Linux Laptop-HOWTO

Linux Laptop-HOWTO
Werner Heuser <[email protected]>
v2.2, 2 December 1999

Laptops are different from desktops/towers. They use certain hardware
such as PCMCIA cards, infrared ports, batteries, docking stations.
Often their hardware is more limited (e.g. disk space, CPU speed),
though the performance gap is becoming smaller. In many instances,
laptops can become a desktop replacement. Hardware support for Linux
(and other operating systems) on laptops is sometimes more limited
(e.g. graphic chips, internal modems). Laptops often use specialized
hardware, hence finding a driver can be more difficult. Laptops are
often used in changing environments, so there is a need for multiple
configurations and additional security strategies. Though there are
laptop related HOWTOs available already, this HOWTO contains a concise
survey of laptop related documents. Also, laptop related Linux fea-
tures, such as installation methods for laptops (via PCMCIA, without
CD drive, etc.), laptop hardware features and configurations for dif-
ferent (network) environments are described. Besides there are some
notes on PDAs, Handheld PCs and other mobile computer devices (digital
cameras, cellular phones, calculators). And though some caveats Linux
is a better choice for laptops, than most other operating systems.
Because it supports numerous installation methods, works in many het-
erogenoues environments and needs smaller resources.
______________________________________________________________________

Table of Contents

1. Preface

1.1 About the Author
1.2 Sponsoring
1.3 About the Document (Mirrors, Translations, Versions, Formats, URLs)
1.4 Contact

2. Copyright, Disclaimer and Trademarks

3. Which Laptop to Buy?

3.1 Introduction
3.2 Portables, Laptops/Notebooks, Sub/Mini-Notebooks, Palmtops, PDAs/HPCs
3.2.1 Portables
3.2.2 Laptops/Notebooks
3.2.3 Sub-Notebooks/Mini-Notebooks
3.2.4 Palmtops
3.2.5 Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)/Handheld PCs (HPCs)
3.2.6 Wearables
3.3 Linux Features
3.4 Main Hardware Features
3.4.1 Weight
3.4.2 Display
3.4.3 Batteries
3.4.4 CPU
3.4.4.1 Supported CPU Families
3.4.4.2 Miscellaneous
3.4.5 Cooling
3.4.6 Keyboard Quality
3.4.7 Price
3.4.8 Power Supply
3.5 Sources of More Information
3.6 Linux Compatibility Check
3.6.1 Related HOWTOs
3.6.2 Check Methods in General
3.7 Writing a Device Driver
3.8 Buying a Second Hand Laptop
3.9 No Hardware Recommendations

4. Laptop Distribution

4.1 Requirements
4.2 Recommendation

5. Installation

5.1 Related HOWTOs
5.2 Prerequisites - Partitioning
5.3 Linux Tools to Repartition a Hard Disk
5.3.1 GNU parted
5.3.2 ext2resize
5.3.3 fixdisktable
5.3.4 Caveats
5.3.5 Multi Boot
5.4 Installation Methods
5.5 From a Boot Floppy plus CD-ROM - The Usual Way
5.6 From a DOS or Windows Partition at the Same Machine
5.7 From a Second Machine With a Micro Linux On a Floppy
5.7.1 Introduction
5.7.2 Prerequisites
5.7.3 Source Machine
5.7.4 Destination Machine
5.7.5 Configuration of the Destination Machine after the Transfer
5.7.6 Miscellaneous
5.8 From a Second Machine With a 2.5" Hard Disk Adapter
5.9 From a PCMCIA Device
5.10 From a Parallel Port Device (ZIP Drive, CD Drive)
5.11 From a Second Machine Using the Parallel Port - PLIP Network Install
5.12 Installing Linux on Small Machines

6. Hardware In Detail

6.1 PCMCIA Controller
6.1.1 Linux Compatibility Check
6.1.2 Related HOWTOs
6.1.3 PCMCIA Configuration - Survey
6.1.3.1 Software
6.1.3.2 PCMCIA Controller
6.1.3.3 PCMCIA Card
6.2 Infrared Port
6.2.1 Linux Compatibility Check
6.2.1.1 SIR
6.2.1.2 FIR
6.2.1.3 Hardware Survey
6.2.2 Related HOWTOs
6.2.3 IrDA Configuration - Survey
6.2.3.1 IrDA
6.2.3.1.1 Kernel
6.2.3.1.2 Software
6.2.3.1.3 Hardware
6.2.3.2 Linux Remote Control - LiRC
6.3 Graphic Chip
6.3.1 Linux Compatibility Check
6.3.1.1 Video Mode
6.3.1.2 Text Mode
6.3.2 Related HOWTOs
6.3.3 Survey X-Servers
6.3.4 Resources
6.3.5 External Monitor
6.3.6 Miscellaneous
6.4 Sound
6.4.1 Linux Compatibility Check
6.4.2 Related HOWTOs
6.4.3 Survey Sound Drivers
6.5 Keyboard
6.5.1 Linux Compatibility Check
6.5.2 External (Second) Keyboard
6.6 Pointing Devices - Mice and Their Relatives
6.6.1 Linux Compatibility Check
6.6.2 Related HOWTOs
6.6.3 Mice Species
6.6.4 PS/2 Mice
6.6.5 Touchpad
6.6.6 Touchscreen
6.6.7 COMPAQ Concerto Pen
6.6.8 External Mouse
6.7 Advanced Power Management - APM
6.7.1 Linux Compatibility Check
6.7.2 Introduction
6.7.2.1 Kernel Land
6.7.2.2 User Land
6.7.3 Caveats
6.7.4 Troubleshooting
6.7.5 APM and PCMCIA
6.7.6 APM and Resuming X Windows
6.7.7 Modularization of APM
6.7.8 APM Resume Options
6.7.9 APM and Sound
6.7.10 Software Suspend
6.8 ACPI
6.9 Batteries
6.10 Memory
6.11 Plug-and-Play Devices (PnP)
6.12 Docking Station / Port Replicator
6.12.1 Definitions
6.12.2 Other Solutions
6.12.3 Connection Methods
6.13 Network Connections
6.13.1 Related HOWTOs
6.13.2 Connection Methods
6.13.2.1 PCMCIA Network Card
6.13.2.2 Serial Null Modem Cable
6.13.2.3 Parallel Port NIC (Pocket Adaptor)
6.13.2.4 Parallel "Null" Modem Cable
6.13.2.5 Docking Station NIC
6.14 Modem
6.14.1 Modem Types
6.14.2 Caveats
6.15 SCSI
6.15.1 Hardware Compatibility Check
6.15.2 Related HOWTOs
6.15.3 Survey
6.16 Universal Serial Bus - USB
6.16.1 Linux Compatibility Check
6.16.2 Miscelleaneous
6.17 Floppy Drive
6.17.1 Linux Compatibility Check
6.18 CD Drive
6.19 DVD Drive
6.20 Harddisk
6.20.1 Linux Compatibility Check
6.20.2 Miscellaneous
6.20.3 Form Factors
6.21 Video Port / ZV Port

7. Palmtops, Personal Digital Assistants - PDAs, Handheld PCs - HPCs

8. Cellular Phones, Pagers, Calculators, Digital Cameras, Wearable Computing

8.1 Cellular Phones
8.2 Pagers - SMS Messages
8.3 Digital Cameras
8.4 Calculators
8.5 Wearable Computing
8.6 Watches

9. Accessories

9.1 PCMCIA Cards
9.1.1 Card Families
9.1.2 Linux Compatibility Check
9.2 SmartCards
9.3 Memory Technology Devices - RAM and Flash Cards
9.4 Printers
9.5 Power and Phone Plugs, Power Supply
9.6 Bags and Suitcases

10. Different Environments - On the Road

10.1 Related HOWTOs
10.2 Configuration Tools
10.2.1 NetEnv
10.2.2 divine
10.2.3 Mobile IP
10.2.3.1 Resources
10.2.4 DHCP/BootP
10.2.5 PPPD Options
10.2.6 /etc/init.d
10.2.7 PCMCIA - Schemes
10.2.8 Bootloaders
10.2.8.1 LILO
10.2.8.2 Other Bootloaders
10.2.9 X-Windows
10.2.10 E-Mail
10.2.10.1 Features
10.2.10.2 Configuration of sendmail
10.2.10.3 Configuration for fetchmail on Laptop
10.2.10.4 Forward E-Mail to the Laptop
10.2.10.5 Processing Incomming E-Mail with procmail
10.2.11 Email with UUCP
10.2.12 More Info
10.3 Data Transport Between Different Machines
10.3.1 Hardware
10.3.2 Software
10.3.2.1 Version Management Software
10.3.2.2 CODA Filesystem
10.3.2.3 WWWsync
10.3.2.4 rsync
10.3.2.5 Xfiles - file tree synchronization and cross-validation
10.3.2.6 sitecopy
10.3.2.7 KBriefcase
10.4 Security in Different Environments
10.4.1 Introduction
10.4.2 Means of Security
10.5 Dealing with Down Times (Cron Jobs)
10.6 Noise Reduction
10.6.1 Console (Shell) and X
10.6.2 PCMCIA
10.6.3 Miscellaneous Applications

11. Other Resources

12. Repairing the Hardware

13. Solutions with Laptops

13.1 Introduction
13.2 Mobile Network Analyzer
13.3 Mobile Router
13.4 Hacking and Cracking Networks
13.5 Lectures
13.6 Mobile Data Collecting
13.6.1 Related HOWTOs
13.6.2 Applications
13.6.3 Specific Environments
13.7 Mobile Office
13.8 Connection to Digital Camera
13.9 Connection to QuickCam (Video)
13.10 Connection to Television Set
13.11 Connection to Cellular Phone
13.12 Connection to Global Positioning System (GPS)
13.13 Connection via Amateur Radio (HAM)
13.14 Satellite Watching
13.15 Aviation
13.16 Blind or Visually Impaired Users

14. Other Operating Systems

14.1 DOS/Windows9x/NT
14.1.1 Introduction
14.1.2 AID CDATA dostools
14.1.3 Partition Sharing
14.1.4 Installation without CD Drive
14.1.5 Miscellaneous
14.2 BSD Unix
14.3 OS/2
14.4 NOVELL Netware
14.5 Debian GNU/Hurd (hurd-i386)

15. ToDo

16. Revision History

17. Credits

18. Appendix A - Survey about Micro Linuxes

19. Appendix B - Dealing with Limited Resources or Tuning the System

19.1 Related HOWTOs
19.2 Introduction
19.3 Small Space
19.3.1 Introduction
19.3.2 Techniques
19.4 Harddisk Speed
19.5 Small Memory
19.5.1 Related HOWTOs
19.5.2 Techniques
19.6 Low CPU Speed
19.7 Power Saving Techniques
19.8 Kernel
19.8.1 Related HOWTOs
19.9 Tiny Applications and Distributions
19.10 Hardware Upgrade

20. Appendix C - NeoMagic Chip NM20xx

20.1 Introduction
20.2 Textmode 100x37
20.2.1 Survey
20.2.2 More Details
20.2.2.1 Enabling Linux to Boot in 800x600
20.2.2.2 Running
20.2.2.3 Now the Key Point
20.2.3 Road Map

21. Appendix D - Annotated Bibliography

22. Appendix E - Resources for Specific Laptops

22.1 IBM ThinkPad
22.2 Toshiba Laptops
22.3 COMPAQ Concerto Aero
22.4 DELL Laptops

______________________________________________________________________

1. Preface

Life is the first gift, love is the second, and understanding is the
third. -- Marge Piercy <http://www.capecod.net/~tmpiercy/>

1.1. About the Author

People like either laptops or desktops. I like to work with laptops
rather than with desktops. I like Linux too. My first HOWTO was the
Linux/IR-HOWTO <http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html> about
infrared support for Linux. My second is this one and my third the
Ecology-HOWTO, about some ways to use Linux in an ecology aware
manner.

Also I have written some pages about Linux with certain laptops:
Olivetti Echos 133 DM (German)
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/echos133.html> (together with Kurt
Saetzler), HP OmniBook 800CT <http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/hp800e.html>,
HP OmniBook 3100 <http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/hp3100e.html> (together
with Friedhelm Kueck) COMPAQ Armada 1592 DT
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/armada1592dte.html> and COMMODORE C286LT
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/c286lte.html>.

During the work with the Laptop-HOWTO I have collected some surveys
about laptop related hardware: graphic chips
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/graphic_linux.html>, unofficially supported
PCMCIA cards <http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/pcmcia_linux.html>, internal
modems <http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/modem_linux.html> and infrared chips
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/ir_misc.html>.

But I don't claim to be a laptop guru, I just had the opportunity to
install Linux on some laptops and I simply want to share the
information I collected.

Since I don't own a non-Intel based machine, this HOWTO might not
contain all the details for non-Intel systems or may contain
inaccuracies. Sorry.

1.2. Sponsoring

This HOWTO is free of charge and free in the sense of the General
Public Licence - GPL. Though it requires much work and could gain more
quality if I would have some more hardware. So if you have a spare
laptop, even an old one or one which requires repair, please let me
know. Especially I need one with infrared port, USB port, DVD drive,
WinModem and a non Intel machine. The according chapters need a major
rewrite. For the curious, this HOWTO is written on a HP OmniBook 800CT
5/100 <http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/hp800e.html>.

Or sponsor a banner ad at my WWW pages LiLAC - Linux with Laptop
Computers <http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html>.

You can hire me for readings or workshops on Linux with Laptops,
Repairing of Laptops and other Linux topics, too.

1.3. About the Document (Mirrors, Translations, Versions, Formats,
URLs)

Many times I have mentioned MetaLab formerly known as SunSite. This
site carries a heavy load, so do yourself a favor, use one of the
MetaLab mirrors <http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/MIRRORS.html> .

For Debian/GNU Linux the mirror URLs are organized in this scheme
http://www.<country code, e.g. uk>.debian.org .

This text is included in the LINUX DOCUMENTATION PROJECT - LDP
<http://linuxdoc.org/> .

Richard Worwood mirrors this HOWTO at
http://www.felch01.demon.co.uk/laptop-howto.html
<http://www.felch01.demon.co.uk/laptop-howto.html> .

Lionel, "trollhunter" Bouchpan-Lerust-Juery, <[email protected]>
provides a translation into French. You can download or browse it at
http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/portables/ressourcesfr.html#howto
<http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/portables/ressourcesfr.html#howto> .
And he mirrors the English version at
http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/portables/ressourcesen.html#howto
<http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/portables/ressourcesen.html#howto>

He has also written a HOWTO about portables and wearables, please look
at his pages http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/index.html
<http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/index.html> (French version)
http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/indexen.html
<http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/indexen.html> (English version).

Translations into Japanese (Ryoichi Sato <[email protected]>), Italian
(Alessandro Grillo <[email protected]>), Portuguese
(Gledson Evers <[email protected]> the translation will be
announced at LinuxALL <http://www.linuxall.org>) and Greek (Vassilis
Rizopoulos <[email protected]>) are under construction.

Please contact me before starting a translation to avoid double work.
Since a translation is a great amount of work, I recommend to do this
work as a group.

Nearly all of the programms I mention are available as Debian/GNU
Linux <http://www.debian.org> packages, or as RPM packages, look up
your favorite RPM server, for instance RUFUS
<http://rufus.w3.org/linux/RPM/ByName.html> .

The latest version of this document is available in different formats
at LiLAC - Linux with Laptop Computers
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html> .

1.4. Contact

This document isn't ready yet. If you like to write a chapter or even
a smaller part by yourself, please feel free to contact me. Also your
suggestions and recommendations and critics are welcome. But please
don't expect me to solve your laptop related problems if the solution
is already documented. Please read all according manual pages, HOWTOs
and WWW sites first, than you may consider to contact me or the other
resources mentioned below.

Since I want to write much more stuff about mobile computing and Linux
I'm thinking about turning this HOWTO into a book.

Werner Heuser <[email protected]>

2. Copyright, Disclaimer and Trademarks

Copyright (C) 1999 by Werner Heuser. This document may be distributed
under the terms set forth in the LDP license
<http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/COPYRIGHT.html> .

This is free documentation. It is distributed in the hope that it will
be useful, but without any warranty. The information in this document
is correct to the best of my knowledge, but there's a always a chance
I've made some mistakes, so don't follow everything too blindly,
especially if it seems wrong. Nothing here should have a detrimental
effect on your computer, but just in case I take no responsibility for
any damages incurred from the use of the information contained herein.

Some laptop manufacturers don't like to see a broken laptop with an
operating system other than the one shipped with it, and may reload
MS-Windows if you complain of a hardware problem. They may even
declare the warranty void. Though IMHO this isn't legal or at least
not fair. Always have a backup of both the original configuration and
your Linux installation if you have to get your laptop repaired.

Though I hope trademarks will be superfluous sometimes (you may see
what I mean at Open Source Definition
<http://www.opensource.org/osd.html>) : If certain words are
trademarks, the context should make it clear to whom they belong. For
example "MS Windows NT" implies that "Windows NT" belongs to Microsoft
(MS). Mac is a trademark by Apple Computer. All trademarks belong to
their respective owners.

3. Which Laptop to Buy?

3.1. Introduction

Portable computers may be divided into different categories. This is a
subjective decision, but I try to do so. My groupings roughly follow
the generally accepted marketing categories. The criteria could be:

1. Weight: Often expressed in terms like Portables, Laptops/Notebooks,
Sub/Mini-Notebooks, Palmtops/PDAs. There is no standard method to
define the weight of a laptop, therefore the data provided by the
manufacturers (and which are given below) have to be considered as
approximations. The question is how the power supply (wether
external or internal) or swappable parts like CD and floppy drive,
are included in the weight.

Most peripheral cables are appallingly heavy. If you get a
subnotebook and carry it around with a bunch of external drives,
cables, and port expander dongles and power converter, you may be
lugging a heavier bag than if it were all in one box. Subnotebooks
are useful mainly if you can afford to leave all the other junk
behind.

2. Supported Operations Systems: proprietary versus open

3. Price: NoName versus Brand

4. Hardware Features: display size, harddisk size, CPU speed, battery
type, etc.

5. Linux Support: graphic chip, sound card, infrared controller
(IrDA), internal modem, etc.

3.2. Portables, Laptops/Notebooks, Sub/Mini-Notebooks, Palmtops,
PDAs/HPCs

3.2.1. Portables

Weight greater than 4.0 kg (9 lbs). Features like a PC, but in a
smaller box and with LCD display. Examples: lunchbox or ruggedized
laptops (e.g., http://www.bsicomputer.com/
<http://www.bsicomputer.com/>)

3.2.2. Laptops/Notebooks

Weight between 1.7 and 4.0 kg (4 to 9 lbs). Features custom hardware
and usually a special CPU. Examples: HP OmniBook 3100, COMPAQ Armada
1592DT. The terms laptop and notebook seem equivalent to me.

3.2.3. Sub-Notebooks/Mini-Notebooks

Weight between 1.3 and 1.7 kg (3 to 4 lbs). Features: external floppy
drive, external CD drive. Examples: HP OmniBook 800CT, Toshiba
Libretto 100, COMPAQ Aero, SONY VAIO 505.

3.2.4. Palmtops

Weight between 0.7 and 1.3 kg (1.5 to 3 lbs). Features: proprietary
commercial operating systems. Examples: HP200LX.

3.2.5. Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)/Handheld PCs (HPCs)

Weight below 0.7 kg (1.5 lbs). Features: proprietary commercial
operating systems and often non-Intel CPU with commercial operating
systems like PalmOS, EPOC32, GEOS, Windows CE. Examples: Newton
Message Pad, Palm III (former Pilot), Psion Series 3 and 5, CASIO
Z-7000.

3.2.6. Wearables

Watches, digital pens, calculators, digital cameras, cellular phones
and other wearables.

3.3. Linux Features

Due to a lack of support by some hardware manufacturers, not every
feature of a laptop is always supported or fully operational. The main
devices which may cause trouble are: graphic chip, IrDA port, sound
card, PCMCIA controller , PnP devices and internal modem. Please try
to get as much information about these topics before buying a laptop.
But often it isn't quite easy to get the necessary information.
Sometimes even the specifications or the hotline of the manufacturer
aren't able to provide the information. Therefore I have included a
Linux Compatibility Check chapter in the Hardware In Detail sections
below.

Depending on your needs, you might investigate one of the vendors that
provide laptops pre-loaded with Linux. By purchasing a pre-loaded
Linux laptop, much of the guesswork and time spent downloading
additional packages could be avoided. See Kenneth E. Harker's page for
a list of vendors http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/
<http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/>.

3.4. Main Hardware Features

Besides its Linux features, there often are some main features which
have to be considered when buying a laptop. For Linux features please
see the Hardware In Detail section below.

3.4.1. Weight

Don't underestimate the weight of a laptop. This weight is mainly
influenced by:

1. screen size

2. battery type

3. internal components, such as CD drive, floppy drive

4. power supply

5. material used for the case, usually they are either from plastics
or from magnesium.

3.4.2. Display

Laptops come with one of two types of displays: active matrix (TFT)
and passive matrix (DSTN). Active matrix displays have better color
and contrast, but usually cost more and use more power. Also consider
the screen size. Laptops may be purchased with screens up to 15". A
bigger screen weighs more, costs more, and is harder to carry, but is
good for a portable desktop replacement.

3.4.3. Batteries

The available battery types are Lithium Ion (LiIon), Nickel Metal
Hydride ( NiMH) and Nickel Cadmium (NiCd).

LiIon batteries are the most expensive ones but a lot lighter than
NiCd for the same energy content, and have minimal -- but present --
memory effects. NiMH is better than NiCd, but still rather heavy and
does suffer some (although less than NiCd) memory effects.

Unfortenately most laptops come with a proprietary battery size. So
they are not interchangeable between different models.

3.4.4. CPU

3.4.4.1. Supported CPU Families

For details about systems which are supported by the Linux Kernel, see
the Linux FAQ <http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/iwj10/linux-faq/> . See
also Current ports of Linux OS
<http://www.ctv.es/USERS/xose/linux/linux_ports.html>

1. i286: Linux doesn't support this CPU family yet. But there are some
efforts at ELKS <http://www.elks.ecs.soton.ac.uk/>. If you like,
you may use Minix <http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/minix.html> one of the
predecessors of Linux. Minix supports 8088 to 286 with as little as
640K memory. Actually there are some laptops with ELKS around, for
instance the Commodore C286LT
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/c286lte.html>

2. i386: This covers PCs based on Intel-compatible processors,
including Intel's 386, 486, Pentium, Pentium Pro and Pentium II,
and compatible processors by AMD, Cyrix and others. Most of the
currently available laptops use Intel compatible CPUs and have
quite good Linux support.

3. m68k: This covers Amigas and Ataris having a Motorola 680x0
processor for x>=2; with MMU. And the early Apple/Macintosh
computers.

There was a long series of Apple PowerBooks and other laptops based
on the m68k chip. Macintosh Portable (an ugly 16-pound first
attempt); PowerBook 100, 140, 170, 145, 160, 180c, 165c, 520c,
540c, 550c, 190; Duo 210, 230, 250, 270c, 280. The PowerBook Duos
were available at the same time as the PowerBooks, they were a sort
of subnotebook, but were designed so that you could plug them into
a base station (a DuoDock) with more RAM, peripherals, etcetera, so
that they could also act as a desktop computer. The first PowerPC
PowerBooks were the ill-starred PowerBook 5300 (after the 190) and
the Duo 2300c.

For a complete list of all Macintosh computers ever made, with
specifications, see Apple-History <http://www.apple-
history.com/gallery.html>.

Note also that readers should *not* go to www.linuxppc.org for
hardware compatibility with 68k laptops--as the name implies,
LinuxPPC is only for PowerPC machines. The proper place to go for
information on running Linux on m68k Macintoshes is: linux-m68k
<http://www.mac.linux-m68k.org/>.

In particular, their hardware compatibility list is at: linux-m68k-
status <http://www.mac.linux-m68k.org/status/sysreq.html> and it
states in regards to laptops:

"Much like laptops of the Intel/Linux world, Mac laptops have
generally different setups that can be very hard to figure out.
Also, because of a general lack of machines to test, we are only
aware of boots on the Powerbook 145, Powerbook 150, Powerbook 170,
Powerbook 180, and Powerbook 190. Even if it boots, we currently
have no support for Powerbook-style ADB, the APM support, or just
about anything else on them. This means the only way to log in is
with a terminal hooked up to the serial interface, this has been
tested on the 170."

"Several Powerbooks have internal IDE which is supported. PCMCIA
drivers will be forthcoming if someone can supply the necessary
hardware information to write a driver. As always, an FPU is needed
also. Many of the later models have the 68LC040 processor without
FPU, and many of these processors are broken with respect to the
FPU trap mechanism so they can't run regular Linux binaries even
with FPU emulation. Current status on Powerbooks 140, 160, 165,
165c, 180c, 190, 520 and Duos 210, 230, 250, 270c, 280, and 280c is
unknown."

Also there are two Atari laptops, for which I don't have enough
information. The following quotations are from the Atari Gallery
<http://capybara.sk-pttsc.lj.edus.si/yescrew/eng/atari.htm>.

"The STacy was released shortly after the Mega ST to provide a
portable means of Atari computing. STacy computers were shipped
with TOS v1.04.

Designed to replace the STacy as the defacto portable ST computer,
the ST Book brought the basic computing power of an ST to a
lightweight notebook computer. This machine was only released in
Europe and Atari only shipped a very small quantity. The ST Book
was shipped with TOS v2.06."

