Asus A8JP Notebook with Gentoo: Sound, CPUFREQ, WebCam, ...

[alphamaennchen]

This is a thread that brings together information on running Gentoo Linux on an Asus A8jp Notebook. I had several Problems and solved some of them together with users on this forum and elsewhere. Still I'm trying some stuff out...

I want to share my experience with other users in this thread!

Big thanks to jasn

First the Hardware Configuration of the Asus A8jp:
Intel Core 2 Duo (Merom) T7200
ATI Mobility Radeon X1700
1 GB RAM

1. SOUND:
My problem was an annoying whistle with almost every config I used. jasn helped me with that:
You have to use alsa-drivers and not the modules from the kernel.
Just enable Sound support in the Kernel config, but disable ALSA and OSS.
Then unmask the testing Version ~amd64 by typing

$ echo "media-sound/alsa-driver ~amd64" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
$ echo "media-lib/alsa-lib ~amd64" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
$ echo "media-sound/alsa-utils ~amd64" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords

and then emerge alsa-driver

$ emerge alsa-driver

Then run alsaconf, configure your sound card and add the following line to /etc/modules.d/alsa:
options snd-hda-intel position_fix=1 model=3stack

run modules-update and reboot your machine! Sound works flawlessly!


2. CPU FREQUENCY SCALING
I had problems after the BIOS Upgrade. It works with Version 203 with my Notebook. 204 and above does not work. But jasn reports it works also with 204, above does not.
see https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-517120-postdays-0-postorder-asc-start-0.html

3. WLAN
Works with ipw3945, you have to emerge ieee80211 before (and disable this in the kernel)

4. WEBCAM

jasn:
For the webcam someone posting to the Linux USB device website states that the media-video/gspcav1 driver supports this model;
http://www.qbik.ch/usb/devices/showdev.php?id=3849
But the current rev media-video/gspcav1 drivers won't compile under 2.6.19, (the missing linux/config.h problem). So hopefully the next release will fix that. Good Luck..

but I succeeded in compiling the driver with 2.6.19, by copying the config.h from 2.6.18, needed this anyway for ati-drivers...

i haven't tried using the webcam yet...

5. ATI X1700
Works, but only with ati-drivers-8.29.6
I have tried Versions above, but they do not work yet. To compile the drivers you need to copy over config.h from kernel 2.6.18.

EDIT:
I have just installed ati-drivers-8.32.5 (with Kernel 2.6.19-gentoo-r2). It works perfectly. The ebuild is not in portage yet. You can grab the ebuild from bugs.gentoo.org.


6. CARDREADER

The instructions are taken from http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_Dell_Latitude_X1#SD_.2F_MMC:

Flash memory reader on the PCI bus:
feldhamster gentoo # lspci | grep Ricoh
06:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd Unknown device 0832
06:00.1 Class 0805: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 19)
06:00.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd Unknown device 0843 (rev 01)
06:00.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 0a)
06:00.4 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller (rev 05)

Development of the sdhci driver was initiated in November 2005. Now sdhci is in Linux-2.6.17. You only need to compile with these options:

CONFIG_MMC=m
CONFIG_MMC_BLOCK=m
CONFIG_MMC_SDHCI=m

and load mmc_core, sdhci and mmc_block modules with:

modprobe mmc_block && modprobe sdhci

Insert your card into the drive (SD and MMC works well,try MS/MSPro if you have one) and a block will be created at /dev/mmcblk0p1.Then create a mountpoint and mount it by typing:

mkdir /media/mmc
mount -t auto /dev/mmcblk2p1 /media/mmc


I will update this and clean up this thread every few days (at least i'm planning to...). If you have any suggestions, to improve this guide please reply to this thread!
_________________
linux is a wigwam: no windows, no gates, apache inside!

Desktop: AMD64 3400+, GeForce 7800GS, Gentoo
Notebook (Asus A8jp): Core 2 Duo 2,0 (T7200), ATI X1700, Kubuntu
PDA: Zaurus SL-6000

linux is user friendly! however, it is not idiot friendly....

[alphamaennchen]

Did this help anyone?
_________________
linux is a wigwam: no windows, no gates, apache inside!

Desktop: AMD64 3400+, GeForce 7800GS, Gentoo
Notebook (Asus A8jp): Core 2 Duo 2,0 (T7200), ATI X1700, Kubuntu
PDA: Zaurus SL-6000

linux is user friendly! however, it is not idiot friendly....

[alphamaennchen]

Update:
I finally tried the webcam and it works flawlessly!
_________________
linux is a wigwam: no windows, no gates, apache inside!

Desktop: AMD64 3400+, GeForce 7800GS, Gentoo
Notebook (Asus A8jp): Core 2 Duo 2,0 (T7200), ATI X1700, Kubuntu
PDA: Zaurus SL-6000

linux is user friendly! however, it is not idiot friendly....

[thnogueira]

I have got my camera working too but I've just realized linux (Ubuntu in my case) is warming the camera. I can feel on the external side of the laptop. Do you have the same problem? Also it seems to happen even if the module is not loaded.

[michel7]

[michel7]

personally i got working on my A8Js:

- cpu (frequence trotteling)
- graphic board (nvidia geforce 7700) in native 1440x900 resolution with 3d acceleration
- audio
- webcam
- cardreader/USB
- LAN/WLAN
- touchpad
- Suspend to RAM
- ACPI Function Keys

dont know if Bluetooth, Modem and IR working too, never had a change to test it ...
_________________
Software is like sex. It's better when it's free

[GC]

Any news on the heating issue?

Also, if someone could explain me how to get the function (Fn+...) keys working I would appreciate a lot!

Cheers,

GC
_________________
exp(I*Pi)+1=0

[michel7]