Installation of Kubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon

Installation of Kubuntu Linux 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) 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 (Although volume is still pretty low)
Hardware volume switch: N/A (but Fn buttons to control volume work)
Headphone jack: Works
Mic jack: Does not work (I Couldn't manage to make it work)

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 (Couldn't make it burn at speed >2x)
4-in-1 Card Reader: Works

'lspci' command output
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 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 Generic system peripheral [0805]: 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 01)
07:09.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 0a)
07:09.4 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller (rev 05)


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 8, 2007

How to Install Windows XP on an Amilo SI1520 that comes with Windows Vista

When I turned the SI1520 on for the first time, I finally could use the famous Windows Vista. Well, I've been hating it from the very start.
Apart from the problems with the activation that I've already talked about, it is too heavy for the system, too slow, and most of the important programs I needed wouldn't run (Nikon Capture, for example). And don't let me start on games...
So I've decided to downgrade to Windows XP (although I consider it an upgrade, since the laptop now works smoothfully and VERY fast!).

In order to install XP you need an original Windows XP Installation disc, of course. The problem is that the SI1520 comes with no floppy drive, therefore (unless you have a USB floppy drive) you won't be able to load the drivers for the SATA controller, which the XP setup won't recognize otherwise.

If this is the case, there are a couple of nice programs out there that solve this problem for us. The most common are nLite and XP-Iso-Builder.
I've used XP-Iso-Builder, and it worked just fine. But before you proceed you have to download all the XP drivers for the SI1520 from the Fujitsu-Siemens website.

We assume you already did that, and that you have unzipped them all in their respective directory (tip: I STRONGLY advise to unzip them on a USB pen).
Now you can start XP-Iso-Builder and create an "SI1520XPCD". The process is divided into eleven steps, but only a few of them are the key ones. What's important is that:

• in Step 1 you indicate your original Windows XP setup CD as the source disc, then select a Temporary folder where the program can copy the files.
• in Step 6 you add the SATA controller driver: just browse to where you unzipped the drivers (USB pen anyone?), enter the directory of the SATA drivers, and point to the file called txtsetup.oem. A dialog windows opens up, asking for which controller to select. Just select them all, so to be safe.
• Step 7 is not mandatory but useful: integrate ALL the other drivers you downloaded from the FSC site, so that you won't have to install them one-by-one after the XP installation. But you can do that anyway, it just takes a little longer.
  
• Just skip everything else, and in Step 11 select where to save the new ISO image of your Amilo XP CD. Then select "Start integration" and just wait until the program gives you the message "Image successfully created". If it does not say so... sorry, you must have made something wrong. Try to repeat every step.

Burn the image with Nero, or any other burning software you use. Remember you have to burn the ISO (there usually is an option called "burn ISO image" or something like that. You have to choose that! Remember NOT to open a "project" and transfer the iso file into that, because this way it will NOT work.

Now, assuming you burned the image correctly, you will have the brand new XP installation disc. Just put it into your SI1520 and install XP as usual.

It's almost done! In fact when you boot to XP, you will eventually notice that the sound card was not recognized (and you will hear system beeps instead of sounds).
Let's solve this too.

1. download the "High Definition Audio Codecs" from Realtek website
2. unzip them and install them
3. the system will then asks for a file called CHDAud.sys
4. insert the USB pen with the drivers downloaded from the Fujitsu-Siemens website
5. browse to the Conexant_Audio_3.12.0.50 directory (name might change with future updates of the driver)
6. select the required file, and click OK.

And it's done.
Now you have a fully working Windows XP on your Amilo SI1520. Yes, you won't have Aero, but believe me, you won't miss it at all.

Problem with Wine /2

Sorry for not posting in a while, but the laptop worked just fine lately, so there really was not too much to be said.
The problem with Wine described in the previous post still presents itself intermittently. Oh well, anyway I pretty much got used to it, so if I have to launch any Windows application, I just do that and then I go out for a cup of coffee, so that when I come back the app would be loaded and running. :-)

Another problem with Wine occurred lately though. Although it's not really a problem with Wine, it's more of a problem with Firefox. In fact, when I visit a site which has a flash application (for example YouTube's movies) Firefox stops working and a Wine Desktop appears. As soon as I close the Wine desktop, everything goes back to working fine again.
Still, it's an odd problem, and I can't seem to solve it.

I've already uninstalled and reinstalled both firefox and the flash plugin, with no success.
Even reinstalling Wine did not work... who knows?

