Request: Samsung 700z Linux guide

I would really like to run ubuntu or some other linux dist on my Chronos 7, but at the moment there are just to many things that don't work nearly as good as in Windows.

Examples:

Batterylife - On the box it says 9 hours, in Windows it's roughly 6 hours, on Linux it is 2 hours. Probobly due to the cpu running at full speed all the time.

Touchpad - Freshly installed it's a disaster, but with kernel 3.2 and some other tweaks at least the basic like two-figer scroll, higher sensitivity etc works but still no 3-4 finger actions.

Other stuff: How to disable the AMD gpu completely?

If anyone got there chronos fully working with Linux, please post your fixes here! You could also post issues I havn't noticed in hope of someone being able to help.

Thanks

 

Come on Linux gurus, anyone got it fully working?

 

I'm working with Ubuntu 11.10 on the 700Z3A, but it's really a pain (as you yet recognized)

There are some tweaks, but you won't the performance like running windows. I'm working with folliwing configuration:

#1. I added some boot parameters:
pcie_aspm=force i915.i915_enable_rc6=1 i915.i915_enable_fbc=1 i915.lvds_downclock=1

Note for: i915.i915_enable_rc6 when there is no workload the power consumption is better without, but with workload the comsumption gets quite high

#2. I personally disabled the pseudo SSD drive, because I won't let untouched for the windows partiton. For that you need to install hdparm and set the standby timeout for the /dev/sdb driver to 1

#3. Kill bluetooth on startup. I added "rfkill block bluetooth" to my rc.local

#4. [Install laptop-mode] I'm not quite sure if it helped very much.

#5. Since I didn't managed it to install ANY catalyst propretery driver. I disabled loading the "radeon" module in /etc/modprobe.d

To be honest: I think most hardwar in this laptop is very bad supported under linux, especially the wlan driver and CPU. For example the WLAN: It seems that the open source broadcom driver doesn't support any power saving features at the moment.

Here some bugs, which were already created at launchpad according the chronos you might mark yourself as affected
* https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/894515
* https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/901409
* https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/867869
* https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/udev/+bug/902332
* https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/916621

 

Thanks, a few things to try then. It's a shame you can't get the same functionality as in windows though.
Whats your batterylife with those tweaks?

 

On Idle I got around 17 Watts which is around 3 hours. The problem is that most actions boost the cpu / wlan and the comsumptions raises to ~30 Watts.

So it depends heavily what you do.

I forgot to post my kernel: 3.0.0-16-generic


How are your temperatues?

 

I'm not running Linux now, tried ubuntu, xubuntu, pinguy etc a while back but my nerves couldn't take the fans spinning and the low batterylife.
Do you have the touchpad working? 2-finger scroll and higher sens?
I had some issues with that to, but with the 3.2 kernel and FingerHigh=7, FingerLow=3 and sensitivity a bit higher it was OK.
Perhaps I will install ubuntu tonight and play around a bit..

Are you running x86 or x64?

 

Okay, I installed ubuntu x86 now.

Edited rc.local to the following:

Code:

modprobe radeon
echo OFF > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch

rfkill block bluetooth

exit 0

And added this to etc/default/grub

Code:

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash pcie_aspm=force i915.i915_enable_rc6=1 i915.i915_enable_fbc=1 i915.lvds_downclock=1"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

It says 2h 10min now. Powertop says 35w when just writing this.
Also it seems the cpu powersaving feautures does not work, but I'm not sure how to read powertops figures..
You mentioned something about laptop mode? Whats that?

 

Upgraded kernel to 3.3, massive improvement. Now at least I have about the same figures as you do, 20w and 4 hours battery.

 

Last I used Powertop was a few months ago and its copyright said 2010. I don't think it's being developed anymore. I found it rather useless to begin with but maybe it works better for you.

Have you seen lesswatts.org?
http://www.lesswatts.org/projects/index.php
But on kernel 3.3, you've probably got most of those things already worked into default settings.

Laptop mode is a bunch of scripts that regulate certain daemons to try and conserve more power while on DC. Take a look in Syanptic and see ifyou have the package laptop-mode-tools installed.
Laptop Mode Tools - Laptop power saving package for Linux systems|Ubuntu Geek

The Linux area has a question about high temps and low battery life. I've had bad luck with Ubuntu distros setting the cpu governors correctly. Sometimes I've had to completely rewrite the config file values. Maybe something else to look into for you.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lin...s-running-temperature-warmer-than-normal.html

Why x86?

 

I've also been struggling to get this set up for the past two months since I've bought it (700z5a).

I tried Ubuntu but couldnt for the life of me find a video driver that worked. So I gave up.

I am now trying out Virtualbox, with Linux mint running. After reading up, it seems almost everyone has the same problem but millions of different causes, which is Linux running insanely mind-bogglingly slow. It takes 3 minutes to boot, and is very laggy, making it entirely useless. I'm inclined to think it's a hardware/video issue, but I don't know enough of why.

Has anyone figured out a good solution? I'm looking at other distros (arch), because I am desperate to find something that works. Anything. At. All. Please...

 

Have you studied this other thread which relates to Linux on the Series 7?

John