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Linux on eNote Travel Lite notebook

How to install Linux on eNote Travel Lite notebook.

The latest version lives at http://www.math.sunysb.edu/~comech/tools/enote-travellite/

Short summary
Kernel compilation options (2.6.0)
Output of dmesg, lspci, et cetera
Booting
Changing CapsLock to Control
X11
Ethernet
External DVD/CD-ROM with USB interface
USB interface
Sound
Modem
Specifications
Other links
Disclaimer and contact information

Short summary

eNote Travel Lite (also known as "Lindows Mobile PC") is a nice, very small, very light (2.9lb), and thin (0.7-0.9'') notebook, with the resolution 1024x768 on its 12.1'' TFT screen. I got mine from http://www.gearzoo.com. They sell it without an operating system or with Windows XP. There is an identical Lindows Mobile PC notebook available from other vendors, with Lindows operating system. The notebook seems surprisingly cheap (below $800 US, but you probably also need to get a CD-ROM). The manual says nothing about the manufacturer or warranty information. According to writing on the bottom of the case, the laptop was made by iDOT Computers, Inc. (manufactured in Taiwan). Completely organic: no Intel, no Microsoft (I ordered it without an operating system). The notebook has no drives (neither CD-ROM nor floppy); I additionally ordered an external CD-ROM (DVD/CD-RW combo) to be able to boot the system for the first time.

Operating systems: I installed Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 "Woody". (No other Linux or non-Linux operating systems tried.)
Graphics: the graphics controller (integrated Savage 4 AGP 4x) is supported by the "savage" driver in XFree86 version 4.1.
Ethernet: the built-in ethernet controller (RealTek 8139) is supported by 8139too driver.
Audio: the built-in audio controller works fine with via82cxxx_audio driver under kernel 2.6.0. There is a built-in microphone (did not try it yet). No built-in speakers.
Modem: Built-in modem. According to drivers on the accompanying CD-ROM, Lucent Technologies Soft Modem AMR (Askey). I have not gotten to this yet.
There is one PCMCIA slot which could be used for a hardware-based modem.
Power: From the manual:
I did not try this seriously; without optimizing, the time with the supplied battery pack is about an hour and a half (933MHz CPU). The time seemed load-independent. Hopefully this could be optimized.
The other rechargeable battery pack has a form of a large plate attached to the bottom of the laptop; I decided not to buy it.

I am happy with the notebook (I am very unexperienced with notebooks, though).

Kernel compilation options (2.6.0)

Here are kernel compilation options:
cat /usr/src/linux-2.6.0/.config
USB ports, ethernet, and sound seem to work. I mostly avoided modules. I could not make USB work nicely under 2.4* kernels (the DVD/CD-RW worked, but mouse did not). Older kernel, 2.6.0-test9, would freeze when the power cable was unplugged with ACPI enabled (while without ACPI, somehow the USB mouse would not work).

Output of dmesg, lspci, et cetera

Here is the output of the following commands:

Booting

To boot from the external CD-ROM, one needs to attach a CD-ROM drive (with the installation disk...) to the computer before powering it up. I did not need to change anything in BIOS.
To access the USB DVD/CD-RW drive from Linux, one needs certain USB and SCSI drivers (see External DVD/CD-ROM with USB interface below). Instead of pre-compiling the kernel with modules, I used network installation (the RealTek 8139 network card is usually supported out of the box).

One can also try the DHCP installation; see Installation of Woody with PXE and Debian TFTP Net Booting

Changing CapsLock to Control

The keyboard is small; it might be a good idea to re-map CapsLock key to behave as a Control key right away. For the console mode, one needs to modify the file default.kmap.gz (which could be in /etc/console/ /etc/console-tools/, or /etc/kbd/): gunzip the file and change the line "keycode 58 = Caps_Lock" to

keycode  58 = Control

and gzip the file again. Then say in that directory

/bin/loadkeys default.kmap.gz

For the X mode, one would need to add the following lines at the end the file /etc/X11/Xmodmap (or your individual copy of Xmodmap):

remove Lock = Caps_Lock
remove Control = Control_L
keysym Caps_Lock = Control_L
add Control = Control_L

Make sure the system reads this file: xmodmap /etc/X11/Xmodmap

X11

From the specifications:

Savage 4 AGP 4x
16MB of memory
1024x768
TFT 12.1'' XGA

During the X configuration (XFree 4.1), I chose "savage" driver and "1024x768 @75Hz" resolution. The touchpad behaves as a PS/2 mouse (/dev/psaux). I use it together with the external mice. The keyboard could be set to "Standard 104-key, US encoding".