Is there an Amiga notebook?

4. PowerPC (PPC): Although some driver support present in Intel based
Linux is still missing for Linux PPC, it is a fully usable system
for Macintosh PowerBooks. See LinuxPPC
<http://www.linuxppc.org/hardware/> for a current list of supported
machines.

BTW: The team at iMac Linux <http://www.imaclinux.net> has managed
to get the iMac DV to boot Linux to a usable point. You may get
information about the iBook there as well.

5. Alpha, Sparc, Sparc64 architectures: These are currently under
construction. AFAIK there are only the Tadpole SPARC and ALPHA
laptops, and some other ALPHA laptops available. For a current
survey look at Kenneth E. Harker's Linux on Laptops without x86
Family Processors at http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-
laptop/non-intel.html
<http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/non-
intel.html> .

6. StrongARM: a very low-power CPU found in Rebel.com's popular
NetWinder (some kind of mobile computer, too), and actively
supported in the Debian project, it is also in several WinCE
machines, such as HP's Jornadas. Only the lack of tech specs
prevents Linux from being ported to these tiny, long-battery-life
machines. A full-scale StrongARM-based laptop would make a superb
Linux platform, but none exists yet.

For PDAs with ARM/StrongARM CPU see the PDA chapter below.

7. MIPS: Used in SGI mainframes and Cobalt Micro intranet appliances,
chips based on this architecture are used in many Wince machines.
Linux has been ported to a few of these, including the lovely
little Vadem Clio. Vadem has been admirably cooperative.

More about Linux on Wince boxes may be found at LinuxCE-FAQ
<http://www.2gn.com/~jjorgens/linuxce_faq.html>.

3.4.4.2. Miscellaneous

At higher speed, a CPU consumes more power and generates more heat.
Therefore, in many laptops a special low-power CMOS CPU is used.
Usually, this special CPU doesn't use as much power as a similar
processor used in a desktop. These special CPUs are also more
expensive. As a side effect you may find that laptops with a desktop
CPU often have a fan which seems quite loud.

3.4.5. Cooling

An enormously important issue. Anything based on PPC or Pentium will
generate enormous amounts of heat which must be dissipated.Generally,
this means either a fan, or a heat sink the size of the case.If it's a
fan, the air path had better not ever get blocked, or it will overhead
and burn out.This means machines with a fan mounted in the bottom are
a big, big mistake: you can't use them on a soft surface.

3.4.6. Keyboard Quality

Though you might use your desktop computer to do longer writings, a
good keyboard can save you some headaches and finger-aches. Look
especially for the location of special keys like: <ESC>, <TAB>,
<Pos1>, <End>, <PageDown>, <PageUp> and the cursor keys.

3.4.7. Price

Laptops are quite expensive if you compare them with desktops. So you
may decide between a brand or no-name product. Though I would like to
encourage you to take a no-name product, there are some caveats. I
have experienced that laptops break often, so you are better off, when
you have an after sales warranty, which is usually only offered with
brand products. Or you may decide to take a second hand machine. When
I tried this, I discovered that the laptop market is changing quite
often. A new generation is released approximately every three months
(compared by CPU speed, harddisk capacity, screen size etc.). So
laptops become old very quick. But this scheme often isn't followed by
the prices for second hand laptops. They seem too expensive to me.
Anyway if you plan on purchasing a second hand machine, review my
recommendations on checking the machine. For German readers there is
an online market place at http://www.hardware.de
<http://www.hardware.de>, which offers a good survey about current
prices for second hand machines.

3.4.8. Power Supply

If you travel abroad pay attention to the voltage levels which are
supported by the power supply. Also the power supply is often one of
the heavier parts of a laptop.

3.5. Sources of More Information

Specifications, manuals and manufacturer support often are not
helpful. Therefore you should retrieve information from other sources
too:

1. Highly recommended is the survey by Kenneth E. Harker
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/
<http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/> .

2. ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/packages/laptops/
<ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/packages/laptops/> .

3. Hardware-HOWTO

4. open hardware - The Open Hardware Certification Program
http://www.debian.org/OpenHardware/
<http://www.debian.org/OpenHardware/>

5. HARDWARE.doa.org - dedicated to the hardware aspects of (Linux)
computing http://hardware.doa.org/ <http://hardware.doa.org/>

6. How to Build a PC FAQ - excellent hardware overview by Billy Newsom
http://www.motherboards.org/build.html
<http://www.motherboards.org/build.html>

7. Last but not least the WWW itself.

3.6. Linux Compatibility Check

3.6.1. Related HOWTOs

1. Hardware-HOWTO

2. Kernel-HOWTO

3. PCMCIA-HOWTO

4. PCI-HOWTO

5. Plug-and-Play-mini-HOWTO

3.6.2. Check Methods in General

If you can't find the necessary information through the above
mentioned sources, you are on your own. Luckily, Linux provides many
means to help. For details see the Hardware on Detail section below.
In general you may use:

1. First of all the kernel itself. Look up what kind of hardware is
detected by the kernel. You get this information during boot time
or usually by dmesg or by looking into /var/log/messages.

2. If your kernel supports the /proc file system you may get detailed
information about PCI devices by cat /proc/pci Please read the
kernel documentation pci.txt. You may get further information about
unknown PCI devices at the database from Craig Hart at
http://members.hyperlink.net.au/~chart
<http://members.hyperlink.net.au/~chart>. From 2.1.82 kernels on
you may use the lspci command from the pci-utils package.

3. To retrieve information about Plug-and-Play (PNP) devices use
isapnp-tools .

4. Use scsi_info by David Hinds for SCSI devices or scsiinfo.

If you don't want to install a complete Linux you may retrieve this
information by using a micro Linux ( see appendix A). The package
muLinux provides even a small systest program and TomsRtBt comes with
memtest. To use memtest you have to copy it on a floppy dd
if=/usr/lib/memtest of=/dev/fd0 and to reboot from this floppy.

If your laptop came with Windows, you may determine a lot of hardware
settings from the installation. Boot into DOS or Windows to get the
information you need.

Using Windows9x/NT to get hardware settings, basically boot Windows,
then Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> System -> Device Manager
and write down everything, or make a hardcopy from the display using
the <PRINT> key, plus keep a log of settings, hardware, memory, etc.

Using MS-DOS and Windows3.1x you can use the command msd, which is an
akronym for MicroSoft Diagnostics. Or you might try one of the
numerous DOS shareware utilities: CHECK-IT, DR.HARD and others.

Sometimes it's difficult to know what manufacturer has built the
machine or parts of it actually. The FCC <http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-
bin/ead> "Federal Communications Commission On-line Equipment
Authorization Database may be used, if you are having problems
identifying the manufacturer of a laptop or notebook computer (or
other electronic device,) this site lets you search the FCC database
based on the FCC ID number you can usually find on the equipment if it
was marketed in the United States of America."

The Lothar Project <http://www.linux-mandrake.com/lothar/> is a
Mandrake-related project to provide a GUIed interface to get at
hardware configuration information on Linux-based systems. It provides
a library for different system informations, too.

Many laptops are no more compatible with Windows than Linux. David
Hinds, author of the PCMCIA drivers, points out that Toshiba notebooks
use a proprietary Toshiba PCMCIA bridge chip that exhibits the same
bugs under Windows as under Linux. IBM Thinkpads have serious BIOS
problems that affect delivery of events to the power management daemon
apmd. These bugs also affect MS-Windows, and are listed in IBM's
documentation as considerations.

Some incompatibilities are temporary, for instance laptops that have
Intel's USB chip will probably get full USB support, eventually.

3.7. Writing a Device Driver

If you encounter a device which is not yet supported by Linux, don't
forget it's also possible to write a driver by yourself. You may look
at the book from Alessandro Rubini, Andy Oram: Linux Device Drivers.

3.8. Buying a Second Hand Laptop

Some recommendations to check an used laptop, before buying it:

1. Review the surface of the case for visible damages.

2. Check the display for pixel faults. Maybe it's useful to take a
magnifying glass therefore.

3. Do an IO stress-test, .e.g. with the tool bonnie.

4. You may use memtest and crashme to achieve a memory test.

5. Do a CPU stress test, e.g. with the tool Byte or by compiling a
kernel.

6. Check the floppy drive by formatting a floppy.

7. Check the CD drive by reading a CD.

8. To check the battery seems difficult, because it needs some time:
one charge and one work cycle.

9. To check the surface of the harddisk you may take e2fsck. There is
also a Linux tool dosfsck or the other fsck tools.

10.
To test the entire disk (non-destructively), time it for
performance, and determine its size, as root do: time dd
if=/dev/hda of=/dev/null bs=1024k .

11.
Check wether the machine seems stolen. I have provided a survey of
databases for stolen laptops
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/stolen_laptops.html>.

AFAIK there is no Linux tool like the DOS tools CHECK-IT, DR. HARD,
SYSDIAG and others. These tools include many of the tests in one
integrated suite. One of the best IMHO is the tool PC Diagnostics 95
made by Craig Hart http://members.hyperlink.net.au/~chart
<http://members.hyperlink.net.au/~chart> . Despite the 95 in its name
it's plain DOS, tiny (76KB programm and 199KB data) reliable and free.
Unfortenately it contains no check for the IrDA port.

Please note this quotation from the disclaimer: "This program is
written with the target audience being a trained, experienced
technician. It is NOT designed to be used by those ignorant of
computer servicing. Displays are not pretty but functional.
Information is not explained since we are not trying to educate. This
software should be considered to be just like any other tool in a
tech's toolbox. It is to be applied with care, in the right situation,
in order to find answers to specific problems. If you are an end user
who is less than confident of dealing with computer hardware, this is
probably not a program for you."

Laptop computers, unlike desktop machines, really do get used up.
Lithium batteries are good for no more than 400 recharge cycles,
sometimes much fewer. Keyboards wear out. LCD screen backlighting
grows dim. Mouse buttons fail. Worst of all, connectors get loose as a
result of vibration, causing intermittent failures (e.g. only when you
hit the <Enter> key). We have heard of a machine used on the table in
a train being shaken to unusability in one trip.

3.9. No Hardware Recommendations

It's difficult to give any recommendations for a certain laptop model
in general. Your personal needs have to be taken into account. Also
the market is changing very quickly. I guess every three months a new
generation of laptops (according to harddisk space, CPU speed, display
size, etc.) comes into the market. So I don't give any model or brand
specific recommendations.

4. Laptop Distribution

4.1. Requirements

From the Battery-HOWTO I got this recommendation (modified by WH):

A Message to Linux Distributors

If you happen to be a Linux distributor, thank you for reading all
this. Laptops are becoming more and more popular, but still most Linux
distributions are not very well prepared for portable computing.
Please make this section of this document obsolete, and make a few
changes in your distribution.

The installation routine should include a configuration, optimized for
laptops. The minimal install is often not lean enough. There are a lot
of things that a laptop user does not need on the road. Just a few
examples. There is no need for three different versions of vi (as
found in Suse Linux). Most portable systems do not need printing
support (they will never be connected to a printer, printing is
usually done with the desktop system at home). Quite a few laptops do
not need any network support at all.

Don't forget to describe laptop-specific installation problems, e. g.
how to install your distribution without a cd-rom drive or how to
setup the plip network driver.

Add better power management and seamless PCMCIA support to your
distribution. Add a recompiled kernel and an alternative set of PCMCIA
drivers with apm support that the user can install on demand. Include
a precompiled apmd package with your distribution.

Add support for dynamically switching network configurations. Most
Linux laptops travel between locations with different network settings
(e. g. the network at home, the network at the office and the network
at the university) and have to change the network ID very often.
Changing a Linux system's network ID is a pain with most
distributions.

Add a convenient PPP dialer with an address book, that does not try to
start multiple copies of the PPP daemon if you click on the button
twice (e.g., the RedHat usernet tool). It would be nice to have the
PPP dialer also display the connection speed and some statistics. One
nice command line dialer that autodetects modems and PPP services is
wvdial from Worldvisions http://www.worldvisions.ca/wvdial/
<http://www.worldvisions.ca/wvdial/>.

4.2. Recommendation

The Debian/GNU Linux <http://www.debian.org> has most of the desired
features for a laptop installation. The distribution has a quite
flexible installation tool. The installation process is well
documented, especially concerning the methods which are useful at
laptops. All the binaries are tiny, because they are stripped. A
mailing list debian-laptop including a searchable archiv is provided.
And Debian/GNU Linux is free.

At the end of August 1999 the Debian Laptop Distribution - Proposal
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/debian_linux.html> was issued. And some
more laptop related packages and a Debian meta-package dedicated to
laptops are on the way.

Note: I know other Linux distributions work well with laptops, too. I
even tried some of them, see my pages about certain laptops mentioned
above.

5. Installation

5.1. Related HOWTOs

1. CDROM-HOWTO

2. Config-HOWTO

3. Diskless-mini-HOWTO

4. Installation-HOWTO

5. Pre-Installation-Checklist-mini-HOWTO

6. Update-mini-HOWTO

7. Hard-Disk-Upgrade-mini-HOWTO

8. Installation and getting started by Matt Welsh and others available
at the LINUX DOCUMENTATION PROJECT http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP
<http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP>

9. Installing Debian Linux 2.1 For x86 by Bruce Perens, Sven Rudolph,
Igor Grobman, James Treacy, Adam P. Harris
ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/slink/main/disks-
i386/current/install.html
<ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/slink/main/disks-
i386/current/install.html>

10.
Install-From-Zip-mini-HOWTO

11.
ZIP-Drive-mini-HOWTO <http://www.torque.net/~campbell>

5.2. Prerequisites - Partitioning

Partitioning can be done in a very sophisticated way. Currently I have
only some first thoughts. I assume that with laptops there are still
some reasons (e.g. updating the firmware of PCMCIA cards and BIOS) to
share Linux and Windows9x/NT. Depending on your needs and the features
of your laptop you could create the following partitions:

o BIOS, some current BIOSes use a separate partition

o suspend to disk, some laptops support this feature

o swap space Linux

o swap space Windows9x/NT

o Linux base

o Linux /home or data

o common data between Linux and Windows9x/NT

Note this chapter isn't ready yet. Please read the according HOWTOs
first.

5.3. Linux Tools to Repartition a Hard Disk

5.3.1. GNU parted

GNU parted <http://www.alphalink.com.au/~clausen/parted/> allows you
to create, destroy, resize and copy partitions. It currently supports
ext2 and fat (fat16 and fat32) filesystems, and MS-DOS disklabels.
This program can destroy data, and is not yet safe for general use.
parted is currently in its early developement stage.

5.3.2. ext2resize

ext2resize <http://www.dsv.nl/~buytenh/ext2resize/> is a program
capable of resizing (shrinking and growing) ext2 filesystems. Checks
whether the new size the user gave is feasible (i.e. whether the fs
isn't too occupied to shrink it), connected to the parted project.

5.3.3. fixdisktable

Something was recently published on the <linux-
[email protected]> mailing list about a partition recovery
program. I have not used this, nor examined it, nor read much about it
(except for the HTML page.) It may be useful to some of you if you
have problems with FIPS, Ranish Partition Manager/Utility or Partition
Magic destroying your partition information. You can find information
on this partition-fixer named "fixdisktable" at
http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/people/chaffee/fat32.html
<http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/people/chaffee/fat32.html>. It is quite a
ways down in that page. Or look for it via ftp in
ftp://bmrc.berkeley.edu/pub/linux/rescue/
<ftp://bmrc.berkeley.edu/pub/linux/rescue/> and locate the latest
"fixdisktable" in that ftp directory. (Source and binary dist should
be available.)

5.3.4. Caveats

Before repartitioning your harddisk take care about the disk layout.
Especially look for hidden disk space or certain partitions used for
suspend to disk or hibernation mode. Some laptops come with a
partition which contains some BIOS programs (e.g. COMPAQ Armada
1592DT). Search the manual carefully for tools like PHDISK.EXE,
Suspend to Disk, Diagnostic TOOLS.

Please see chapter ``DOS Tools to Repartition a Hard Disk'', too.

By Nathan Myers from LL - LinuxLaptops <http://www.linuxlaptops.com>:
"I partitioned a 10G Thinkpad drive last week and then none of fdisk,
cfdisk, or sfdisk would read the partition table any more. It turns
out I had created a partition that started on cylinder 1024, and
there's a bug common to all three programs that makes them fail in
that case. (I didn't try Disk Druid.) So, maybe you should add some
advice about not starting partitions on that cylinder."

5.3.5. Multi Boot

Please see the Different Environments chapter, for information about
booting different operating systems from the same harddisk.

5.4. Installation Methods

From the Battery-HOWTO:"Installing and using Linux on a laptop is
usually no problem at all, so go ahead and give it a try. Unlike some
other operating systems, Linux still supports and runs well on even
very old hardware, so you might give your outdated portable a new
purpose in life by installing Linux on it."

One of the great benefits of Linux are its numerous and flexible
installation features, which I don't want to describe in detail.
Instead I try to focus on laptop specific methods, which are necessary
only in certain circumstances.

Most current distributions support installation methods which are
useful for laptops, including installation from CD-ROM, via PCMCIA and
NFS (or maybe SMB). Please see the documents which are provided with
these distributions for further details or take a look at the above
mentioned manuals and HOWTOs.

5.5. From a Boot Floppy plus CD-ROM - The Usual Way

With modern laptops, the usual Linux installation (one Boot Floppy,
one Support Floppy, one Packages CD-ROM) should be no problem, if
there is are floppy drive and a CD-ROM drive available. Though with
certain laptops you might get trouble if you can not simultaneously
use the floppy drive and CD-ROM drive , or if the floppy drive is only
available as a PCMCIA device, as with the Toshiba Libretto 100. Some
laptops support also booting and therefore installation completely
from a CD drive, as reported for the SONY VAIO in the VAIO-HOWTO.
Note: Check the BIOS for the CD boot option and make sure your Linux
distribution comes on a bootable CD.

Certain laptops will only boot zImage kernels. bzImage kernels won't
work. This is a known problem with the IBM Thinkpad 600 and Toshiba
Tecra series, for instance. Some distributions provide certain boot
floppies for these machines or for machines with limited memory
resources, Debian/GNU Linux http://www.debian.org
<http://www.debian.org> for instance.

5.6. From a DOS or Windows Partition at the Same Machine

This is a short description of how to install from a CD-ROM under DOS
without using boot or supplemental floppy diskettes. This is
especially useful for notebooks with swappable floppy and CD-ROM
components (if both are mutually exclusive) or if they are only
available as PCMCIA devices. I have taken this method from "Installing
Debian GNU/Linux 2.1 For Intel x86 - Chapter 5 Methods for Installing
Debian" http://www.debian.org <http://www.debian.org> :

1. Get the following files from your nearest Debian FTP mirror and put
them into a directory on your DOS partition: resc1440.bin
drv1440.bin base2_1.tgz root.bin linux install.bat and loadlin.exe.

2. Boot into DOS (not Windows) without any drivers being loaded. To do
this, you have to press <F8> at exactly the right moment.

3. Execute install.bat from that directory in DOS.

4. Reboot the system and install the rest of the distribution, you may
now use all the advanced features such as PCMCIA, PPP and others.

This should work for other distributions with similar changes. For
RedHat see How to Install from CD-ROM without Boot and Supplemental
Disks <http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-
laptop/install_advice.html> .

Some new laptops may be able to boot a Linux distribution on a
bootable CD-ROM (e.g., RedHat). This would allow installation without
a floppy disk drive.

5.7. From a Second Machine With a Micro Linux On a Floppy

5.7.1. Introduction

Because of their small or non-existent footprint, micro-Linuxes are
especially suited to run on laptops, particularly if you use a
company-provided laptop running Windows9x/NT. Or for installation
purposes using another non Linux machine. There are several micro
Linux distributions out there that boot from one or two floppies and
run off a ramdisk. See appendix A for a listing of distributions.

I tried the following with muLinux http://mulinux.firenze.linux.it/
<http://mulinux.firenze.linux.it/> to clone my HP OmniBook 800 to a
COMPAQ Armada 1592DT. Thanks to Michele Andreoli, maintainer of
muLinux for his support. Since muLinux doesn't support PCMCIA yet, you
may use TomsRtBt instead. In turn TomsRtBt doesn't support PPP but
provides slip. Note: Since version 7.0 muLinux provides an Add-On with
PCMCIA support.

I have described how to copy an already existing partition, but it
might be also possible to achieve a customized installation. Note:
Usually you would try to achieve an installation via NFS, which is
supported by many distributions. Or if your sources are not at a Linux
machine you might try the SMB protocol with SAMBA, which is also
supported by muLinux .

5.7.2. Prerequisites

You need two machines equipped with Linux. With the laptop
(client/destination) on which you want to install Linux use the
muLinux floppy. The other machine (server/source) may be a usual Linux
box or also using muLinux. Though its low transfer rate I use a serial
null modem cable because its cheap. You may apply the according method
using a PCMCIA network card and a crossover network cable or a HUB, or
a parallel "null modem" cable and PLIP. As the basic protocol I used
PPP, but you may also use SLIP. For the data-transfer I used nc. Note:
this is an abbrevation for netcat, some distributions use this as the
program name. You may use ftp, tftp, rsh, ssh, dd, rcp, kermit, NFS,
SMB and other programs instead.

Basic requirements are:

1. A good knowledge about using Linux. You have to know exactly what
you are doing, if not you might end destroying former
installations.

2. A nullmodem serial cable.

5.7.3. Source Machine

At your source machine issue the following commands (attention: IP
address, port number, partition and tty are just examples!):

1. Edit /etc/ppp/options, it should contain only:

___________________________________________________________________
/dev/ttyS0
115200
passive
___________________________________________________________________

2. With muLinux versions 3.x you may even use the convenient command
setup -f ppp .

3. Start PPP: pppd .

4. Configure the PPP network device: ifconfig ppp0 192.168.0.1 .

5. Add the default route: route add default gw 192.168.0.1 .

6. Check the network connection: ping 192.168.0.2, though the
destination machine isn't up yet.

7. Start the transfer from another console, remember <LEFT-ALT><Fx>:
cat /dev/hda2 | gzip -c | nc -l -p 5555 .

8. After the transfer (there are no more harddisk writings) stop the
ping: killall ping .

5.7.4. Destination Machine

At the destination machine issue:

1. Edit /etc/ppp/options, it should contain only:

___________________________________________________________________
/dev/ttyS0
115200
passive
___________________________________________________________________

2. With muLinux versions >= 3.x you may even use the convenient
command setup -f ppp .

3. Start PPP: pppd .

4. Configure the PPP network device: ifconfig ppp0 192.168.0.2 .

5. Add the default route: route add default gw 192.168.0.2 .

6. Check the network connection, by pinging to the source machine:
ping 192.168.0.1 .

7. Change to another console and get the data from the server: nc
192.168.0.1 5555 | gzip -dc >/dev/hda4 .

8. 400 MB may take app. 6 hours, but YMMV.

9. Stop the transfer, when it is finished with: <CTL><C> . This can
probably be avoided (but I didn't test it) by adding a timeout of 3
seconds using the -w 3 parameter for nc at the destination machine
nc -w 3 192.168.0.1 5555 | gzip -dc >/dev/hda4

10.
After the transfer is completed, stop the ping: killall ping .

5.7.5. Configuration of the Destination Machine after the Transfer

1. Edit /etc/fstab .

2. Edit /etc/lilo.conf and /etc/lilo.msg and start lilo .

3. Set the new root device to the kernel: rdev image root_device .

5.7.6. Miscellaneous

1. You may use bzip2 the same way as gzip (untested).

2. Since rshd, sshd, ftpd daemons are not available with muLinux you
have to build your own daemon with nc aka netcat, as described
above.

3. I had to set up both PPP sides very quick or the connection broke,
I don't know why.

4. Speed optimization has to be done, asyncmap 0 or local?

5. I checked this only with a destination partition greater than the
source partition. Please check dd instead of cat therefore.

Or do the following (untested): At the destination machine cd into
the root directory / and do nc -l -p 5555 | bzip2 -dc | tar xvf -.
At the source machine machine cd into the root directory / and do
tar cvf - . | bzip2 | nc -w 3 192.168.0.2 5555. This should shorten
the time needed for the operation, too. Because only the allocated
blocks need to be transfered.

6. Don't mount the destination partition.

5.8. From a Second Machine With a 2.5" Hard Disk Adapter

From Adam Sulmicki [email protected] I got this hint: Most but not all
harddisks in laptops are removable, but this might be not an easy
task. You could just buy one of those cheap 2.5" IDE
converters/adapters which allow you to connect this harddisk
temporarily to a PC with IDE subsystem, and install Linux as usual
using that PC. You may do so using the harddisk as the first IDE drive
or besides as the second IDE drive. But than you need to be sure that
lilo writes to the right partition. Also you have to make sure that
you use the same translation style as your laptop is going to use
(i.e. LBA vs. LARGE vs. CHS ). You find additional information in the
Hard-Disk-Upgrade-mini-HOWTO. You might copy an existing partition,
but it is also possible to achieve a customized installation.

5.9. From a PCMCIA Device

Since I don't have a laptop which comes with a PCMCIA floppy drive
(for instance Toshiba Libretto 100), I couldn't check this method.
Please see the chapter Booting from a PCMCIA Device in the PCMCIA-
HOWTO. Also I couldn't check whether booting from a PCMCIA harddisk is
possible.

