SuSE Linux 10.1 installation on
FSC Amilo Pro V2030 Laptop


Bratislav Velickovic
www.velickovic.net
Last update: 2006-07-04

This document is free. You may copy, distribute it and/or modify under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2 published by the FSF.



 

What's the fuss about?

Text explains the process of installing SuSE Linux version 10.1 on Fujitsu-Siemens laptop Amilo PRO V2030.

What is (my) FSC Amilo Pro V2030


CPU: Intel Celeron M 1.50GHz
RAM : 512MB
Chipset: VIA VN800
GPU: Integrated Unichrome Pro with shared memory graphics up to 64Mb
HDD: Samsung SATA 40Gb (5400rpm)
DVD: DVD-RW with DL support
Display: 15" LCD display
Modem: Integrated AC97 Motorola soft modem
I/O: Audio, 2x2 USB 1.1 and 2.0, VGA out, Firewire
LAN: Ethernet controller VIA VT6102 (Rhine-II)
WLAN: Broadcom 802.11g BCM4318 chipset
# cat /proc/cpuinfo 
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 13
model name      : Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor         1.50GHz
stepping        : 8
cpu MHz         : 1496.622
cache size      : 1024 KB
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 2
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush  		  dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss tm pbe
bogomips        : 2996.36


# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. P4M800CE Host Bridge
00:00.1 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. P4M800CE Host Bridge
00:00.2 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. P4M800CE Host Bridge
00:00.3 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. PT890 Host Bridge
00:00.4 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. P4M800CE Host Bridge
00:00.7 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. P4M800CE Host Bridge
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 PCI Bridge
00:06.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)
00:0c.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx21/x515 Cardbus Controller
00:0c.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
00:0f.0 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VIA VT6420 SATA RAID Controller (rev 80)
00:0f.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)
00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)
00:10.4 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 86)
00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 ISA bridge [KT600/K8T800/K8T890 South]
00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 60)
00:11.6 Communication controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 80)
00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 78)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. UniChrome Pro IGP (rev 01)


# lspci -n
00:00.0 Class 0600: 1106:0314
00:00.1 Class 0600: 1106:1314
00:00.2 Class 0600: 1106:2314
00:00.3 Class 0600: 1106:3208
00:00.4 Class 0600: 1106:4314
00:00.7 Class 0600: 1106:7314
00:01.0 Class 0604: 1106:b198
00:06.0 Class 0280: 14e4:4318 (rev 02)
00:0c.0 Class 0607: 104c:8031
00:0c.2 Class 0c00: 104c:8032
00:0f.0 Class 0101: 1106:3149 (rev 80)
00:0f.1 Class 0101: 1106:0571 (rev 06)
00:10.0 Class 0c03: 1106:3038 (rev 81)
00:10.1 Class 0c03: 1106:3038 (rev 81)
00:10.4 Class 0c03: 1106:3104 (rev 86)
00:11.0 Class 0601: 1106:3227
00:11.5 Class 0401: 1106:3059 (rev 60)
00:11.6 Class 0780: 1106:3068 (rev 80)
00:12.0 Class 0200: 1106:3065 (rev 78)
01:00.0 Class 0300: 1106:3344 (rev 01)

How about installation


With kernel 2.6.16.13-4 shipped with SuSE 10.1 just select Installation - good news is you don't need to disable acpi nor to add any extra init parameters. Hardware was detected with no problems except Broadcom wireless adapter as OpenSuSE project no longer "accepts" responsibility for kernel behaviour if you are using ndiswrapper.

* Note

Broadcom wireless adapter is supported with either ndiswrapper drivers or with reversly engineered drivers found on Broadcom Linux Driver project page (included in kernel as of version 2.6.17-rc2). Which ever one you prefer there are pretty nice step-by-step guides on installation.
I have chosen and tested connection with ndiswrapper only (because there are not many wireles APs in my vincinity) but that doesn't mean I wan't try bcm43xx "way" though since I wan't to try and play with kismet WLAN sniffer!

Other Hardware

ALPS Glide Point - touchpad (which now can be disabled through Sax2!), USB ports, AC97 sound, all worked with no special tweaking. I haven't tested the modem as I neither had time nor need to do it.

Unichrome IGP Pro video

SaX2 detected generic LCD monitor with resolution set at 1024x768@75Hz and 16-bit color pallete while graphics controller has been detected as VESA framebuffer device VIA P4N800 PRO (2D acceleration). Unfortunately, new Sax2 design does not allow you to select graphics card yourself but only to set couple of parameters for FB device. Of course there are other driver options for VIA Unichrome Pro IGP chipset and even though I haven't installed any of the drivers mentioned bellow if someone is willing to try I'm providing links.

Besides VIA own 2D drivers on VIA Arena there are two more Unichrome (3D acceleration supposedely!) projects providing Linux drivers. Bellow are links to these projects.

Unichrome project at sourceforge.net, and OpenChrome project.

My final xorg.conf file looks as xorg-FSC-Amilo-V2030.conf (opens in new window)
If you are eager to try experimenting with your system you may download X.org rpms compiled for SuSE 10.1 with Openchrome support from Michal Ludwig (opens in new window).

Hotkeys

I haven't played with but as Bernhard M. Wiedemann suggests Hotkeys are supported in X11 by xhkeys This can be built with
rpmbuild --rebuild xhkeys-2.2.1-bmw1.src.rpm 
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/XHkeys:
xhkeys.plugin1: xhkeys_cdaudio;cda;devname="/dev/cdrom";devgrab=n
xhkeys.plugin2: xhkeys_mixer;vol;devname="/dev/mixer"channel=-1;devgrab=n
xhkeys.codeline1:       236;0;A;mozilla
xhkeys.codeline2:       178;0;A;gvim
xhkeys.codeline4:       174;0;PL;2;Volume -5
xhkeys.codeline3:       176;0;PL;2;Volume +5

Summary

FSC Amilo is a pretty nice laptop to have, though not as a supplement for your desktop, but simply you may take around with you as it is reasonably light and compact. It doesn't have all the connectors you may (n)ever need but it's still a reliable and fast machine for a reasonable price.