Linux on the Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook E6540
Document info
| Document Title: | Linux on the Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook E6540 |
| Document Author: | Asmo Salonen |
| Document Created: | 04th June 2004 |
| Document Last Modified on: | 28th Nov 2006 (I don't update this document anymore in future!) |
| Document Version: | 2.2 |
Laptop Technical Overview
| Processor: | Intel® Pentium® III 600 MHz, SpeedstepTM Technology |
| Chipset: | Intel® 440ZX Chipset |
| 2nd Level Cache: | 256KB |
| Memory: | 256MB SDRAM DIMM (PC100) |
| IDE Hard Disk: | 8GB |
| Floppy: | 1.44MB, External |
| Modular Bay: | SONY CD-RW/DVD-ROM CRX820E |
| Display: | 14.1" TFT XGA - 1024*768 /64K Colours |
| Graphics: | ATI Mobility-P with 4MB or 8MB of SDRAM |
| Audio: | ESS Maestro-2E + ES1920 Audio Codec |
| Keyboard and Pointing Device: | Full sized keyboard with windows keys & Euro Symbol. Touchpoint Pointing Device. |
| I/O Interfaces: | IrDA, 2x Type II or 1x Type III PC Card, Serial, Parallel, PS/2, VGA, USB |
| Modem: | PC-Card Modem (33,6KB/s) |
| Network: | Intel® 82559 Based PCI 10/100 Ethernet Controller |
More technical information from manufacturer
Debian GNU/Linux configuration on Lifebook E6540
BASIC SYSTEM
BIOS
Linux
Kernel
Hard disk
CD-ROM
Display
Networking
Sound
IrDA
Fan
USB
Desktop
Links for Lifebook E6540
ACCESSORIES
PCMCIA Card Modem
Canon PowerShot S20
SMC2635W WLAN card
Hauppauge WinTV-USB
BIOS
Notice that there is two different BIOS versions (1.06 and 1.36) for E-6540. It is depending your system board model which one version you have to use. My E-6540 system board model is FPC03040B so I have to use BIOS version 1.06. Another version is 1.36 for system board FPC03034B. You may find system board model from bottom of laptop. If you have got older BIOS you may want to update it: Fujitsu E-6540 BIOS.Linux
The linux distribution used was Debian GNU/Linux. This distribution allows you to easily install only software packages you need, and drop all the bloatware some of the commercial distributions seem to install (e.g. Red Hat). Also the "apt-get" utility allows you to easily synchronize your software packages with the internet, through ftp or http. Currently my laptop is running the "testing" release. Mind, Debian is the distribution of choice if you already have some Unix/Linux experience.Kernel
I have configured and compiled Linux kernel from source code for Lifebook E6540 laptop. It is not hard to compile kernel in Debian GNU/Linux. Just few commands and kernel is compiled. The result is installable .deb package. Good starting point could be to find some kernel compilation howto. The customized kernels for Lifebook E6540 contains just the needed drivers and modules for this one laptop model. Feel free to use customized kernel packages.| Date (dd.mm.yyyy) | Kernel version | Kernel config file |
|---|---|---|
| 02.07.2005 | kernel 2.6.12 | .config |
| 20.12.2005 | kernel 2.6.14.4 | .config |
| 19.02.2006 | kernel 2.6.15.4 | .config |
| 09.04.2006 | kernel 2.6.16.2 | .config |
| 26.05.2006 | kernel 2.6.16.18 | .config |
| 15.08.2006 | kernel 2.6.17.8 | .config |
Install alredy compiled Debian kernel package with dpkg as root.
dpkg -i kernel-image-2.6.12-02072005_custom.1.0_i386.debYou may need to configure your boot loader for new installed kernel. Search more information from WWW how to configure boot loader. I use Lilo bootmanager to determine which system I want to load. Here is my lilo.conf file.
Hard disk
I have installed both Linux and Windows. My hard disk partitions:| Partition | Used by | Mount point | Size | File system |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| primary 1 (hda1) | Linux | / | 5GB | ext3 |
| primary 2 (hda2) | Linux | 512MB | Linux swap | |
| primary 3 (hda3) | Windows 2000 | C:\ | 2GB | fat32 |
I have choosen FAT32 for Windows partition type so I can mount carefreely windows directories from Linux. I used earlier NTFS and it works fine if you only just want to read the partiotion. I tried write to NTFS partition from Linux and Windows 2000 totally became mixed up. FAT32 is good selection if you want to use both Linux and Windows on same computer.
CD-ROM
There was already 24x CD-ROM device in my laptop. I want to burn cds and watch dvd films. I first send mail to Fujitsu Siemens and other companies. I noticed that it is difficult to find proper device for this model of laptop. A one company said that it pays 435 € if I want suitable dvd device. Too expensive for me!Finally I found Sony's combo cd-rom device from public sale. I paid 50 € from used Sony CD-RW/DVD-ROM device and I was very pleased. I need to file the mask of cd-rom becouse there is special bar in my laptop cd box. Okay my filing operation went succesfully and I can put the cd-rom inside computer without any obstacles. The cd-rom works now: writes and reads cds, plays dvds.