Anyway, when you are able to boot from a floppy and the laptop
provides a PCMCIA slot, it should be possible to use different PCMCIA
cards to connect to another machine, to an external SCSI device,
different external CD and ZIP drives and others. Usually these methods
are described in the documentation which is provided with the
distribution.

5.10. From a Parallel Port Device (ZIP Drive, CD Drive)

I couldn't check this method by myself, because I don't have such a
device. Please check the according Install-From-Zip-mini-HOWTO and CD-
HOWTO. Also I don't know how much these installation methods are
supported by the Linux distributions or the micro Linuxes. I suppose
you have to fiddle around a bit to get this working.

5.11. From a Second Machine Using the Parallel Port - PLIP Network
Install

I got this courtesy by Nathan Myers <[email protected]>: "Many
distributions support installing via a network, using FTP, HTTP, or
NFS. It is increasingly common for laptops to have only a single
PCMCIA slot, already occupied by the boot floppy drive. Usually the
boot floppy image has drivers for neither the floppy drive itself, nor
the PCMCIA subsystem. Thus, the only network interface available may
be the parallel port.

Installation via the parallel port using the PLIP protocol has been
demonstrated on, at least, Red Hat. All you need is a Laplink parallel
cable, cheap at any computer store. See the PLIP-mini-HOWTO for
details on setting up the connection. Note that (uniquely) the RedHat
installation requires that the other end of the PLIP connection be
configured to use ARP (apparently because RedHat uses the DOS driver
in their installer). On the host, either export your CD file system on
NFS, or mount it where the ftp or web daemon can find it, as needed
for the installation."

The PLIP Install HOWTO by Gilles Lamiral describes how to install the
Debian GNU-Linux distribution on a computer without ethernet card, nor
cdrom, but just a local floppy drive and a remote nfs server attached
by a Null-Modem parallel cable. The nfs server has a cdrom drive
mounted and exported.

5.12. Installing Linux on Small Machines

If you have less than 8MB memory and want to install via NFS you may
get the message "fork: out of memory". To handle this problem, use
fdisk to make a swap partition (fdisk should be on the install floppy
or take one of the mini Linuxes described above). Then try to boot
from the install floppy again. Before configuring the NFS connection
change to another console (for instance by pressing <ALT><2>) and
issue swapon /dev/xxx (xxx = swap partition ). Thanks to Thomas
Schmaltz.

6. Hardware In Detail

6.1. PCMCIA Controller

6.1.1. Linux Compatibility Check

With the probe command, which is included in the PCMCIA-CS package by
David Hinds you can get the type of the PCMCIA controller. Often this
shows also up with cat /proc/pci .

6.1.2. Related HOWTOs

1. PCMCIA-HOWTO

6.1.3. PCMCIA Configuration - Survey

In the mailing lists where I'm a member, the question "How can I set
up PCMCIA support, after the Linux installation?" comes up sometimes.
Therefore I try to give a short survey. But the authoritative source
for the latest information about the PCMCIA Card Services for Linux,
including documentation, files, and generic PCMCIA information is the
Linux PCMCIA Information Page <http://pcmcia.sourceforge.org> . For
problems with PCMCIA and APM see the APM chapter.

6.1.3.1. Software

1. Read the PCMCIA HOWTO, usually included in the PCMCIA-CS package.

2. Install the newest available PCMCIA-CS package, if you take a rpm
or deb package it is quite easy.

3. If necessary, install a new kernel. Note: With 2.2.x kernels PCMCIA
kernel support seems no longer necessary. I had no time to look
this up yet. Please read the according documents.

4. Make sure your kernel has module support and PCMCIA support enabled
(and often APM support)

5. Make sure your kernel also includes support for the cards you want
to use, e.g. network support for a NIC card, serial support for a
modem card, SCSI support for a SCSI card and so on.

6. If you have a custom made kernel, don't forget to compile the
PCMCIA-CS source against your kernel.

6.1.3.2. PCMCIA Controller

1. Use the probe command to get information whether your PCMCIA
controller is detected or not.

2. Edit the file /etc/sysconfig/pcmcia. It should include PCMCIA=y and
the type of your PCMCIA controller, e.g. PCIC=i82365.

3. Start the PCMCIA services typically via /etc/init.d/pcmcia start.
If you get two high beeps, everything should be fine.

4. If something doesn't work, check the messages in /var/log/messages
.

6.1.3.3. PCMCIA Card

1. Check your card with cardctl ident .

2. If your card is not in /etc/pcmcia/config, edit the file
/etc/pcmcia/config.opts accordingly. Take an entry in the first
file as a model. You may try every driver, just in case it might
work, for instance the pcnet_cs supports many NE2000 compatible
PCMCIA network cards.

3. A list of supported cards is included in the PCMCIA-CS package. The
current list you may find at
http://hyper.stanford.edu/~dhinds/pcmcia/ftp/SUPPORTED.CARDS
<http://hyper.stanford.edu/~dhinds/pcmcia/ftp/SUPPORTED.CARDS>.

Since there are not all cards mentioned I have set up a page PCMCIA
Cards "Unofficially" Supported by Linux
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html> .

4. If you use X, you can use cardinfo to insert, suspend, or restart a
PCMCIA card via a nice graphical interface.

6.2. Infrared Port

6.2.1. Linux Compatibility Check

To get the IrDA port of your laptop working with Linux/IrDA you may
use StandardInfraRed (SIR) or FastInfraRed (FIR).

6.2.1.1. SIR

Up to 115.200bps, the infrared port emulates a serial port like the
16550A UART. This will be detected by the kernel serial driver at boot
time, or when you load the serial module. If infrared support is
enabled in the BIOS, for most laptops you will get a kernel message
like:

______________________________________________________________________
Serial driver version 4.25 with no serial options enabled
ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A #first serial port /dev/ttyS0
ttyS01 at 0x3000 (irq = 10) is a 16550A #e.g. infrared port
ttyS02 at 0x0300 (irq = 3) is a 16550A #e.g. PCMCIA modem port
______________________________________________________________________

6.2.1.2. FIR

If you want to use up to 4Mbps, your machine has to be equipped with a
certain FIR chip. You need a certain Linux/IrDA driver to support this
chip. Therefore you need exact information about the FIR chip. You may
get this information in one of the following ways:

1. Read the specification of the machine, though it is very rare that
you will find enough and reliable information there.

2. Try to find out wether the FIR chip is a PCI device. Do a cat
/proc/pci . The according files for 2.2.x kernels are in
/proc/bus/pci . Though often the PCI information is incomplete. You
may find the latest information about PCI devices and vendor
numbers in the kernel documentation usually in
/usr/src/linux/Documentation or at the page of Craig Hart
http://members.hyperlink.net.au/~chart
<http://members.hyperlink.net.au/~chart> . From kernel 2.1.82 on,
you may use lspci from the pci-utils package, too.

3. Use the DOS tool CTPCI330.EXE provided in ZIP format by the German
computer magazine CT http://www.heise.de/ct/ftp/pci.shtml
<http://www.heise.de/ct/ftp/pci.shtml> . The information provided
by this program is sometimes better than that provided by the Linux
tools.

4. Try to get information about Plug-and-Play (PnP) devices. Though I
didn't use them for this purpose yet, the isapnp tools, could be
useful.

5. If you have installed the Linux/IrDA software load the FIR modules
and watch the output of dmesg, whether FIR is detected or not.

6. Another way how to figure it out explained by Thomas Davis
(modified by WH): "Dig through the FTP site of the vendor, find the
Windows9x FIR drivers, and they have (for a SMC chip):

___________________________________________________________________
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ratbert ratbert 743 Apr 3 1997 smcirlap.inf
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ratbert ratbert 17021 Mar 24 1997 smcirlap.vxd
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ratbert ratbert 1903 Jul 18 1997 smcser.inf
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ratbert ratbert 31350 Jun 7 1997 smcser.vxd
___________________________________________________________________

If in doubt, always look for the .inf/.vxd drivers for Windows95. Win-
dows95 doesn't ship with _ANY_ FIR drivers. (they are all third party,
mostly from Counterpoint, who was assimilated by ESI)."
7. Also Thomas Davis found a package of small DOS utilities made by
SMC. Look at http://www.smsc.com/ftppub/chips/appnote/ir_utils.zip
<http://www.smsc.com/ftppub/chips/appnote/ir_utils.zip> . The
package contains FINDCHIP.EXE. And includes a FIRSETUP.EXE utility
that is supposed to be able to set all values except the chip
address. Furthermore it contains BIOSDUMP.EXE, which produces this
output:

Example 1 (from a COMPAQ Armada 1592DT)

___________________________________________________________________
In current devNode:
Size = 78
Handle = 14
ID = 0x1105D041 = 'PNP0511' -- Generic IrDA SIR
Types: Base = 0x07, Sub = 0x00, Interface = 0x02
Comm. Device, RS-232, 16550-compatible
Attribute = 0x80
CAN be disabled
CAN be configured
BOTH Static & Dynamic configuration
Allocated Resource Descriptor Block TAG's:
TAG=0x47, Length=7 I/O Tag, 16-bit Decode
Min=0x03E8, Max=0x03E8
Align=0x00, Range=0x08
TAG=0x22, Length=2 IRQ Tag, Mask=0x0010
TAG=0x79, Length=1 END Tag, Data=0x2F
___________________________________________________________________

Result 1:

Irq Tag, Mask (bit mapped - ) = 0x0010 = 0000 0000 0000 0001 0000 so,
it's IRQ 4. (start at 0, count up ..), so this is a SIR only device,
at IRQ=4, IO=x03e8.

Example 2 (from an unknown machine)

______________________________________________________________________
In current devNode:
Size = 529
Handle = 14
ID = 0x10F0A34D = 'SMCF010' -- SMC IrCC
Types: Base = 0x07, Sub = 0x00, Interface = 0x02
Comm. Device, RS-232, 16550-compatible
Attribute = 0x80
CAN be disabled
CAN be configured
BOTH Static & Dynamic configuration

Allocated Resource Descriptor Block TAG's:
TAG=0x47, Length=7 I/O Tag, 16-bit Decode
Min=0x02F8, Max=0x02F8
Align=0x00, Range=0x08
TAG=0x22, Length=2 IRQ Tag, Mask=0x0008
TAG=0x47, Length=7 I/O Tag, 16-bit Decode
Min=0x02E8, Max=0x02E8
Align=0x00, Range=0x08
TAG=0x2A, Length=2 DMA Tag, Mask=0x02, Info=0x08
TAG=0x79, Length=1 END Tag, Data=0x00
______________________________________________________________________

Result 2:

a) it's a SMC IrCC chip

b) one portion is at 0x02f8, has an io-extent of 8 bytes; irq = 3

c) another portion is at 0x02e8, io-extent of 8 bytes; dma = 1 (0x02
=0000 0010)

Thomas Davis has placed some device information at
http://www.jps.net/tadavis/irda/devids.txt
<http://www.jps.net/tadavis/irda/devids.txt> .

WARNING: The package is not intended for the end user, and some of the
utilities could be harmful. The only documentation in the package is
in M$ Word format. Linux users may read this with catdoc, available at
http://www.fe.msk.ru/~vitus/catdoc/
<http://www.fe.msk.ru/~vitus/catdoc/> .

8. Use the Device Manager of Windows9x/NT.

9. You may also use the hardware surveys mentioned below.

10.
And as a last ressort, you may even open the laptop and look at the
writings at the chipsets themselfs.

6.2.1.3. Hardware Survey

I have made a hardware survey at http:/www.snafu.de/~wehe/ir_misc.html
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/ir_misc.html>. This list also contains
information about infrared capable devices which are not mentioned
here (mice, printers, remote control, transceivers, etc.).

To make this list more valuable, it is necessary to collect more
information about the infrared devices in different hardware. You can
help by sending me a short e-mail containing the exact name of the
hardware you have and which type of infrared controller is used.

Please let me know also how well Linux/IrDA worked (at which tty, port
and interrupt it works and the corresponding infrared device, e.g.
printer, cellular phone).

Also you can help by contributing detailed technological information
about some infrared devices, which is necessary for the development of
drivers for Linux.

6.2.2. Related HOWTOs

1. Linux/IR-HOWTO

6.2.3. IrDA Configuration - Survey

6.2.3.1. IrDA

The Linux infrared support is still experimental, but rapidly
improving. I try to describe the installation in a short survey.
Please read my Linux/IR-HOWTO http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html> for detailed information.

6.2.3.1.1. Kernel

1. Get a 2.2.x kernel.

2. Compile it with all IrDA options enabled.

3. Also enable experimental, sysctl, serial and network support.

6.2.3.1.2. Software

1. Get the Linux/IrDA software irda-utils at The Linux IrDA Project
<http://www.cs.uit.no/linux-irda/> .

2. Untar the package.

3. Do a make depend; make all; make install

6.2.3.1.3. Hardware

1. Enable the IrDA support in the BIOS.

2. Check for SIR or FIR support, as described above.

3. Start the Linux/IrDA service with irmanager -d 1 .

4. Watch the kernel output with dmesg .

6.2.3.2. Linux Remote Control - LiRC

Linux Remote Control http://fsinfo.cs.uni-sb.de/~columbus/lirc/
<http://fsinfo.cs.uni-sb.de/~columbus/lirc/> is maintained by
Christoph Bartelmus. "Lirc is a package that supports receiving and
sending IR signals of the most common IR remote controls. It contains
a device driver for hardware connected to the serial port, a daemon
that decodes and sends IR signals using this device driver, a mouse
daemon that translates IR signals to mouse movements and a couple of
user programs that allow to control your computer with a remote
control." I don't have valid information about how much infrared
remote control is working with laptop infrared devices.

6.3. Graphic Chip

6.3.1. Linux Compatibility Check

6.3.1.1. Video Mode

The tool SuperProbe is part of XFree86 and is able to check many
graphic chips. Please read the documentation carefully, because it
might crash your hardware. From man SuperProbe:

"SuperProbe is a a program that will attempt to determine the type of
video hardware installed in an EISA/ISA/VLB-bus system by checking for
known registers in various combinations at various locations
(MicroChannel and PCI machines may not be fully supported; many work
with the use of the -no_bios option). This is an error-prone process,
especially on Unix (which usually has a lot more esoteric hardware
installed than MS-DOS system do), so SuperProbe may likely need help
from the user.

...

At this time, SuperProbe can identify MDA, Hercules, CGA, MCGA, EGA,
VGA, and an entire horde of SVGA chipsets (see the -info option,
below). It can also identify several HiColor/True-color RAMDACs in use
on SVGA boards, and the amount of video memory installed (for many
chipsets). It can identify 8514/A and some derivatives, but not XGA,
or PGC (although the author intends to add those capabilities). Nor
can it identify other esoteric video hardware (like Targa, TIGA, or
Microfield boards).":

For testing reasons start the X server with X 2> <error.msg>. And try
to change the resolution by typing <CTL><ALT><+> or <CTL><ALT><->.
Note: the + or - sign have to be taken from the numeric pad, which can
be emulated at the letter pad by some laptops.

6.3.1.2. Text Mode

Just watch the display and determine if it works properly. If not, try
to enable different video modes at startup time. Setting up X can
sometimes be an exercise in trial and error.

6.3.2. Related HOWTOs

1. XFree86-HOWTO

2. XFree86-Video-Timings-HOWTO

3. XFree86-XInside-HOWTO

4. X-Big-Cursor-mini-HOWTO (useful when running X on a notebook with
low contrast LCD)

5. Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO

6. vesafb-mini-HOWTO

6.3.3. Survey X-Servers

You might discover that some features of your laptop are not supported
by XFree86, e.g. high resolutions, accelerated X or an external
monitor. Therefore I give a survey of available X servers.

1. XFree86 http://www.xfree86.org <http://www.xfree86.org>

2. VESA Frame-Buffer-Device, available with 2.2.x kernels and XFree86
3.3.2

3. Xinside aka AcceleratedX http://www.xig.com <http://www.xig.com> ,
commercial

4. SciTech http://www.scitechsoft.com <http://www.scitechsoft.com> ,
commercial

5. Metro-X at http://www.metrolink.com <http://www.metrolink.com>,
commercial .

If you can't get an appropriate X server working, but don't want to
effort a commercial X server you may try the VGA16 or the mono server
included in XFree86.

6.3.4. Resources

You may find a survey about X windows resources at Kenneth E. Harker's
page Linux on Laptops <http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-
laptop/> and a survey about current graphic chips used in laptops at
LiLAC - Linux with Laptop Computers
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html>.

6.3.5. External Monitor

There are several different methods to activate support for an
external monitor: as a BIOS option or during runtime with a keystroke
e.g. <Fn>+<F4>. Maybe you have to edit /etc/XF86Config by configuring
int_disp and ext_disp. If you can't get this to work with XFree, try a
demo version of the commercial X servers mentioned above. Also check
with the RedHat and SuSE WWW sites as they may have new, binary-only,
X servers that may work with your laptop.

6.3.6. Miscellaneous

Sometimes you may encounter a display not working properly in text
mode. Currently I don't have any recommendations, please see Keyboard-
Console-HOWTO.

Take care of the backlight AFAIK this device can only bear a limited
number of uptime circles. So avoid using screensavers too much.

For problems with X windows and APM please see the APM chapter.

6.4. Sound

6.4.1. Linux Compatibility Check

The only way I know to check this, is to compile the different sound
drivers into the kernel and check whether they are detected or not.
The best way to do so, is to compile them as modules because it's
easier to load different parameters such as interrupts and IO ports
than. For the new 2.2.x kernels, read the
/usr/src/linux/Documentation/sound/Introduction document by Wade
Hampton. This document may help you get started with sound. Also, you
might try one of the commercial sound drivers mentionend below.

6.4.2. Related HOWTOs

1. Sound-HOWTO

2. Visual-Bell-mini-HOWTO

6.4.3. Survey Sound Drivers

Many new laptops come with 16-bit sound. But MWave and some other
sound technologies won't work or are very hard to get working, e.g.
booting to DOS, loading a driver, then using the soundcard as a
standard SB-PRO. So you might need a commercial sound driver. With the
recent announcement of Linux support by IBM, it would be GREAT if IBM
supported the MWave under Linux (hint, hint...). As a last ressort you
may try the speaker module pcsnd, which tries to emulate a soundcard.

1. Kernel Sound Driver by Hannu Savolainen

2. ALSA Advanced Linux Sound Architecture <http://alsa.jcu.cz> ,
commercial or at least non-GPL (since I found a Debian/GNU Linux
package I'm not sure anymore, about the commercial status)

3. OSS UNIX Sound System Lite / OSS <http://www.4front-
tech.com/usslite/ossfree.html>, commercial or at least non-GPL
(since the 2.2.x kernels I'm not sure about the commercial status),
also available from http://www.opensound.com
<http://www.opensound.com> .

6.5. Keyboard

6.5.1. Linux Compatibility Check

Usually there are no problems with Linux and the keyboard. Though
there are two minor caveats: First the setleds program might not work.
Second the key mapping might not fit your needs. Some Unix users and
vi users expect to find the <CONTROL> key to the left of the <A> key.
Many PC-type keyboards have the <CAPS-LOCK> key there. You may use
xmodmap or loadkeys to re-map the keyboard. Some laptops (e.g.,
Toshiba) allow you to swap the <CAPS-LOCK> and <CONTROL> keys. Mark
Alexander offered this solution in the linux-laptop mailing list: On
RedHat, it's a one-line patch to /usr/lib/kbd/keytables/us.map , or
whatever file is referenced in /etc/sysconfig/keyboard:

______________________________________________________________________
*** us.map~ Tue Oct 31 14:00:07 1995
--- us.map Thu Aug 28 13:36:03 1997
***************
*** 113,119 ****
keycode 57 = space space
control keycode 57 = nul
alt keycode 57 = Meta_space
! keycode 58 = Caps_Lock
keycode 59 = F1 F11 Console_13
control keycode 59 = F1
alt keycode 59 = Console_1
--- 113,119 ----
keycode 57 = space space
control keycode 57 = nul
alt keycode 57 = Meta_space
! keycode 58 = Control
keycode 59 = F1 F11 Console_13
control keycode 59 = F1
alt keycode 59 = Console_1
______________________________________________________________________

6.5.2. External (Second) Keyboard

A second (or external) keyboard can be attached using the PS/2 port (I
suppose this is not possible via the serial port, since there is no
keyboard controller for the serial port). Also there is one laptop
with a detachable keyboard the Siemens Scenic Mobile 800. This machine
uses an infrared connection to the keyboard, but I don't know whether
this works with Linux. WARNING: Don't plug the external keyboard in
while the laptop is booted, or plug the mouse in the keyboard port and
the keyboard in the mouse port. On a Toshiba, this caused one user to
have to completely shutdown the laptop, remove the keyboard/mouse, and
do a cold reboot.

For PS/2 ports there are so called Y-Cable available, which make it
possible to use external mouse and external keyboard at the same time
if your laptop supports this feature.

Parport to AUX port adapter <http://www.suse.cz/development/input/> In
some cases one kbd port and one aux port is not enough and you may
want to add another keyboard or mouse. You can use this adapter,
together with the parkbd.c module for that.

On some laptops a splitter works to allow both mouse and keyboard to
be plugged in; on others it doesn't work at all.If you might want to
use both you had better check that it works, or you may find yourself
waiting anxiously for USB support.

Sun keyboard to PC serial port adapter
<http://www.suse.cz/development/input/>: Many people have dreamed
having their Sun Type 5 keyboard attached to their Linux box up to
now. And with this adapter, it is finally possible. Because the
standard Sun keyboards use TTL RS232 at 1200 bps to talk to the Suns,
it's very easy to make them talk to any non-Sun computer by converting
this to true RS232. All what you need is a MAX232 chip that'll take
care about the correct voltage levels, and also some chip to invert
the signals (CD4049 in the pic, I've used a 7400 quad-nand myself),
since the MAX232 inverts them as well, and we don't need this. This
all easily fits into a 25-pin serial connector.

6.6. Pointing Devices - Mice and Their Relatives

6.6.1. Linux Compatibility Check

You may check your mouse with the mev command from the GPM package.

6.6.2. Related HOWTOs

1. 3-Button-Mouse-mini-HOWTO for serial mice

2. Bus-Mouse-HOWTO

3. Kernel-HOWTO

6.6.3. Mice Species

1. Trackpad, Touchpad, used with the majority of current laptops

2. Trackball, e.g. COMPAQ LTE

3. Pop-up-Mouse, e.g. HP OmniBook 800

4. Trackpoint, Mouse-Pin, e.g. IBM ThinkPad and Toshiba

5. 3 Button Mice, e.g. IBM Thinkpads at least the 600s. I have heard
rumor about a 3 button mouse for Texas Instruments Travelmates, but
couldn't verify this yet.

6.6.4. PS/2 Mice

Most of the mice used in laptops are PS/2 mice (actually I don't know
one with another mouse protocol). You may communicate with the PS/2
mouse through /dev/psaux or /dev/psmouse. If you use X windows this
device and the protocol has to be set in /etc/XF86Config, too. In
earlier releases, sometimes the GPM mouse manager and X windows had
trouble sharing a mouse when enabled at the same time. But AFAIK this
is no problem anymore for the latest versions.

Speaking of Emulate3Buttons, 100ms is usually better than the 50ms
allowed in most default setups of /etc/X11/XF86Config.

______________________________________________________________________
Section "Pointer"
Protocol "PS/2"
Device "/dev/psaux"
Emulate3Buttons
Emulate3Timeout 100
EndSection
______________________________________________________________________

6.6.5. Touchpad

Usually a touchpad works with the PS/2 mouse driver. A tip: I've heard
that tipping with one , two or three fingers on the touchpad
simultaneously results in pressing the left, middle and respectively
the right mouse-button (by Martin Hoffmann <[email protected]> for
an IPC-Radiance 900).

There is also a dedicated touchpad driver available. The Synaptics
Touchpad Linux Driver
<http://www.pdos.lcs.mit.edu/~cananian/Synaptics/> supports pointing
devices used in notebooks by Acer, Compaq, Dell, Gateway, Olivetti,
Texas Instruments, Winbook, and others. Other URL N.N.
<http://compass.com/synaptics/>.

The recent gpm package (gpm >=1.8 <ftp://ftp.prosa.it/pub/gpm/>)
includes the above mentioned synaptics touchpad device driver. This
device driver has been developed by H. Davies <[email protected]>.
Instead of using the PS/2 compatibility mode of touchpad devices, you
can now use native touchpad mode with some pretty impressive features.

In addition to translating finger motion into mouse motion and
supporting the buttons, this support currently has several features
(from the README):

o a "tap" on the TouchPad causes a left mouse click

o a "tap" followed quickly by a finger motion causes a left button
drag type action.

o a "tap" in one of the corners causes an action the default
configuration is upper right causes middle mouse click and lower
right causes right mouse click

o more pressure on the touch pad speeds the motion of the cursor

o a "tap" with a motion component (default > 2mm) initiates a toss
and catch sequence. This is terminated by a finger touch on the pad
(the toss also ends after 1 sec since that is the idle timeout
period for the touchpad).

o if the finger moves close to an edge then the mouse motion will be
continued in that direction so that you don't need to pick up your
finger and start moving again. This continued motion is pressure
sensitive (more pressure is faster motion).

These features can be enabled/disabled and many of them have time and
speed parameters which can be adjusted to the taste of the user.

