Hi, I've seen a couple of questions (some related to ThinkPads) on this list to which I can now add my $.02 after successfully completing my installation of Debian 2.1 on a TP 385XD.
Kernel configuration -- I've put my config file for 2.0.36 at www.ece.cmu.edu/~tov/public/bavaria.config. According to other emails, upgrade to 2.2 is preferable and I'll look into this since I want USB and suspend to work. NeoMagic -- This accel xserver works fine for me, and installing it was simple thanks to apt. Note, you have to run xf86config only to get X "basically" running. Then _replace_ /etc/X11/XF86Config with the config file that comes with the server. Don't even think about editing the modelines or whatever. Then edit /etc/X11/Xserver to use XBF_NeoMagic. Works with 16 bpp. Sound -- I was surprised not to find any audio devices. There are tons of devices in /dev, but no /dev/audio? After following instructions in /usr/src/linux/drivers/sound, I've got my devices and "cat /dev/sndstat" forces the kernel to load the sound modules. Sweet. Check my config file if you need the SB options. Even rvplayer works, although only in 8 bit. Note that the sound card uses a CS4237. APM -- yes, it's a BIOS extension. No, it doesn't necessarily know how long your battery will last. My battery has only three states, charge is either "below 10%", "between 10% and 80%", or "above 80%". So apm/asapm/wwapm/... doens't really have a change of being able to tell, how fast the battery drains. Once it hits the 10% mark, the laptop starts beeping anyway. If you have a newer laptop, then you may have a smart LiIon battery. AFAIK, they give better status information which allows apm to make predictions on battery lifetime. Along the same line: Add an 'Option "power_saver"' to the device section and DPMS is turned on. So after some inactivity, the TFT will turn off (yes, off). (Same can be done with "xset dpms".) So, I'm a happy camper. I can run Netscape (4.5), StarOffice (albeit without java support), ghostview, Emacs, ... Hey, even Mesa is installed, allowing me to run the "pipes" mode from xscreensaver. Feel free to send me questions as long as they are about TP385 and Debian 2.1 with Linux 2.0. -tom