Problem with wine

I'm not an alcoholic or something. I've just been having problems with WINE ("Wine Is Not an Emulator"), the Open Source implementation of Windows API on top of Unix/Linux.

It all worked well until a couple weeks ago. I don't know what was changed, but suddenly applications began to start very slowly (they can take even a few minutes before they are launched).

I've tried to downgrade to previous versions, tried previous kernel version, tried reinstalling wine... nothing. The problem remains.

On the contrary on my desktop PC, everything is fine. So I'm starting to believe it's a problem related with my laptop. :(

If anyone has any suggestion, I'm listening!

External monitor

Blog reader Juan let us know that he tested the following features of the SI1520 with Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04:

External monitor works: OK
External monitor - mirrors: OK
External monitor - extend desktop: OK

Thanks Juan!

Modern Compass

The SI1520 is light enough to be brought along during a trip.
If it's a car trip, it might even come in handy, as it can be used as a GPS navigator. Of course you'll need a GPS Antenna, which nowadays can be found for just a few dollars on eBay. You can choose among USB models and -just a little bit more expensive- Bluetooth ones.
I've opted for a 32-channels Bluetooth Antenna (made in China and named "iBlue 737") which is very powerful, fast and precise. Also, with its 32 channels, it can reach way more GPS satellites than the antennas with 24 or less channels do, which means you will lose signal very rarely, even when surrounded by high buildings, like in Manhattan. :-)
Anyway, this little thing works perfectly in combination with the SI1520 (I only used it with Windows Vista, since I don't know of any mapping software that runs on Ubuntu) and Microsoft's Autoroute 2007 (for European roads) or Streets and Trips 2007 (for US/Canada roads).
If you prefer, you can directly buy the version with GPS included in the package. It both exists for the US/Canada roads as well as for Europe.
Using these programs, which both support GPS Antennas, you will be able to use your laptop like a GPS navigator. You will be able to create itineraries, and to receive exact instructions about how to reach every destination.
A little investment (around $70) and you will add a very powerful function to your SI1520.

CPU frequency scaling in Ubuntu

I've managed to activate CPU frequency scaling of my SI1520's Core 2 Duo processor in Ubuntu Feisty.
Everything passes through the CPU Frequency Scaling Monitor Gnome applet, which must be reconfigured to enable manual CPU frequency scaling.

The shell command to do this is:

$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure gnome-applets

You will have to answer “Yes” to the question regarding setting the suid of the cpufreq-selector executable. Now you can left click on the CPU Frequency Monitor Applet and choose the CPU frequency and/or operative mode (Conservative, Ondemand, Powersave, Performance).

Windows Vista Activation Failed

I booted Windows Vista about one hour ago and was greeted by a warning that my copy of Windows is not "Genuine".
Considering that it came with the laptop, that I paid for it, and that it has a "Genuine Windows Product" sticker on its back, isn't all this shocking? And isn't it just another demonstration of how poorly Microsoft respects their customers?
I understand that piracy is a common problem and that it hurts the industry (although I sometimes wonder how much it really hurts, considering Microsoft's income), but these anti-piracy measures are insane. They only affect honest customers, since those who use pirate copies of these softwares have probably cracked their copy and will never be affected by these anti-piracy thingies.
I'm sure the misunderstanding will be solved as soon as I manage to call the 800 number provided, but still I wasted almost an hour trying to re-activate my legitimate copy of Vista, which is not able to recognize itself as such.
Thank God for Ubuntu.

Ubuntu Tip: Disable Synaptics touchpad while typing

Finally!!
If you are like me, and can't help but involuntarily touch the touchpad while typing on the keyboard, here is the solution (thanks to ubuntugeek.com):

1. Open a terminal and type: sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf_synbackup
2. Type gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
3. Look for the section called: Section “InputDevice” / Identifier “Synaptics Touchpad”
4. Just above the line that says "End Section" type this line: Option “SHMConfig” “on”
5. Save, close all the windows and restart Gnome (Ctrl-Alt-Backspace)
6. Open the sessions manager: System -> Preferences -> Sessions
7. In the Startup Programs tab click the "New" button
8. Type "Syndaemon" in the name field and "syndaemon -i 1 -d" in the command field
9. Close and restart Gnome (Ctrl-Alt-Backspace)
10. Voila!
    

Battery very much OK

The replacement/spare battery I've bought on eBay from the Chinese seller shengz3 is very much OK.
Its price was very good indeed even after applying shipping costs and duties, it arrived very quickly and in very good conditions, and most of all it's 100% original and very high quality.
It's made by Sanyo (like the original one that came with my Si1520) and it's 100% functional: it charges up to 100%, while the one that came in the box with the laptop only charges up to 86%. Therefore I'm very satisfied, and can't help but suggest the seller to anyone in need of a second battery for their Amilo.