It seems gpm is best known as a console biased tool. This is true, but
you may use it as an X input device. gpm is used as a repeater device.
In this way you can use both the built-in synaptics touchpad with all
the features and at the same time a serial mouse (with three buttons).
This all works smoothly together. X reads the mouse events from a
named pipe /dev/gpmdata in a protocol it understands, which in my case
is Mouse-Systems-Compatible (5bytes). Most 3-button mice use the
default protocol. So a simple reconfiguration in XF86Config is all
that is required, after starting gpm in an appropriate way, of course.

gpm could be started on your laptop with the following arguments :
/usr/bin/gpm -t synps2 -M -t ms -m /dev/ttyS0 . Both touchpad and
serial mouse work in console and X mode. You do have to create the
named pipe /dev/gpmdata yourself.

Tapping with two fingers simultaneously to simulate a middle mouse
button works on Logitech touchpads used in a few machines.

Thanks to Geert Van der Plas for most of the touchpad chapter.

6.6.6. Touchscreen

The only laptop I know which includes a touchscreen is the Fujitsu
Biblo 112. It may work in PS/2 or serial mouse compatibility mode. But
I couldn't check this yet.

6.6.7. COMPAQ Concerto Pen

The latest version of the Linux Compaq Concerto Pen Driver
<http://www.cs.nmsu.edu/~pfeiffer/#pen> is available from Joe
Pfeiffer's home page.

6.6.8. External Mouse

For better handling, e.g. with a 3 button mouse you may use an
external mouse. This usually a serial mouse or a PS/2 mouse, according
to the port your laptop offers. Usually this is no problem.

For PS/2 ports there are so called Y-Cable available, which make it
possible to use external mouse and external keyboard at the same time
if your laptop supports this feature.

WARNING: Don't plug in the external mouse while powered up. If you
have separate mouse and keyboard ports, make sure you plug the mouse
in the mouse port and the keyboard in the keyboard port. If you don't,
you may have to do a hard reboot of the laptop to get it to recover.

6.7. Advanced Power Management - APM

6.7.1. Linux Compatibility Check

From the Battery-Powered-mini-HOWTO " .. for APM to work on any
notebook or energy-conscious desktop, the system BIOS ROM in the
machine must support the APM Specification standard. Furthermore, for
APM to work with the Linux operating system, the system BIOS ROM must
support either the 1.0 or 1.1 version of the APM standard, and it must
also support 32-bit protected mode connections. A system that supports
APM 1.1 is preferred, as it provides more features that the device
driver and supporting utilities can take advantage of."

You may get information about the APM version with the dmesg command
and in the /proc/apm file.

6.7.2. Introduction

Features of APM according to Documentation/Configure.help: "The system
time will be reset after a USER RESUME operation, the /proc/apm device
will provide battery status information, and user-space programs will
receive notification of APM events (e.g., battery status change). "

APM support consists of two parts: kernel support and user-land
support.

6.7.2.1. Kernel Land

For kernel support, enable the parameters in the corresponding kernel
section. Some features need special tweaking with certain machines
(e.g. IBM ThinkPad) or even don't work, ("TI 4000M TravelMate and the
ACER 486/DX4/75 because they don't have compliant BIOSes"). Currently
all distributions I know don't provide a kernel with APM support
enabled. So you usually have to compile your custom kernel. Please see
Kernel-HOWTO or distribution manual for details. The available APM
options are (please see Documentation/Configure.help in the kernel
source tree for more details):

o CONFIG_APM_IGNORE_USER_SUSPEND Just a workaround for some NEC Versa
M series laptops.

o CONFIG_APM_DO_ENABLE Enable APM features at boot time.

o CONFIG_APM_CPU_IDLE. Puts CPU in power save mode, if there is
nothing to do for the kernel.

o CONFIG_APM_DISPLAY_BLANK Some laptops can use this to turn off the
LCD backlight when the screen blanker of the Linux virtual console
blanks the screen. Note that this is only used by the virtual
console screen blanker, and won't turn off the backlight when using
the X Window system.

o CONFIG_APM_POWER_OFF Turns the machine completely down, when using
halt. This feature works with most laptops without problems.

o CONFIG_APM_IGNORE_MULTIPLE_SUSPEND Just a workaround for IBM
ThinkPad 560.

o CONFIG_APM_IGNORE_SUSPEND_BOUNCE Just a workaround for Dell
Inspiron 3200 and other notebooks.

o CONFIG_APM_RTC_IS_GMT Stores time in Greenwich Mean Time format. It
is in fact recommended to store GMT in your real time clock (RTC)
in the BIOS.

o CONFIG_APM_ALLOW_INTS Resolves some problems with Suspend to Disk
for some laptops, for instance many newer IBM ThinkPads.

Joey Hess <[email protected]> wrote at [email protected]
"I just installed kernel 2.2.12 on my laptop, and was having some
trouble getting apm working. it said apm disabled on user request at
boot time. Well, some grepping the kernel sources found that passing
apm=on to the kernel at boot time enables it now. I can't find any
record or docs of this change.

6.7.2.2. User Land

The utilities for userland support may be found at
http://worldvisions.ca/~apenwarr/apmd/
<http://worldvisions.ca/~apenwarr/apmd/>. APMD is a set of programs
that control the Advanced Power Management system found in most modern
laptop computers. If you run a 2.2.x kernel and want to experiment,
Gabor Kuti <[email protected]> has made a kernel patch that
allows you to hibernate any Linux system to disk, even if your
computers APM BIOS doesn't support it directly. IMHO you don't need
this features if your laptop provides a function key to invoke suspend
mode directly.

When you first install Linux, you will probably have to recompile the
kernel. The kernel that came with your distribution probably does not
have APM enabled.

Please see the Battery Powered Linux Mini-HOWTO by <[email protected]>
Hanno Mueller <http://www.hanno.de> and the page of Kenneth E. Harker
<http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/> for detailed
information.

README apmd?:On laptop computers, the APM support provides access to
battery status information and may help you to conserve battery power,
depending on your laptop and the APM implementation.

Rik Faith <[email protected]> has transferred maintenance of the Linux
apmd package over to me, Avery Pennarun <[email protected]> and
I'm finally getting around to making a release with the many updates
we've collected since the last release back in 1996.

Here's what apmd can do:

o apmd(8): logs the battery status to syslog every now and then and
handles background power management tasks;

o apm(1): a command-line tool to print the current battery status or
suspend the computer;

o xapm(1x): provides a battery meter for X;

o libapm.a: a library for writing similar APM applications.

Richard Gooch wrote: I'have had a look at the beta version of apmd,
and I still don't like it, because:
o Only supports one command to run at suspend time.

o Doesn't distinguish between user and system suspends.

o doesn't provide a way to disable policy (the sync(); sleep(0) ;
sync(); sleep(1); sequence)

o Does not document extra features.

o And I'm not sure that what we want is a single super daemon. A
collection of smaller daemons might be better, since it allows
people to pick and choose. A super daemon is bloat for those who
only want one small feature.

Though this topic was discussed controversly Richard Gooch has put
together a package suspendd at http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rgooch/linux/
<http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rgooch/linux/> .

Also, have a look at apmcd (apm based crontab) at
ftp://ftp.binary9.net/pub/linux/ <ftp://ftp.binary9.net/pub/linux/> .
A tool made by Nicolas J. Leon <[email protected]>
http://mrnick.binary9.net/ <http://mrnick.binary9.net/>.

Note: I didn't check wether this features are merged into one package
(apmd eventually) already.

6.7.3. Caveats

If you have another operating system preinstalled or use another
operating system at the same disk, make sure there is no "hibernation"
or "suspend" tool installed, which could severely interfere with
Linux, e.g. it might use disk space which is occupied by Linux or vice
versa.

6.7.4. Troubleshooting

If your machine worked with 2.0.x kernels but not with the 2.2.x
series, take this advice from Klaus Franken [email protected] :
"The default changed in 2.2. Search in the init-scripts for halt and
change it to halt -p or poweroff. See man halt , if you don't have
this option you need a newer version of halt." You may find it in the
SysVinit package.

On some new machines (for instance HP Omnibook 4150 - 366 MHz model)
when accessing /proc/apm, you may get a kernel fault general
protection fault: f000. Stephen Rothwell
<[email protected]> http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~sfr/
<http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~sfr/> explaines: "This is your APM BIOS
attempting to use a real mode segment while in protected mode, i.e. it
is a bug in your BIOS. .. We have seen a few of these recently, except
all the others are in the power off code in the BIOS wher we can work
around it by returning to real mode before attempting to power off.
Here we cannot do this."

apmd-rhcn-2.4phil-1 by RedHat ftp://rhcn.redhat.com/pub/rhcn/
<ftp://rhcn.redhat.com/pub/rhcn/> contains an unofficial patch for
shutting down the PCMCIA sockets before a suspend and patches for
multiple batteries.

According to Documentation/Configure.help: "Some other things you
should try when experiencing seemingly random, weird problems:

1. make sure that you have enough swap space and that it is enabled.

2. pass the no-hlt option to the kernel.

3. switch on floating point emulation in the kernel and pass the no387
option to the kernel.

4. pass the floppy=nodma option to the kernel.

5. pass the mem=4M option to the kernel (thereby disabling all but the
first 4 MB of RAM).

6. make sure that the CPU is not over clocked.

7. read the sig11 FAQ at http://www.bitwizard.nl/sig11/
<http://www.bitwizard.nl/sig11/> .

8. disable the cache from your BIOS settings.

9. install a fan for the video card or exchange video RAM.

10.
install a better fan for the CPU.

11.
exchange RAM chips.

12.
exchange the motherboard.

6.7.5. APM and PCMCIA

PCMCIA Card Services and Advanced Power Management (from the PCMCIA-
HOWTO):

"Card Services can be compiled with support for APM (Advanced Power
Management) if you've configured your kernel with APM support. ...
The PCMCIA modules will automatically be configured for APM if a
compatible version is detected on your system. Whether or not APM is
configured, you can use cardctl suspend before suspending your laptop,
and cardctl resume after resuming, to cleanly shut down and restart
your PCMCIA cards. This will not work with a modem that is in use,
because the serial driver isn't able to save and restore the modem
operating parameters. APM seems to be unstable on some systems. If you
experience trouble with APM and PCMCIA on your system, try to narrow
down the problem to one package or the other before reporting a bug.
Some drivers, notably the PCMCIA SCSI drivers, cannot recover from a
suspend/resume cycle. When using a PCMCIA SCSI card, always use
cardctl eject prior to suspending the system.".

6.7.6. APM and Resuming X Windows

"Many (most?) BIOSes fail to save and restore display controller chip
registers, and X has no protocol to be notified of resume events, so
on many systems suspend/resume is more-or-less incompatible with X."
Linux Laptops has created a fix for this problem.

Sometimes X windows and APM don't work smoothly together, the machine
might even hang. A recommendation from Steve Rader: Some linux systems
have their X server hang when doing apm -s. Folks with this affliction
might want switch to the console virtual terminal then suspend chvt 1;
apm -s as root, or, more appropiately.sudo chvt 1; sudo apm -s. I have
these commands in a script, say, my-suspend and then do xapmload
--click-command my-suspend .
6.7.7. Modularization of APM

As far as I remember this is controversly discussed, but I don't
remember the URL. It isn't a kernel feature yet.

6.7.8. APM Resume Options

The new 3.0beta versions add a new feature to apmd: it can run
arbitrary commands (like cardctl suspend) when you suspend or resume
your system. It also supports BIOS clocks that are set to UTC time.

6.7.9. APM and Sound

Lots of BIOSes fail to restore sound chip registers, so you may get a
squeal of feedback when you wake up the machine. A script in
/etc/apm/event.d can use aumix to save and restore sound mixer
settings.

6.7.10. Software Suspend

Software suspend enables the possibilty of suspendig machine. It
doesn't need APM. You may suspend your machine by either pressing
Sysrq-d or with 'swsusp' or 'shutdown -z (patch for sysvinit needed).
It creates an image which is saved in your active swaps. By the next
booting the kernel detects the saved image, restores the memory from
it and then it continues to run as before you've suspended. If you
don't want the previous state to continue use the 'noresume' kernel
option.

6.8. ACPI

ACPI stands for Advanced Configuration and Power Interface. This is a
specification by Toshiba, Intel and Microsoft. Besides many other
things it also defines power management. This is why it is often
compared to APM.

The ACPI4Linux project has started at the beginning of 1999. The
ACPI4Linux project is a kernel driver project aimed at implementing
full ACPI support for Linux, including fan control, dock/undock
detection and a WindowMaker dockable temperature meter. You may reach
it at ACPI4Linux <http://phobos.fachschaften.tu-muenchen.de/acpi/>.

6.9. Batteries

For information about available battery types, take a look at the
Hardware Features chapter above.

Please see Battery Powered Linux Mini-HOWTO by Hanno Mueller
<[email protected]> http://www.hanno.de <http://www.hanno.de/> Power
Supplies for Laptops - (Draft)
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/energy_laptops.html> for further
information.

Stephen Rothwell http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~sfr/
<http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~sfr/> is currently integrating a patch
that will add multiple battery support to the kernel APM.

From the mobile-update page (modified by WH): Discharge the battery.
If your battery runs only for about 20 minutes, you probably suffer
from memory effects. Most laptops do not discharge the battery
properly. With low powered devices like old computer fans they can be
discharged completely. This removes memory effects. You should do so
even with LiIon batteries, though they don't suffer much from memory
effext (the manual of an IBM Thinkpad says to cycle the batteries
through a full charge/discharge cycle 3 times every few months or so).

WARNING: Try this at your own risk! Make sure the voltage of the fans
is compatible to your battery. It works for me.

In the US, this company has most batteries for anything and can
rebuild many that are no longer manufactured: Batteries Plus, 2045
Pleasant Hill Road, Duluth, GA 30096 +1 770 495 1644.

6.10. Memory

Unfortenately most laptops come with a proprietary memory chips. So
they are not interchangeable between different models. But this seems
changing.

6.11. Plug-and-Play Devices (PnP)

The Plug and Play driver project for Linux is a project to create
support within the Linux kernel (see Linux.Org for more information)
for handling Plug and Play (and other semi-PnP) devices in a clean,
consistent way. It aims to allow a driver of any type of hardware to
have this hardware configured by the PnP driver in the kernel. This
driver is then notified when the device is reconfigured, or even
removed from the system, so as to allow for graceful action in these
circumstances http://www.io.com/~cdb/mirrors/lpsg/pnp-linux.html
<http://www.io.com/~cdb/mirrors/lpsg/pnp-linux.html> .

ISA PnP tools is another useful package.

And there is a project at RedHat
http://www.redhat.com/pnp/overview.html
<http://www.redhat.com/pnp/overview.html> .

The latest PCMCIA driver package (>>3.1.0) has utilities lspnp and
setpnp to manipulate PNP settings. Note that in 3.1.0 you may need
this patch to compile them:

______________________________________________________________________
-#ifdef __GLIBC__
+#if 0 /* def __GLIBC__ */
#include <byteswap.h>
#else
______________________________________________________________________

6.12. Docking Station / Port Replicator

6.12.1. Definitions

First some definitions. There is a difference between docking station
and port replicator.

I use the term docking station for a box which contains slots to put
some interface cards in, and space to put a harddisk, etc. in. This
box can be permanently connected to a PC. A port replicator is just a
copy of the laptop ports which may be connected permanently to a PC.

6.12.2. Other Solutions

I don't use a docking station. They seem really expensive and I can't
see any usefulness. OK you have to mess up with some more cables, but
is it worth so much money? Docking stations are useful in an office
environment when you have a permanent network connection, or need the
docking station's SCSI adaptor (e.g., for a CD-R).

Also all docking stations I know are proprietary models, so if you
change your laptop you have to change this device, too. I just found
one exception a docking station which connects to your laptop via IrDA
the IRDocking IR-660 by Tekram
http://www.tekram.com/Hot_Products.asp?Product=IR-660
<http://www.tekram.com/Hot_Products.asp?Product=IR-660> . It supports
these connectors: 10Base-T (RJ-45); PS/2 Keyboard; PS/2 Mouse; 25-Pin
Printer Port (LPT); IR Transceiver; Power (6 VDC). So it seems that a
VGA port and a port to connect a desktop PC directly are missing. This
device should work with Linux/IrDA, though I couldn't check it out.

I would prefer to buy a PC instead and connect it via network to the
laptop.

Or use an external display, which usually works well as described
above, and an external keyboard and mouse. If your laptop supports an
extra PS/2 port you may use a cheap solution a Y cable, which connects
the PS/2 port to an external keyboard and an external monitor. Note:
Your laptop probably has support for the Y cable feature, e.g. the
COMPAQ Armada 1592DT.

6.12.3. Connection Methods

AFAIK there are three solutions to connect a laptop to a docking
station:

1. SCSI port

2. parallel port

3. (proprietary) docking port

From Martin J. Evans [email protected]
<http://www.mjedev.demon.co.uk/index.html> "The main problem with
docking stations is getting the operating system to detect you are
docked. Fortunately, if you configure your kernel with the /proc file
system (does anyone not do this?) you can examine the devices
available and thus detect a docked state. With this in mind a few
simple scripts is all you need to get your machine configured
correctly in a docked state.

You may want to build support for the docking station hardware as
modules instead of putting it directly into the kernel. This will save
space in your kernel but your choice probably largely depends on how
often you are docked.

1) Supporting additional disks on the docking station SCSI card

To my mind the best way of doing this is to:

1. Either build support for the SCSI card into the kernel or build it
as a module.

2. Put the mount points into /etc/fstab but use the "noauto" flag to
prevent them from being mounted automatically with the mount -a
flag. In this way, when you are docked you can explicitly mount the
partitions off any disk connected to the docking station SCSI card.

2) Supporting additional network adaptors in the docking station

You can use a similar method to that outlined above for the graphics
card. Check the /proc filesystem in your rc scripts to see if you are
docked and then set up your network connections appropriately. "

Once you determine this information, you may use a script, similar to
the following example, to configure the connection to your docking
station at startup. The script is provided by Friedhelm Kueck:

______________________________________________________________________
# check, if Laptop is in docking-station (4 PCMCIA slots available)
# or if it is standalone (2 slots available)
# Start after cardmgr has started
#
# Friedhelm Kueck mailto:[email protected]
# 08-Sep-1998
#
# Find No. of Sockets
SOCKETS=`tail -1 /var/run/stab | cut -d ":" -f 1`

case "$SOCKETS" in

"Socket 3")
echo Laptop is in Dockingstation ...
echo Disabeling internal LCD Display for X11
echo
cp /etc/XF86Config_extern /etc/XF86Config
#
# Setup of PCMCIA Network Interface after start of cardmge
#
echo
echo "Setting up eth0 for use at Network ..."
echo
/sbin/ifconfig eth0 10.1.9.5 netmask 255.255.0.0 broadcast 10.1.255.255
/sbin/route add -net 10.1.0.0 gw 10.1.9.5
/sbin/route add default gw 10.1.10.1
;;

"Socket 1")
echo Laptop is standalone
echo Disabling external Monitor for X11
cp /etc/XF86Config_intern /etc/XF86Config
echo
echo Network device NOT setup
;;
esac
______________________________________________________________________

6.13. Network Connections

6.13.1. Related HOWTOs

1. PLIP-mini-HOWTO

2. NET-3-HOWTO

3. Ethernet-HOWTO

4. Term-Firewall-mini-HOWTO

6.13.2. Connection Methods

6.13.2.1. PCMCIA Network Card

If your laptop supports PCMCIA this is the easiest and fastest way to
get network support. Make sure your card is supported before buying
one.

6.13.2.2. Serial Null Modem Cable

Probably the cheapest way to connect your laptop to another computer,
but quite slow. You may use PPP or SLIP to start the connection.

6.13.2.3. Parallel Port NIC (Pocket Adaptor)

Accton Pocket Ethernet and Linux <http://www.unix-ag.uni-
siegen.de/~nils/accton_linux.html> This ethernet adaptor uses a
parallel port and delivers approximately 110k Bytes/s throughput for
those notebooks that do not have PCMCIA slots.

Linux and Linksys Ethernet Adaptors
<http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/linksys.html> A
short note on the use of the Linksys parallel-port ethernet adaptor
under Linux. This is a widely available networking adaptor that
doesn't require a PCMCIA slot.

6.13.2.4. Parallel "Null" Modem Cable

Offers more speed than a serial connection. Some laptops use chipsets
that will not work with PLIP. Please see PLIP-HOWTO for details.

6.13.2.5. Docking Station NIC

I don't have experience with a NIC in a docking station yet.

6.14. Modem

6.14.1. Modem Types

There are three kinds of modems available: internal, PCMCIA card or
external serial port modems. But some internal modems will NOT work
with Linux such as the MWave modems (IBM) or if the laptop has a
WinModem. This is caused by non-standard hardware. So you have to use
either a PCMCIA card modem or an external modem.

Quotation from the Kernel-FAQ: "9.Why aren't WinModems supported?
(REG, quoting Edward S. Marshall) The problem is the lack of
specifications for this hardware. Most companies producing so-called
WinModems refuse to provide specifications which would allow non-
Microsoft operating systems to use them. The basic issue is that they
don't work like a traditional modem; they don't have a DSP, and make
the CPU do all the work. Hence, you can't talk to them like a
traditional modem, and you -need- to run the modem driver as a
realtime task, or you'll have serious data loss issues under any kind
of load. They're simply a poor design."

"Win modems are lobotomized modems which expect Windows to do some of
their thinking for them. If you do not have Windows, you do not have a
connection. "

Anyway, I have set up a page collecting information on laptops with
internal modems at http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html> . Maybe it's possible to run
such modems with MS-Windows9x/NT emulators like wine or VMware, but I
don't know it.

Recently there is a driver for Lucent WinModems (alpha) available at
SuSE - Labs <http://www.suse.cz/development/ltmodem/> and LTModem
diagnostic tool <http://www.close.u-net.com>.

6.14.2. Caveats

WARNING: Pay attention to the different kinds of phone lines: analog
and ISDN. You can't connect an analog modem to an ISDN port and vice
versa. Though there might be hybrid modems available. Connecting to
the wrong port may even destroy your modem. Trick: If you are looking
for an analog phone port in an office building which is usually wired
with ISDN, take a look at the fax lines, they are often analog lines.

For tracking the packets on PPP you may use pppstats. Or pload this
provides a graphical view of the traffic (in and out) of the PPP
connection. It is based on athena widgets hence is very portable. It
also uses very little CPU time. The home of pload is
http://www.engr.utk.edu/~mdsmith/pload/
<http://www.engr.utk.edu/~mdsmith/pload/> .

6.15. SCSI

6.15.1. Hardware Compatibility Check

If unsure about the right SCSI support, compile a kernel with all
available SCSI drivers as modules. Load each module step by step until
you get the right one.

6.15.2. Related HOWTOs

1. SCSI-HOWTO

6.15.3. Survey

AFAIK there is no laptop yet with a SCSI harddisk. Though there are
two models with a built in SCSI port: Texas Instruments TI 4000 and HP
OmniBook 800. Maybe the PowerBook G3 has a SCSI disk, but I didn't
check this yet. The old Apple Powerbook Duo models had a SCSI hard
disk.

For other models, if you need SCSI support you may get it by using a
SCSI-PCMCIA card or via a SCSI adapter in a docking station.

6.16. Universal Serial Bus - USB

6.16.1. Linux Compatibility Check

You should get information about the USB controller with cat /proc/pci
and about USB devices with cat /proc/bus/usb/devices.

6.16.2. Miscelleaneous

Newer laptops come with the Universal Serial Bus (USB). I haven't
tried it on any of my systems because I don't have any USB devices.

Visit http://peloncho.fis.ucm.es/~inaky/uusbd-www/
<http://peloncho.fis.ucm.es/~inaky/uusbd-www/> for the USB Linux home
page. Also I have set up a page collecting information about laptops
and USB at LiLAC - Linux with Laptop Computers
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html> .

6.17. Floppy Drive

6.17.1. Linux Compatibility Check

Usually there are no problems connecting a floppy drive to a Linux
laptop. But with a laptop floppy drive you may sometimes not be able
to use every feature. I encountered the superformat command (from the
fdutils package) couldn't format more than 1.44MB with my HP OmniBook
800. You may also have difficulty when the floppy drive and CD drive
are mutually exclusive, or when the floppy drive is a PCMCIA device
(as with the Toshiba Libretto 100). With older laptops, there might be
a minor problem if they use a 720K drive. AFAIK all distributions come
with support for 1.44M (and sometimes 1.2M) floppies only. Though it's
possible to install Linux anyway. Please see Installation chapter.
Please see kernel documentation for boot time parameters concerning
certain laptop floppy drives, for instance IBM ThinkPad. Or man
bootparam .

6.18. CD Drive

Most notebooks today come with CD drives. If floppy and CD drive are
swappable they are usually mutually exclusive. Sometimes they come as
PCMCIA devices. Or as SCSI device (HP OmniBook 800). AFAIK there are
discmans available which have a port to connect them to a computer or
even a SCSI port. I found an article published by Ziff-Davis
Publishing Company (September 1996 issue, but missed to note the URL)
written by Mitt Jones: "Portable PC Card CD-ROM drives transform
laptops into mobile multimedia machines", which listed: Altec Lansing
AMC2000 Portable Multimedia CD-ROM Center; Axonix ProMedia 6XR; CMS
PlatinumPortable; EXP CDS420 Multimedia Kit; H45 QuickPCMCIA CD;
Liberty 115CD; Panasonic KXL-D740; Sony PRD-250WN CD-ROM Discman.

