Linux on Laptop Asus M2400N

Preface

This is a survey about Linux related hardware features of the laptop Asus M2400N.

Febvre Valéry <vfebvre@easter-eggs.com>

General Hardware Data

Processor:

processor: 0
vendor_id: GenuineIntel
cpu family: 6
model: 9
model name: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1600MHz
stepping: 5
cpu MHz: 1600.089
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 mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 tm pbe tm2 est
bogomips: 3162.11

Hard Disk:

Designation : IBM Travelstar 80GN 2.5-inch hard disk drive
80Go - Ultra DMA/100 - S.M.A.R.T. supported - 4200 RPM
Model : IC25N080ATMR04
Ouput from command 'fdisk -l /dev/hda'

Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1               1         124      995998+  82  Linux swap
/dev/hda2   *         125        2556    19535040   83  Linux
/dev/hda3            2557        4988    19535040   83  Linux
/dev/hda4            4989        9729    38082082+  83  Linux

Ouput from command 'hdparm /dev/hda'

multcount    = 16 (on)
IO_support   =  1 (32-bit)
unmaskirq    =  0 (off)
using_dma    =  1 (on)
keepsettings =  0 (off)
readonly     =  0 (off)
readahead    = 256 (on)
geometry     = 16383/255/63, sectors = 156301488, start = 0

Ouput from command 'hdparm -tT /dev/hda'

Timing buffer-cache reads:   1664 MB in  2.00 seconds = 830.05 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads:   88 MB in  3.04 seconds =  28.95 MB/sec

Survey PCI Devices

Output from command 'lspci'

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 (ICH4) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB (ICH4) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB (ICH4) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB (ICH4) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BAM/CAM 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.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB (ICH4) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corp. 82801DB (ICH4) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03)
0000:01:03.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev a9)
0000:01:03.1 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev a9)
0000:01:03.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C552 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 01)
0000:01:04.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
0000:01:05.0 Network controller: Intel Corp. PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI Adapter (rev 04)

Optical Storage Device:

Interchangeable 5.25" ATAPI 16/10/24X CD-RW + 2/1/8X DVD-RW Combo module Toshiba, burnproof
Support module warm swap function

Power Management:

Full feature SMI power management, Stand-by, Suspend to Disk, and Suspend to RAM
APM 1.2 and ACPI 2.0

Memory:

My Asus M2400N was sold with 512 MB DDR266 DRAM.

Monitor:

14.1" XGA 1024x768 active matrix TFT, 252K colors max

Hardware and system configuration

Distribution:

I use the Debian Linux distribution. I choose it for severals reasons:
  • It's a none commercial distribution, so without delays.
  • It's very stable.
  • It has a very good packages system.

    • Kernel:

    My current Kernel version is 2.6.5. Here is my kernel config file.

    Video card:

    It's a Intel 855 GM and works fine with XFree86 i810 driver. The version of XFree86 is 4.3.0.
    Here is my XF86Config-4.
    My card hasn't TV output :-(. But the Xvideo extension support works. It's pretty fine to look movies in fullscreen with video acceleration. :-)
    To check XVideo extension info, you can used 'xvinfo' command.

    DRI & OpenGL:

    If you want 2D/3D acceleration (use GLX or DRI), you must activate Intel AGP, AGPGART and i830 support in kernel (CONFIG_AGP_INTEL, CONFIG_AGP, CONFIG_DRM_I830 options). If you choose to compile Intel AGP as module, be sure to load module before to start XFree86.
    Verify that you have a "DRI" section in your XF86Config file:
    Section "DRI"
        Mode 0666
EndSection
    To check GLX extension info, you can used 'glxinfo' command.
    To evaluate i855GM perfs, you can use 'glxgears' OpenGL app. On my laptop, I get ~1125 fps in 16 bpp and ~550 in 24 bpp.

    Network card:

    It's a RealTek RTL-8139 PCI Fast Ethernet network card. It's works fine with 8139too kernel driver.

    Wireless network card:

    It's an Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 3B Mini PCI. Works fine with Intel ipw2100 driver.

    Audio card:

    It's a built-in AC'97 compliant audio chip, with 3D effect & full duplex. It's works fine with snd-intel8x0 kernel ALSA driver.
    Don't forget to install the very useful alsa-utils package.

    Hard disk:

    You can get the temperature of your hard drive with hddtemp utility. Informations for my disk was not included in hddtemp database, but it's easy to find correct info with command:
    hddtemp -D /dev/hda
    I just add this line in file /etc/hddtemp.db 
    "IC25N080ATMR04-0"              194  C  "IBM Travelstar 80GN serie"

    ACPI:

    Power management options (ACPI, APM)
    [*] Power Management support
    ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) Support --->
        [*] ACPI Support
        [*]   Sleep States (EXPERIMENTAL)
        <M>   AC Adapter
        <M>   Battery
        <M>   Button
        <M>   Fan
        <M>   Processor
        <M>     Thermal Zone
        <M>   ASUS/Medion Laptop Extras
        < >   Toshiba Laptop Extras
        [ ]   Debug Statements
        [*]   Relaxed AML
    With ACPI, you can monitor the temperature of your Pentium M and your battery status.
    ACPI Extras for Asus provides access to your LED's and extra keys, e.g. for enable/disable the mail led:
    echo 1 > /proc/acpi/asus/mled (equiv. for wled)
echo 0 > /proc/acpi/asus/mled

    CPU:

    CPU Frequency scaling (with Intel Enhanced SpeedStep) works. Here is a fragment of my kernel 2.6 .config: 
    #
# CPU Frequency scaling
#
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_PERFORMANCE=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_PERFORMANCE=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_POWERSAVE=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_USERSPACE=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_TABLE=y

#
# CPUFreq processor drivers
#
CONFIG_X86_SPEEDSTEP_CENTRINO=y
CONFIG_X86_SPEEDSTEP_ICH=y
CONFIG_X86_SPEEDSTEP_LIB=y
    I use CpuDyn to dynamically control the speed of my Pentium M Centrino 1.6 GHz (You can used option -asus to get feedback with LEDs).
    Others CPUFreq softwares: Cpufreqd, Cpuspeedy

    Software modem:

    Coming soon.

    PCMCIA:

    Works perfectly

    IEEE1394 (aka firewire, i.link):

    No peripherals to test this yet.

    Touchpad:

    It's a Synaptics (or SynPS/2) touchpad. To active support under X, you must installed synaptics package and modified your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 as described follow:

    Add this line in the "Module" section: 
    Load "synaptics"
    Add this "InputDevice" section: 
    Section "InputDevice"
        Driver "synaptics"
        Identifier "Mouse0"
        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"
        # Option "Repeater" "/dev/ps2mouse"
EndSection

    Usb:

    Works with ehci-hcd and uhci-hcd modules.

    Disclaimer

    This document has nothing to do with Asus, they don't even know it exists. There is no guarantee that the information on this page is accurate, please don't hold me responsible if your experience is different from the information here.

    Document Licence

    The author owns this document.
    The document is freely distribuable under licence terms of GNU Free Documentation License (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html).
    All comments, suggestions or help is very welcome and encouraged.
    Please send whatever comment you want to the author.

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