Spare battery arrived

The spare battery I talked about in a previous post, has arrived.

It's been blocked a couple of days by the customs (had to pay 13€ for custom duties and taxes). Anyway, it's 100% genuine, and I will test it tomorrow. So far I'm pretty satisfied by the service provided by the seller. I will keep you posted.

A summary of reviews on the SI1520

Notebookcheck.com has a nice summary page with links to various reviews of the SI1520.

You can find it here.

Installation of Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04

Ubuntu Linux 7.04 is finally out: how does it behave on an Amilo SI1520?

Hardware Information

Screen & Monitors
Screen: Works
Correct resolution: Yes (after installing package 915resolution)
Correct refresh rate: Yes
3D Acceleration: Yes
External monitor works: Yes (tested by Juan)
External monitor - mirrors: Yes (tested by Juan)
External monitor - extend desktop: Yes (tested by Juan)

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 (2)

Sound
Sound works? Yes
Correct volume? Yes (Although volume is pretty low)
Hardware volume switch: N/A (but Fn buttons to control volume work)
Headphone jack: Works
Mic jack: Does not work (I Couldn't manage to make it work)

Networking
Wired NIC: Works
Wireless NIC: Works
PCMCIA NIC: Untested
Firewire: Untested (Should work)
Bluetooth: Yes (Not personally tested. See Aron's comment.)
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 (3)
External mouse - USB: Works
External mouse - Serial: Untested

Other Hardware
CD/DVD Burner: Works (Couldn't make it burn at speed >2x)
4-in-1 Card Reader: Works

Output of the lspci command:
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, 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 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 Generic system peripheral [0805]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 19)
07:09.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd Unknown device 0843 (rev 01)
07:09.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 0a)
07:09.4 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller (rev 05)


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) You can manually set the CPU frequency and the operative mode by reconfiguring the Gnome applets ($ sudo dpkg-reconfigure gnome-applets) and answering “Yes” to the question regarding setting the suid of the cpufreq-selector executable. Now you can left click on the CPU Frequency Monitor Applet and choose the CPU frequency and/or operative mode (Conservative, Ondemand, Powersave, Performance).
(3) Needs this trick

Last update: June 19, 2007

Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn finally out

The final version of Ubuntu 7.04 "Feisty Fawn" is finally out. Download is nearly impossible right now, because servers are way too overcrowded. Even the page where the torrents are stored is unreachable.
Anyway, as soon as I manage to download it, I'll install it on the SI1520, and we'll see how it goes now that it's been finally released.

Touchpad finally working again after a Suspend/Resume in Feisty

As suggested by fellow user skipper (who I thank very much) there is a way to make the touchpad work after a suspend/resume.

The solution is a downgrade of the BIOS of the laptop to version 1.10. The problem, in fact, seems to be related to the two latest versions of the BIOS (v1.19 and v1.20). Anyone who does not necessarily need one of these two later BIOS versions, should downgrade to v1.10 to make suspend work.

If your SI1520 does not mount an Intel Core Duo (Yonah) D0 stepping processor (which means mainly those CPUs coded T2x00) you can downgrade to version 1.10. Otherwise you'll have to stick with a BIOS version >= 1.17 and with no touchpad after resume. :-(

v1.19 is officially the initial BIOS for Windows Vista 32bit, so downgrading could bring up problems with Vista. I couldn't find anything wrong in my brief test, but I don't plan to be using Vista much, so that's not so important to me.

Please leave a comment with your experiences with this matter, as it can help other fellow SI1520 owners. Thanks.

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4-in-1 Card Reader working again

Updating the kernel to version 2.6.20-15-generic in Ubuntu Feisty 7.04 beta (which should become soon a no-more-beta, since the definitive launch is expected for the end of this week) has fixed the problem with the internal 4-in-1 card reader of the SI1520 that was mentioned in this previous post.

Keep it cool!