6.19. DVD Drive

The Linux Video and DVD Project <http://livid.on.openprojects.net> has
made great headway since its start last February. They have just
released the source code ( http://livid.on.openprojects.net/css.tgz)
so that a DVD decoder card can unlock and read the DVD. Also provided
on the site are links to various documents discussing DVD chipset
specifications. The Linux Video and DVD Project is avidly seeking help
from the opensource community for development.

Universal Disk Format (UDF) Driver
<http://www.trylinux.com/projects/udf/index.html>: "UDF is a newer
CDROM filesystem standard that's required for DVD roms. It's meant to
be a replacement for the ISO9660 filesystem used on today's CDROMs,
but the immediate impact for most will be DVD. DVD multimedia cdroms
use the UDF filesystem to contain MPEG audio and video streams. To
access DVD cdroms you would need a DVD cdrom drive, the kernel driver
for the cdrom drive, some kind of MPEG video support, and a UDF
filesystem driver (like this one). Some DVD cdroms may contain both
UDF filesystems and ISO9660 filesystems. In that case, you could get
by without UDF support."

6.20. Harddisk

6.20.1. Linux Compatibility Check

Useful programms are hdparm, dmesg, fsck and fdisk .

6.20.2. Miscellaneous

Be careful when using your laptop abroad. I have heard about some
destroyed harddisks due to a magnetic field emitted from the magnetic-
holds at the backresttable of the seats in a german railway waggon.

Though I am quite satisfied with the quality of the harddisk in my
laptop, when I removed it from the case I unintendedly dropped it, I
recommend to be very careful.

6.20.3. Form Factors

AFAIK there is only one form factor for harddisks used in laptops the
2.5" format. This format seems to be available in different heights
(Please note I couldn't verify this information yet):

o 18mm: laptops build before 1996 usually have drives 18mm high

o 12.7mm: I got a report about such disks but without a notebook
model or manufacturer name

o 11mm: since 1996 the drives are 11mm high

o 9mm: many laptops, including the subnotebooks, now use a 9mm-high
disk drive. The largest available in this format in late 1999 is
IBM 12GN.

o 9.5mm: Toshiba Libretto L70 and L100 have a 9.5mm HD

o 8.45mm: Toshiba Libretto 20, 30, 50 and 60 have 8.45mm tall HDs

o 6.35mm: Toshiba Libretto L1000 has a 6.35mm HD

It might be possible to use a hard disk wich doesn't fit with some
case modifications.

Some laptops come with a removable hard disk in a tray, for instance
the KAPOK 9600D. There seem to be no SCSI drives for laptops
available.

6.21. Video Port / ZV Port

Some high end laptops come with a video or ZV port (NTSC/PAL). Since I
don't have a laptop with a ZV or video port yet, I can provide only
some URLs http://www.thp.uni-koeln.de/~rjkm/linux/bttv.html
<http://www.thp.uni-koeln.de/~rjkm/linux/bttv.html> (driver)
http://www.mathematik.uni-kl.de/~wenk/xwintv.html
<http://www.mathematik.uni-kl.de/~wenk/xwintv.html> (tvviewer). For
further information see video4linux at
http://roadrunner.swansea.uk.linux.org/v4l.shtml <
http://roadrunner.swansea.uk.linux.org/v4l.shtml>. To collect
information about laptops with video port I have setup a page at
http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html> . Alternatively to the ZV
port you might use the USB port.

7. Palmtops, Personal Digital Assistants - PDAs, Handheld PCs - HPCs

Palmtops and PDAs are currently not much covered in this HOWTO. Anyway
it may be useful therefore, too. I just include some links, most of
them are from Kenneth E. Harker's page
<http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/> :

1. Highly recommended is the page by Russell King ARM Linux
<http://www.arm.uk.linux.org/~rmk/> about PDAs with ARM CPU and
with links to other Linux related PDA sites.

2. PalmOS-HOWTO (former Pilot-HOWTO) by David H. Silber.

3. Newton and Linux Mini-HOWTO
<http://privat.swol.de/ReinholdSchoeb/Newton/> .

4. Newtl: Newton/Linux Communications System
<http://www.tcel.com/~aehall/newtl/> Newtl allows a Linux machine
to communicate with a Newton PDA. Automatically send e-mail, print,
and fax outboxes through your Linux machine, and more.

5. PilotLink and XCoPilot <ftp://ryeham.ee.ryerson.ca/pub/PalmOS/>
PilotLink is an utility that performs data transfers from 3com
PalmPilot handheld computers to your Linux machine. XCoPilot is an
emulator of the PalmPilot operating system that runs under Linux.

6. PalmVNC <http://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/~minenko/PalmVNC> is an
implementation of the Virtual Network Client architecture that will
allow you to use a Linux or other UNIX machine to put up a (tiny) X
Window on a 3COM PalmPilot.

7. PDAs and infrared remote control, see Hiromu Okada
<http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA005810/remocon/remocone.htm>

8. AFAIK you can run Linux on the IBM PC110 (a tiny PC handheld that's
no longer manufactured). There's a HOWTO on it running around
somewhere but I don't have an URL, instead I found a description in
LINUX REDUX July 1997
<http://boardwatch.internet.com/mag/97/jul/bwm70.html> by Alan Cox.

9. For more information on Virtual Network Computing, see VNC
<http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc> .

10.
There is also the Handheld Systems(TM) On-line Archives
<http://www.cdpubs.com/hhsys/archives.html> and a search engine
about palmtop related topics Palmtop.Net/ <http://www.palmtop.net/>
.
11.
I have setup a small page about Linux with PDAs and Handheld PCs
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/pda_linux.html>, too.

8. Cellular Phones, Pagers, Calculators, Digital Cameras, Wearable
Computing

Though in my opinion related to the topic, these devices are not much
covered in this text, yet. For general information about Embedded
Systems, see http://www.embedded.com <http://www.embedded.com>. For
Linux information, see ELKS <http://www.elks.ecs.soton.ac.uk/> and the
uCLinux <http://ryeham.ee.ryerson.ca/uClinux> project. See
news:comp.arch.embedded

8.1. Cellular Phones

For NOKIA cellular phones see GNOKII project
<http://multivac.fatburen.org/gnokii/> . And Linux Nserver
<http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~syrinx/nserver/index.html>. This
project aim is to produce a GPL replacement for Nokia's Windows
Nserver, and maybe improve upon it along the way. Initially it will
emulate the Windows 3.1 version (ie. allow backup, restore and
install).

openWAP <http://www.openwap.org/> is an open source project for the
implementation of the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) for use with
browsers, servers and tools. WAP is used by PDA devices, cell phones,
pagers and other wireless devices to transmit internet content to
these devices. The project is still in its early stages and nothing
can be downloaded yet.

GSMLIB <http://www.pxh.de/fs/gsmlib/download/> is a library to access
GSM mobile phones through GSM modems. Features include: modification
of phonebooks stored in the mobile phone or on the SIM card, reading
and writing of SMS messages stored in the mobile phone, sending and
reception of SMS messages. Additionally, some simple command line
programs are provided to use these features.

8.2. Pagers - SMS Messages

QuickPage <http://www.qpage.org/> is a client/server software package
that enables you to send messages to an alphanumeric pager. The client
accepts a message from the user and forwards it to a server using
SNPP. The server uses a modem to transmit the message to the
recipient's paging service using the TAP protocol (also known as the
IXO protocol).

mail2sms <http://www.fts.frontec.se/~dast/mail2sms/> converts a (MIME)
mail to a short message, allowing search/replace, conditional rules,
date/time dependent actions, customizing the output format, etc. The
output defaults to 160 characters, which is perfectly suitable for
sending the text to a GSM telephone as an SMS message. This software
does not include any code for actually sending the text to anything
else but another program or stdout.

email2sms <http://www.new.ox.ac.uk/~adam/computing/email2sms/> is a
filter written in Perl which converts an e-mail into a form suitable
for sending as an SMS message. Its main advantage over the
alternatives is that it uses the CPAN module Lingua::EN::Squeeze to
compress the text down to as little as 40% of its original size, so
you can get much more of your e-mail into the 160 character limit
imposed by SMS. It is fully MIME compatible, and has many configurable
options, including removal of quoted text. Ideal for use with
procmail. A Perl script for sending the output to a typical e-mail to
SMS web gateway is included.

SMSLink <http://www.styx.demon.co.uk/smslink/> implements a
client/server gateway to the SMS protocol (short messages on the
mobile phones). It requires the use of dedicated hardware though (a
serial GSM module). Both SMS emission and reception are supported. The
server only runs under Linux at the present time and also supports
interactive mode via telnet. The command-line client already exists
for Linux, Solaris and HP-UX. A basic web interface is provided. A
Win32 client is in the works.

nmsms <http://lide.pruvodce.cz/~wayne/> is a very simple program to
announce incoming email to an SMS address (email address) defined at
compile time. The original From: and Subject: header are included in
each mail announced.

mepl <http://www.hof-berlin.de/mepl/> is a software for
3COM/USRobotics Messagemodems to control the self-employed-mode. This
program can be used for downloading the messages and saving or mailing
them in gsm or fax-format.

8.3. Digital Cameras

For information about cellular phones and digital cameras see some
links at my page about Linux with Infrared Devices
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/ir_misc.html> and my IR-HOWTO.

Newsgroup: rec.photo.digital .

The Flashpath adapter is a diskette like device which is used to
transfer data from a digital camera to a computer. See Flashpath for
Linux <http://www.schou.dk/flashpath/> and James Radley's flashpath
homepage <http://www.susie.demon.co.uk/flashpath.html>.

8.4. Calculators

Information about calculators e.g. HP-48 is at HP-Calculator.Org
<http://www.hpcalc.org> and Keith's HP-48 Page
<http://www.gmi.edu/~madd0118/hp48/>. HP-48 Kermit Hints and Tips
<http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/hp48.html> shows how to talk to the
HP48 via its serial-line Kermit protocol. The HP-48 may also be used
as a Linux terminal <http://panic.et.tudelft.nl/~costar/hp48>.

See also at my page about Linux with Infrared Devices
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/ir_misc.html>.

Backup utility for the CASIO diary
<http://www.tunbury.demon.co.uk/casio/>. It is a package ported from
DOS to allow communication to the CASIO series of hand-held
organizers. It allows backup from CASIO to your computer and restore
a backup file from your computer to the CASIO. It can also output
human readable file from CASIO. Currently supports: phone, calendar,
schedule, memo, and reminder. See also http://www.aloha.net/ alank/
http://www.casioworld.com , http://home.t-
online.de/home/Milan.Urosevic/ and
http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/

GtkTiLink <http://www.multimania.com/rlievin/> is a program which
allows you to transfer data between a Texas Instruments calculator and
a computer. It works with all cables (parallel, serial, Black and Gray
TI Graph Link). It supports the TI82, TI89, TI92 and TI92+
calculators. It can send/receive data and backups, make a capture of
the calculator screen and do remote control.
8.5. Wearable Computing

Also related to this topic but not covered yet seems wearable
computing, see http://lcs.www.media.mit.edu/projects/wearables/
<http://lcs.www.media.mit.edu/projects/wearables/> , the page of
Lionel, "trollhunter" Bouchpan-Lerust-Juery,
http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/indexen.html
<http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/indexen.html> for further information
and http://wearables.blu.org <http://wearables.blu.org> and
http://www.wearcomp.org/ <http://www.wearcomp.org/>.

Sulawesi <http://wearables.essex.ac.uk/sulawesi/> was developed due to
the problems running a desktop GUI on a wearable computer. It has been
designed and implemented to tackle what has been considered to be
important challenges in a wearable user interface, the ability to
accept input from any number of input devices, such as machine vision,
speech recognition, portable keyboards, GPS devices, infra-red, etc.
and to allow services to manipulate the information and generate a
suitable output such as speech generation, graphics using a
headmounted display, vibrotactile stimuli, etc. The Gili user
interface has been updated, more documentation has been added, and the
Spatial Reminder has been introduced.

8.6. Watches

The datalink library <http://datalink.fries.net/> allows sending
information to the Timex DataLink watches. The original datalink
library supports the model 150 and possibly the model 70 watch. This
version has been extended to work with the DataLink Ironman Triathlon
watch. It has been tested with the SVGA output on the Ironman watch
only, other output devices and other watches may or may not work, I
have no reports either way. The display must be a CRT display (not a
LCD).

9. Accessories

9.1. PCMCIA Cards

9.1.1. Card Families

1. Ethernet adapter

2. Token Ring adapter

3. Ethernet + Modem / GSM

4. Fax-Modem / GSM adapter

5. SCSI adapter

6. I/O cards: RS232, LPT, RS422, RS485, GamePort, IrDA, Radio, Video

7. Memory cards

8. harddisks

9. 2.5" harddisk adapters

For desktops there are PCMCIA slots for ISA and PCI bus available.

Source: http://www.lapshop.de <http://www.lapshop.de>

9.1.2. Linux Compatibility Check

With the command cardctl ident you may get information about your
card. Put this information into /etc/pcmcia/config.opts if necessary.
But this may not be enough to get the card to work, but works
sometimes for no-name network cards or modem cards. If you get a card
to work or have written a new driver please don't forget to announce
this to the developer of the PCMCIA-CS package David Hinds
<http://pcmcia.sourceforge.org> . Look the current issue of his file
SUPPORTED.CARDS < http://pcmcia.sourceforge.org> to get information
about supported cards.

Since there are not all cards mentioned I have set up a page PCMCIA
Cards "Unofficially" Supported by Linux
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html> .

9.2. SmartCards

SmartCard reader, see Project Muscle - Movement for the Use of Smart
Cards in a Linux Environment
<http://www.linuxnet.com/smartcard/index.html>

9.3. Memory Technology Devices - RAM and Flash Cards

The Linux Memory Technology Device <http://www.linux-
mtd.infradead.org/> project aims to provide a unified subsystem for
handling RAM and Flash cards (Memory Technology Devices). It is
intended to be compatible with the Linux PCMCIA code, to prevent
duplication of code and effort, yet its main target is small embedded
systems, so it will be possible to compile the drivers into the kernel
for use as a root filesystem, and a close eye will be kept on the
memory footprint.

9.4. Printers

Survey about small mobile printers:

1. CANON: BJC-80, for infrared connections to this printer see the
links at my page about Linux and Infrared Devices
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/ir_misc.html>

2. CANON: BJ-30

3. HP: DeskJet 340Cbi. This is a small, portable, low-duty-cycle
printer. It prints either black, or color (3 color). I have had
some problems with it loading paper. Overall, the small size and
portability make it a nice unit for use with laptops. I use the HP
500/500C driver with Linux.

4. Olivetti: JP-90

AFAIK only the HP and the BJC-80 machine have an infrared port. Pay
attention to the supplied voltage of the power supply if you plan to
travel abroad. Source: http://www.lapshop.de <http://www.lapshop.de>

9.5. Power and Phone Plugs, Power Supply

When travelling abroad you might consider to take a set of different
power and phone plugs with you. Also, it's useful if you can change
the input voltage of the power supply, for instance from 110V in the
US to 220V in Germany. There also power supplies for 12V batteries
from cars.

Some models of power plugs:

______________________________________________________________________
____
/ () \ _ _ _
frontal view: |() ()| (_)=(_) (_) N.N.
------

abbrevation.: C13 C8 ?? PS/2

symbol......: ?? ?? -O)- N.N.
______________________________________________________________________

Caveats: Though some -O)- plug may seem to be compatible to your lap-
top, because of the according physical size, take extremely care it
uses the same plus-minus voltage scheme, for instance plus for the
inner ring and minus for the outer one. Often but not always there are
the according symbols near the plug.

9.6. Bags and Suitcases

You probably wonder, why I include this topic here. But shortly after
using my COMPAQ Armada 1592DT I recognized that the rear side of the
machine (where the ports are arranged) was slightly damaged. Though I
have taken much care when transporting the laptop, this was caused by
putting the bag on the floor. It seems that the laptop has so much
weight, that it bounces inside the bag on its own rear side. So I
decided to put a soft pad into the bag before loading the laptop. A
good bag is highly recommended if you take your laptop on trips, or
take it home every night.

Laptops computers are frequently demolished in their carrying bag.
The two main causes of demolition are poking the LC display and
banging the edges.A good case has very stiff sides to spread out
pokes, and lots of energy-absorbent padding around the edges to help
when you whack it on the door jamb.Few cases actually have either of
these features.

More laptops are lost to theft than damage, so camouflage is a wise
too. Emerson, Tom # El Monte <[email protected]> wrote: "I
use for a laptop travelling bag: a Pyrex casserole carrier bag. Yup,
you might think it odd to use a casserole bag for a laptop, but it
turns out it has several advantages:

o The one I use has a microwavable heating pad in it -- while I don't
actually heat this pad (it's meant to keep food warm while in
transport), it does provide padding underneath the laptop. The
carrier I have only has a lower - heating - pad, but there is also
a similar carrier that has both a lower - heating - pad and an
upper - cooling - pad - placed in the freezer to get it cold - --
the intent is that you keep one or the other in the bag to keep
your food hot or cold as desired. A secondary advantage to the -
cooling pad - pad is that if you've - chilled - it before taking
the computer out for the day, it will keep the CPU cooler while
you're running the laptop...
o the top of the bag has a zipper on three sides, so it - opens -
the same way as my laptop -- I don't even need to take it out of
the carrier to use the laptop

o there is enough room at the side of the bag to store the external
power supply, a regular Logitech mouseman, and the network -
dongle - with BNC/TP ports - and if I had it, the modem/phone port
as well -

o there is enough clearance on top of the machine to include a
handful of CD's or diskettes, if needed...

o when it's left - unattended - in a car, it's less likely to be
stolen -- think about it, if you were a thief walking through a
parking lot and eyeing the contents of cars, a - laptop bag - is
instantly recognizable as holding a laptop computer -- something
that can be fenced at a pretty hefty profit, but if you saw a
casserole carrier in the front seat of a car, would you think it
contained anything OTHER than a casserole? - and probably half-
eaten, at that... - Unless you are a hungry thief, chances are
you'll skip this and move on...

o likewise, I've heard that keeping a laptop computer in a diaper bag
is another good - camouflage - technique -- who in their right mind
is going to steal a bag of - dirty - diapers?"

10. Different Environments - On the Road

10.1. Related HOWTOs

1. Security-HOWTO

2. Multiboot-with-LILO-mini-HOWTO

3. Ethernet-HOWTO

4. NET-3-HOWTO

5. Offline-Mailing-mini-HOWTO

6. Plip-mini-HOWTO

7. Slip-PPP-Emulator-mini-HOWTO

10.2. Configuration Tools

10.2.1. NetEnv

Do you use your laptop in different network environments? At home? In
the office? At a customers site?

If yes, the small package "netenv" might be useful for you. When
booting your laptop it provides you with a simple interface from which
you can choose the current network environment. The first time in a
new environment, you can enter the basic data and save it for later
reuse.

Netenv sets up a file containing variable assignments which describe
the current environment. This can be used by the PCMCIA setup scheme,
e.g. like the one that comes with Debian/GNU Linux and perhaps others.
The netenv data can be used for things like:

1. Network Device: Configure the network device for different
environments.

2. Choose a proper XF86Config: Think of using your laptop standalone
with touchpad vs. connected to a CRT monitor along with an external
mouse. For example, a wheel mouse could be used when docked, but
the driver is not compatible with the normal trackpoint or
touchpad.

3. Windowmanager: You can set up your windowmanager according to the
current location of your machine.

4. Printing Environment: The netenv data can easily be used to set up
the printing environment.

Netenv is available as Debian/GNU Linux package as well as tarball. It
depends on dialog(1) for the menu system. It is developed by Gerd
Bavendiek [email protected] you may get it at http://www.uni-
bielefeld.de/~portgym/net/netenv.html <http://www.uni-
bielefeld.de/~portgym/net/netenv.html> .

10.2.2. divine

divine <http://www.fefe.de/divine/> is an utility for people who use
their machines in different networks all the time. "The idea is this:

o you describe the possible networks in /etc/divine.conf, including
one or more machines that are probably up (routers and NIS servers
come to mind).

o at boot time, you run divine.

o divine starts a thread that injects fake arp requests into the
network. The thread will try again up to three times, pausing 1
second between retries. If the last try times out again, the
thread will print an error message, leave the interface in the
original state and exit cleanly.

o the main thread just looks for arp replies and exits if one is
found.

o You have one resolv.conf per network, for example
/etc/resolv.conf.default and /etc/resolv.conf.work, and divine will
symlink one of them to /etc/resolv.conf for you.

o You can specify a proxy server plus port and divine will write the
proxy server to /etc/proxy. This can be evaluated inside your shell
startup script, like this (zsh):

___________________________________________________________________
export http_proxy="http://`</etc/proxy`/"
___________________________________________________________________

The included perl script edit-netscape-proxy.pl will edit the proxy
settings in your Netscape 4 preferences file.

o You can even specify an additional script to be run for each
selection. You can use this to edit /etc/printcap or /etc/issue or
do something else I forgot.
The point about divine in contrast to other solutions is that other
solutions normally use ping or something like that. divine can check a
large number of networks instantaneously, assuming that the machines
you ping answer within one second (.4 seconds are normal on
Ethernets). And pinging an unknown address will do an arp request
anyway, so why not do an arp request in the first place?"

10.2.3. Mobile IP

From the NET3-4-HOWTO: "The term IP Mobility describes the ability of
a host that is able to move its network connection from one point on
the Internet to another without changing its IP address or losing
connectivity. Usually when an IP host changes its point of
connectivity it must also change its IP address. IP Mobility overcomes
this problem by allocating a fixed IP address to the mobile host and
using IP encapsulation (tunneling) with automatic routing to ensure
that datagrams destined for it are routed to the actual IP address it
is currently using."

HUT Mobile IP <http://www.cs.hut.fi/Research/Dynamics/Dynamics> is a
dynamical, hierarchical Mobile IP system for Linux operating system.
The implementation enables a hierarchical model for IP mobility, thus
decreasing the location update times as a mobile host moves. Dynamics
system has been designed Wireless LAN technology in mind, and the
system has optimized functionality for mobility in WLAN. There is now
a mailing list available. You can join it by sending subscribe on the
subject line to <[email protected]> - or you can simply
check the mail archive
<http://www.cs.hut.fi/Research/Dynamics/mail/user>.

10.2.3.1. Resources

1. Linux Mobile-IP <http://anchor.cs.binghamton.edu/~mobileip/>

2. Linux Mobile IP from HP Labs Bristol by Manuel Rodriguez
<http://hplbwww.hpl.hp.com/people/jt/MobileIP/index.html>

3. MosquitoNet Mobile IP
<http://mosquitonet.Stanford.EDU/software/mip.html>

4. Mobile IP at NUS <http://mip.ee.nus.sg/>

5. Linux Mobile-IP <http://anchor.cs.binghamton.edu/~mobileip/>

6. Bay Area Research Wireless Access Network (BARWAN)
<http://http.cs.berkeley.edu/~randy/Daedalus/BARWAN/>

Sources: Kenneth E. Harker and Dag Brattli

10.2.4. DHCP/BootP

DHCP and BootP are also useful for working in different environments.
Please see the DHCP-HOWTO and BootP-HOWTO.

10.2.5. PPPD Options

The pppd command can be configured via several different files: pppd
file /etc/ppp/<your_options> .

10.2.6. /etc/init.d

You may even choose to do your configuration by editing the
/etc/init.d files manually.

10.2.7. PCMCIA - Schemes

How can I have separate PCMCIA device setups for home and work? This
is fairly easy using PCMCIA scheme support. Use two configuration
schemes, called home and work. For details please read the according
chapter in the PCMCIA-HOWTO by David Hinds.

10.2.8. Bootloaders

10.2.8.1. LILO

From http://www.mjedev.demon.co.uk/index.html
<http://www.mjedev.demon.co.uk/index.html> <Martin J. Evans
[email protected]> I have taken this recommendation: The first
point to note is that init will take any arguments of the form
name=value as environment variable assignments if they are not
recognized as something else. This means you can set environment
variables from the LILO boot prompt before your rc scripts run. I set
the LOCATION environment variable depending on where I am when I boot
Linux. e.g.

______________________________________________________________________
LILO: linux LOCATION=home
______________________________________________________________________

Or

______________________________________________________________________
LILO: linux LOCATION=work
______________________________________________________________________

Or simply

______________________________________________________________________
LILO: linux
______________________________________________________________________

where failing to set LOCATION means the same as LOCATION=home (i.e. my
default). Instead of typing LOCATION=place each time you boot you can
add an entry to your /etc/lilo.conf file and use the append instruc-
tion. e.g.

______________________________________________________________________
# Linux bootable partition for booting Linux at home
#
image = /vmlinuz
root = /dev/hda3
label = linux
read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends
#
# Linux bootable partition for booting Linux at work
#
image = /vmlinuz
root = /dev/hda3
label = work
read-only
append="LOCATION=work"
# Linux bootable partition config ends
______________________________________________________________________

With the example above you can use "linux" for booting at home and
"work" for booting at work.

Armed with the facility above, you can now edit the relevant rc
scripts to test ENVIRONMENT before running ifconfig, setting up route
etc.

