New Laptop

[SoulSe]

Ok, so I have just ordered an AOpen 1845 laptop for my brother. I told the sales guy to can Windoze as I have convinced my brother to switch to Linux... Which means I have to install it :roll:

 

So, in preperation: Has anybody used MDK with one of these laptops?

And: It has an ATI display card - will I have problems getting this going with rendering?

It comes with AC-97 Audio - Will I have to slave to get it going?

The cd-rom drive is hot-swappable, will there be supermount problems?

Will the tv-out be ok?

It has a built in LAN adaptor and Modem, does MDK detect these?

 

I am sorry for all the questions, but I am trying to convert as many people as possible :wink:

[theYinYeti]

Ok, so I have just ordered an AOpen 1845 laptop for my brother. I told the sales guy to can Windoze as I have convinced my brother to switch to Linux...

Very dangerous move. Always check the compatibility before buying.

It has an ATI display card

Usually good news. This should be OK.

It comes with AC-97 Audio - Will I have to slave to get it going? The cd-rom drive is hot-swappable, will there be supermount problems?

There are always problems with supermount ;-). I suggest you disable supermount anyway, and tell your brother it works like a Mac, except the drive is not 100% automated. Insert the disk, and mount it (graphically of course) to make the icon apear, and unmount it (still graphically) to automatically eject it. If you're not convinced, I think autofs is a better solution than supermount.

Will the tv-out be ok? It has a built in LAN adaptor and Modem, does MDK detect these?

You can expect problems with the modem, but only trying will tell you.

 

Yves.

[fuzzylizard]

Insert the disk, and mount it (graphically of course) to make the icon apear, and unmount it (still graphically) to automatically eject it.

 

Exactly how do you do this?

[theYinYeti]

I can't say for Mandrake 9.0.

I'm using Mandrake 8.1 with Gnome. There are two possibilities:

 

1- the standard way (Nautilus manages the desktop):

 

Right-click on the desktop and click on CD: the Cd is mounted (if it is in the drive :roll:) and a CD icon appears on the desktop with the CD name under it.

Right-click on the desktop and click on CD: the Cd is unmounted (if it was mounted) and the icon disappears.

Same for floppy (or any other removable media, I guess).

 

2- my way (I don't use desktop icons, only panels):

 

I installed the drivemount applet twice (once for the CD, once for the floppy) in my main Gnome panel. I configured the CD applet so that on unmount, it also ejects the media.

Each applet switches between an icon for the mounted state, and another icon for the unmounted state, so you always know if there's a media in the drive. When clicked while in mounted state, it performs an unmount, and when clicked in unmounted state, it performs a mount.

 

Yves.

[SoulSe]

The thing is that these laptops were on an amazing special today, so I didn't have time to check the compatibility, we had like an hour to give an answer as to whether we were taking it or not.

 

I never use supermount at home but I thought it might be nice to get it working for a new user.

 

Ok, so only the modem will be a problem by the sounds of things? I'm sure there must be a way to get it working, but I will get the laptop first and post my results.

 

BTW: I also used to use Gnome's applet for mounting, works great, but I still prefer using the console (for everything I can).

 

I would still like to hear from someone who has used this model before, if anyone has out there...

[theYinYeti]

I may be stating the obvious, but... have you searched for documentation here:

http://www.linux-laptop.net/

That's where I looked when I bought my laptop.

 

Besides, there's usually a lot of information by searching Google with "<laptop name> linux". Eg:

http://www.google.com/search?q=AOpen+1845+linux

 

Yves.

[SoulSe]

Well, we got the laptop and, as predicted, everything works great except the modem. I am relieved that it came with ATI's Radeon Mobility, this card works like a dream with MDK. The sound is up, the onboard lan works.

 

The other thing I would like to get working are the hot keys for the laptop.

 

I am busy writing to AOpen as they have a brilliant site with driver downloads, etc. but nothing for Linux!

I may be stating the obvious, but... have you searched for documentation here: 

http://www.linux-laptop.net/ 

That's where I looked when I bought my laptop. 

 

Besides, there's usually a lot of information by searching Google with "<laptop name> linux". Eg: 

http://www.google.com/search?q=AOpen+1845+linux 

linux-laptop has stuff for just about every laptop except this one! I am currently searching through my google search results. Will keep everyone... uh... posted?

[DragonMage]

Here is an information that may be a good news for your laptop modem

http://club.aopen.com.tw/forum/viewmessage...MessageID=23574

 

It says that the modem is conexant chipset which could be good since most conexant modems are supported in linux

 

The driver should be located here

http://www.mbsi.ca/cnxtlindrv/

 

Check your pci ide by typing lspci -v or download scanmodem from this page

http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/packages/scanModem.gz

 

Good luck man... incidentally.. how much did you pay for that laptop.. seems pretty good.

[SoulSe]

Good luck man... incidentally.. how much did you pay for that laptop.. seems pretty good

It was a sweet deal! 11300 Rand, which is around $1100! Really cheap, especially for us South Africans. P4 1.7 Celeron, 128MB RAM, LAN, Modem, 20 GB HDD, Radeon Mobility - now if only it was mine and not my brothers!

 

It is working great, I will post everything when I have it working properly. Thanks for the links!!

[theYinYeti]

In Linux, if a key is recognized, you can make it execute any available command you want (xmms, mozilla, evolution...), and even make mouse buttons emulation!

To know if the keys are recognized, make sure that xev is installed, execute it, click on it with the mouse so that it has focus, then don't move the mouse anymore because every move displays an event. Now type on each key, and note the info assigned to it. If nothing happens when you type on a key, then this key is unusable, at least with the keyboard layout you're currently using.

 

Yves.

[SoulSe]

In Linux, if a key is recognized, you can make it execute any available command you want

That is the problem: Linux does not recognise these keys. I downloaded a program called hotkeys (not the kde package by the same name). But it does not support this keyboard.

 

xev reports nothing on the hotkeys. Any ideas? I have searched all over the place...