Linux on Arima W720-K8

This page is still under construction

Link to tuxmobil.org http://tuxmobil.org/index.html

This laptop is also rebadged by various companies including the following:
The particular model I own is the eMachines M6807.

Specifications

ProcessorMobile AMD Athlon 64 3000+1800MHz 1MB L2
NorthbridgeVia K8T800
SouthbridgeVia VT8235
Hard DriveHitachi TravelStar 5K80 60GB 5400RPM
DVD DrivePioneer DVR-K12D DVD+RW*
Card ReaderNeodio ND3260 8in1 ReaderDoes Smartmedia/xD work?
VideoATI Mobility Radeon 9600 Series - ATI RV350 NP (M10)Not supported by XFree86 4.3
DisplaySamsung LTN154X1 15.4" WXGA
EthernetVia Rhine II
WirelessBroadcom BCM94306 802.11gNo opensource drivers.
ModemSmart Link v.92 56Kwinmodem, binary drivers avail
AudioRealtek ALC250
CardbusENE CB1410
FirewireVia VT6306 ???
TouchpadSynaptics ???
* M6805 has a Combo DVD/CD-RW instead
ATI
ENE
Neodio
Samsung
Via K8T800
Via VT6306
Via VT8235

Problems

Read this

2004-05-04 I filed a new bug #2641 tonight about the fact that Linux ACPI doesn't reserve i/o ports that are used. It appears that due to this fact the PM1a Event Register Block i/o range is overwritten by Linux trying to use it for cardbus.
2004-05-01 Len released a final patch for bug #1581 which fixes the remaining bug with the via-rhine nic.
2004-04-25 I saw that Len released a patch for bug #1581 which makes the irq's work for everything but the via-rhine nic. I submitted more logs for him to review, hopefully he can find out what is wrong with the nic.
2004-02-13 I filed a bug in Linux Kernel bugzilla about the ACPI/APIC problems to see if there is anything that the kernel guys can do about it. Read it here.
2004-02-07 It appears just doing the simple changes to the DSDT table will not be enough to make APIC work for the devices. I am looking through the ACPI spec pdf right now to see if rewriting the dsdt table is feasible. I don't think I have ever heard of someone trying to rewrite one from scratch which probably means its extremely evil.
2004-02-06 I have decided to see if I can fix the DSDT table myself using the information available at acpi.sf.net.
2004-02-05 I have attempted to contact both eMachines and Arima about the above problems and have not heard anything back from them yet.

ACPI

General

You will need the last patch from #1581 or kernel 2.6.6+ for Linux to work properly with ACPI/APIC.

PST

PST Official (unverified)
MHzVoltageFIDVID
8000.9500x000x00
16001.3000x080x00
18001.4000x0a0x00

PST mine (hacked)
MHzVoltageFIDVID
8000.8000x000x00
9000.8000x010x00
10000.8500x020x00
11000.8750x030x00
12000.9250x040x00
13000.9500x050x00
14001.0000x060x00
15001.0250x070x00
16001.0750x080x00
17001.1250x090x00
18001.1750x0a0x00

I haven't verified the above voltages are 100% stable yet.

Installation

Debian

I installed Debian Sid using the debian-installer from 2004-02-05. It worked fine except that the apt-get repo question had to be canceled.

Windows XP Home

Since eMachines has used Symantec Ghost for their restore cd it is trivial to partition the drive how you wish and then restore their image to a single partition. However, the partition does need to be a minimum of about 5GB.


I will add more information and reformat this page for better viewing as time allows.


Chris Cheney