 hardware. It is not supported natively by Debian sarge (or so I believe) but works with the modules from the IPW2200 project, a joint venture of Intel and the rest of the world
Since linux-2.6.14 the ipw2200 code is merged into the main kernel tree. Some features like monitor mode only work with development versions of the ipw2200 modules, but they are constantly getting better.
Since linux-2.6.17 the ipw2200 driver even supports promiscuous mode
(e.g. Monitor mode, packet sniffing) (if compiled with
CONFIG_IPW2200_MONITOR=y). I tested it successfully with kismet (I used Sebastian Harls Debian Backports) and aircrack-ng (I recompiled
the unstable packages under stable).
Please note that you still neead the binary firmware images, which can be found on the ipw2200 project page.
topThe built-in Realtek card (RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)) works out of the box with 2.6.* kernels
topDebian Sarge's native 2.6.8-2 kernel had some issues with the AC'97 compatible sound card, but deleting a few lines of warn messages in the sources or an upgrade to a later kernel fixed the problem.
Later Linux versions just worked fine.
Headphones, speaker and microphone work well with ALSA, I enjoy VoIP applications ;)
topThe EHCI USB 2.0 controller works fine out of the box
Same as above: no problems here
topThe Intel 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device works well, even native, open source 3D acceleration is available. Woot.
Note that this device uses shared main RAM, it has no significant amount of own Memory
If you want to use an external video beamer or monitor, you can't use both your monitor and the external device. Different workarounds are described here.
The hardware accelerated
mouse is only visible on the internal monitor, you have to switch it off
using Option "SWCursor" in the "Device" section of the
graphics device.
I haven't used my modem until now, so I haven't had any motivation to test it. But I think I recall that there are kernel modules available...
topBetwenn keyboard and screen there are a few keys known as the "application panel":
Currently they don't work with linux since they generate neither acpi- nor key events.
My hopes are high that they might work with Apanel, but with the current kernel 2.6.19 the module does not compile.
Now there a successor based on Apanel, named fjpanel, that works like a charm with recent (2.6.20.7) kernels.
Most of the C1110's hardware is well supported by Linux, so it is fun working with it. The Centrino (TM) technology ensures a high battery life time. With normal development tasks (using CPU frequency scaling and laptop-mode-tools) the battery lasts four to five hours. Under stress (high CPU usage) ~2.5 H are normal.
I strongly recommend to use an up to date kernel (at very least 2.6.9, 2.6.17.1 is fine...)
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82852/855GM Host Bridge (rev 02) 0000:00:00.1 System peripheral: Intel Corp. 855GM/GME GMCH Memory I/O Control Registers (rev 02) 0000:00:00.3 System peripheral: Intel Corp. 855GM/GME GMCH Configuration Process Registers (rev 02) 0000:00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corp. 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02) 0000:00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corp. 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02) 0000:00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03) 0000:00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03) 0000:00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03) 0000:00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB 2.0 EHCI Controller (rev 03) 0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801 PCI Bridge (rev 83) 0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801DBM LPC Interface Controller (rev 03) 0000:00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801DBM (ICH4) Ultra ATA Storage Controller (rev 03) 0000:00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) SMBus Controller (rev 03) 0000:00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03) 0000:00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03) 0000:01:0a.0 CardBus bridge: O2 Micro, Inc. OZ6933 Cardbus Controller (rev 01) 0000:01:0a.1 CardBus bridge: O2 Micro, Inc. OZ6933 Cardbus Controller (rev 01) 0000:01:0c.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) 0000:01:0d.0 Network controller: Intel Corp. PRO/Wireless 2200BG (rev 05)
Here is my .config for linux-2.6.15-git8 and for linux-2.6.17.1.
Here is my XFree configuration
For further information or critics please send me an email to <mlenz at physik dot uni-wuerzburg dot de>