10.2.8.2. Other Bootloaders

There are several other bootloaders which are often overlooked.
Besides LILO, have a look at loadlin, CHooseOS (CHOS) (not GPL), GRand
Unified Bootloader (GRUB), System Commander and take a look at
ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/boot/loaders/
<ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/boot/loaders/>. The NT boot
loader or OS/2 boot loader may even be used.

10.2.9. X-Windows

From Steve <[email protected]> I got a configuration for X windows
with an external monitor: Note that I have introduced a neat trick!
For my nice 17" monitor I start X with no options and get the default
16-bit 1152x864 display - but when using the LCD screen I specify a
15-bit display (startx -- -bpp 15) and get the correct 800x600
resolution automatically. This saves having to have two XConfig files.

10.2.10. E-Mail

A short introduction about how to setup email on a laptop used at home
(dial-up) and work (ethernet) by Peter Englmaier <[email protected]>:

10.2.10.1. Features

As a laptop user, I have special demands for my email setup. The setup
described below, enables me to:

o Read my email from home using a POP email server, which is supplied
by my university, but could also be setup on a work place computer.

o Write email from home with the right return address in the email
(which does not mention my computer name).

o Read/write my email while working on a workstation without access
to my laptop or the POP email server (as a backup).

o Read my email while working on my laptop connected to the ethernet
of our institut.

o Direct email while connected via ethernet (faster than the
fetchmail method).

o Indirect email (over pop mail server) while not connected to the
ethernet at work (either at home via modem or somewhere else via
ethernet).

o Use any emailer, e.g. elm or the simple mail command.

o Sort incomming email, delete spam, split email-collections
(digests) into seperate emails

The configuration is based on sendmail, fetchmail, and a remote pop
account for email.

10.2.10.2. Configuration of sendmail

This is the most complicated part. Having installed the sendmail-cf
package, I created a file named /usr/lib/sendmail-cf/laptop.mc:

______________________________________________________________________
divert(-1)
include(`../m4/cf.m4')
define(`confDEF_USER_ID',''8:12'')
define(`confBIND_OPTS',`-DNSRCH -DEFNAMES')
define(`confDOMAIN_NAME',''pa.uky.edu'') <---- here you define your domain
OSTYPE(`linux')
undefine(`UUCP_RELAY')
undefine(`BITNET_RELAY')
define(`SMART_HOST',`server1.pa.uky.edu') <---- there we send outgoing email
define(`LUSER_RELAY',`server1.pa.uky.edu') <---- there we send mail to users my laptop does not know
MASQUERADE_AS(pa.uky.edu) <---- again the domain, we want to be seen as
FEATURE(allmasquerade)
FEATURE(nouucp)
FEATURE(nodns)
FEATURE(nocanonify)
FEATURE(redirect)
FEATURE(always_add_domain)
FEATURE(use_cw_file)
FEATURE(local_procmail)
MAILER(procmail)
MAILER(smtp)
HACK(check_mail3,`hash -a@JUNK /etc/mail/deny')
HACK(use_ip,`/etc/mail/ip_allow')
HACK(use_names,`/etc/mail/name_allow')
HACK(use_relayto,`/etc/mail/relay_allow')
HACK(check_rcpt4)
HACK(check_relay3)
______________________________________________________________________

This looks more complicated as it is. All it does is, that it
redirectes outbound mail to server1 (SMART_HOST) and also mail for
local users which are not known (LUSER_RELAY). That way, I can write
email to my colleques without using their full email address. More
important: the From line in my email points back to my MASQUARADE_AS
domain and not directly to my laptop. If this where not the case,
email returned with the reply button might not reach me. You must
restart sendmail for changes to take effect. Note: this configuration
is for Redhat 5.2 systems. You may have to change some details.

Now, all what is needed is to generate the /etc/sendmail.cf file m4
laptop.mc >/etc/sendmail.cf and to add all possible domain names my
laptop should respond to in /etc/sendmail.cw:

______________________________________________________________________
# sendmail.cw - include all aliases for your machine here.
laptop
laptop.pa.uky.edu
128.17.18.30
guest1
guest1.somewhere.org
______________________________________________________________________

It is important to have all aliases in this file, otherwise sendmail
will not accept the mail (and will reply we don't relay to the
sender). Finally, you must now test the setup by sending email,
replying to mail for all possible configurations. Any
missconfiguration can result in loss of email.

10.2.10.3. Configuration for fetchmail on Laptop

One method to get the email into your machine is through fetchmail.
Fetchmail periodically checks for new email at one or more remote mail
servers. I use the following fetchmail configuration file (in my user
home directory): fetchmailrc

______________________________________________________________________
set postmaster "myusername"
set daemon 900
poll pop.uky.edu with proto POP3
user "mypopusername" there with password "mypoppassword" is mylaptopusername here
______________________________________________________________________

Fetchmail will just get the the email and send it to sendmail which
will it deliver into your /var/spool/mail/$USER file.

10.2.10.4. Forward E-Mail to the Laptop

On my work station I have the following .forward file:

______________________________________________________________________
[email protected],me@server1
______________________________________________________________________

Here server1 is the machine where I keep my mailbox. All email is send
to the pop account to be picked up later by my laptop (using
fetchmail). However, when my laptop is connected via ethernet, I want
my email to go directly to the laptop, instead of pop:

______________________________________________________________________
me@laptop,me@server1
______________________________________________________________________

In both cases, a backup of my email is send to server1 (where I also
can read it, in case I cannot get my laptop). I keep/store all email
on the laptop.

Switching is done by three script files and a crontab file (on the
workstation):

forward_pop

______________________________________________________________________
#!/bin/sh
echo "[email protected],me@server1" > ${HOME}/.forward
______________________________________________________________________

forward_laptop

______________________________________________________________________
#!/bin/sh
echo "ppe@laptop,ppe@server1" > ${HOME}/.forward
crontab ${HOME}/mycrontab
${HOME}/utl/check_laptop
______________________________________________________________________

check_laptop

______________________________________________________________________
#!/bin/sh
if /usr/sbin/ping -c 1 laptop >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
:
else
# redirect mail to pop
${HOME}/utl/forward_pop
sleep 10
if /usr/sbin/ping -c 1 laptop >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
# back to normal
${HOME}/utl/forward_laptop
else
# deactivate crontab check
/bin/crontab -l | grep -v check_laptop >${HOME}/tmp/mycrontab.tmp
/bin/crontab ${HOME}/tmp/mycrontab.tmp
rm -f ${HOME}/tmp/mycrontab.tmp
fi
fi
______________________________________________________________________

mycrontab

______________________________________________________________________
# mycrontab
0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * ${HOME}/utl/check_laptop
______________________________________________________________________

Each time I connect the laptop to the ethernet, I have to run
forward_laptop, and each time I disconnect I run forward_pop. In case
I forget to run forward_pop, the crontab job runs it for me less then
10 minutes later. To do all that automatically, I change the network
script files on my laptop as follows:

/sbin/ifdown (this script runs, whenever a network device is stopped,
new stuff between BEGIN and END)

______________________________________________________________________
...
fi

# BEGIN new stuff
# turn off forwarding email
mail ppe <<EOF
turning off forwarding email
device = ${DEVICE}
hostname = `hostname`
EOF
if [ "${DEVICE}" = "eth0" -a "`hostname`"
= "laptop" ]; then
su -lc "ssh -l myusername server1
utl/forward_pop" myusername >& /dev/null
fi
# END new stuff

ifconfig ${DEVICE} down
exec /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifdown-post $CONFIG
______________________________________________________________________

Note, that the script checks for the value of hostname. In case, I am
connected to a foreign ethernet, my hostname and ip-address will be
something else, e.g. guest1.

/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifup-post (this script is run, whenever
a network device is started)

______________________________________________________________________
# Notify programs that have requested notification
do_netreport

# BEGIN new stuff
# check for email -- I'm using fetchmail for this
if [ "${DEVICE}" = "eth0" -o "${DEVICE}"
= "ppp0" ]; then
su -lc fetchmail myusername >& /dev/null &
fi

# set clock if connected to ethernet, redirect email
if [ "${DEVICE}" = "eth0" -a dquot;`hostname`" = "zaphod" ]; then
( rdate -s server1 ; hwclock --systohc --utc ) >& /dev/null &
# forward email
su -lc "ssh -l myusername gradj utl/forward_laptop" myusername >& /dev/null &
fi
# END new stuff

exit 0
______________________________________________________________________

10.2.10.5. Processing Incomming E-Mail with procmail

This step is completely optional. The above described sendmail
configuration calls procmail for each received email, but you could
have called procmail using the .forward file (see the procmail man
page). Procmail is a handy tool to block spam and to sort incomming
email.

You need to setup a .procmailrc file to use procmail. See the man page
for procmail, procmailrc, and procmailex (examples). My setup
demonstrates, how to ignore certain email messages and split email-
collections (digest) into pieces:

______________________________________________________________________
# -- mail filtering -- procmail is called by sendmail --
PATH=/bin:/usr/bin
MAILDIR=$HOME/Mail
LOGFILE=$MAILDIR/from
# keep in mind:
# use ":0:" when writing to a file
# use ":0" when writing to a device, e.g. /dev/null, or send email

# - make first a backup of *all* incomming email (but ignore mail tagged below) -
:0 c:
*! ^Sissa-Repro
backup

# - keep only last 50 messages
:0 ic
| cd backup && rm -f dummy `ls -t msg.* | sed -e 1,50d`

# - delete email comming through the 'postdocs' email list, when
# it is not of any interest
:0
* ^From.*postdocs
* ^From.*Ernst Richter
/dev/null
:0
* ^From.*postdocs
* ^Subject.*card charge
/dev/null

# Split mailing list from the sissa preprint server into individual emails
# - this is quite complicated :( I can flip through the list much
# faster and ignore preprints which have uninteresting titles. Instead of
# having to browse through the whole list, my mailer will just present a
# list of papers.
# 1. split it in individual messages
:0
* ^From [email protected]
| formail +1 -de -A "Sissa-Repro: true" -s procmail

# 2. reformat messages a bit
# 2.1. extract 'Title:' from email-Body and add to email-header
as 'Subject:'
:0 b
* ^Sissa-Repro
*! ^Subject
TITLE=| formail -xTitle:
:0 a
|formail -A "Subject: $TITLE " -s procmail

# 2.2. store in my incomming sissa-email folder. Here, we could
# also reject (and thereafter delete) uninteresting 'Subjects'
# we could also mark more interesting subjects as urgend or send a copy
# to regular mail box.
:0:
* ^Sissa-Repro
* ^Subject
*! ^replaced with
sissa
______________________________________________________________________

BTW, there is a tk GUI tool to configure procmail (I think it is
called dotfiles).

10.2.11. Email with UUCP

Another possible solution for Email is to use UUCP. This software was
made for disconnected machines, and is by far the easiest solution if
you have several users on your laptop (we are talking about Unix,
remember?), each with his/her own account.

Unlike what most people think, UUCP does not need a serial connection:
it works fine over TCP/IP, so your UUCP partner can be any machine on
the Internet, if it is reachable from your network attachment point.
Here is the UUCP sys for a typical laptop:

system mylaptop
time any
chat "" \d\d\r\c ogin: \d\L word: \P
address uucp.mypartner.org
port TCP

10.2.12. More Info

Using a Laptop in Different Environments
<http://www.ssc.com/lg/issue20/laptop.html> by Gerd Bavendiek . This
article appeared in the August, 1997 issue of the Linux Gazette
<http://www.ssc.com/lg/>. This is an excellent, short technical
article describing an easy way to setup your Linux notebook to boot
into different network and printing configurations, especially useful
for those who use their machines at home as well as other locations
such as in the office, at school, or at a customer site.

10.3. Data Transport Between Different Machines

I don't have experience with this topic yet. So just a survey about
some means of data transport and maintaining data consistency between
different machines.

10.3.1. Hardware

1. external harddisks

2. ZIP drive

Wade Hampton wrote: "You may use MS-DOS formatted ZIP and floppy discs
for data transfer. You may be able to also use LS120. If you have
SCSI, you could use JAZ, MO or possibly DVD-RAM (any SCSI disc that
you could write to). I have the internal ZIP for my Toshiba 700CT. It
works great (I use automount to mount it). I use VFAT on the ZIP disks
so I can move them to Windows boxes, Linux boxes, NT, give them to
coworkers, etc. One problem, I must SHUTDOWN to swap the internal CD
with the ZIP."

10.3.2. Software

10.3.2.1. Version Management Software

Although it is certainly not their main aim, version management
software like CVS (Concurrent Version System) are a perfect tool when
you work on several machines and you have trouble keeping them in sync
(something which is often called "disconnected filesystems" in the
computer science literature). Unlike programs like rsync, which are
assymetric (one side is the master and its files override those of the
slave), CVS accept that you make changes on several machines, and try
afterwards to merge them. Assymetric tools are good only when you can
respect a strict discipline, when you switch from one machine to
another. On the contrary, tools like CVS are more forgetful.

To synchronize two or more machines (typically a desktop and a
laptop), just choose a CVS repository somewhere on the network. It can
be on one of the machines you want to synchronize or on a third host.
Anyway, this machine should be easily reachable via the network and
have good disks.

Then, cvs co the module you want to work on, edit it, and cvs commit
when you reached a synch point and are connected. If you made changes
on both hosts, CVS will try to merge them (it typically succeeds
automatically) or give in and ask you to resolve it by hand.

The typical limits of this solution: CVS does not deal well with
binary files, so this solution is more for users of vi or emacs than
for GIMP fans. CVS has trouble with some Unix goodies like symbolic
links.

For more information on CVS, see the Web page. The CVS documentation
is excellent (in info format).

10.3.2.2. CODA Filesystem

The Coda File System is a descendant of the Andrew File System. Like
AFS, Coda offers location-transparent access to a shared Unix file
name-space that is mapped on to a collection of dedicated file
servers. But Coda represents a substantial improvement over AFS
because it offers considerably higher availability in the face of
server and network failures. The improvement in availability is
achieved using the complementary techniques of server replication and
disconnected operation. Disconnected operation proven especially
valuable in supporting portable computers http://www.coda.cs.cmu.edu/
<http://www.coda.cs.cmu.edu/> .

10.3.2.3. WWWsync

This is a program written in Perl that will update your web pages by
ftp from your local pages. This was originally written for updating
Demon home-pages, but will work with other providers which provide
direct FTP access to your web pages. I didn't check this for laptop
purposes yet. You may get the program at
http://www.alfie.demon.co.uk/wwwsync/
<http://www.alfie.demon.co.uk/wwwsync/> .

10.3.2.4. rsync

rsync is a program that allows files to be copied to and from remote
machines in much the same way as rcp. It has many more options than
rcp, and uses the rsync remote-update protocol to greatly speedup file
transfers when the destination file already exists. The rsync remote-
update protocol allows rsync to transfer just the differences between
two sets of files across the network link.
10.3.2.5. Xfiles - file tree synchronization and cross-validation

Xfiles is an interactive utility for comparing and merging one file
tree with another over a network. It supports freeform work on several
machines (no need to keep track of what files are changed on which
machine). Xfiles can also be used as a cross-validating disk <-gt;
disk backup strategy (portions of a disk may go bad at any time, with
no simple indication of which files were affected. Cross-validate
against a second disk before backup to make sure you aren't backing up
bad data).

A client/server program (GUI on the client) traverses a file tree and
reports any files that are missing on the server machine, missing on
the client machine, or different. For each such file, the file
size/sizes and modification date(s) are shown, and a comparison (using
Unix diff) can be obtained. For files that are missing from one tree,
similarly named files in that tree are reported. Inconsistent files
can then be copied in either direction or deleted on either machine.
The file trees do not need to be accessible via nfs. Files checksums
are computed in parallel, so largely similar trees can be compared
over a slow network link. The client and server processes can also be
run on the same machine. File selection and interaction with a
revision control system such as RCS can be handled by scripting using
jpython. Requirements Java1.1 or later and JFC/Swing1.1 are needed.
Xfiles <http://www.idiom.com/~zilla>.

10.3.2.6. sitecopy

Sitecopy is for copying locally stored websites to remote web servers.
The program will upload files to the server which have changed
locally, and delete files from the server which have been removed
locally, to keep the remote site synchronized with the local site,
with a single command. The aim is to remove the hassle of uploading
and deleting individual files using an FTP client. sitecopy
<http://www.lyra.org/sitecopy> .

10.3.2.7. KBriefcase

The KDE tool Kbriefcase <http://netnow.micron.net/~mrolig/kbriefcase/>
tries to achieve a similar goal as the Windows briefcase, but in a
different way. Rather than pulling your files from the desktop, they
are pushed to the laptop. You drag a file from the local location to
the briefcase. You are then asked for the remote path to copy it to.
It will then copy the file to the remote location and make the
original read-only. When you restore and remove, the file is copied
back and write permissions are given back. The read-only status, of
course, makes sure you don't start editing the file again before
you've brought your changes back from the remote location.

10.4. Security in Different Environments

10.4.1. Introduction

I am not a computer security expert. Please read the Security-HOWTO
for more information. I just collected some information below. Note,
these means are just small steps to additional security, though I
recommend that you use them.

LASG Please read Linux Administrator's Security Guide (LASG) - FAQ
<https://www.seifried.org/lasg/> by Kurt Seifried.

10.4.2. Means of Security

1. International Kernel Patch: The idea of the International Kernel
Patch <http://www.kerneli.org/> is to collect all crypto patches so
that using crypto in the kernel will be easier than today. The
patch includes a number of crypto patches including a crypto API
including Blowfish, CAST-128, DES, DFC, IDEA, MARS, RC6, Rijndael,
Safer, Serpent, and Twofish, an encrypted filesystem loopback
device using the crypto API, CIPE VPN and EnSKIP patches.

2. Kennsington Lock: AFAIK proprietary lock solution with different
laptops http://www.kennsington.com <http://www.kennsington.com>

3. SmartCards: by DESKO http://www.desko.de <http://www.desko.de>
are not available for Linux yet. The only available laptop with a
SmartCard builtin is the Siemens Scenic Mobile 800.

4. User passwords: can be easily bypassed if the intruder gets
physical access to your machine

5. BIOS passwords: are also easily crackable, though sometimes harder
than with desktops

6. Name plates: to reduce the possibility of theft, you may want to
have a nameplate made and affixed to the cover of the laptop. A
nice one will cost you about $12, and can be made by any good
trophy shop. They'll glue it on for you too. You could use double-
sided tape instead, but glue is more permanent. You may even make
an engravement into the laptop cover.

7. Boot loader: a boot loader may be used to put your name and phone
number (or whatever text you choose) into the boot sequence before
the operating system is loaded. This provides a label that can't be
removed by editing files or even doing a simple format of the
harddisk.

8. Antivirus policy: I have seen an antivir RPM somewhere. Check the
BIOS for an option to disable writing at the boot sector.

9. Database of stolen laptops: I have provided a survey of databases
for stolen laptops <http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/stolen_laptops.html>.

10.
Laptop as a security risk itself: Since a laptop can easily be used
to intrude a network, it seems a good policy to ask the system
administrator for permission before connecting a laptop to a
network.

11.
Secure Protocol: When connecting to a remote server always use a
secure protocol.

10.5. Dealing with Down Times (Cron Jobs)

A cron-like program that doesn't go by time: anacron (like
"anac(h)ronistic") is a periodic command scheduler. It executes
commands at intervals specified in days. Unlike cron, it does not
assume that the system is running continuously. It can therefore be
used to control the execution of daily, weekly and monthly jobs (or
anything with a period of n days), on systems that don't run 24 hours
a day. When installed and configured properly, anacron will make sure
that the commands are run at the specified intervals as closely as
machine-uptime permits.
hc-cron This program is a modified version of Paul Vixie's
<[email protected]> widely used cron daemon. Like the original program it
runs specified jobs at periodic intervals. However, the original crond
relies on the computer running continuously, otherwise jobs will be
missed. This problem is addressed by hc-cron, that is indended for use
on home-computers that are typically turned off several times a day;
hc-cron will remember the time when it was shut down and catch up jobs
that have occurred during down time when it is started again. Felix
Braun <[email protected]> is the author of the programm, it is
available at http://metalab.unc.edu /pub/Linux/system/daemons/cron
<http://metalab.unc.edu /pub/Linux/system/daemons/cron> .

10.6. Noise Reduction

Due to the proliferation of cellular phones and walkmans it's not
quite common in our days to take care of a quiet environment. Anyway I
want to give some recommendations for the polite ones.

10.6.1. Console (Shell) and X

For the console setterm -blength 0 and for X xset b off turns the bell
off. See also PCMCIA-HOWTO, and much more details in the Visible-Bell-
mini-Howto by Alessandro Rubini.

10.6.2. PCMCIA

When starting your laptop with PCMCIA-CS configured correctly, this
will be shown by two high beeps. If you want to avoid this put
CARDMGR_OPTS="-q" into the PCMCIA configuration file, e.g.
/etc/pcmcia.conf for Debian/GNU Linux.

To avoid the dialtones during the modem dialing add

______________________________________________________________________
module "serial_cs" opts "do_sound=0"
______________________________________________________________________

to /etc/pcmcia/config.opts (from man serial_cs). This will disable
speaker output completely, but the ATM command should let you
selectively control when the speaker is active.

10.6.3. Miscellaneous Applications

You may configure vi with the flash option, so it will use a flash in
case of an error, instead of a bell.

For at least one laptop series, the Toshiba models, there seems to be
a Linux package available to control the fan and other features.

11. Other Resources

Kenneth E. Harker maintains a quite valuable database at
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/
<http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/ > . Please have
a look at his site to get current information about laptop related
mailing lists, newsgroups, magazines and newsletters, WWW sites and a
big database about many different laptop pages.

To join the Linux-Laptop-Mailing-List write a mail to
<[email protected]> with subscribe linux-laptop in the
subject. You will get a confirmation message than, which you have to
reply accordingly.

There is now a debian-laptop mailing list. Any questions or
discussions concerning running the Debian/GNU Linux operating
system(s) on laptops are welcome. Send mail to <debian-laptop-
[email protected]> with a subject of subscribe. Or visit
thehttp://www.debian.org <http://www.debian.org> site and use the
online form.

Also recently founded was Running Linux on IBM ThinkPads, to join send
an email to [email protected], to post send mail to
[email protected] . See http://www.topica.com/lists/linux-
thinkpad/ <http://www.topica.com/lists/linux-thinkpad/>.

Lionel, "trollhunter" Bouchpan-Lerust-Juery, <[email protected]>
has written a similar HOWTO, please look at his laptop pages
http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/index.html
<http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/index.html> (French version)
http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/indexen.html
<http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/indexen.html> (English version).

Newsgroups are comp.os.linux.portable, comp.sys.laptops .

12. Repairing the Hardware

There are several different reasons that could make it necessary to
open the case of a laptop.

1. repairing broken hardware

2. get some hardware info, which isn't available otherwise

3. remove the speakers (speakerrektomie, as described in Visual-Bell-
mini-HOWTO)

4. install overdrive for CPU

5. change BIOS battery

6. upgrade harddisk

7. upgrade memory

Repairing a laptop can be quite expensive if you don't have a
manufacturer's warranty. Sometimes professional support is bad. But
opening a laptop case can be difficult. Often the procedures to
upgrade the memory and the harddisk are described in the manual. For
further details, you should try to get the maintainance/technical
manual. Just be extremely careful and make notes as to where each
screw goes. You must get most of them back in the right hole or you
could ruin the machine by damaging the system board. Also after you
get all the screws to an assembly out (some will be hidden) the parts
are usually held together with plastic clips molded in, so you still
must exercise care to separate them. Sometimes you need certain tools,
for instance TORX screw drivers or a solder kit. Good luck.

WARNING: Usually laptop manufacturers declare the warranty to be void
if the case was opened by people other than their own staff.

13. Solutions with Laptops

13.1. Introduction

The power and capabilities of laptops are sometimes limited as
described above. But in turn, they have a feature which desktops don't
have, their mobility. I try to give a survey about applications which
make sense in connection with laptops. Since I couldn't try all of
them, there is currently little documentation. If you can provide
further material, please contact me.

13.2. Mobile Network Analyzer

I'm not an expert in this field, so I just mention the tools I know.
Please check also for other applications. Besides the usual tools
tcpdump, netcat, there are two applications I prefer, which may be
used to analyze network traffic:

The Multi Router Traffic Grapher (MRTG) is a tool to monitor the
traffic load on network-links. MRTG generates HTML pages containing
GIF images which provide a LIVE visual representation of this traffic.
Check http://www.ee.ethz.ch/stats/mrtg/
<http://www.ee.ethz.ch/stats/mrtg/> for an example. MRTG is based on
Perl and C and works under UNIX and Windows NT.

Network Top - ntop http://www-serra.unipi.it/~ntop/ <http://www-
serra.unipi.it/~ntop/> is a Unix tool that shows the network usage,
similar to what the popular top Unix command does. ntop is based on
libpcap and it has been written in a portable way in order to
virtually run on every Unix platform and on Win32 as well. ntop can be
used in both interactive or web mode. In the first case, ntop displays
the network status on the user's terminal. In web mode a web browser
(e.g. netscape) can attach to ntop (that acts as a web server) and get
a dump of the network status. In the latter case, ntop can be seen as
a simple RMON-like agent with an embedded web interface.

13.3. Mobile Router

Though designed to work from a single floppy, the Linux Router Project
(LRP) , seems useful in combination with a laptop, too.

13.4. Hacking and Cracking Networks

When thinking about the powers of laptops, hacking and cracking
networks may come into mind. Though I don't want to handle this topic
here, but instead recommend the Security-HOWTO.

