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General Hardware Specifications of Averatec 3360-EH1:

This laptop is operating under Kernel version 2.6.10

• Why to use Vector Linux SOHO?

I use Vector Linux SOHO mainly because it's slim and also because it is slackware 10.1 based. Configuration is simple (if you know how to use config files, if not then you might as well be using windows). Vector Linux SOHO comes with Xorg and uses KDE. It is equipped with K3B, Kaffeine, and OpenOffice.org as well as many other non-kde features (IMHO if you are going to use anything outside of KDE you should be using regular Vector Linux, which is non-kde and runs MUCH faster).

Vector also comes with vector specific tools for slapt-get, which is an apt-get style system for slackware.

• Obtaining Vector Linux SOHO

Vector Linux can be had at www.vectorlinux.com. Or at Linux ISO

• Installing Vector Linux SOHO

Vectorlinux is very easy to install, especially if you are familiar with slackware. It allows the selection of various packages, but comes rather trim stock.

• I upgraded to Kernel 2.6.10, which can be had on the Vector Linux FTP site. I also upgraded to KDE 3.4 which can be had at any slackware package site.

• Getting Intel ipw2200 Wifi to work

Probably the second hardest thing to get working on this laptop was the wireless. A Kernel module is not available for the 2.4 kernel series. I believe ndiswrapper could be used (and comes with SOHO 5.0, though the drivers need to be gotten from intel). I used kernel 2.6.10, which can be had from the Vectorlinux FTP site. ipw2200 can be downloaded from ipw2200.sourceforge.net.

• Getting the touchpad to operate as more than a PS/2 mouse

Open up /etc/rc.d/rc.modules and comment out the psmouse section, then open up /etc/rc.d/rc.local and add in modprobe psmouse. This allows usb to open before the psmouse section, so that the synaptics driver can work.

After that open up /etc/X11/xorg.conf. in the modules section add in:
Load "synaptics"

the down in inputdevice section find your mouse and make changes enough that it looks similar to this:
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "SHMConfig" "on"
EndSection

that should give you basic synaptics support. you can play with it as you wish to get the scrolling and all that to your liking. I was happy with the default settings, so I left them.

• Getting hardware acceleration under Xorg

Hardware acceleration is probably the hardest thing to get running on this laptop. I still haven't gotten it fully functioning, but it's working enough for stepmania and other opengl programs to run. It required alot of trial and error with xorg.conf and various kernel modules.

in the modules section of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file make sure that you have GLcore, dri, and glx loading. you can do this by adding these lines to your modules section:
Load "GLcore"
Load "dri"
Load "glx"

Make sure that you are loading kernel modules i915, intel_agp, and agpgart. When you modprobe i915 the other two should come up. That's truthfully as far as I have gotten, when I figure out more I'll be sure to post it.

• Getting full ACPI functionality

This I found required ALOT of kernel modules to be loaded. Most of them load automatically, though. Load these and you're set. If you don't want a certain function you can exclude it without any substantial trouble. Just modprobe these, put them somewhere in your /etc/rc.d/ files.
processor
fan
button
battery
ac
video
thermal

All truth be told I'm not all that confident as to if all of those are necessary. If someone wants to shoot me an email concerning this I would gladly listen to reasoning.

• Suspend doesn't work properly
• Full hardware acceleration
• Modem
• media cards thingy

• lspci

  00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82852/855GM Host Bridge (rev 02)
  00:00.1 System peripheral: Intel Corp. 855GM/GME GMCH Memory I/O Control Registers (rev 02)
  00:00.3 System peripheral: Intel Corp. 855GM/GME GMCH Configuration Process Registers (rev 02)
  00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corp. 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02)
  00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corp. 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02)
  00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB (ICH4) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03)
  00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB (ICH4) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03)
  00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB (ICH4) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03)
  00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB (ICH4) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
  00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BAM/CAM PCI Bridge (rev 83)
  00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801DBM LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
  00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801DBM (ICH4) Ultra ATA Storage Controller (rev 03)
  00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB (ICH4) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)
  00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corp. 82801DB (ICH4) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03)
  01:04.0 Network controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 4220 (rev 05)
  01:05.0 CardBus bridge: O2 Micro, Inc.: Unknown device 7114 (rev 20)
  01:05.1 CardBus bridge: O2 Micro, Inc.: Unknown device 7114 (rev 20)
  01:05.2 System peripheral: O2 Micro, Inc.: Unknown device 7110
  01:06.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)

• My website: www.geocities.com/killer_siller/
• Email: killer.siller@gmail.com
• Yahoo! screenname: killer_siller
  AIM screenname: ki11ersi11er

• www.linuxpackages.net - This place has alot of good slackware packages. This is normally the first place i go for slackpacks.
• ftp.cerias.purdue.edu - This is my slackware mirror of choice. Donno why, I just chose it one day and stuck with it. As a reference Vector SOHO 5.0 is based off of slackware 10.1 in case you didn't read it earlier ;).
• www.averatec.com - They of course made the 3300. They also made the 3200, which is an AMD version of the same laptop. I went with the centrino because of hardware support and battery life, but if you are an AMD fan (which I am) then you might want to look at that, too.
• And of course, back to Linux on Laptops!

Plus other useful things I may have forgotten