This page contains some usefull pointers and information about using Linux on the ThinkPad 365XD DSTN (Double SuperTwisted Nematic aka Dual Scan). If you want to correct or update some of the information on this page, send me an e-mail.
Last update :
You will find on this page :
As you will see in this XF86Config, you need a small program to restore properly the screen after leaving X. It's name is Xcyber. You can have :
To use Xcyber, you must type :
startx ; Xcyber
Then press Fn-F7 to get X right. After leaving X, press Fn-F7 again
to restore a full size text screen.
Note : It is impossible, while running X, to switch from/to a text console (See comment from Marc Merlin below).
I found out that Xcyber.c only compiles if you add optimization (-Ox). When
I discussed this with Harada-San, he found out that outb's man page makes
mention of that
--
You compile with -O or -O2 or similar. The functions are
defined as inline macros, and will not be substituted in
without optimization enabled, causing unresolved refer-
ences at link time.
--
----
I compiled my kernel with APM as such:
CONFIG_APM=y
CONFIG_APM_DO_ENABLE=y
CONFIG_APM_CPU_IDLE=y
CONFIG_APM_DISPLAY_BLANK=y
Console blanking does work, but it has a side effect: whenever I launch a
graphics app (i.e. X or SVGAlib), the console blanks and I have to press a
key to get my display back.
There also is the issue of one or two intense orange lines when you first
launch X (before pressing Fn-F7). With apm blanking, I don't get those
lines, so I think it's actually a good thing to use it.
Before I did that, those lines actually stayed on the screen for a while,
but after several weeks they did disappear. Yet, I still don't feel too good
about them. I prefer not to get them in the first place.
As for the following sentence:
"Note : It is impossible, while running X, to switch from/to a text
console."
I'm afraid I have to disagree with it. Not only do I do that, but I even
manage to run SVGAlib apps.
What I do, is first launch X (launching an SVGA app first prevents X from
working afterwards), and from there, I can switch to text mode.
I first run Xcyber which switches from a very bright almost unreadable
display to something that's readable, but then not only do I still have a
display only in the middle portion of my screen, but the VGA text mem is
messed up, and some characters are not displayed while others are doubled.
>From here, I can type a quick command and switch back to X without problems,
or I can type Fn-F7 and get a normal text console, and then have to type
Fn-F7 again when I get back to X.
Note, when switching back and forth like this, there seems to be a race
condition somewhere that causes the screen to become irreversibly messed up.
(maybe one time out of 10 or 15 for me). There is nothing I can do to get my
display back besides reboot.
As for which X I can run, I currently have Xfree 3.3 with the XF 3.2 SVGA
server (that requires you to degzip the fonts and compress them since XF 3.2
doesn't support gzipped fonts.
Harada-San reported success with XF 3.3 by specifying Chipset "tgui9440agi"
in the config file, but I had tried earlier, and tried again with XF 3.3.1
without being able to duplicate that success.
I get a screen after Fn-F7, but the left half is on the right (with the blue
background displayed in green), the right half on the left, and the middle
is empty. It's close, but not close enough.
I'm curious to find out what other people get. Please send me working
XF86Configs for XF 3.3 and XF 3.3.1
Comment for Harada-San: XF86-3.2, 3.3 and 3.3.1 works, but after
suspend/hibernation the screen blacks out. As Marc said, it may be a bug
of the kernel 2.0.30. I haven't tried 2.0.32 yet.
Xi Graphics (Xinside) has a laptop program. They'll write drivers for any
laptop if anyone can send them a laptop for up to a month. They'll pay for
the shipping and insurance, and you'll get Xinside for free in return.
See http://www.xig.com/ for more info.
I talked to the Metrolink (MetroX) guys at Comdex, and they're offering
something similar. It's not advertised on their web page, but if you Email
them, mention my name and Comdex, they should do the same. MetroX costs
$100 (like Xinside), except that you can get MetroX in any $50 RedHat
distribution.
http://www.metrolink.com/
Marc Merlin <marctp@magic.metawire.com>
A solution: rsync. It's a program which can be used to copy
directories between to machines (like rcp, but using less
bandwidth). You can find this program at the address
ftp://samba.anu.edu.au/pub/rsync (european mirror:
ftp://sunsite.auc.dk/pub/unix/rsync).
Here is a small shell script to synchronize directories :
[New] Marc Merlin poll in order to indentify BIOS
related problems
Marc Merlin as made poll to try to find why some ThinkPads work
with XFree 3.2 and others with 3.3.1. I let Marc told us about the
various issues:
Here are the results
Here's the results I [Marc] got (ordered by BIOS date):
DISP BIOS MOD/SUB/REV BIOS APM Video Setup Slvctl 3.2 3.3 3.3.1
0 DSTN 91G1787 (05/15/96) FC/01/00 1.05 1.08 1.00 1.02 1.09 yes ? ?
1 DSTN 91G1796 (07/03/96) FC/01/00 1.11 1.08 1.00 1.02 1.09 yes ? ?
2 DSTN 91G1978 (08/14/96) FC/01/00 1.17 1.13 1.00 2.00 1.09 yes ? yes
3 DSTN 91G1994 (09/17/96) FC/01/00 1.18 1.13 1.00 2.00 1.10 yes no no
4 DSTN 91G2001 (10/23/96) FC/01/00 1.20 1.15 1.00 2.00 1.10 yes no no
5 DSTN 91G2001 (10/23/96) FC/01/00 1.20 1.15 1.00 2.00 1.10 yes no ?
6 TFT 91G1999 (12/04/96) FC/01/00 1.23 1.17 1.00 2.00 1.10 yes no* [a]
7 ? 11J9094 (01/30/97) FC/01/00 1.24 1.18 1.00 2.00 1.10 ? no yes
8 DSTN 11J9094 (01/30/97) FC/01/00 1.24 1.18 1.00 2.00 1.09 yes yes yes
[a] Kevin doesn't remember whether he tried 3.3 or 3.3.1
0 Jose Negreira Lopez
Analysis
I have little data to draw exact conclusions, but my guess is that
the BIOS update from 1.23 to 1.24 lets XF 3.3.x work, and that at the
same time, the APM upgrade form 1.17 to 1.18 breaks hibernation
recovery. By having more reports between BIOS 1.20 and 1.24, we may
be able to find a version that supports XF 3.3.x without breaking APM
(maybe linux 2.0.32 helps with that respect also, who knows).
Misc info
It seems that linux 2.0.32 fixes an the APM bug where the screen blanks as
soon as you launch XF, SVGAlib, or any other graphics app (that's when you
have APM fully enabled). I haven't had the chance to try it on my laptop
yet, did anyone?
How to synchronize directories between a laptop and a
desktop machine
It is usually usefull to work at home (on a laptop) and at work (on a
desktop station) on the same files. The problem is: how to synchronize
the two copies of those files ?
REMOTE_LOGIN=mentre
REMOTE_HOST=cairo
RSYNC_OPT="-z -v"
DIRS="these 365xd"
for i in $DIRS; do
echo " -- Synchonization of $i --";
CMD="rsync $RSYNC_OPT -u -a -c $HOME/$i $REMOTE_LOGIN@$REMOTE_HOST:~"
echo "Exec: $CMD"; $CMD;
CMD="rsync $RSYNC_OPT -u -a -c $REMOTE_LOGIN@$REMOTE_HOST:~/$i $HOME"
echo "Exec: $CMD"; $CMD;
done;
List of pointers
Pointers about ThinkPads
Pointers to configure XFree86
Various pointers
List of mailing lists of
interest a 365XD and Linux user
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Those pages are my own and do not express the opinion of the Irisa.