Other Specific Models

Just because Linux will run on a given laptop doesn’t mean that you can take full advantage of the laptop’s hardware features. Many dedicated Linux users have taken the challenge of making Linux work on their quirky laptops, and they’ve been gracious enough to share their solutions with the rest of the Linux community. We’ll briefly run down some specific laptop models and how Linux was made to work on them. If there’s a FAQ mentioned here, we’ve included it on the accompanying CD-ROMs.

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NOTE:  You can’t extrapolate from the specific models presented here. The laptop world isn’t known for consistency among product lines, and what may be true of a specific model may not be true for that model’s second cousin. Use the information presented here only for the specific model, unless the information explicitly covers a wide range of models (as is the case with the IBM ThinkPad information).

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AST 900N

Basically, there are no major challenges with installing Linux on this laptop model, but there are some pitfalls. A HOWTO on installing Linux on the AST 900N is included on the CD-ROM.

Compaq Concerto

The Compaq Concerto features a pen device, not a mouse. Linux doesn’t recognize the pen device, but Dr. Joseph J. Pfeiffer Jr. has posted a driver at his Web site (http://www.cs.nmsu.edu/~pfeiffer/).

Compaq Contura Aero

The Compaq Contura Aero is a very popular and very inexpensive laptop model, but it poses many challenges to the Linux user—so many that an entire FAQ has been devoted to making Linux work on one. Issues range from making the PCMCIA floppy work to making specific function keys respond. Ali Albayrak and Harald T. Alvestrand have put together a FAQ and posted it to http://domen.uninett.no/~hta/linux/aero-faq.html.

Dell Latitude XPi

You’ll definitely want to do some homework before installing Linux on a Dell Latitude XPi, because it contains some quirky hardware configurations. Larry Meadows (lfm@pgroup.com) has detailed his experiences and posted it to the Web (http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/latitude.xpi.html), and it’s included on the accompanying CD-ROM.

HP Omnibooks

Two brave souls have tried to install Linux on two popular Hewlett-Packard subnotebooks: the Omnibook 600 and 5000. They report that it can be done (“Linux cannot be installed in the obvious way, and not every peripheral works under Linux [at least not so far]. However, the dark rumors that have spread across the Net are unwarranted: all the critical components work nicely. Some of the Omnibook’s limitations might be fixed with further hacking and others can be worked around”), but it takes a lot of effort and tweaking.” Their HOWTOs are on the accompanying CD-ROM; you can also find them at http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~mfleck/vision-html/omnibook.html and http://www.ens.fr/~dicosmo/Linux/OmniBook5000.html.

IBM ThinkPad

Despite the ThinkPad’s reputation for being a quirky machine, Linux installs and runs pretty smoothly on this line of IBM laptops (all things considered). However, the ease of installation and the actual installation details themselves differ by model, and you can run into some problems if you’re unfamiliar with your ThinkPad and the intricacies of both Linux and X Window/XFree86.

You can find excellent FAQs on the subject of Linux and IBM ThinkPads at http://peipa.essex.ac.uk/tp-linux/tp-linux.html, http://reality.sgi.com/mende/linuxTP701/index.html, and http://www.iusd.iupui.edu/~henslelf/thinkpad/index.html.

NEC Versa

Linux installs without a hitch on the NEC Versa laptop, but X needs some tweaking. For more details, check out http://www.santafe.edu:80/~nelson/versa-linux/.

Tadpole P1000

Tadpole Technology makes a series of SPARC- and PC-compatible laptops. The P1000 series of laptops are based on the Intel Pentium processor. They’ve been tested to work with Linux, but there are a slew of installation and configuration details to wade through. You can find them at http://www.tadpole.com/Support/online/linux.html.

TI Travelmate 5100

A Web site at http://www.wri.com/~cwikla/ti5100.html details how to install Linux, including how to make Linux peacefully coexist with Windows 95.

Toshiba T400CDT

Most of the information about this Toshiba model covers X Window configuration and some power-management routines. You can see for yourself at http://terra.mpikg-teltow.mpg.de/~burger/T400CDT-Linux.html.