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Installing Ubuntu 7.04 on WinBook W245

Last updated: 8 April 2008

General Hardware Specifications of WinBook 245:

Hardware Components	Status under Linux	Notes
Pentium -M Processor 725, 1.6 GHz	Works	No special procedure required during installation.
14 WXGA Active Matrix TFT Display	Works	Requires 915resolution to get 1280x768
Intel 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02)	Works	Requires 915resolution to get 1280x768
1024MB, SDRAM, 2DIMMs	Works	No special procedure required during installation
100 GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive	Works	No special procedure required during installation
No Floppy Drive	N/A	N/A
Ethernet: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)	Works	May appear as eth0 or eth1
Internal 56k winModem	Doesn't Work	Removed, use PCMCIA Modem when needed
Dual layer DVD+/- R/RW Drive	Works	No special procedure required during installation
WiFi: Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Network Connection (rev 05)	Works if it appears as eth0, but this is very slippery	If it appears as eth1 it doesn't work.
4 Cell Lithium-Ion Battery	Works	Have measured 2.25 Hrs operating time. With a 14 V rating I think it has more than 4 cells
Intel 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)	Works	Works with ALSA sound drivers, RealPlayer.

This laptop is operating under Kernel version 2.6.22-14-generic

Basic Installation of Ubuntu 7.04:

Why to use Ubuntu 7.04
It works, is very convenient to install and upgrade. Ubuntu 7.10, Mandriva, and Fedora 8 do not run the display at all. Ubuntu 8.04 beta runs the display only to 1024x768, and 915resolution in this version claims incorrect chip (though 915resolution works correctly with Ubuntu 7.04 and Debian 40r3).
Obtaining Ubuntu 7.04
This version may be hard to find since 7.10 replaced it.
Installing
No special problems with 7.04. However Ubuntu 7.10's Xorg screen driver does not work at all on this machine. Ubuntu 8.04 beta's Xorg screen driver can get only to 1024x768. Debian 40r3 looks like the next step after Ubuntu 7.04.
Post-Install modifications/tweaks
Oh yeah! See my webpage

Setting up additional features for Ubuntu 7.04

Getting Suspend-to-Disk to operate correctly
Haven't tried this.
Getting the touchpad to operate as more than a PS/2 mouse
The touchpad is extremely annoying. It can be disabled in the BIOS, but Linux finds it anyway. I use a Kensington Pocket Mouse Pro USB mouse with retractable cord. This is excellent for traveling!
Runs VMware nicely.

Unresolved issues

Sound comes out distorted, for example piano sounds like harpsichord. Overloads readily at even modest volume, speakers sound tinny.
Battery recharges to only 85%
Getting WiFi to connect to computer was very iffy with SuSE 10.x. Haven't tried this with Ubuntu. WiFi acquires signals readily, though. Problem appeared to be that WiFi chip is detected as eth0 and wired Ethernet as eth1. Re-assignment of these designators happens auto-magically during boot but fails if WiFi comes up eth1.

Configuration Files

Any Configuration files that you needed to modify: yes, see my webpage above.

More Specific Information. Specific stuff such as:

df -hl

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda3             110G   26G   84G  24% /
tmpfs                 491M     0  491M   0% /lib/init/rw
udev                   10M   64K   10M   1% /dev
tmpfs                 491M     0  491M   0% /dev/shm
/dev/hda1             183M   17M  157M  10% /boot

lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller (rev 02)
00:00.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller (rev 02)
00:00.3 System peripheral: Intel Corporation 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller (rev 02)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 83)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03)
01:01.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Network Connection (rev 05)
01:02.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
01:04.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1410 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 02)
01:05.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. IEEE 1394 Host Controller (rev 80)

Have run Apache, and have set up but not run (more than just starting) LAMP and Drupal.
It has one PCMCIA slot, 3 USB connectors, and one each of: DVI-D, VGA, SPDIF, 1394, and microphone. SPDIF connector can drive earphones or external amplifier, and automatically disconnects internal speakers when plugged into.

Contact Information (Optional)

c o m p u t e r - b o b AT m i n d s p r i n g DOT c o m

Links:

Yes... see the bottom of the OS specific files on my web page.
Link to the laptop manufacturer: WinBook Store at Micro Center
Red Calub and his staff at Micro Center in Santa Clara, California have been VERY helpful in my quest for laptops!
And of course, back to Linux on Laptops!

Alternate to this WinBook was an Acer Laptop, but it's sound system prevented SuSE Linux (which I was using at the time) from booting, so I took it back and bought the WinBook.

Convenient size, not too big or heavy. I have replaced the original battery with a higher capacity one. (It had not failed, I just wanted higher capacity.)