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Linux Mitsubishi AMiTY Laptop

SuSE Linux on the Mitsubishi AMiTY CN2 Laptop

Hinweis für deutschsprachige Leser/Note for German-speaking readers

Diese Informationen gibt es nur in englischer Sprache. Ich bin zu faul, das ganze nochmal auf Deutsch zu schreiben. Ausserdem wird der AMiTY meines Wissens nach nicht in Deutschland verkauft.

Disclaimer

This document has no affiliation with Mitsubishi. There is no guarantee as to the accuracy or correctness of the information on this page. USE THIS INFORMATION AT YOUR OWN RISK. You're welcome to send an E-mail regarding improvements on the information given herein to daniel(-at-)bischof.org - all other E-mail (in particular questions about recompiling the kernel) will be pitilessly deleted. In case that somebody at Mitsubishi is interested in Linux and reads and appreciates this information: I need a replacement Li-Ion battery ;-)

History

02. Feb 2002: This will most likely be the last update. I leave the original text as of Dec 1999 mostly unchanged, since some may have older versions of (SuSE) Linux. However, I've upgraded my AMiTY to 64MB and I'm running SuSE Linux 7.3 (XFree 4.1.0, Kernel 2.4.17, ALSA 0.5.11, PCMCIA cardmgr 3.1.28) on it with no problem. Everything can be set up using YaST2 - I'd expect other vendor's installation tools to succeed as well. No tinkering or manual changes to configuration files required anymore (with the exception of IrDA, which requires minor changes in /etc/rc.config). Since I don't have USB devices, I still haven't tried the AMiTY's USB connector.
Check http://sdb.suse.de/en/sdb/html/daniel_ftpinst_local.html for details on how to install SuSE Linux from a NFS server in your local network.
10. Dec 1999: Update to SuSE Linux 6.3 - IrDA works!
26. Sep 1999: Initial version (SuSE Linux 6.2)

Information from Mitsubishi

Product Information
Technical Specifications (PDF)
Mitsubishi Mobile Computing Division Homepage

Summary

The AMiTY CN2 is very small - the main reason for me to get one. It is about the size of the SuSE Linux manual. The price is very attractive: as low as US-$ 700 (depending on where you buy it). The 800x600 TFT-Display is a little small for X, but what the heck. The mechanical quality is not impressive but acceptable (don't drop it ;-). The battery lasts only 2 hours - it's a Li-Ion of about the size of a cigar. The power supply works with voltages from 100-240V and 50-60Hz (a very good thing for travelers). Installation was boringly easy. The keyboard may be too small for those with big fingers. The built-in speaker is a joke (use the headphone jacks).
Bottomline: A fine machine to run Linux on. I recommend it.

Parts

The AMiTY CN2 comes with a parallel-port floppy drive, an AC-adapter, a (good) manual, spare tips for the track-point and M$ Windows95 (give it back). It has 32MB RAM, a 2.1GB harddrive and an Intel Mobile Pentium MMX with 166MHz clockspeed. Not impressive, but consider size and price.

Installation

Painless. Boot with the standard 6.2-bootdiskette and use the modules-diskette for inserting the PCMCIA-kernelmodules. I didn't bother trying Windows and wiped it completely from the drive. The only issue: The AMiTY has no CD-ROM drive. You need a PCMCIA Ethernet-adapter to install via FTP or NFS. I didn't try a PCMCIA CD-ROM drive. Installation via PLIP is most likely not possible since the floppy drive is connected to the parallel port (I wouldn't unplug the floppy while the machine is powered on).

X-Window System

Painless. It's a NeoMagic chipset that works with the XSVGA-server. Use SaX to set it up or copy my /etc/XF86Config. The TrackPoint is PS/2-compatible (/dev/psaux).

PCMCIA

Painless. It's a Texas Instruments socket adapter but apparently i82365-compatible.

Sound

Not so painless. If you're not experienced, use the commercial OSS-driver (package `oss', series `pay'). OSS automatically detects the ESS1879-soundchip in the AMiTY and works fine. Currently, I'm using ALSA. You need to modify /etc/conf.modules to enable ALSA - the proper lines for inclusion in /etc/conf.modules are here. Don't forget to comment out the alias-lines for sound-support (char-major-14, sound and midi).

APM

Requires recompiling the kernel. Don't do this unless you know what you're doing. Both suspend-to-memory and suspend-to-disk seem to work (at least the AMiTY wakes up again ;-) This is the proper description-file with APM-support for use with the 2.2.10-SuSE kernel that comes with SuSE Linux 6.2 - you also need to have the package `apmd', series `ap' installed and the apmd running (modify /etc/rc.config).

IrDA

IrDA works in standard mode (SIR, 115 KBit/s). Please read http://sdb.suse.de/sdb/en/html/irda.html on how to make use of IrDA with SuSE Linux.

USB

I haven't tried this yet.

A few hints

  • Use `icewm' as window manager - it's small, reliable and easy to configure (KDE is a pain in the ass with 32MB of memory)
  • If you have a PCMCIA network-adapter, make sure to configure it in /etc/pcmcia/network.opts
  • You can save a MB or two not by dialling 1-800-COLLECT, but by recompiling the XSVGA-server with support for NeoMagic chips only. The source for the X-Servers is in package `xlkit', series `x'.

Hints for distributions other than SuSE

If your distribution of Linux meets the following, you should be able to install the distribution on the AMiTY with no problem.

  • Linux Kernel 2.2.x
  • PCMCIA cardmgr 3.0.x
  • XFree86 3.3.4
  • OSS 3.8.1 or ALSA 0.3.0_pre5
  • apmd 2.4
  • bootdiskettes with support for PCMCIA adapters

Copyright (c) 1999 daniel(-at-)bischof.org - Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 (GFDL).



 
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