Re: TP755CX

[<eranian@chorus.fr>]

Hello Ted,

> 
> I just bought a TP755CX, whose main claims to greatness are the
> Pentium processor and 800x600 display.  It somes with 8Mbytes of
> RAM and 810 Mbytes of disk.  I added a 32Mbyte RAM card, since I
> plan on doing big compiles, and would like to speed these up using
> a RAM disk.

What a wonderful config you've got ! I do only have a poor 360CSE
with 4Mb of RAM and 340Mb of disk space. I am running DOS/Windows
on a small compressed paritition (40MB) and the left room is used 
by Linux.

> 
> I also ordered an IBM PCMCIA ethernet card, version II, which I
> have sent back.  My plan was to ftp Slackware via the ethernet
> onto the disk using DOS, and install it from ther.  This did not
> work very well, since I could not find a (DOS) packet driver for
> that PCMCIA card, and IBM supplies it with a male RJ45 connector.
> Between trying to adapt the gender of the connector and the lack
> of packet driver, I was frustrated enough to send the card back to
> IBM.

I have also been disappointed by the Ethernet Card. A few weeks ago, I
purchased a Xircom PCMCIA Card. I thought it was supported by the Linux
PCMCIA package from David Hinds, but apparently, it is not. There seems to
be a problem with Xircom not publishing the technical information about their
cards. Checking with the customer service, it seems that we have to buy a 
developpers kit ! The card does, of course, run under r DOS/Windows but it's
useless for me. I think I'd better buy a simple (less efficient) D-Link card
which it supported by both operating systems.


> I still have the following problems:
> 
> 1. APM only partly works.  If I use the daemon, it does put the
>    screen into sleep mode after a period of idleness, but it keeps
>    the disk running, and if I use the fcn-key bindings to idle the
>    machine, it locks up.  Killing the daemon restored use of the
>    key bindings.  I don't know how to proceed on this without some
>    documentation on the TP's apm controller and bios.

Can't help you on this point 

> 
> 2. When you come out of X11, the tty video controller is left in
>    a weird state.  Portions of the line seem to be overwritten, 
>    and shifted slightly, so that you end up with some characters
>    duplicated and overwritten.  It is useless until you power down
>    the system.

OK, this is a classical problem with Thinkpads, I do have the same problem.
The trick is as follow to avoid rebooting:
	On exit from X11, you must press the Fn+F7 key and you'll get the text screen
	again.
> 
> 3. No amount of fiddling with XF86Config gave access to the 800x600
>    pixel mode.  Looking at the clock numbers reported by the SVGA driver,
>    from several experiments between which I used the display in 800x600
>    vis DOS/Windows, I see differences that indicate one probably needs
>    to reprogram the controller to adjust the clock rate.  

Do not have enough pixels on my display to help you here !!!

> 
> 4. I guess I am going to have to sacrifice all the neat
> functionality of the DSP, including modem and sound card services,
> since I've not seen anything on the net about support for that
> under Linux.  
> 
No on-board modem on my Thinkpad but just a PCMCIA one (which seems OK : supported !)


 --------------------------------------------------------------------
 St'ephane ERANIAN			| Email	eranian@chorus.fr
 Universit'e PARIS VII			|	eranian@litp.ibp.fr
 LITP - Laboratoire d'Informatique	|
 Th'eorique et Programmation		|
 2 place Jussieu			|
 75251 Paris cedex 05			|
 --------------------------------------------------------------------