Installation of Microsoft Windows 7

Even though Fujitsu-Siemens claims the Si1520 notebook is not compatible with Windows 7, it actually is.
I have installed Windows 7 Professional 32-bit version.
Installation works like a charm and 100% smoothly.

Almost everything gets recognized and correctly installed by Windows setup.
The only hardware partially recognized is the memory card reader: after installation, a voluntary update in Windows Update will install the drivers for the SD reader only.
In order to have the media card reader actually read the other card formats you will have to download and install the respective drivers for Windows Vista from Fujitsu-Siemens' website and install them separately.

This is valid for the 32 bit version only. 64 bit versions need certified/signed drivers, therefore I'm not sure those for Vista will work.

*EDIT, June 30th, 2010*: I was finally able to test the card reader with an SD card and an MMC card. Both work fine. Only the MS/MSPRO cards remain to be tested, but considering I have none, I probably will never find out. But all things considered, the chances that these will work fine too, are extremely high.

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!

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.

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.

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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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.