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Update[2006-08-06]: New Infomation on ACPI and Suspend to RAM and disk

Debian on the Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pro V2000


Well, after I used Windows on this Notebook for about a year, I wanted to try a Linux again. I had Suse on this Notebook, but it didn't work really well, so I tried Ubuntu 5.10, it worked very nice, but the packages just were too old, so I switched to it's mother-os Debian, here's a guide for it:


Specifications
Installation
WLAN
Hotkeys
Touchpad
ACPI
Suspend to disk and RAM
TV and additional screen
Firewire
etc.


Specifications:
Intel Celeron CPU with 1,6 GHz and speedstep capabilities, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB HD, DVD+RW Drive. Networking: Broadcom Fast Ethernet NIC, IPW2200 wifi NIC.
Interfaces: 3 USB Ports, 1 Firewire Port, Intel Soundcard with built-in speakers and microphone, V90 Modem, parallel port, connection for external monitor or tv, IrDa, a PCMCIA slot, some hotkeys on the keyboard and a Synaptics Touchpad with a 4-way-button.[top]


The System:
Because I have a fast internet connection at home I have choosen the netinstallation cd from the Debian website for setting up Debian on my Notebook. I have chosen the testing release, codename "etch". The Bios has to be set on booting from CD. Debian recognized the ethernet nic automatically and set it up with dhcp. It installed grub as bootloader in the mbr of my harddisk.[top]


The wireless interface IPW2200:
There are debian packages out there I think, but because new firmware and driver version have been brought online a few days before my installation I decided to compile them myself. So first, if not already installed make an 'apt-get install wireless-tools'. Then go to there website http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net and download the firmware, untar it and put the files, except the licence-file to /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware.
Next you have to install the ieee80211 driver, you get a tar-archive from http://ieee80211.sourceforge.net, do a configure, make, make install and then do the same with the ipw2200 driver.
Next make a 'modprobe ieee80211' and 'modprobe ipw2200'. If there are no errors you can set them for loading on boottime by putting there names in the /etc/modules file. You also should make a file /etc/modprobe.d/ipw2200 including 'options ipw2200 led=1', if you want to make the wirelessled work. You need the hotkeys supportet, if you want to switch on the wireless device. Btw. theres that nice kde-application 'wlassistant' I use for scanning, if you want to use WPA, take a look at 'wpa_supplicant'.[top]


The hotkeys:
Again there's no debian package i think. You get the tar-file from http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de/~tauber/acerhk/, just untar it and do the magic steps configure, make, make install. Do a 'modprobe acerhk' and run 'xev' and see the keyboard-codes of your hotkeys. You can now put the module's name into /etc/modules, if you want to start it at boottime. But the really important thing is the wireless switch. Type 'echo "on" > /proc/driver/acerhk/wirelessled' and your wlan interface is activated, when you are running the ipw driver with the led=1 option, the wireless led begins to blink and you can use it for connection.
Maybe you want to put this into a shell script and start it on boottime, or connect it with a hotkey programm like 'lineak' (I use that one, theres a deb-package of it ;)) for enabling it when you press the wifi-button.See also the scripts-section.[top]


The touchpad:
This one is really easy! Do an 'apt-get install xfree86-driver-synaptics' and modify your /etc/X11/xorg.conf a bit:
-Put a 'Load "synaptics"' at the end of the 'Module' section.
-In the 'InputDevice' section for 'Configured Mouse' deactivate the 'CorePointer' option by putting a '#' before it and put a 'Option "AlwaysCore"' in a new line in that section.
-Now add a completely new section under the mouse section:

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "synaptics"
Identifier "Mouse[1]"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "LeftEdge" "1700"
Option "RightEdge" "5300"
Option "TopEdge" "1700"
Option "BottomEdge" "4200"
Option "FingerLow" "25"
Option "FingerHigh" "30"
Option "MaxTapTime" "180"
Option "MaxTapMove" "220"
Option "VertScrollDelta" "100"
Option "MinSpeed" "0.06"
Option "MaxSpeed" "0.12"
Option "AccelFactor" "0.0010"
Option "SHMConfig" "on"
EndSection [top]

ACPI:
Debian included the modules for that, so it wasn't a big problem to get that at work, I added the 'cpufreq_userspace' and 'speedstep_centrino' modules to /etc/modules and I am using powersaved for adjusting the CPU speed. I am using KPowersave for battery monitoring and manually adjusting of the CPU frequency. You don't need any deamon to run for controlling the CPU frequency, a "echo userspace >/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor" has the same effect, but I like the function of KPowersave, and that eyecandy-stuff ;). The ACPI buttons for power or display just worked from the beginning. [top]


Suspend to disk / to RAM:
Recently I tried the Suspend-to-RAM stuff. Well, it worked just ou-of-the-box, but it took quite long and the wireles extension wasn't active after restarting, so it's not worthwhile, since KDE has that nice I-save-everything-thats-active-on-the-desktop-feature. Like when you had XMMS and Konqueror open and after starting your computer the playlist is still loaded and pointing to he last played song and konqueror still shows your directory with all your MP3s.
The next big problem was suspend to RAM, I wrote it would work to suspend, but not to unsuspend. Well, that wasn't quite correct. Unsuspending works, but the graphic chipset isn't reinitialized, as c't wrote in the 15/2006 magazine[german]. I will give it a try in the next days. [top]


Connections for another screen and TV:
Untested yet, but it's the next thing I'll try, any hints? Send me a mail please: mail at christiangroeger dot de.[top]

Firewire:
I successfully connected my DV-Camera via ieee1394 with my Notebook, I needed the libraw1394 and gscanbus, I had to chmod 666 /dev/raw1394 and now I can grab movies if I like to, with kino or dvgrab. I will try ieee1394 networking soon.[top]

DVD-Drive:
It just worked, I already burned DVDs with it.[top]

USB:
I had a mouse and a usb storage stick connected, both worked well, but I have no USB2 devices that I can test.[top]

IrDa:
Not tested, not needed, I use a cable or bluetooth for that.[top]

Modem:
I haven't needed that yet, but I will try it when theres no ethernet alternative.[top]

Reader for SD-Cards, Memory Sticks:
Even with windows this one can't read memory stick duos bigger than 64 mb, so it's not really usable for me, in amilo-forum.de they say there are no drivers for that device, maybe i will try some day with a SD-card.[top]

PCMCIA:
I have no devices for that.[top]


by Christian Groeger (chris a:t proquariat dot de). If you find any errors, need help or have any additional information please send me a mail [download public key].
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Germany License.