blog.amias.net - Westward Ho

Summary

Here are my installation notes for a Medion MD2765 ( badged microstar fam2000). It was a very straight forward install and i thouroughly recommend one of these laptops for linux use.

Spec:

Processor: AMD XP2500+ ( 1.8ghz - 399mhz )
Graphics: nVidia Corporation NV18M [GeForce4 488 Go] (rev a2)
Memory : 512MB 333mhz pc2700
Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8366/A/7 [Apollo KT266/A/333]
PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8366/A/7 [Apollo KT266/A/333 AGP]
CardBus bridge: ENE Technology Inc CB1410 Cardbus Controller
FireWire (IEEE 1394): Agere Systems FW323 (rev 04)
USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)
USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)
USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)
USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 82)
ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8235 ISA Bridge
IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
Communication controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 80)
Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 74)

Basic Installation of Ubuntu:

Booted ubuntu from the CDROM drive by pressing f8 during post to choose possible boot source. No special options or setup required.

stuff that just works

Firewire
USB
Ethernet
Video
PCCard

Setting up additional features

Touchpad
by default it was too slow moving so i added extra options to finetune it see xorg.conf below.

Video
Using the binary nvidia instead of the nv driver allows the composite and ext vga out to work via the toggle Fn+F3. The binary driver is also much faster and seems just as stable. This laptop *loves* Xgl and compiz , just install with apt-get and you are away . If you use xgl and compiz then -vo x11 works perfectly with mplayer. There is no gl acceleration with xgl but if you use the software rendering (mesa) then xgl should end up using your card . sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx restricted-modules nvidia-kernel-source xserver-xgl compiz
Buttons
The email and webrowser buttons can be assigned in system->preferences->keyboard shortcuts.

Unresolved issues

Hibernation
It seems to enter hibnation mode ok but either locks up or fails to switch the display back on ( can still ping from elsewhere).

Audio out noise
The audio out is very noisy when running on mains, especially when charging the battery . Could try 100hz instead of 1000hz kernel.

Configuration Files

xorg.conf


# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man /etc/X11/xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/CID"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi"
        # paths to defoma fonts
        FontPath        "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
        FontPath        "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/CID"
EndSection

Section "Module"
        #Load    "GLcore"
        Load    "bitmap"
        Load    "dbe"
        Load    "ddc"
        #Load    "dri"
        Load    "extmod"
        Load    "freetype"
        Load    "glx"
        Load    "int10"
        Load    "record"
        Load    "type1"
        Load    "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Generic Keyboard"
        Driver          "kbd"
        Option          "CoreKeyboard"
        Option          "XkbRules"      "xorg"
        Option          "XkbModel"      "pc105"
        Option          "XkbLayout"     "gb"
        Option          "AutoRepeat"    "250 30"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Configured Mouse"
        Driver          "mouse"
        Option          "CorePointer"
        Option          "Device"                "/dev/input/mice"
        Option          "Protocol"              "ImPS/2"
        Option          "ZAxisMapping"          "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Synaptics Touchpad"
        Driver          "synaptics"
        Option          "SendCoreEvents"        "true"
        Option          "Device"                "/dev/input/mice"
#psaux"
        Option          "Protocol"              "auto-dev"
        Option          "LeftEdge"              "120"
        Option          "RightEdge"             "830"
        Option          "TopEdge"               "120"
        Option          "BottomEdge"            "650"
        Option          "FingerLow"             "14"
        Option          "FingerHigh"            "15"
        Option          "MaxTapTime"            "180"
        Option          "MaxTapMove"            "110"
        Option          "ClickTime"             "0"
        Option          "EmulateMidButtonTime"  "75"
        Option          "VertScrollDelta"       "10"
        Option          "HorizScrollDelta"      "100"
        Option          "MinSpeed"              "0.45"
        Option          "MaxSpeed"              "0.75"
        Option          "AccelFactor"           "0.020"
        Option          "EdgeMotionMinSpeed"    "200"
        Option          "EdgeMotionMaxSpeed"    "200"
        Option          "UpDownScrolling"       "1"
        Option          "CircularScrolling"     "0"
        Option          "CircScrollDelta"       "0.1"
        Option          "CircScrollTrigger"     "2"
        Option          "SHMConfig"             "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "NVIDIA Corporation NV18M [GeForce4 488 Go]"
        Driver          "nvidia"
        BusID           "PCI:1:0:0"
        VideoRam        64
#       Option          "UseFBDev"              "true"
        Option          "NoLogo"                "true"
        Option          "RenderAccel"           "true"
        Option          "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Generic Monitor"
        Option          "DPMS"
        HorizSync       28-73
        VertRefresh     43-73
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Device          "NVIDIA Corporation NV18M [GeForce4 488 Go]"
        Monitor         "Generic Monitor"
        DefaultDepth    24
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           24
                Modes           "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier      "Default Layout"
        Screen          "Default Screen"
        InputDevice     "Generic Keyboard"
        InputDevice     "Configured Mouse"
        InputDevice     "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
        Mode    0666
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
        Option   "Composite"  "Enable"
EndSection

if you have any further questions or tips please leave comments