This page documents the constantly refined process of getting the Linux Operating System running on the HP Omnibook XE laptop.
While this page does not claim to be a guide on how to install Linux in general, it hopefully should explain how to solve the problems that appear as a result of the hardware found in these machines.
Throughout this page, I'll assume that the reader has a basic understanding of Linux, and its associated practices and terminology.
The model that I personally own is an HP OmniBook XE, product number F1719 which happens to be one of the very first XE models offered by Hewlett Packard. It has the following specifications:
I also have one of the port replicators which supplements the external connectors on the laptop with extra PS/2, USB & Audio ports.
I have currently installed Fedora Core 2 on the machine.
To boot from the CDROM, press <Esc> while the "HP" logo is displayed to bring up a menu of available boot media, selecting "ATAPI CD-ROM Drive" will hopefully start booting from your install CD.
One installation problem I found, at least with the older Fedora Core 1, is anaconda has problems detecting the display hardware with the machine attached to the port replicator. Random crashes happen in different places each time. Do the install without it, works fine. Odd. Replicator gives no problems after the installation.
As Fedora Core 2 ships with the 2.6.x kernel, ACPI is on by default. No obvious problems observed with the Omnibook XE hardware.
The built-in Synaptics Touchpad works as a standard PS/2 device, which gives you the standard features; movement, single/double-taps, and the two buttons.
However, there is a dedicated Synaptics Touchpad driver for XFree86/Xorg which allows you to use all the other good features mentioned on the home page, as well as being able to customise and tune the settings.
I've packaged up the driver suitable for Fedora, and it's available at the bottom of this page. You will need to alter the following section in /etc/X11/xorg.conf:
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
#Driver "mouse"
Driver "synaptics"
#Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
#Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
Option "LeftEdge" "1700"
Option "RightEdge" "5300"
Option "TopEdge" "1700"
Option "BottomEdge" "4200"
Option "FingerLow" "25"
Option "FingerHigh" "30"
Option "MaxTapTime" "180"
Option "MaxTapMove" "220"
Option "VertScrollDelta" "100"
Option "MinSpeed" "0.06"
Option "MaxSpeed" "0.12"
Option "AccelFactor" "0.0010"
Option "SHMConfig" "on"
EndSection
Now you should be able to use the extra features of the touchpad. Extra USB mice can be plugged in and these work automatically.
The Texas Instruments PCMCIA controller is fully supported. I've used a variety of cards, no problems.
I did find one problem with performing the install with a PCMCIA card inserted, in that some of the higher-level modules got inserted automatically, which stopped the PCMCIA SysV init script from loading the yenta_socket module which prevented the PCMCIA subsystem from functioning until I edited /etc/modprobe.conf to remove the autodetected card drivers.
The only thing to do is edit /etc/pcmcia/config.opts and uncomment the line:
# First built-in serial port
exclude irq 4
# Second built-in serial port
exclude irq 3
# First built-in parallel port
exclude irq 7
This stops PCMCIA devices from getting IRQ #3 which conflicts with the IrDA hardware.
Fedora by default sets a 16-bit colour depth, although I've yet to see any problems with running in 24-bit instead. With ~1.6MB there's just enough RAM to be able to do this.
The driver doesn't appear to like being switched from X Windows to console and back again, the display gets shifted. Restarting the X Server appears to restore/reset the display.
Apart from that, there are no usability problems with the Silicon Motion LynxE chipset.
Now that Fedora ships with the 2.6.x kernel, we get ALSA out of the box.
The snd-es1968 driver is used and audio works great, including both the keyboard and hardware volume controls to adjust the master volume.
The USB controller is of the UHCI variety and works perfectly. I've tested with various devices, such as flash storage, mice, etc. without problems.
The IR chip found in the Omnibook appears to be supported by the National Semiconductor NSC PC87108/PC87738 driver. A bit of trial & error is needed to get the correct dongle.
Make sure /etc/sysconfig/irda is as follows:
IRDA=yes
DEVICE=irda0
DISCOVERY=yes
And add to /etc/modprobe.conf:
alias irda0 nsc-ircc
options nsc-ircc dongle_id=0x08
install nsc-ircc setserial /dev/ttyS1 uart none && modprobe --ignore-install nsc-ircc
This chooses the "HP HSDL-2300" dongle which seems to work best. The kernel serial driver picks up the IR hardware as a simple serial device on boot, so you need to turn it off again with setserial(8) otherwise it blocks the proper driver from loading. Make sure you've also told the PCMCIA subsystem to exclude IRQ #3.
ESS Maestro 2E Winmodem. Move along, nothing to see here.
Overall I'm happy that everything is working fine, apart from the Modem.
Fedora Core 2 package of the Synaptics Touchpad driver for XFree86:
