Last update: December 2nd, 2004
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3.06 GHz with Hyperthreading Chipset: SiS 648FX + SiS SB 963 Memory: 1x512MB DDR 333 (184pin desktop size) Graphics: NVidia GeForce5600 Go with 128MB RAM Harddisk: Maxtor 120GB at 7200rpms (desktop size)
This laptop sure isn't for those of you who search for something to move around a lot. This monster is desktop replacement as far as only few would push it. With a weight of approx. 6.5kg and dimensions 378x320x55mm it's well fit for your daily workout. But the big size also brings some goodies along: a normal size key pad, a 17" display (1280x1024) easier and cheaper upgrade possibilities for harddisk, processor and memory. Performance is of course good as well. What I personally don't like about it: the layout of the alphanumeric keyboard is a pain, inserting a floppy disk is a bit cumbersome, the display flickers slightly if brightness is reduced (checked this with another one in a shop), battery can only be exchanged using a screwdriver, cooling is quite loud if under load and air is exhausted on the right side which can get uncomfortable for right handed people. UPDATE: Cooling is not only loud but also insufficient. Especially if you have Hyperthreading enabled, then you will soon have severe slowdowns, because the kernel has to idle the CPU. (You will have the same troubles under windows, too. I played Doom 3 for 2 minutes before the computer shut down automatically.)
A strange bug plagues me: ethernet seems to run only at 10MBit. I tried it with direct connections and in 100MBit LANs. The maximum transfer rate is about
400kB/s which is not what you would expect from a 100MBit NIC. I hope I will have time enough soon to track that problem down.
Dirty Workaround
Well, during a heavy attack of desperation I tried to force the SiS900 to use Halfduplex allthough it's connected to a switch. And it helped a lot: the
transfer rates now reached 7-8 MB/s which is way better. Of course you get a load of collissions, but hey, who needs perfection. :-) I'm not quite
satisfied with this solution but at least I can stop plugging in and out my external harddisk to transfer large files.
But maybe this might be a valuable hint for someone who knows a lot more about the SiS900 chip and kernel drivers!
I only tested a few things as I don't need all the stuff that's in it. What I tested is ethernet network, sound, USB mouse and keyboard, X with accelerated
OpenGL, WineX, Hyperthreading and elementary power management.
Installation of the customized kernel ran with only one thing to consider: the kernel boot parameter "acpi_irq_nobalance" is needed for IRQs to
be assigned properly.
I use Gentoo 1.4 and the most important things that I activated in the kernel configuration are:
SMP for Hyperthreading (works fine for itself but seems to cause troubles with the NVidia drivers)
ACPI for Hyperthreading and Power Management (disable IRQ assignment with kernel parameter "acpi_irq_nobalance"
SiS 5513 chipset for IDE controller
SiS 900/7016 chip for ethernet card
agpgart with generic SiS support (not sure whether this is really needed as NVidia has its own AGP-support)
no DRI-support as I use XFree86 4.3
Intel ICH (i8xx), SiS 7012, NVidia nForce Audio or AMD 768/811x for sound
EHCI for USB 2.0
OHCI for USB 1.0
TESTED AND OK
Hyperthreading (apart from the above mentioned troubles with NVidia drivers)
temperature controlled fan speed
automatic power off after shutdown
onboard sound with OSS
ethernet network
USB 1.0 input devices
CD recording
NVidia drivers 5336
WineX runs these games in really satisfying quality and speed: Starcraft, Counterstrike (no Steam), Warcraft III, Battlefield 1942
TO BE TESTED
wireless LAN
USB 2.0
advanced power management like standby, suspend to disk,...
DVD reading
sample kernel config for version 2.4.24
wicked problem here: if I use ACPI then the ACPI-driver detects a critical temperature during boot up and initiates an immediate shutdown after kernel initialization is finished. Only way to work around this is to disable thermal_zone in the kernel, but then the fan speed is not increased if temperature rises, which is something I won't test to extent. :-)
A major improvement can be reported! Thermal management with ACPI works quite fine but a funny bug remains: the CPU fan won't speed up automatically if
temperature rises. But if you do a "cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/temperature" then the fan reacts and speeds up accordingly. So I just have a
"watch -n 5 cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/temperature" run all the time and it works fine. IRQ assignment with ACPI is still an issue and can
be corrected with the kernel boot parameter "pci=noacpi".
UPDATE:
Right now I'm using kernel 2.6.9 and I can't exactly tell since when the SMP-troubles with the NVidia-driver disappeared. But they are gone. So, apart from
the thermal problems of the whole cooling construction you can use Hyperthreading without a hitch.
Finally got a way to test wireless LAN. I believe it was kernel 2.6.6 or so, when they fixed something for this WLAN-chip. If you load the module or have it
compiled directly into your kernel you can now turn on and off the WLAN-chip with the button on the laptop and start surfing.
Finally (again) I bought a video DVD to test DVD playback: works fine!
All that remains to be tested is DVD-writing and enhanced power management abilities.
TESTED AND OK
Hyperthreading
temperature controlled fan speed (kind of)
automatic power off after shutdown
onboard sound with OSS and ALSA
ethernet network
USB 1.0 input devices
USB 2.0 (tested with an external harddisk - works fine)
Firewire (tested with an external harddisk - works fine)
CD recording
NVidia drivers 5336
WineX runs these games in really satisfying quality and speed: Starcraft, Counterstrike, Warcraft III, Battlefield 1942
wireless LAN (tested with an public access-point)
DVD reading (tested with a normal video-DVD)
TO BE TESTED
advanced power management like standby, suspend to disk,...
DVD writing
sample kernel config for version 2.6.6
If you have done more thorough testing or know about hardware related improvements to the kernel config then please tell me on
latzinator //at-sign here// latzinator.com!
Thanx and I hope this document will help.