The SI1520 tends to produce a lot of heat. After a few minutes, using it on your lap becomes impossible due to excessive heat.
Notebook coolers are nice gadgets, but most of them cost a lot of money, they are heavy and loud.
Here is a nice alternative: Vantec's LapCool 4. There are two versions of this cooler, one with code LPC-420 or 430, which is not suitable for our needs. The other, coded LPC-402, is great: it is cheap, it has a cool "X" shape, and sports a single fan with a diameter of 160mm!
This is important because it allows the cooler to move a LOT of air in a very silent way. Its noise level is only 16dBA, which is soft and gentle and barely audible.
It's a very basic cooler: it has no extra USB ports, it has neither a selector for fan speed nor an on-off switch. It's just a huge fan with an X-shaped plastic shell around, but its lightness makes it very transportable, it's cheap (I paid 15EUR for it), it has the same exact dimensions of the SI1520 and does what it's designed for.
I have no accurate temperature tests to demonstrate the efficiency of its job, and can't confirm if it actually cools the internal components of the SI1520, but it definitely keeps the external shell and keyboard touchable. And, since the SI1520 has a lot of apertures on its bottom side, the cooler definitely sends air inside it (it can be felt exiting the aperture on the laptop's right side) so I suspect that it somewhat cools the inside of the notebook too.
Anyway, it's a small investment which can help protecting the SI1520 from overheating, and prolonging its lifespan.

Replacement battery

For anyone interested in buying a genuine Fujitsu-Siemens replacement/spare battery for their Amilo SI1520 without spending >100€/$130 (which is current price for it), there is a Chinese seller on eBay who often has them in stock at very good prices.

http://stores.ebay.com/shengz3-electronics

His feedbacks are very good, and previous buyers of the items left positive feedback and are very satisfied with the product. I've just ordered one, I'll let you know when it arrives.

Feisty beta's Network Manager OK Again

A new update of the Network Manager package for Ubuntu Feisty beta has been released today.
The first reports indicate that everything has gone back to normal.
I have not updated yet, so I can not verify. I will do ASAP.
But the network should now work again.

*EDIT*: I've just updated. Everything looks fine.

WARNING: Feisty beta, Updates of April 11, 2007

If you have installed Ubuntu Feisty beta on your SI1520:

DO NOT INSTALL TODAY'S UPDATES (April 11).

Something is wrong with the update, and the network manager stops working. As a consequence, network adapters are not recognized anymore, the wireless IPW3945 will not work, and the "cabled" network will work only after setting it up again (but you will not have any confirmation from the network manager icon, since this won't work).

You have been warned! ;)

*EDIT*:

Temporary solution:
Until the problem is solved, it is possible to downgrade the network manager to the previous (working) version:

sudo dpkg -i /var/cache/apt/archives/
network-manager_0.6.4-6ubuntu4_i386.deb
(please notice: it's a single line of code)

This will work if you still have the package in your cache.

Installation of Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04 beta

WARNING: Click HERE if you want information on installing Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn FINAL.

---

How does Ubuntu 7.04 beta behave on an Amilo SI1520?

Hardware Information

Screen & Monitors
Screen: Works
Correct resolution: Yes (after installing package 915resolution)
Correct refresh rate: Yes
3D Acceleration: Yes
External monitor works: Untested
External monitor - mirrors: Untested
External monitor - extend desktop: Untested

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: Untested

Sound
Sound works? Yes
Correct volume? Yes (Although volume is pretty low)
Hardware volume switch: N/A (but Fn buttons to control volume work)
Headphone jack: Works
Mic jack: Does not work (I Couldn't manage to make it work)

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

Touchpad & Mice
Touchpad: Works
Touchpad - Doubletap = double click: Works
Touchpad - Scroll down side: Works
Touchpad - turned off while typing: Does not work
External mouse - USB: Works
External mouse - Serial: Untested

Other Hardware
CD/DVD Burner: Works (Couldn't make it burn at speed >2x)
4-in-1 Card Reader: Works (2)

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) The built-in Card Reader works with kernel 2.6.20-12-generic and 2.6.20-15-generic. Booting with other kernels will result in not being able to use the card reader.

OpenSUSE 10.2 LiveDVD

I wanted to try OpenSUSE 10.2, since it's said to have the best hardware support among all distros. I inserted the LiveDVD in the CD/DVD reader of the SI1520, and it booted.
After a few seconds, a choice is given to boot the Gnome LiveDVD or the KDE LiveDVD. I chose Gnome and pressed Return.
The DVD started to spin, a splash screen appeared, and then the screen went black with a number of errors. The last few rows stated:

"Cannot find the CD I was booted from - doh!"

And everything stopped. If this is the distro with the best hardware support... :)

*EDIT*: I managed to make the LiveDVD boot by entering the BIOS and enabling 32-bit performance for the CD/DVD drive. Now testing.

Installing Ubuntu

I've installed Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn beta on my Amilo.
In the beginning I installed Kubuntu, but having been a Gnome user for some time, I really don't feel at home with KDE. Anyway, since Ubuntu and Kubuntu share the same structure, only with different desktop managers, the results should be the same.