Here is the configuration file XF86Config-4 and the output of cat /var/log/xdm.log

Ethernet

Nothing interesting. If your kernel lacks RealTek 8139 support, you need the "8139too" driver. Recompile the kernel with the following options:

Network device support
  Ethernet (10 or 100Mbit) 
    EISA, VLB, PCI and on board controllers
      RealTek RTL-8139 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter support

External DVD/CD-ROM with USB interface

I additionally ordered an external 24X DVD/CD-RW combo (TEAC DW-224E). To access the CD-ROM on USB port (USB 2.0), I recompiled the 2.6.0 kernel with the following options:

SCSI support:
  SCSI CD-ROM support
  SCSI generic support
USB support:
  Preliminary USB device filesystem
  EHCI HCD (USB 2.0) support (EXPERIMENTAL)
  OHCI HCD support (you need this one for e.g. USB mouse)
  USB Mass Storage support

The disk is available under /dev/scd0; one may make the links

cd /dev
ln -s scd0 cdrom
ln -s cdrom dvd

Writing CD-ROMs seems to work fine (I only tried the "-dummy" mode).
I could not play DVD in a watchable manner: jumps under ogle, the video is too slow under mplayer, read errors under xine. I was not really insistent, though.

USB interface

Compile 2.6.0 kernel with EHCI and OHCI support. I use USB DVD drive and optical USB mouse; no problems. (With 2.4 kernel, DVD drive worked fine, but USB mouse did not work.)

Sound

The sound works with the "via82cxxx_audio" driver. I recompiled the kernel (2.4.20) with the following options:

Sound card support
  Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
  PCI devices:
    VIA 82C686A/B, 8233 South Bridge (SND_VIA82XX)

Modem

According to drivers on the accompanying CD-ROM, Lucent Technologies Soft Modem AMR (Askey). Did not manage this yet; must be some software-based modem. The file /proc/pci contains

  Bus  0, device   7, function  6:
    Communication controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. AC97 Modem Controller (rev 48).
      IRQ 11.
      I/O at 0x1400 [0x14ff].

lspci -n tells

00:07.6 Class 0780: 1106:3068 (rev 30)

lspci -v tells

00:07.6 Communication controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. AC97 Modem Controller (rev 30)
	Subsystem: Unknown device 161f:201b
	Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 11
	I/O ports at 1400 [size=256]
	Capabilities:

Driver for Windows NT contains the string VEN_1106&DEV_3068&SUBSYS_201B161F
Something like setserial /dev/ttyS3 uart 16550A port 0x1400 irq 11 does not seem to work (minicom can not talk to the modem), so this must be some brainless modem.
I tried a conexant drivers from http://www.mbsi.ca/cnxtlindrv/hsf/, but the modem driver, when uploaded, complained

HSF: ERROR: SILICON Laboratories or LUCENT AC97 modem detected!
HSF: ERROR: This driver only supports CONEXANT devices
HSF: ERROR: No CONEXANT modem found
hsf_request_port: open failed

I did not try other drivers yet.

Specifications

There is a short summary at http://www.insightsolutions.com.tw/e/prod/ntbook/enote.htm

Disclaimer

No responsibility for any loss and/or damages incurred as a result of using this document (or otherwise not using it) is assumed whatsoever. This manual is most probably not suitable for you if you have some specific needs, such as running particular hardware-sensitive applications, or using special hardware. Proceed at your own risk and use your own judgment.

Andrew Comech
Mathematics Department
SUNY at Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY 11794