13.5. Lectures

If you are giving lectures, readings or presentations in different
places, a laptop might suit your needs. You can combine it with an
overhead display, a beamer or a second monitor. For a second monitor
or a beamer make sure it is supported by your laptop.

Though Microsoft's PowerPoint is often used for such things, there are
also Linux solutions:

o pdftex <http://www.tug.org/applications/pdftex/> creates PDF files
from Tex files, which can be used toghether with certain LaTeX
pakcages for presentations, see the example screen designed users
manual.

o The Web and Exerquiz Packages
<http://www.math.uakron.edu/~dpstory/webeq.html> also a
sophisticated method to create presentations with LaTex.

o PPower <http://www-sp.iti.informatik.tu-
darmstadt.de/software/ppower4/>

o Dia <http://www.lysator.liu.se/~alla/dia/> is a program for
creating diagrams of all kinds. The current version can do UML
class diagrams, Entity-Relationship modeling, network diagrams, and
much more. The engine is very flexible and dynamically loads
diagram-types from disk. It can currently export to postscript and
load/save in an xml format.

o See also the software maps at KDE (K-Office) http://www.kde.org
<http://www.kde.org> for the program KPresenter and others. And
GNOME http://www.gnome.org/ <http://www.gnome.org/> .

o MagicPoint or mgp, is an X11-based presentation tool. The home page
is http://www.Mew.org/mgp <http://www.Mew.org/mgp> or
ftp://ftp.Mew.org/pub/MagicPoint/
<ftp://ftp.Mw.org/pub/MagicPoint/> or http://jiji.mew.org/mgp/
<http://jiji.mew.org/mgp/> .

o Commercial packages are: Applixware
http://www.applix.com/appware/linux/slideshow/gfx011.html
<http://www.applix.com/appware/linux/slideshow/gfx011.html> and
Staroffice, see article 15 in LinuxFocus
http://vesta.astro.amu.edu.pl/Library/Linux/LinFocus/May1998/
<http://vesta.astro.amu.edu.pl/Library/Linux/LinFocus/May1998/>.

13.6. Mobile Data Collecting

13.6.1. Related HOWTOs

1. Coffee-mini-HOWTO

2. AX-25-HOWTO

3. HAM-HOWTO

4. Serial-HOWTO

5. Serial-Programming-HOWTO

13.6.2. Applications

A Linux laptop can be used to collect data outside an office, e.g.
geodesy data, sales data, network checks, patient data in a hospital
and others. There is support for wireless data connections via
cellular phone modems and amateur radio. I am not sure whether PCMCIA
radio cards are supported, see Aironet Wireless Communications
http://www.aironet.com/ <http://www.aironet.com/>.

13.6.3. Specific Environments

There are laptops available with cases build for a rugged environment
(even waterproof laptops). In some environments, for instance in
hospitals, take care of the Electro-Magnetic-Compatibility of the
laptop. This is influenced by many factors, for instance by the
material used to build the case. Usually magnesium cases shield better
than the ones made of plastics.

13.7. Mobile Office

With KDE http://www.kde.org <http://www.kde.org> (K-Office), GNOME,
http://www.gnome.org/ <http://www.gnome.org/> and the commercial
products WordPerfect, Staroffice and Applixware
http://www.applix.com/ <http://www.applix.com/> Linux has more and
more business software applications. With the corresponding hardware,
e.g. a portable printer and a cellular phone which connects to your
laptop, you will have a very nice mobile office.

13.8. Connection to Digital Camera

AFAIK there are currently three methods to connect a digital camera to
a laptop: the infrared port (IrDA), serial port and maybe USB. There
are also some auxiliary programs for conversion of pictures, etc.

Eric <[email protected]> wrote: "I finally succeeded in downloading
pictures from my digital camera, but not exactly the way I expected,
i.e. not through USB port but using pcmcia card port and memory stick
device, part of digital camera hardware. Anyway, some interesting
things to mention:

Sony (pretending using a standard) uses the msdos format to store
images as JPEG files ; so the best way to have your OS recognizing
them is to mount the raw device like a msdos filesystem; using mount
directly doesn't work (don't know why) but an entry in the /etc/fstab
file allows you to mount the device correctly. i.e.:

______________________________________________________________________
/dev/hde1 /mnt/camera msdos user,noauto,ro 0 0
______________________________________________________________________

Of course, newfs before mount works too, but there is nothing to see
at all ;-) I think both noauto and ro are important flags; I tried
without it and it didn't work. Somehow the mount I got seems buggy .
And if ro is missing, the camera doesn't recognize back the memory
stick and it needs to be msdos-formatted.

According to the camera documentation , both pcmcia and USB port
behave the same (for Mac and Windoze - i.e. you see a file system auto
mounted) - I deduce for Linux it should be the same thing too, as long
as the USB driver is installed. I think now that mounting USB raw
device the way I did with pcmcia should work, but I still couldn't
find which device to use."

OpenDiS (Open Digita Support) <http://digitalux.netpedia.net/> is a
library and utility program for cameras such as the Kodak DC-220,
DC-260, DC-265, and DC-280, that run Flashpoint's Digita operating
system. The library is a unix implementation of the Digita Host
Interface Specification, intended for embedding Digita support in
other products such as gPhoto. The utility is a simple command-line
program for standalone downloading of photos from the cameras.

gPhoto <http://www.gphoto.org/> enables you to take a photo from any
digital camera, load it onto your PC running a free operating system
like GNU/Linux, print it, email it, put it on your web site, save it
on your storage media in popular graphics formats or just view it on
your monitor. gPhoto sports a new HTML engine that allows the creation
of gallery themes (HTML templates with special tags) making publishing
images to the world wide web a snap. A directory browse mode is
implemented making it easy to create an HTML gallery from images
already on your computer. Support for the Canon PowerShot A50, Kodak
DC-240/280 USB, and Mustek MDC-800 digital cameras.

photopc <http://www.lightner.net/lightner/bruce/ppc_use.html> is is a
library and a command-line frontend to manipulate digital still
cameras based on Fujitsu chipset and Siarra Imaging firmware. The
program is known to work with Agfa, Epson and Olympus cameras. Should
also work with Sanyo, but this is untested. The cameras typically come
with software for Windows and for Mac, and no description of the
protocol. With this tool, they are manageable from a UNIX box. Bruce
D. Lightner <[email protected]> has added support for Win32 and
DOS platforms. Note that the program does not have any GUI, it is
plain command-line even on Windows. For a GUI, check out the phototk
program.

13.9. Connection to QuickCam (Video)

AFAIK there are currently two methods to connect a video camera to a
laptop: a ZV port and maybe USB, but I don't know how this works with
Linux. I have heard rumors about using a sound card for video data
transfer to a Linux box, see http://worldvisions.ca/~apenwarr/
<http://worldvisions.ca/~apenwarr/> . I have heard rumors about a
Linux-QuickCam-mini-HOWTO, but couldn't find a reliable URL yet. Check
the sane package which is build for scanner support, this should
contain support for still-grabbers as well.

kmc_remote
<http://rainbow.uchicago.edu/~muet/linux/kmc/kmc_utils.html> provides
a graphical interface for controlling Kodak Motion Corder fast digital
cameras over a serial connection. kmc_remote is built on the
kmc_serial library, part of the kmc_utils package. kmc_remote provides
a virtual button panel and simple one-touch commands for changing
system variables which would involve multiple button operations on the
real camera button console. Buttons, record settings (image size,
record rate, shutter speed, trigger mode, burst mode), and playback
rate control should be fully functional. All camera models are
supported, as well as both PAL and NTSC video.

Intel PC Camera Pro Pack < http://www.intel.com/PCcamera/> is one of
the first webcams with USB ports. Also SONY has announced a webcam
with USB port. See a survey at Steve's Digicams <http://www.steves-
digicams.com/text_navigator.html>.

13.10. Connection to Television Set

If you have a ZV port in the laptop, it should be easy to connect it
to a TV set, using either NSCA or PAL, but I don't know whether either
works with Linux.

13.11. Connection to Cellular Phone

AFAIK there are two methods to connect a cellular phone to a laptop:
via the infrared port (IrDA) or via the serial port. See the
Linux/IrDA project for the current status of IrDA connections. AFAIK
only the Ericsson SH888, the Nokia 8110 and the Siemens S25 provide
infrared support.

13.12. Connection to Global Positioning System (GPS)

From the Hardware-HOWTO I know there is Trimble Mobile GPS available.
You may also connect a GPS via a serial port. Most GPS receivers have
a data port and can connect to a PC with a special serial cable.

o dgpsip provides correct GPS location with DGPS signal from
internet.

o gpsd <http://www.mayko.com/gpsd.html> is a daemon that listens to a
GPS or Loran receiver and translates the positional data to
simplified format that can be more easily used by other programs,
like chart plotters. The package comes with a sample client that
plots the location of the currently visible GPS satellites (if
available) and a speedometer. Added support for the DeLame
EarthMate as well as a new 'speedometer' mini client.

o The QtGPS <http://www.gbdirect.co.uk/> package contains a piece of
software for Unix/Linux/X and a GPS receiver. It performs logging
and replaying of a journey, supporting a moving-map display. QtGPS
works with Lat/Long and British OSGB (Ornance Survey) co-ordinate
systems.

o GRASS <http://www.geog.uni-hannover.de/grass/welcome.html>
(Geographic Resources Analysis Support System) is a free software
raster and vector based GIS, image processing system, graphics
production system, and spatial modeling system.

13.13. Connection via Amateur Radio (HAM)

AFAIK laptops are used in HAM contests. Please see HAM-HOWTO
<http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO/HAM-HOWTO.html> by Terry Dawson,
VK2KTJ, <[email protected]> .

13.14. Satellite Watching

Together with an antenna and software like seesat or sattrack you can
use a laptop to locate a satellite for visual observation. You could
also use xephem on a laptop when stargazing.

13.15. Aviation

Many people are using laptops for aviation related topics. The
Aviation HOWTO <http://metalab.unc.edu/fplan/Aviation-HOWTO/> is an
FAQ, HOWTO like document that provides pointers to software packages
that run under the Linux operating system and are useful to private,
commercial, or military pilots. The ultimate goal is to enable pilots
to use the Linux operating system for all their aviation related
computing needs.

13.16. Blind or Visually Impaired Users

There are some groups of which could gain a specific profit by using
laptops. For instance blind or visually impaired people (I explicitly
avoid to say handicapped people). See ACCESS-HOWTO and Blinux - Linux
for blind people <http://leb.net/blinux/> for more information. BRLTTY
is a program which supports different braille terminals. Festival is a
speech synthesis system. Screen and cursor magnifiers are available.
14. Other Operating Systems

14.1. DOS/Windows9x/NT

14.1.1. Introduction

Unfortunately, there are a few reasons which might make it necessary
to put DOS/Windows and Linux together on one laptop. Often the support
for the flash ROM of PCMCIA cards and modems is not available for
Linux, or you have to retrieve hardware information, which is not
visible with Linux, due to a lack of support by some hardware
manufacturers. I'm not sure wether this tasks can be achieved under an
emulation like DOS-EMU or WINE.

If you want Linux with X, Netscape, etc., and Windows95, things will
be tight in a 1GB harddisk. Though I do so with a 810MB disk.

14.1.2. DOS Tools to Repartition a Hard Disk

Often you get a preinstalled version of Windows on your laptop. If you
just want to shrink the Windows partition, you need a tool to resize
the partition. Or you can remove the partition first, repartition,
then reinstall. Most of the following information I found at the page
of Michael Egan <[email protected]> at
http://libweb.sonoma.edu/mike/fujitsu/
<http://libweb.sonoma.edu/mike/fujitsu/> .

A well known and reliable, but commercial product is Partition Magic
http://www.powerquest.com/product/pm/index.html
<http://www.powerquest.com/product/pm/index.html> from Power Quest.

Many people have used FIPS 15c (which may support FAT-32)
http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/people/chaffee/fips/fips.html
<http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/people/chaffee/fips/fips.html> for
repartitioning FAT partition sizes.) Also, another version from a
different source is FIPS 2.0 (claims to support FAT-32)
http://www.igd.fhg.de/~aschaefe/fips/
<http://www.igd.fhg.de/~aschaefe/fips/> for repartitioning FAT
partition sizes.)

One more "newer" utility for repartitioning and resizing FAT
partitions is Ranish Partition Manager/Utility (FAT-32 support is
claimed for this as well, Linux support is taken into account.)
http://www.users.intercom.com/~ranish/part/
<http://www.users.intercom.com/~ranish/part/> .

14.1.3. Partition Sharing

You may share your swap space between Linux and Windows. Please see
"Dealing with Limited Resources" section. Also with Linux you can
mount any kind of DOS/Windows partition. The other way round there are
also some tools, for instance at
http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/
<http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/> , which provides a tool to
read and write ext2 partitions from Windows9x/NT.

Also you can mount DOS drives of the type msdos, vfat and even
compressed drives (Drivespace, etc.). For long file names use vfat and
if you like autoconversion ( a nice feature for text files), you may
do so by using the conv=auto option. I have used this in my
/etc/fstab, but be aware this might cause some strange behaviour
sometimes, look at the kernel docs for further details.
______________________________________________________________________
/dev/hda8 /dos/d vfat user,exec,nosuid,nodev,conv=auto 0 2
______________________________________________________________________

14.1.4. Installation without CD Drive

You may use the CD drive of a desktop (or copy the content of the CD
to the hard disk) and connect both machines with a nullmodem cable.
Than use a DOS boot floppy and the program INTERLNK.EXE to connect
both machines.

14.1.5. Miscellaneous

http://www.travsoft.com

Windows/NT offers: RAS - Remote Access Service

Windows/9x/NT offers the PPTP protocol to connect to remote sites via
a TCP/IP tunnel. This protocol is also supported by Linux. PoPToP
<http://www.moretonbay.com/vpn/pptp.html> is the PPTP server solution
for Linux allowing Linux servers to function seamlessly in the PPTP
VPN environment. This enables administrators to leverage the
considerable benefits of both Microsoft clients and Linux servers. The
current pre-release version supports Windows 95/98/NT PPTP clients and
PPTP Linux clients. The PoPToP pre-release server is not yet fully
optimised. On release, PoPToP will be fully compliant with IETF PPTP
Internet Draft and it will seamlessly support Windows PPTP clients
with the full range of encryption and authentication features.

14.2. BSD Unix

1. PicoBSD is a one floppy version of FreeBSD 3.0-current, which in
its different variations allows you to have secure dialup access,
small diskless router or even a dial-in server. And all this on
only one standard 1.44MB floppy. It runs on a minimum 386SX CPU
with 8MB of RAM (no HDD required!). You probably may also use it to
install BSD on a laptop as described with micro Linuxes above. You
get PicoBSD at http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/
<http://www.freebsd.org/~picobsd/>

2. PAO: FreeBSD Mobile Computing Package
<http://www.jp.FreeBSD.org/PAO/> FreeBSD is a version of the UNIX
operating system that runs on PC hardware. It uses a different set
of support for PCMCIA devices, APM, and other mobility related
issues.

3. The CMU Monarch Project <http://www.monarch.cs.cmu.edu/>
Implementations of Mobile-IPv4 and Mobile-IPv6 for FreeBSD

4. XF86Config Archive <http://www.yy.cs.keio.ac.jp/~sanpei/note-
list.html>. A database of XF86Config files used by Linux and
FreeBSD users. If you need an XF86Config file for your notebook or
laptop, check out this site. (Some documents available in Japanese
only.)

5. AFAIK there is no IrDA support yet.

14.3. OS/2

At The Notebook/2 Site <http://o2ss.com/users/DrMartinus/> by Dr.
Martinus you may find information about different notebooks and PCMCIA
cards working with OS/2.

14.4. NOVELL Netware

The client side with DOS/Windows9x style operating systems seems to be
no problem, since there are many PCMCIA cards with drivers for Netware
available. For Linux connections see the mars_nwe package. Also the
Caldera Linux distribtion is well known for its Novell support.

I hadn't time to build a Netware server on a laptop yet and couldn't
check wether there are network connections possible (PCMCIA driver for
Netware server).

14.5. Debian GNU/Hurd (hurd-i386)

The GNU Hurd is a totally new operating system being put together by
the GNU group. In fact, the GNU Hurd is the final component which
makes it possible to built an entirely GNU OS -- and Debian GNU/Hurd
is going to be one such (possibly even the first) GNU OS. The current
project is founded on the i386 architecture, but expect the others to
follow soon.

The GNU Hurd Hardware Compatibility Guide
<http://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/hacking/hurd/hurd-hardware.html>
states that Hurd should work on laptops, but PCMCIA support isn't
ready yet.

15. ToDo

1. mention the corresponding kernel options in the Linux Compatibility
Check sections

2. write more Hardware sections

16. Revision History

v0.1 13 January 1999, first draft

v0.2 15 January 1999, minor changes

v0.3 28 January 1999, APM chapter started, minor changes

v0.4 8 February, APM chapter rewritten, removed some lint

v0.5 17 February 1999, added small USB chapter, added Dealing with
Limited Resources chapter, added Solutions with Laptops chapter, minor
editorial changes, released draft to the public

v1.0 19 February 1999, added Sound and Keyboard chapter, minor
changes, release to the LDP

v1.1 28 February 1999, spelling, grammar, style checked and many
additional information added by W. Wade Hampton, added CD Drive,
Harddisk and Kernel chapters, many minor changes

v1.2 5 March 1999, added Debian-Laptop-Mailing-List, added information
about apmcd and suspendd to APM chapter, changed some URLs, minor
changes

v1.3 8 March 1999, minor changes

v1.4 25 March 1999, added ACPI information, added chapters Appendix C
- NeoMagic Chip NM20xx by Cedric Adjih and Appendix D - Annotated
Bibliography , minor changes

v1.5 4 April 1999, added chapters about setting up E-Mail by Peter
Englmaier and Noise Reduction, minor changes

v1.6 26 June 1999, rewrite of APM chapter, added install method via
LapLink cable, URLs changed or added, spell checking, minor changes

v1.7 28 September 1999, changed <htmlurl ..> SGML tags to <url ..>,
ACPI chapter separated, touchpad chapter separated and improved,
preface rewritten, added information about divine, noflushd and
parted, new chapter Linux Tools to Repartition a Hard Disk, added
appendix E about specific laptops, some URLs updated, minor changes

v2.0 2 October 1999, added information about gphoto, kmc_utils, Memory
Technology Devices and HUT Mobile IP; changed structur of document
(moved chapters Accessories, Laptop Distribution and chapter about
partitioning), new DVD chapter, started Aviation chapter, started OS/2
chapter, started Blind and Visually Impaired Users chapter, changed
entity &tilde; in URLs to ~ to improve SGML-Tools PS output (otherwise
~ is missing), link to new Lucent WinModem driver, minor additions and
changes

v2.1 2 November 1999, added information about email with UUCP, the use
of CVS and other tools to synchronize two machines, the noatime mount
option, GPS systems, presentation tools, and hard disk form factors,
started chapter about the Hurd, changed URL of PCMCIA-CS package and
LDP, reworked credits chapter, reworked APM chapter, minor changes

v2.2 2 December 1999, reorganized the chapters about Cellular Phones,
Pagers, Calculators, Digital Cameras, Wearable Computing and Noise
Reduction, many minor changes and bug fixes

17. Credits

I would like to thank the many people who assisted with corrections
and suggestions. Their contributions have made this work far better
than I could ever have done alone. Especially I would like to thank,
in order of appearance:

o First of all Kenneth E. Harker <[email protected]>, from his
page Linux on Laptops
<http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/> I have
included much material into this HOWTO, but didn't always quote him
verbatim.

o The other HOWTO authors from the LINUX DOCUMENTATION PROJECT - LDP
<http://linuxdoc.org/>.

o The members of the Linux/IrDA Project <http://www.cs.uit.no/linux-
irda/>.

o The members of the Linux-Laptop Mailing List.

o The members of the Debian-Laptop Mailing List.

o The visitors and contributors of my LiLAC - Linux with Laptop
Computers <http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html> pages.

o David Hinds, the maintainer of the PCMCIA-CS
<http://pcmcia.sourceforge.org> package.

o Frank Schneider <[email protected]>.

o Stefan Martig <[email protected]>.

o Michele Andreoli, maintainer of muLinux
<http://mulinux.firenze.linux.it/>.

o Klaus Franken <[email protected]>.

o W. Wade, Hampton <[email protected]>, did much of spell,
grammar and style checking and added many valuable information.

o Anderson MacKay <[email protected]>, RLUG - Rice University Linux
User Group <http://linux.rice.edu>, gave many different detailed
recommendations.

o Sean 'Shaleh' Perry, <[email protected]>, Debian maintainer of
anacron and other packages, for Debian support.

o Bob Toxen <[email protected]>.

o Peter Sprenger <[email protected]>.

o Felix Braun <[email protected]>.

o Steve Rader <[email protected]>.

o Richard Worwood <http://www.felch01.demon.co.uk/laptop-howto.html>
<[email protected]>, for mirroring of the HOWTO.

o Marcel Ovidiu Vlad <[email protected]>.

o Ludger Berse <[email protected]>.

o Cedric Adjih <[email protected]>, wrote the chapter about the
NeoMagic chipset.

o Peter Englmaier <[email protected]>, provided the chapter about a
sophisticated email setup.

o Michael Wiedmann <[email protected]>, PIA - X11 based PalmPilot
Address Manager <http://www.in-berlin.de/User/miwie/pia/> , found
many spelling errors and more.

o Adam Spiers <[email protected]>.

o Lionel, "trollhunter" Bouchpan-Lerust-Juery,
<[email protected]>, for providing the French translation
<http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/portables/ressourcesfr.html#howto>
and information about wearables
<http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/indexen.html> .

o Nathan Myers <[email protected]>, from LL - LinuxLaptops
<http://www.linuxlaptops.com> for numerous additions.

o Ben Attias <[email protected]>.

o Igor Pesando <[email protected]>.

o Geert Van der Plas <[email protected]>, provided
information about the touchpad driver included in the GPM.

o Chandran Shukla <[email protected]>.

o Harald Milz <[email protected]>, from SuSE <http://www.suse.de> provided
numerous additions.

o Ingo Dietzel <http://www.snafu.de/~ingo.dietzel/>
<[email protected]>, for his patience with the project.

o Emerson, Tom # El Monte <[email protected]>, for his idea
about laptop bags.

o Thomas Traber <[email protected]>.

o Bill Gjestvang <[email protected]>.

o Leandro Noferin <[email protected]>, for proofreading the
italian parts.

o Stephane Bortzmeyer <[email protected]> for his suggestions
about email with UUCP, the use of CVS or related tools to
synchronize two machines, and the noatime mount option.

o Peter Teuben <[email protected]>, for some suggestions about
hard disks.

o Guido Germano <http://www.guido.germano.com> <[email protected]>,
for information about the Macintosh Powerbook 145B.

o Joel Eriksson <[email protected]>, for information
about Atari laptops.

o Gilles Lamiral <[email protected]> for providing the PLIP
Install-HOWTO.

o Alessandro Grillo <[email protected]>, started the
Italian translation.

o Gledson Evers <[email protected]>, started the Portuguese
translation.

o Dan Kegel <[email protected]>, pointed me to the Toshiba
Linux page.

o Jaime Robles <http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/5161>
<[email protected]>, gave me some information about the HAM-HOWTO.

o LuftHans <http://home.pages.de/~lufthans/> <[email protected]>,
announced this HOWTO to the maintainer of the Hardware-HOWTO.

o Jari Malinen <http://www.cs.hut.fi/~jtm> <[email protected]>, for
support with HUT Mobile IP.

o John Beimler <[email protected]>, provided the URL of photopc.

o Steven G. Johnson <[email protected]>, provided the information about
Apple/Macintosh m86k machines.

o Ulrich Oelmann <[email protected]>, gave valuable
additions about the installation with muLinux.

o Lucio Pileggi <[email protected]>, provided information about the
Siemens S25 cellular phone.

o Eric <[email protected]> wrote how to transfer pictures from a
digital camera.

o Sorry, but probably I have forgotten to mention everybody who
helped.

18. Appendix A - Survey about Micro Linuxes

Because of their small or non-existent footprint, micro-Linuxes are
especially suited to run on laptops -- particularly if you use a
company-provided laptop running Windows9x/NT. Or for installation
purposes using another non Linux machine. There are several micro
Linux distributions out there that boot from one or two floppies and
run off a ramdisk.

See http://www.linuxhq.com <http://www.linuxhq.com> or
http://www.txdirect.net/users/mdfranz/tinux.html
<http://www.txdirect.net/users/mdfranz/tinux.html> for details. You
may find a FAQ and a mailing list about boot-floppies at
http://os.inf.tu-dresden.de/~sr1/boot-floppies/faq.html
<http://os.inf.tu-dresden.de/~sr1/boot-floppies/faq.html>. Also a
BootDisk-HOWTO is available. Thanks to Matthew D. Franz maintainer of
Trinux for this tips and collecting most of the following URLs. See
also the content of Console/Mini Distributions at FreshMeat
<http://ma.us.mirrors.freshmeat.net/appindex/console/mini-
distributions.html>.

