FreeBSD on Dell Inspiron 5000e

I am using FreeBSD since 4.2-stable on my Dell Inspiron 5000e (also known as i5Ke, M-Tech 30W, and possibly Compal N38W2). [an error occurred while processing this directive] and 5.3 are the currently installed FreeBSD versions on this laptop. Everything works except three things:

• VESA driver: broken, i.e. 800x600 pixels (SVGA) resolution on console is unachievable
• Sound: no recording possible, only playback (as far as i know)
• APM: good only for checking battery charge

Hardware

Below are some of the interesting components of Inspiron 5000e...

• CPU: Intel Pentium 3, 600/700 MHz (Speed Step Technology)
• RAM: 192 MB
• Hard drive: 10 GB IBM-DJSA-210/JS2OAB8A
• CD: Sony CD-RW CRX700E/1.4H (8MB buffer; CD-R write speed: 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x; CD-RW write speed: 2x, 4x)
• Graphic card: ATI rage 128 mobility LF (AGP), 8 MB Video-RAM
• Screen: 15" (diagonal), 1024x768 pixels (XGA)
• Sound: ESS technology Maestro-2E
• Networking: useless Lucent software modem, Linksys PCMLM56 100/10base-T + 56k modem, 3COM 3C589D-TP 10base-T

Problems Unsolvable

APM

Most of the content in this section is culled from my email exchange on FreeBSD-mobile list. Message-id of the first message, titled "dell i5000e & apm", is 20010815100412.A4450@moo.holy.cow.

If apm is used for standby/suspend operations, what happens is that after some time console flickers and some of the text (approximately in the center of the screen) disappears. Back on X, you may see nothing, or symptoms like those on console.

Switch 2-3 times between console and X, only, then, solution to above mentioned madness is a reboot. Even the Fn+CRT/LCD keys become useless after working once or twice. After a long period of standby/suspend, measured in hours (say 8-11 hours), spontaneous reboot may occur w/o any telltale signs in any log file.

So, i don't use apm for standby/suspend, only for checking battery charge. And so far that hasn't caused me any grief.

VESA and Sound Recording

I was really angry and depressed after specifically compiling svga option for console, i found out 800x600 resolution on console i cannot have. I was angry at ATI for making available a graphic card w/ broken VESA support; was depressed due to plain old buyer's remorse because of that.

It was a minor set back when i realized that sound recording doesn't work on this laptop. But depressed i was not... bummed for sure.

I don't miss SVGA resolution now, rather at this time, as i use X/xterm more often. However, if i would need to work only on console, i would definitely long for a SVGA console. Well, there is no X equivalent for sound recording. Only solution to that is another laptop w/ proper audio/video hardware.

Things That Work

Beep on power fail (low battery charge)

Though suspend/standby doesn't work, "beep on power fail" does. Instead of panicking, at low power (say 10-11%), computer starts beeping and orange power light flashes. Once i totally forgot and system shutdown. But the shutdown was not clean as i had to run fsck. Kernel option is POWERFAIL_NMI.

X

X (XFree86 4.2.0 w/ r128 driver) works great in 16bit depth and 1024x768 pixels of resolution. XF86Config and gzipped XFree86 log are available.

Sound playback

As i said earlier, sound playback works. Speakers distort low frequency sound at any volume, and any sound at high volume (90-100). Then again this laptop was not designed for often multimedia use. Kernel device is pcm.

Linksys PCMLM56 and 3COM 3C589D-TP

Only modem part of PCMLM56 card works, available on /dev/sio1. All i had to do was create an /etc/pccard.conf entry. the 3C589D card was already supported by ep0 driver and needed no effort on my part.

• FreeBSD handbook: Kernel configuration
• FreeBSD laptop compatibility list, (Zapatec/Grot)
• FreeBSD laptop compatibility list (BSDGroup.de, successor of Gerda one)
• BSD and mobile computers ... (TuxMobil)
• Linux on laptops