Gateway M285

Note: This is a sample configuration.

The internal video hardware works with 3D and tear-free XVideo acceleration using the free-software radeon driver (included with x11-drivers/xf86-video-ati on Gentoo). For best performance, enable Kernel Mode Setting (http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Radeon might be helpful). The radeon driver provides a framebuffer that can be used with fbcon for text consoles.
Add info on automating the loading of fbcon.ko, and check if load order matters.

radeon doesn't yet support controlling the backlight brightness - you can use the tablet buttons (press the one to the left of the directional pad and then use up/down) or Fn+Up/Down on the keyboard, or /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness:

# for full brightness:
echo 7 >/sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
# for minimum brightness:
echo 0 >/sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
# likewise, use 1-6 for the levels in between

The snd_hda_intel ALSA driver works for playback and recording. To use the internal microphone, turn up the “Capture” and “Mux” capture levels and set “Input Source” to “Mic” (e.g. using alsamixer). Use “Front Mic” instead for the microphone input jack. UPDATE: linux-2.6.33 and possibly other versions have changed “Mic” to refer to the microphone jack, and the only other available input is “CD”. Can this be fixed with snd_hda_intel module parameters?

The card reader uses the tifm driver, that is now a part of the main kernel tree. You will need the following kernel modules:

• tifm_core
• tifm_7xx1
• tifm_sd (for SD/MMC)
• tifm_ms (for MemoryStick)

If the driver is properly loaded, plugging in an MMC or SD card should create /dev/mmcblk0 for the card, and /dev/mmcblk0p1 for partition 1, etc. MemoryStick support untested.

The driver seems to be unable to read some cards, generating errors like:

mmc0: error -110 whilst initializing MMC card

What causes this error?

The tablet works with the fpit driver for Xorg, but first you have to use setserial (if you get errors about “No such device” or the like, try ”modprobe 8250” first):

setserial /dev/ttyS0 uart 16550A port 0x6a8 irq 4 baud_base 38400 spd_normal skip_test

This will need to be run at every startup. This can be automated with udev, e.g. on Gentoo, create ”/etc/udev/rules.d/98-fpit.rules”, and put this in it:

KERNEL=="ttyS0", RUN+="/bin/setserial /dev/ttyS0 uart 16550A port 0x6a8 irq 4 baud_base 38400 spd_normal skip_test"

You'll need to add an InputDevice section to /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Pen"
    Driver      "fpit"
    Option      "AlwaysCore"
    Option      "MinimumXPosition"      "450"
    Option      "MaximumXPosition"      "12520"
    Option      "MinumumYPosition"      "450"
    Option      "MaximumYPosition"      "7620"
    Option      "InvertY"
    Option      "TrackRandR"
    Option      "ScreenNumber"          "0"
    Option      "SendCoreEvents"
EndSection

Then, add a line referring to it in the ServerLayout section:

    InputDevice "Pen"

See Gateway M285 xorg.conf for a working configuration.

The minimum/maximum values listed above might not be the same as your machine - unfortunately, the only way to calibrate them seems to be:

1. edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf to change values
2. restart X server
3. test
4. repeat

If you have trouble with spurious right-clicks when you bring the pen close to the screen, you can disable the right-click functionality with this command:

xinput set-button-map TOUCHSCREEN 1 0 0

You can put this in your ~/.xinitrc or ~/.xsession file
Is there a way to do this via the display manager? E.g. xdm, gdm, kdm…
Is there a way to make the side button convert taps to right-clicks like it does on Windows?

There is no in-kernel driver available for the buttons below the screen (as of linux-2.6.35), so you have to compile it yourself. Fetch tablet_buttons_noacpi-1.12.tar.gz, extract it into a temporary directory, and compile and install:
(NOTE: if you're using a kernel older than 2.6.34, you may need an older version of the driver; check http://www.linlap.com/wiki/lib/exe/mediamanager.php.)

cd /tmp
wget http://www.linlap.com/wiki/_media/tablet_buttons_noacpi-1.12.tar.gz
tar -xzf tablet_buttons_noacpi-1.12.tar.gz
cd tablet_buttons_noacpi-1.12
make
sudo make install

Then insert the module:

sudo modprobe tablet_buttons_noacpi ioport=0xcd0 irq=11

If this works, you should see events when pressing eight of the nine buttons using xev. (The button nearest to the power LED is used only by the internal firmware.) The module load will need to be done at every boot. On Gentoo, you could accomplish this by creating a file in /etc/modules.d/ containing:

options tablet_buttons_noacpi ioport=0xcd0 irq=11

And adding this line to /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6:

tablet_buttons_noacpi

How can this be automated for other distributions?