1. MuLinux < http://mulinux.firenze.linux.it/> by Michele Andreoli

2. tomsrtbt http://www.toms.net/~toehser/rb/
<http://www.toms.net/~toehser/rb/> "The most Linux on one floppy.
(distribution or panic disk)." by Tom Oehser

3. Trinux http://www.trinux.org <http://www.trinux.org> "A Linux
Security Toolkit" by Matthew D. Franz

4. LRP "Linux Router Project" http://www.psychosis.com/linux-router/
<http://www.psychosis.com/linux-router/>

5. hal91 http://home.sol.no/~okolaas/hal91.html
<http://home.sol.no/~okolaas/hal91.html>

6. floppyfw http://www.zelow.no/floppyfw/
<http://www.zelow.no/floppyfw/> by Thomas Lundquist

7. minilinux http://alberti.crs4.it/softw are/mini-linux/
<http://alberti.crs4.it/softw are/mini-linux/> (seems no more
valid) or http://www.kiarchive.ru/pub/linux/mini-linux/
<http://www.kiarchive.ru/pub/linux/mini-linux/>

8. monkey http://www.spsselib.hiedu.cz/monkey/docs/english.htm
<http://www.spsselib.hiedu.cz/monkey/docs/english.htm>

9. DLX http://www.wu-wien.ac.at/usr/h93/h9301726/dlx.html
<http://www.wu-wien.ac.at/usr/h93/h9301726/dlx.html> by Erich Boem

10.
C-RAMDISK http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/kernel/images/
<http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/kernel/images/>

11.
BABEL http://celsius-software.hypermart.net/babel/
<http://celsius-software.hypermart.net/babel/> "A mini-distribution
to run games"
12.
Xdenu http://xdenu.tcm.hut.fi/ <http://xdenu.tcm.hut.fi/> ,
quotating Alan Cox: "Xdenu is a small distribution program that
installs as a set of DOS zips onto a DOS partition and gives you a
complete X11 client workstation."

13.
LOAF http://www.ecks.org/loaf/ <http://www.ecks.org/loaf/>

14.
pocket-linux http://pocket-linux.coven.vmh.net/ <http://pocket-
linux.coven.vmh.net/>

15.
FLUF http://www.upce.cz/~kolo/fluf.htm
<http://www.upce.cz/~kolo/fluf.htm>

16.
YARD http://www.croftj.net/~fawcett/yard/
<http://www.croftj.net/~fawcett/yard/>

17.
TLinux http://members.xoom.com/ror4/tlinux/
<http://members.xoom.com/ror4/tlinux/>

18.
ODL http://linux.apostols.org/guru/wen/
<http://linux.apostols.org/guru/wen/>

19.
SmallLinux by Steven Gibson http://smalllinux.netpedia.net/
<http://smalllinux.netpedia.net/> Three disk micro-distribution of
Linux and utilities. Based on kernel 1.2.11. Root disk is ext2
format and has fdisk and mkfs.ext2 so that a harddisk install can
be done. Useful to boot up on old machines with less than 4MB of
RAM.

20.
cLIeNUX by Rick Hohensee client-use-oriented Linux distribution
ftp://ftp.blueznet.com /pub/colorg <ftp://ftp.blueznet.com
/pub/colorg>

21.
linux-lite by Paul Gortmaker for very small systems with less than
2MB RAM and 10MB harddisk space (1.x.x kernel)
http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/kernel
<http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/kernel>

22.
See also the packages at MetaLab formerly known as SunSite
http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/recovery/!INDEX.html
<http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/recovery/!INDEX.html> and
the Boot-Disk-HOWTO

23.
You may also consider some of the boot floppies provided by various
distributions falling into this category, e.g. the boot/rescue
floppy of Debian/GNU Linux.

24.
If you like to build your own flavour of a boot floppy you may do
so manually, as described in the BootDisk-HOWTO or using some
helper tools, for instance mkrboot (provided at least as a
Debian/GNU Linux package) or pcinitrd, which is part of the PCMCIA-
CS package by David Hinds.

25.
Also you might try to build your Linux system on a ZIP drive. This
is described in the ZIP-Install-mini-HOWTO.

19. Appendix B - Dealing with Limited Resources or Tuning the System

19.1. Related HOWTOs

1. LBX-HOWTO

2. Small-Memory-HOWTO

19.2. Introduction

As mentioned in the introduction laptops sometimes have less resources
if you compare them to desktops. To deal with limited space, memory,
CPU speed and battery power, I have written this chapter.

19.3. Small Space

19.3.1. Introduction

There are different types of techniques to gain more disk space, such
as sharing of space, freeing unused or redundant space, filesystem
tuning and compression. Note: some of these techniques use memory
instead of space. As you will see, there are many small steps
necessary to free some space.

19.3.2. Techniques

1. Stripping: Though many distributions come with stripped binaries
today it is useful to check this. For details see man strip. To
find every unstripped file you can use the file command or more
convenient the tool findstrip. Attention: don't strip libraries,
sometimes the wrong symbols are removed due to a bad programming
technique. Or use the --strip-unneeded option.

2. Perforation: zum(1)reads a file list on stdin and attempts to
perforate these files. Perforation means, that series of null bytes
are replaced by lseek, thus giving the file system a chance of not
allocating real disk space for those bytes. Example: find . -type f
| xargs zum

3. Remove Odd Files and Duplicates: Check your system for core files,
emacs recovery files <#FILE#> vi recovery files <FILE>.swp, RPM
recovery files <FILE>.rpmorig and patch recovery files. Find
duplicates, you may try finddup. Choose a system to name your
backup, temporary and test files, e.g. with a signature at the end.

4. Clean Temporary Files: , e.g. /tmp, there is even a tool tmpwatch.

5. Shorten the Log Files: usually the files in /var/log.

6. Remove Files: Remove files which are not "necessary" under all
circumstances such as man pages, documentation /usr/doc and sources
e.g. /usr/src .
7. Unnecessary Libraries: You may use the binstats package to find
unused libraries (Thanks to Tom Ed White).

8. Filesystem: Choose a filesystem which treats disk space
economically e.g. rsfs. Tune your filesystem e.g. tune2fs. Choose
an appropriate partition and block size.

9. Reduce Kernel Size: Either by using only the necessary kernel
features and/or making a compressed kernel image bzImage.

10.
Compression: I didn't check this but AFAIK you may compress your
filesystem with gzip and decompress it on the fly. Alternatively
you may choose to compress only certain files. You can even execute
compressed files with zexec

11.
Compressed Filesystems:

- For e2fs filesystems there is a compression version available
e2compr , see http://debs.fuller.edu/e2compr/
<http://debs.fuller.edu/e2compr/> .

- DMSDOS which enables your machine to access Windows95 compressed
drives (drivespace, doublestacker). If you don't need DOS/Windows95
compatibility, i.e. if you want to compress Linux-only data, this
is really discouraged by the author of the program. See
http://fb9nt-ln.uni-duisburg.de/mitarbeiter/gockel/software/dmsdos/
<http://fb9nt-ln.uni-
duisburg.de/mitarbeiter/gockel/software/dmsdos/> .

12.
Partition Sharing: You may share swap-space (see Swap-Space-HOWTO)
or data partitions between different OS (see mount). For mounting
MS-DOS Windows95 compressed drives (doublespace, drivespace) you
may use dmsdos
http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/filesystems/dosfs/
<http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/filesystems/dosfs/>.

13.
Libraries: Take another (older) library, for instance libc5 , this
library seems to be smaller than libc6 aka glibc2 .

14.
Kernel: If your needs are fitted with an older kernel version, you
can save some space.

15.
GUI: Avoid as much Graphical User Interface (GUI) as possible.

16.
Tiny Distributions: There are some distributions available which
fit from one 3.5" floppy to 10MB disk space and fit for small
memories, too. See appendix A and below.

17.
External Storage Devices (Hard Disks, ZIP Drives, NFS, SAMBA):
Since many notebooks may be limited in their expandability, using
the parallel port is an attractive option. There are external
harddisks and ZIP Drives available. Usually they are also
connectable via PCMCIA. Another way is using the resources of
another machine through NFS or SAMBA etc.

19.4. Harddisk Speed

Use the tool hdparm to set up better harddisk performance. Though I
have seen laptop disk enabled with striping, I can't see a reason to
do so, because IMHO aka RAID0 striping needs at least two different
disks to increase performance.

See UNIX and LINUX Computing Journal: Tunable Filesystem Parameters in
/proc <http://www.diverge.org/ulcj/199910tfsp.shtml> How to increase,
decrease and reconfigure filsystem behavior from within /proc.

19.5. Small Memory

19.5.1. Related HOWTOs

1. Small-Memory-mini-HOWTO by Todd Burgess <[email protected] >
http://eddie.cis.uoguelph.ca/~tburgess
<http://eddie.cis.uoguelph.ca/~tburgess>

2. Modules-mini-HOWTO

3. Kerneld-mini-HOWTO

19.5.2. Techniques

Check the memory usage with free and top.

Mergemem Project <http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/ulrich/mergemem/>.
Many programs contain memory areas of the same content that remain
undetected by the operating system. Typically, these areas contain
data that have been generated on startup and remain unchanged for
longer periods. With mergemem such areas are detected and shared. The
sharing is performed on the operating system level and is invisible to
the user level programs. mergemem is particularily useful if you run
many instances of interpreters and emulators (like Java or Prolog)
that keep their code in private data areas. But also other programs
can take advantage albeit to a lesser degree.

You may also reduce the kernel size as much as possible by removing
any feature which is not necessary for your needs and by modularizing
the kernel as much as possible.

Also you may shutdown every service or daemon which is not needed,
e.g. lpd, mountd, nfsd and close some virtual consoles. Please see
Small-Memory-mini-HOWTO for details.

And of coarse use swap space, when possible.

If possible you use the resources of another machine, for instance
with X, VNC or even telnet. For more information on Virtual Network
Computing (VNC), see http://http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/
<http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc> .

19.6. Low CPU Speed

You may want to overdrive the CPU speed but this can damage your
hardware and I don't have experience with it. For some examples look
at Adorable Toshiba Libretto - Overclocking
http://www.cerfnet.com/~adorable/libretto.html
<http://www.cerfnet.com/~adorable/libretto.html>.
19.7. Power Saving Techniques

1. If you don't need infrared support, disable it in the BIOS or
shutdown the IrDA device driver. There are also some IrDA features
of the kernel which are useful for saving power.

2. PCMCIA services consume much power, so shut them down if you don't
need them.

3. I'm not sure to which extend the backlight consumes power. WARNING:
AFAIK this device can only bear a limited number of uptime circles.
So avoid using screensavers.

4. For some examples to build batteries with increased uptime up to 8
hours look at Adorable Toshiba Libretto
http://www.cerfnet.com/~adorable/libretto.html
<http://www.cerfnet.com/~adorable/libretto.html>.

5. For information about APM look at the APM chapter above.

6. A hacked rclock <http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~bbense/toys/>.
Booker C. Bense has hacked the rclock program to include a simple
battery power meter on the clock face.

7. xbatstat <http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~daisuke/Linux/xbatstat.html>. A
battery level status checker for Linux and X.

8. The "noatime" option when mouting filesystems tells the kernel to
not update the access time information of the file. This
information, although sometimes useful, is not used by most people
(do you know that ls -lu gives you the access time?). Therefore,
you can safely disable it, then preventing disk access each time
you cat a file. Here is an example of a /etc/fstab with this power-
saving option:

/dev/hda7 /var ext2 defaults,noatime 0 2

9. hdparm
<ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/sources/sbin/hdparm-3.0.tar.gz>
hdparm is a Linux IDE disk utility that lets you set spin-down
timeouts and other disk parameters. It works also for some SCSI
features.

10.
Mobile Update Daemon
<http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/ulrich/linux/tips.html> This is a
drop-in replacement for the standard update daemon, mobile-update
minimizes disk spin ups and reduces disk uptime. It flushes buffers
only when other disk activity is present. To ensure a consistent
file system call sync manually. Otherwise files may be lost on
power failure. mobile-update does not use APM. So it works also on
older systems.

11.
noflushd <http://www.tuebingen.linux.de/kobras/noflushd/>: noflushd
monitors disk activity and spins down disks that have been idle for
more than <timeout> seconds. It requires a kernel >=2.2.11 . Useful
in combination with hdparm and mount with noatime option to bring
down disk activity.
12.
Toshiba Linux Utilities
<http://www2.prestel.co.uk/hex/toshiba.html> This is a set of Linux
utilities for controlling the fan, supervisor passwords, and hot
key functions of Toshiba Pentium notebooks. There is a KDE package
Klibreta, too.

13.
At Kenneth E. Harker's page there is a recommendation for LCDproc
LCDProc <http://lcdproc.omnipotent.net/> . "LCDproc is a small
piece of software that will enable your Linux box to display live
system information on a 20x4 line backlit LCD display. This program
shows, among other things, battery status on notebooks." I tried
this package and found that it connects only to the external
Matrix-Orbital 20x4 LCD display http://www.matrix-orbital.com/
<http://www.matrix-orbital.com/>, which is a LCD display connected
to a serial port. I can't see any use for a laptop yet.

14.
Diald: Dial Daemon <http://www.loonie.net/~eschenk/diald.html> .
The Diald daemon provides on demand Internet connectivity using the
SLIP or PPP protocols. Diald can automatically dial in to a remote
host when needed or bring down dial-up connections that are
inactive.

15.
KDE http://www.kde.org <http://www.kde.org> provides KAPM, Kbatmon
and Kcmlaptop. Written by Paul Campbell kcmlaptop is a set of KDE
control panels that implements laptop computer support functions,
it includes a dockable battery status monitor for laptops - in
short a little icon in the KDE status bar that shows how much
battery time you have left. It also will warn you when power is
getting low and allows you to configure power saving options.

Similar packages you may find at the GNOME project
http://www.gnome.org/ <http://www.gnome.org/> . See the software
maps at both sites.

16.
Please see Battery Powered Linux Mini-HOWTO by Hanno Mueller,
[email protected] http://www.lava.de/~hanno/
<http://www.lava.de/~hanno/> for more information.

19.8. Kernel

19.8.1. Related HOWTOs

o Kernel-HOWTO

o BootPrompt-HOWTO

Many kernel features are related to laptops. For instance APM, IrDA,
PCMCIA and some options for certain laptops, e.g. IBM ThinkPads. In
some distributions they not configured. And the kernel is usually
bigger than necessary. So it's seems a good idea to customize the
kernel. Though this task might seem difficult for the beginner it is
highly recommended. Since this involves dangerous operations you need
to be careful. But, if you can install a better kernel successfully,
you've earned your intermediate Linux sysadmin merit badge. - Since
this topic is already covered in other documents I want handle this
here.

19.9. Tiny Applications and Distributions

A small collection yet, but I'm looking for more information.

1. BOA - "Lightweight and High Performance WebServer. boa is a single-
tasking HTTP server. That means that unlike traditional web
servers, it does not fork for each incoming connection, nor does it
fork many copies of itself to handle multiple connections. It
internally multiplexes all of the ongoing HTTP connections, and
forks only for CGI programs (which must be separate processes.)
Preliminary tests show boa is capable of handling several hundred
hits per second on a 100 MHz Pentium."

2. MGR - a graphical windows system, which uses much less resources
than X.

3. Low Bandwidth X:

Alan Cox in LINUX REDUX February 1998 " .. there are two that
handle normal applications very nicely. LBX (Low Bandwidth X) is
the official application of the X Consortium (now OpenGroup
www.opengroup.org). Dxpc http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~zvonler/dxpc
<http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~zvonler/dxpc> is the alternative most
people prefer. These systems act as proxy X11 servers and compress
datastreams by well over 50 percent for normal requests, often
reaching a reduction to 25 percent of the original bandwidth usage.
With dxpc, X windows applications are quite usable over a 28.8
modem link or across the Internet."

4. blackbox - "This is a window manager for X. It is similar in many
respects to such popular packages as Window Maker, Enlightenment,
and FVWM2. You might be interested in this package if you are tired
of window managers that are a heavy drain on your system resources,
but you still want an attractive and modern-looking interface."

5. xfce - xfce <http://www.xfce.org> is a lightweight and stable
desktop environment for various UNIX systems.

6. linux-lite - distribution based on a 1.x.x kernel for systems with
only 2MB memory and 10MB harddisk. URL see above.

7. smallLinux - http://smalllinux.netpedia.net/
<http://smalllinux.netpedia.net/> . Three disk micro-distribution
of Linux and utilities. Based on kernel 1.2.11. Root disk is ext2
format and has fdisk and mkfs.ext2 so that a harddisk install can
be done. Useful to boot up on old machines with less than 4MB of
RAM.

8. cLIeNUX - client-use-oriented Linux distribution.

9. minix - not a Linux but a UNIX useful for very small systems, such
as 286 CPU and 640K RAM http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/minix.html
<http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/minix.html> . There is even X support
named mini-x by David I. Bell
ftp://ftp.linux.org.uk/pub/linux/alan/
<ftp://ftp.linux.org.uk/pub/linux/alan/> .

10.
screen - tiny but powerful console manager. John M. Fisk
<[email protected]> in LINUX GAZETTE July 1, 1996 :"It's
a GUI, GUI, GUI, GUI world! " -- or so the major OS manufacturers
would have you belief. Truth is, that while this is increasingly
the case, there are times when the command line interface (CLI) is
still a very good choice for getting things done. It's fast,
generally efficient, and is a good choice on memory or CPU
constrained machines. And don't forget that there are still a lot
of very nifty things that can be done at the console."

11.
tinyirc - "A tiny, stripped down IRC Client. Doesn't have most of
the more advance commands in the ircII family of IRC Clients, nor
does it have any color, but it works, and it's tiny."

19.10. Hardware Upgrade

You may also take into account to upgrade the hardware itself, though
this may have some caveats, see chapter Open a Laptop Case above. If
you need a survey about the possibilities, you can take a look at
http://www.upgrade.de <http://www.upgrade.de>, this page is also
available in French and English.

20. Appendix C - NeoMagic Chip NM20xx

20.1. Introduction

Hence the NeoMagic chipset series NM20xx is one of the most used
graphic chips in laptops in our times, I will spent a few words on
them. Though a long time this chip was only supported by commercial X
servers, since the middle of 1998 RedHat provided a binary X server
manufactured by PrecisionInsight. Since version 3.3.3 this X server is
also available by XFree86.

20.2. Textmode 100x37

This chapter is a courtesy of Cedric Adjih < [email protected] >.
I changed some minor parts.

An apparently little known fact about the Neomagic chipset NM20xx is
that you can run text mode in 100x37 (i.e. 800x600). This text mode is
very nice (as opposed to the 80x25 which is ugly). I tried this with a
HP OmniBook 800 and suppose it might work with other laptops using the
NeoMagic chip, too. The following that I wrote was much longer than I
expected so I wrote it as a kind of mini-howto :-) :

The main problem is that is a bit difficult to set up, and if you're
going wrong with SVGATextMode/restoretextmode some results on the LCD
might be frightening. Although I didn't manage to break my LCD with
many many attempts going wrong, DISCLAMER: THIS MIGHT DAMAGE YOUR
HARDWARE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. FOLLOW THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS AT
YOUR OWN RISKS. I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE IF SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS.

20.2.1. Survey

You need to do three main steps:

1. Enable Linux to boot in 800x600 textmode. The problem is that you
won't see any text before the following two steps aren't done.

2. Automatically run restoretextmode with correct register data.

3. Automatically run SVGATextMode.

20.2.2. More Details

All the files I have modified, are available for now at
http://starship.python.net/crew/adjih/data/cda-omni-trick.tar.gz
<http://starship.python.net/crew/adjih/data/cda-omni-trick.tar.gz>

20.2.2.1. Enabling Linux to Boot in 800x600

Recent kernels (2.2.x) need to be compiled with CONFIG_VIDEO_GFX_HACK
defined. Default is off. (look in
/usr/src/linux-2.2.x/arch/i386/boot/video.S)

This is done by passing the parameter vga=770 to older kernels or
vga=7 to 2.2.x kernels. Example with lilo.conf:

______________________________________________________________________
image=/boot/bzImage-modif
label=22
append="svgatextmode=100x37x8_SVGA" #explained later
vga=7
read-only
______________________________________________________________________

20.2.2.2. Running restoretextmode and SVGATextMode at Boot Time

You must arrange to run restoretextmode <name of some textreg.dat
file> and SVGATextMode 100x37x8_SVGA at boot time.

An example textreg.dat for restoretextmode (obtained using
savetextmode) is in my tar archive in tmp/, and an example
/etc/TextConfig.

Since I'm lazy, I've simply put SVGATextMode and restoretextmode in
the /etc/rc.boot/kbd file from my Debian/GNU Linux which get executed
at boot time (also available in the tar archive).

20.2.2.3. Now the Key Point

Annoying things will be displayed if you don't use the right
SVGATextMode in the right video text mode: this is why I also pass the
environmental variable "svgatextmode=100x37x8_SVGA" (arbitrary name)
to the kernel (using append=xxx in lilo.conf) when I also set vga=7:
the script /etc/rc.boot/kbd tests this variable and calls
restoretextmode and SVGATextMode IF AND ONLY IF.

20.2.3. Road Map

1. Recompile the kernel 2.2.x with CONFIG_VIDEO_GFX_HACK

2. Insert the restoretextmode with the correct parameter in the
initialisation script, with no other changes.

3. Boot with normal text mode (80x25) but restoretextmode: you should
see the screen going to 100x37, but with only 80x25 usable. Don't
use SVGATextMode yet.

4. It is much better to conditionnalize your initialize code as I did,
to keep the possibility of booting in both modes: you may test this
now with some reboots (starting restoretextmode or not).

5. Boot with 100x37 text mode using parameter vga=7 (lilo.conf), you
should see white background at some point, but the characters will
be black on black. This is ok. You'll have to reboot blindly now.

6. Insert the <path>/SVGATextMode 100x37x8_SVGA after the
restoretextmode in initialization scripts.

7. Reboot with vga=7 (lilo.conf)

8. Should be OK now. Enjoy.

21. Appendix D - Annotated Bibliography

o Linux guides and HOWTOs, available at the Linux Documentation
Project (LDP) http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP
<http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP> . These sources of information are
highly recommended.

o I found two books about PC hardware which contain a dedicated
chapter about repairing laptops.

Author: Scott Mueller

Title: Upgrading and Repairing PCs

Publisher: QUE Corporation.

Author: Marc Misani

Title: The Complete Hardware Upgrade and Maintainance Guide

Publisher: unknown

Both books don't know about Linux and both are quite short about
laptops. The book by Marc Minasi provides a little more information
about laptops.

o Authors: Alessandro Rubini, Andy Oram Title: Linux Device Drivers

o Author: Stephen J. Bigelow

Title: Maintain and Repair Your Notebook, Palmtop, or Pen Computer

Publisher: McGraw Hill Text, September 1993

Review by Booknews, Inc. , January 1, 1994: A guide to performing
routine maintenance and simple repairs to notebook, palmtop and pen
computers. Covers such topics as how to diagnose and replace faulty
LCD and plasma displays, and how to protect circuitry from
electrostatic damage. Written with beginners in mind -- but some
hardware experience would be helpful in understanding the
subtleties and cautions involved. Annotation copyright Book News,
Inc. Portland, Or. Though this book seems outdated I don't know a
newer one.

o Author: Frank van Gilluwe

Title: The Undocumented PC

Publisher: Addison Wesley Developers Press

Review by Craig Hart: There are two editions. Edition 1 has a
purple cover, edition 2 has a grey marble background photo with
brown-on-yellow text panel. Edition 2 is not much better than
edition one - only about 10%; of the information has changed,
although a lot of typographical errors have been corrected. This is
an excellent book, because it not only lists the raw data required
to program something, but it has lot's of explanations, how-to's
and example programs.

o Authors: Gerald Reischl <http://www.reischl.com> / Heinz Sundt

Title: Die mobile Revolution

Publisher: Frankfurt: Ueberreuter 1999

Some speculations about the future of mobile communication.

22. Appendix E - Resources for Specific Laptops

Certain laptops have found some more enthusiastic Linux users, than
other models. This list is probably not comprehensive:

22.1. IBM ThinkPad

ThinkPad Configuration Tool for Linux tpctl
<http://jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu/~thood/tpctlhome.htm>

Mailing list linux-thinkpad <http://www.topica.com/lists/linux-
thinkpad/>.

22.2. Toshiba Laptops

Toshiba Linux Utilities <http://www2.prestel.co.uk/hex/toshiba.html>
This is a set of Linux utilities for controlling the fan, supervisor
passwords, and hot key functions of Toshiba Pentium notebooks. There
is a KDE package Klibreta, too.

See also Toshiba Linux Utilities <http://www.buzzard.org.uk/toshiba/>

Mailing lists: linux-on-portege
<http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/linux-on-portege> , Linux on
Toshiba Satellite 40xx linux-tosh-40xx <[email protected]>.

Toshiba itself offers now Toshiba Linux Support
<http://www.tce.co.jp/linux/>.

22.3. COMPAQ Concerto Aero

COMPAQ Concerto Fan's Home Page
<http://www.inetdirect.net/stg/pen/chris/concerto.html> and Aero-FAQ
<http://www.reed.edu/~pwilk/aero/aero.faq>.

The latest version of the Linux Compaq Concerto Pen Driver
<http://www.cs.nmsu.edu/~pfeiffer/#pen> is available from Joe
Pfeiffer's home page.

22.4. DELL Laptops

Mailing list at linux-dell-laptops
<http://www.egroups.com/group/linux-dell-laptops>