Authors

Ole Tange (http://ole.tange.dk)

Page Contents Introduction Editing This Page Specifications Linux Compatibility Modem Related Resources Conclusions

This guide is intended to provide you details on how well this laptop works with Linux and which modules you need to configure. For details on how to actually install and configure the required modules have a look at our guides section for distribution specific instructions.

Introduction

This is a guide to running Linux with the Medion 9783 laptop. This laptop was tested with Gentoo.

Editing This Page

Feel free to edit this page if you have further information or corrections to add, or send an e-mail to admin@linlap.com if you don't know how to/can't be bothered editing this page.

Specifications

Name	Medion 9783
Processor	Pentium 4 2 GHz
Screen	14"
RAM	256+512 MB (1024 MB max)
HDD	100 GB 44 pin ATA, TOSHIBA MK1031GAS
Optical Drive	QSI CD-RW/DVD-ROM SBW-242
Graphics	ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M6 LY rev 0
Sound	Intel Corporation 82801BA/BAM AC'97 Audio (rev 05)
Network	Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
Modem	Ambient Technologies Inc HaM controllerless modem (rev 02)
USB	2 ports USB 1.1, Intel Corporation 82801BA/BAM USB (rev 05)
Firewire	1 port, Texas Instruments TSB43AB21 IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link)
PCMCIA	Texas Instruments PCI1520 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 01)
Misc	IrDA Serial and parallel port, 4 way scroll button, 5 magic keys

Linux Compatibility

Device	Compatibility	Comments
Processor	Yes
Screen	Yes	1024x768
Optical Drive	Yes	CD-RW: Untested
Graphics	Yes	S-Video: untested
Sound	Yes	snd_intel8x0
Ethernet	Yes	8139too
56K Modem	Yes
USB	Yes	uhci
Firewire	Yes	ohci1394 and ieee1394
PCMCIA	Yes
IrDA	Yes	See this
Serial and Parallel	Yes
4 way scroll button	No
5 magic keys	No

Modem

The modem requires intel-v92ham.tgz and "pci=acpi" as a boot parameter, e.g., in /boot/grub/menu.lst. The modem device is called /dev/ham.

Related Resources

Preparing your laptop for Linux
Increasing battery life

Conclusions

The most important things worked from day one. The laptop is heavy (4 kg) and noisy by 2006-standards. But it was cheap. The loudspeakers were very good when the machine was bought. Today they are still average compared to new laptops.

Have you installed Linux on this laptop? If so how about leaving a comment about your success in the comments section below.