Running RedHat Linux on an ASUS Laptop

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This page gives some hints on how I installed and configured RedHat 7.2 on my ASUS L7300 Laptop. I provide this information in the hope that it might be useful to others. For more information see also the TuxMobil page. The information on my previous Gericom laptop is still available.

I still have some troubles. Any advice would be highly appreciated!

Sometimes the VGA output switches from LCD to External - i.e. the screen will just go blank (e.g. during KDE startup or when the screen saver starts). Just use the blue function keys to switch back to the LCD panel.
Sound is broken under RH7.{1,2} (see below for a fix).
Recording sound does not work properly. I can record sound but there is so much "noise" that the result is useless (not tried under RH 7.x).
The IR port is not detected correctely by the kernel. setserial /dev/ttyS1 says "/dev/ttyS1, UART: 8250, Port: 0x02f8, IRQ: 3" rather than "UART: 16550A".

Now here is my setup:

I use XFree86. The release 3.3.6 of XFree86 supports the SMI 910 chip. However the Xserver crashes under RH 6.2 if I start KDE. XFree86 4.0.3 does also support the SMI 910 chip but the server will crash right away.
1. XFree 3.3.6 + XF86_SVGA (RedHat 6.2): (Crashes when used with KDE) Make sure the link in /etc/X11/X points to the correct server (i.e., ln -fs /usr/X11R6/bin/XF86_SVGA /etc/X11/X) and use the following /etc/X11/XF86Config file.
2. XFree 3.3.6 + XF86_FBDev (RedHat 6.2): (Works with KDE but is slower) You need a newer (>=2.2.10) kernel, e.g, the one from the RedHat 6.{1,2} distribution. In order to use the vga mode you have to put the line vga=791 (1024x768 @ 16bpp) into your /etc/lilo.conf file. (For more information see the Framebuffer HOWTO or the documentation which comes with the kernel: Documentation/fb/vesafb.txt.) The entry should look something like this (don't forget to adjust the "root=/dev/hda?" option):
```
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.2-2
        label=new
        root=/dev/hda?
        read-only
        vga=791
```
  Now run lilo, reboot and say "new" at the lilo prompt. If everything went right, you should see a little pinguin during boot. If you are using grub, the entry in /boot/grub/grub.conf should look something like this
```
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.7-6)
        root (hd0,?)
        kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.7-6 ro root=/dev/hda? vga=791
        initrd /boot/initrd-2.4.7-6.img
```
  Next, make sure the XFree86_FBDev rpm (from RedHat) is installed and the link in /etc/X11/X points to the correct server (i.e., ln -fs /usr/X11R6/bin/XF86_FBDev /etc/X11/X). You can use the following /etc/X11/XF86Config file. It is configured for using the xfs font server (RedHat 6) and for a us keyboard. You might want to change this part and the keyboard layaout (XkbLayout).
3. XFree 4.0.1 + XF86_SVGA (RedHat 7.0): Does not work (this is what the installer will set up for you). However, XFree 4.0.2 + XF86_SVGA does work
4. XFree 4.0.3 + XF86_SVGA (RedHat 7.1): Does work (this is what the installer will set up for you).
5. XFree 4.0.x + fbdev (RedHat 7.{1,2}): (Slow, but works) The first part is the same as for "XFree 3.3.6 + XF86_FBDev". Then make sure the link in /etc/X11/X points to the XFree86 server (i.e., ln -fs /usr/X11R6/bin/XFree86 /etc/X11/X) and use the following /etc/X11/XF86Config-4fb file.
6. XFree 4.2 + siliconmotion (RedHat 7.3/8.0): This will not work out of the box, however, if you add the option
```
Option     "NoMTRR"
```
  to the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file it will work.
The built-in sound card by Yamaha doesn't work with the stock kernel from RH 7.1. First of all, you need at least the latest errata kernel. Next, here is the relevant part of my /etc/modules.conf file
```
options sound dmabuf=1
alias synth0 opl3
options opl3 io=0x388
options opl3sa2 ymode=2 isapnp=1
```
In addition, you need to activate the card before the module gets inserted. This can be done by saving the following script as /etc/isapnp.sh
```
#!/bin/sh
echo "card 0 YMH0800
dev 0 YMH0021
port 0 0x220
port 1 0x530
port 2 0x388
port 3 0x330
port 4 0x370
irq 0 5
dma 0 0
dma 1 1
activate
dev 0 YMH0022
port 0 0x201
activate
" > /proc/isapnp
```
and making sure it gets executed before the sound module gets loaded, e.g, use the following patch: Now sound should work. In addition, I have disabled IRQ 5 in /etc/pcmcia/config.opts.
In additon, it is also possible to fix the isapnp activation of the card in the kernel as follows: First of all, the kernel disallows a dma value of 0, so here is a patch which adds an option isapnp_allow_dma0 to the isapnp subsystem. Second, here is a patch which activates this for this sound card. Finnaly, the following patch removes the isapnp ids of this card from the ad1848 driver, such that tools like sndconfig choose the correct driver (opl3sa2 rather than ad1848) for this card.
Advanced power management (standby, suspend, suspend to disk, auto power off) works fine.
PCMCIA worked out of the box with both my ethernet adapter and modem.
To use the IR port you need the irda-utils and you should disable IRQ 3 in /etc/pcmcia/config.opts (i.e., uncomment the line #exclude irq 3). I have not tested the IR port yet. See the Infrared-HOWTO for more info.

Additional information can be found here.