Display
Debian installation probed succesfully my laptop video adapter and there isn't need to change it.Configuration was seamless, Debian asked me the necessary questions and generated the XF86Config-4 file. Only one remark, I had to change my keymap manually in the config file (Finnish Layout).
Novadays I use newer X.org as X Window System which came with upgrading Debian distribution some months ago. The xorg.conf configuration file.
Networking
My laptop contains 10/100 MB network adapter and it works fine with kernel module named as "eepro100.o". You can activate network adapter with three commands:su root # Change to root. modprobe eepro100 # Load right module for network adapter. dhclient eth0 # Query IP address from dhcp server # or edit file /etc/network/interfaces
Sound
The Maestro Chip is supported out-of-the box in Linux 2.6.12 (I compiled it as a module, and it works without a problem). I used previously OSS (Open Sound System) which can be found http://www.opensound.com/. OSS is easy to get work.Novadays I compiled ALSA into kernel 2.6.12. I can configure and set more settings manually in ALSA. For example I can configure 3D sounds with alsamixer-program. ALSA is modern and better than OSS. WWW site of ALSA: http://www.alsa-project.org/.
IrDA
I wrote small script which activates IrDA. This script is loaded automatically every time when my computer is restarted. I use sometimes IrDA with my gprs phone. There is more help how set gprs to work with irda and linux http://kotinetti.suomi.net/mcfrisk/linux_gprs.html#!/bin/sh # Load IrDA modules modprobe irda modprobe irtty-sir modprobe ircomm # Do irattach /usr/sbin/irattach /dev/ttyS3 -s 1
FAN Control
The fan is controlled by ACPI. ACPI puts the fan on. I don't know why ACPI can't put the fan off when it has cooled machine. The fan is running always so long when I restart computer.So I've created a little script that I put in a cronjob. It runs every five minutes and checks for the temperature. If the temperature is lower than 40C it will turn the fan off, it will turn the fan on when the temperature reaches 50C. The script looks like:
#/bin/bash
# check temperature
temp1=`cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/TZ1/temperature | awk {'print $2'}`
temp2=`cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/TZ2/temperature | awk {'print $2'}`
echo "Current temperature TZ1: $temp1"
echo "Current temperature TZ2: $temp2"
# turn fan on when too warm
if [[ "$temp1" -ge "50" || "temp2" -ge "50" ]];
then
echo -n 0 >/proc/acpi/fan/FAN/state
fi
# turn fan off when not too warm
if [[ "$temp1" -le "40" || "temp2" -le "40" ]];
then
echo -n 3 >/proc/acpi/fan/FAN/state
fi
To create a cron job for it you need to add the following to /etc/crontab:
*/5 * * * * root /usr/local/bin/gateway-fan
I think there is maybe error or bug in the ACPI implementation of the E-6540. One guy told me that he has got also fan problem in same model of computer with Windows 2000 but not with SuSE 9.2. Also my another friend said that he has got fan problem with newer Fujitsu laptop.
USB
I need to add USB support for kernel. If you compile kernel enable (say y) for "CONFIG_USB_UHCI_HCD" option in .config file. See image of my usb settings in kernel .config file. Add also following line in your /etc/fstab file:
none /proc/bus/usb usbfs defaults 0 0
Desktop
I use WindowMaker for running desktop applications. WindowMaker is light weight window manager so it does not spend computer resources and gives more CPU time and memory for used applications. It can be configured also fantastic style. There is no common file "copy and paste" method in WindowMaker, it gives only running interface to applications.Links for Lifebook E6540
User guideBIOS and Windows driver downloads
PCMCIA Card Modem
I doesn't need to use PCMCIA modem in Linux. Not yet configured or tested.Canon PowerShot S20
I use USB line and gphoto for loading images from memory card of camera. Good help page can be found http://jace.seacrow.com/tech/linux/usbcam.SMC2635W wlan card
I use SMC2635W card for wlan connection. There wasn't support in kernel for this card. You are lucky if your distribution contains module named as rt2400.ko. The card uses RT2400 chip of Ralink Technology.I have to compile the module for kernel. Compile wlan card module from source code of manufacturer: http://www.ralinktech.com/. There is also SourceForge project for rt2400 chip: http://rt2400.sourceforge.net/. I have compiled SourceForge's driver version 1.2.2-b3 and it works fine. When I was compiled and loaded module succesfully I need to set some wlan network settings for card:
#!/bin/sh # Set up ra0 interface /sbin/ifconfig ra0 up # Configure wlan card /sbin/iwconfig ra0 mode managed /sbin/iwconfig ra0 key [1] xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx open /sbin/iwconfig ra0 enc restrict /sbin/iwconfig ra0 essid WLAN
Hauppauge WinTV-USB
WinTV-USB will allow viewing of television signals from three sources: S-Video, cable, or broadcast tv on a laptop or desktop computer. Device driver and help forum (you'll need it) are at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/usbvision/ and http://usbvision.sourceforge.net/. You need get latest device driver from CVS from http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=27255 if you like use the driver with latest kernel source (2.6.16.x kernels).If you would like to see more information in this overview, send me a mail asmo.salonen@nic.fi. My personal homepages.
