HP OmniBook 510 and Linux


I am glad I finally decided for Omnibook 510. It is a little bit expensive for a student, but the money were sure worth it. What I've got is:


HP OmniBook 510

Technical specification

On HP page, you can find what they call "detailed specification", but it is just a business mumbo-jumbo, not technical details. So let me give you the real technical specification:
 
My model is F4735JT:
  • Processor: Mobile Intel Pentium III 1.13 GHz
  • Memory: 256 MB (occupying 1 position, 1 position still free)
  • Disk: 30 GB
  • Ethernet: 10/100Base-T (Intel EtherExpress 10/100)
  • Wireless LAN: Actiontec (Prism II chip, mini USB)
  • Modem: ESS ES2838/2839 (winmodem)
  • Soundcard: ESS Technology ES1988 Allegro-1 (Maestro3 compactible)
  • IRDA: ? (never used it)
  • Media Expansion Base with DVD-ROM 8x

Linux installation and configuration

If you want to run Linux as well as some Windows OS, then you should create partitions in this order:
  1. Linux FS (ext2/ext3).
  2. Linux SWAP (if you require it).
  3. Windows (NTFS - if any).
  4. Extended partition with Windows (FAT32) as logical partition.
I used the follogin partitioning:

   Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *         1       555   4195768+  83  Linux
/dev/hda2           556      1110   4195800    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda3          1111      3876  20910960    f  Win95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5          1111      3876  20910928+   b  Win95 FAT32

I installed the newest Slackware 8.1 distribution. Anyway, the following information are not specific to any Linux distribution.

KERNEL: I use kernel 2.4.20. Here is my kernel .config file.

APM: Enable APM in kernel (see my kernel .config). Start /usr/sbin/apmd at boot time. Create /etc/apmd_proxy script for setting some automatic power saving. This script can be located in another directory - see man apmd for correct location. My apmd_proxy script. Some examples:
hdparm -S12 /dev/hda        Sets 60 seconds (12 * 5 seconds) inactivity power-down for harddisk.
xset +dpms                          Enables DPMS (display power management)
xset dpms 0 0 60               Turns off display after 60 seconds of inactivity.
PERFORMANCE: Some thoughts how to make it more powerfull and still save power.
hdparm -X66 -u1 -m16 -c3 /dev/hda       Performance parameters for harddisk (see man hdparm).
/usr/sbin/syslogd -m 0                           Turns off syslog marking.
NETWORK: Again, see my kernel .config. I have support for Intel EtherExpress 10/100 and for Wireless LAN. Also USB support will be needed for correct WLAN operation. Ethernet is no big deal, either compile it to the kernel or compile it as module. Then add alias eth0 eepro to /etc/modules.conf, and simply use ifconfig eth0 ... to configure your ethernet network. Wireless LAN requires package linux-wlan-ng, just compile it as it is written in README file (with support for USB). Then I use the following script to start wireless connection: wlan0. You will need to chcnge the SSID value and maybe configure the wlan0 interface if you are not using DHCP.

X-WINDOWS: I did not have to patch kernel or recompile xfree86. I cheated a little bit and copied the precompiled i810_drv.o to /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers. Then I proceeded with kernel setup (once again, see my .config) and editting XF86Config. I ended up with resolution 1280x1024 with 64K colors when I am docked and using 19" monitor, and resolution 1024x768 with 64K when using LCD. No need to change anything, everything is recognized automatically. I tried to use Enlightement for a  while, but then I switched to wmx.

HIBERNATION: I wanted Linux hibernation, not just suspend which is somewhat faster, but also consumes battery. So I had to create hibernation partition. I used GNU parted to resize FAT32 partition 5 and extended partition 3. Then I created partition 4 (type of partition a0) and used lphdisk to format it. Now, pressing Fn+F12 hibernate Linux in cca. 18 seconds. Restart is somewhat faster, and after waking up from hibernation, there's no problem with X-Windows or with network connection. Everything works allright.

DVD: Kernel 2.4.19 does not detect DVD-ROM, even when I start the Linux and I am already docked. Someone find out solution - boot from floppy or DVD-ROM, in that case, DVD-ROM would be recognized. After comiling new kernel 2.4.20 with the same .config file I used for kernel 2.4.19, the DVD-ROM works without problems.

MODEM: There exists a binary driver esscom.o from ESS compiled for 2.4.x kernels. It requires a little bit tweaking (fixscript). Also this driver is tied with sound card driver allem3.o (also from ESS). Modem does not work together with ethernet - if the eth0 interface (Intel EEPRO 10/100) is up, then the whole system freezes when trying to use modem. Some details abut the modem are here.

WLAN: Works fine with linux-wlan-ng.This USB driver also supports some Wireless Extensions so you can include support for Wireless in kernel, and then use Wireless Tools or just simply read /proc/net/wireless.

LINKS:
  1. HP forums - go to Search and write: omnibook 510 <your keywords> - sometimes pretty helpful
  2. Omnibook 510 linux page by Antti Piira
  3. Omnibook Mailing List
February 2003, Michal Sramka (michal@pandora.math.fau.edu)