Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Installation of OpenSUSE 11.1

Installation of OpenSUSE 11.1 on an Amilo SI1520.

Hardware Information

Screen & Monitors

Screen: Works
Correct resolution: Yes
Correct refresh rate: Yes
3D Acceleration: Yes
External monitor works: Not tested
External monitor - mirrors: Not tested
External monitor - extend desktop: Not tested

Power Management
Battery detected: Yes
Hibernates: Yes
Sleep: Yes (1)
Dim monitor on battery: No
Blank monitor on inactivity: Yes
Lid Close: Yes
Cpu frequency scaling: Yes

Sound
Sound works? Yes
Correct volume? Yes
Hardware volume switch: N/A (but Fn buttons to control volume work)
Headphone jack: Works
Mic jack: Works

Networking
Wired NIC: Works
Wireless NIC: Works
PCMCIA NIC: Untested
Firewire: Untested (Should work)
Bluetooth: Works
Modem: Untested
Infrared: N/A

Touchpad & Mice
Touchpad: Works
Touchpad - Doubletap = double click: Works
Touchpad - Scroll down side: Works
Touchpad - turned off while typing: Works (2)
External mouse - USB: Works
External mouse - Serial: Untested

Other Hardware
CD/DVD Burner: Works
4-in-1 Card Reader: Works

'lspci' command output (must be given as root)
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)
07:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation PRO/100 VE Network Connection (rev 02)
07:09.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller
07:09.1 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 19)
07:09.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C843 MMC Host Controller (rev 0a)
07:09.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 05)
07:09.4 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller (rev ff)


NOTES:
(1) Suspend to RAM works only with BIOS version 1.10. Later versions have something wrong and this feature will not work properly. You can downgrade to v1.10 if your laptop does NOT mount an Intel Core Duo (Yonah) D0 stepping processor (which basically means those CPUs coded T2x00). Check here for more detailed information.
(2) Needs this trick

Last update: November 11, 2009

Thursday, September 4, 2008

More than 2Gb of RAM on the SI1520

Fellow blog reader Helder (thanks!) reports his experience in expanding his SI1520's memory over the limit of 2Gbs, which is what is stated in the official specifications of this laptop:

I have put 2GB + 1GB of DDR2-667 memory, and it worked just fine. I've tried with 2 x 2 GB, but the laptop couldn't recognize past the 3 GB.
Besides, I suspect that there are implications regarding the video memory allocation, because when I booted into either XP or Ubuntu, the screen went all blank, altough the computer was still responsive. It might be the case of just some tweaking.

I used Kingston memory, with these part numbers:

- 2GB - KVR667D2S5/2G
- 1GB - KVR667D2S5/1G

If anyone managed to make the SI1520 work with two 2Gbs memory modules, please let us know, even if the laptop only recognizes a total of 3Gbs!
In fact, the use of two memory modules of the same type would make a "dual channel" setup, allowing the laptop to access memory much faster, since it would see them as a single 128bit wide memory bank, instead of two 64bit wide banks.

Update 4/18/2009: user neustaedter points out that using Windows Vista 64, the system recognizes all 4Gb. This does not work with BIOS v1.20, and v1.10 needs to be installed.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

eBay gone crazy

Today, eBay shipping fees for some items I've put in my "my eBay" page have gone crazy.
Look at these shipping costs: one million dollars to ship a $5 item!


Luckily if I enter the items' auction pages, the shipping fees go back to normal. :-)