Installation runs smoothly and no particular instructions are needed. After a couple of days of use I can say that all the most important things work, with a few exceptions:

- 4-in1 card reader worked until the Update Manager asked me to make a "Partial Upgrade". That caused the installation of a new kernel (2.6.20-13) that seems not to like the card reader. Solution: boot with the older kernel (2.6.20-12).
- The touchpad won't work after a "resume" from suspend-to-ram. This seems to be a common problem with Synaptics touchpads, as a quick google search showed. Solution: none at the moment.
- Microphone: another long-known problem, still with no solution. I've found a tutorial that claimed to solve the problem but instead it made Ubuntu not recognize my sound card anymore.
- The light sensor that automatically adjusts the display's contrast/brightness does not work actually works! Solution: none needed.
- The silent mode button does not work. Solution: none at the moment.
- The Num Lock button does not work.

Power management in Gnome is not the greatest. Anyway with the default settings, both suspend-to-ram ("Suspend") and suspend-to-disk ("Hibernate") work.
It's said that installing powersaved helped but I couldn't manage to make it work. Probably powersaved works better, but I could not manage to make Suspend and Hibernate work with this method, so I went back to the default power management.

That's all I can think of right now. I'll make a complete report about what works and what doesn't soon. But in a few words I can say that the Amilo SI1520 is reasonably linux-friendly.

Here it is!

Ok, I needed a couple of days to make myself accustomed to the laptop and to try and understand a few things.
First impressions:

• it's light (although heavier than I thought I'd feel, and heavier than what FSC declares: 1.9kg instead of 1.7),
  
• the display is good. I thought that a resolution of 1280x800 on a 12.1" screen would make everything soooo small, but it's actually perfectly usable.
• the keyboard is ok. I'm not used to type on laptops' keyboards, but the feel is good. The only two drawbacks I could find so far are that the arrow keys are smaller than the other keys, and that there is no PgUp/PgDown/"Begin"/End keys. I mean, there are, but you have to press two keys (Fn key + an arrow) to use these functions.
• Construction is good. The laptop looks well built, and there are no strange noises when one picks it up. Maybe it's because it's brand new. Anyway this was something I was worried about because before buying it I read all the reviews I could find, and a few pointed out that the materials the SI1520 is built of are not so good. Of course it's mainly plastic, but not so cheap as those reviews said.
• The touchpad looks good. It has a nice feel and works well. The rightmost part of it works as a scroller, and influences the vertical scrollbar of your browser (or any other window that shows one). Nice touch.
• Now on to the worse part. Of course this is a personal opinion! The hard drive (120Gb unformatted, 111Gb formatted) is divided in three partitions:

1. A 12Gb hidden partition, used as "recovery" partition
2. A 79Gb partition, on which Windows Vista Home Premium resides
3. A 20Gb partition, for "Data"

I found it was stupid to waste 12 Gb (more than 10% of the entire disk) for a recovery partition that would probably never be used. I mean, recovery might be needed one day or the other, but that can be easily done with the Recovery DVD found in the box. I was worried that the recovery DVD was just a "boot disk" that would recovery the installation by copying data from the hidden partition to Vista's one. But after a few experiments, I've found out that this DVD is an OEM version of the setup DVD for Windows Vista, so one can use it to install Vista from scratch.

Therefore I erased all the partitions and made them from zero. My hard drive is now divided into two partitions: a 37Gb partition for Windows Vista, and a 74Gb partition for Linux.
Reinstalling Vista took around half an hour, and all went smoothly. Only the built-in memory card reader wouldn't be recognized by the installation, but the Drivers Cd included in the package solved the problem easily.
I then proceeded to installing Linux. I chose the Kubuntu distribution, because I already am an Ubuntu user, and because this distribution works great with this laptop.
But I will get into the details of the Kubuntu installation in a future post.

It's here!

Well, actually it's still not really here. It's at my girlfriend's, since we had it delivered here.
I'll probably go pick it up tonight, after work. I'm as impatient as a baby on Christmas' Eve! :-)

Coming Soon!

I've just received an update regarding the arrival of my Amilo SI1520: the vendor has delivered the package to the courier, so it should get here in the next 48 hours. Can't wait!

Welcome!

Welcome!

Welcome to the Amilo SI1520 Blog. On these pages I will list news, tricks, hints, tutorials, critics, impressions, reviews, problems, solutions and anything else I might come think of, regarding the Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo SI1520 laptop computer.
Stay tuned!