How to get Laptop specific stuff working (battery meter, etc)

[SenorDingDong]

I just installed Slack 10.2, on my laptop, and Im wondering how to get the laptop specific stuff working. For example the touch pad, doesnt work, or anything like that I have to use a mouse. Also there is no battery meter, to show me how much is left when Its running off batteries.

Im assuming I just gotta download some drivers, so where would I find then?

[slackguy]

what kind of laptop do you have? i'm having the same kind of problems on my VAIO VGN-FS645P. my touchpad works, my screen resolution is fine, and my usb mouse is also detected (i'm on the 2.4 kernel, upgrading to 2.6 today for native sony wifi support), but i also need the battery meter and stuff like that.

the 2.6 kernel has more advanced options for power usage, like shutting off the screen when the laptop's idle, but still no support for system-specific stuff, like you want.

(btw, during installation of slackware just choose the ps/2 option for mouse and the touchpad should work.)

to find drivers, the best option is searching google. just be sure to phrase your search requests straightforwardly ((laptop-model)+slackware+drivers instead of vaio and slackware).

again, try the 2.6 kernel if you didn't choose it as the install kernel.

[bryansmith]

The battery stuff is handled by ACPI. Check to see if maybe the 2.6 kernel in the testing directory of your Slack CDs has it compiled in. If not, you could always compile your own kernel with ACPI support built in .

Bryan

[SenorDingDong]

I used whatever the default Kernel is in the Slackware 10.2 installation.

[bryansmith]

There is a 2.6 kernel in the testing directory of your CDs. Upgrade the current kernel (2.4 series) to the 2.6 in testing to see if that works. Don't forget, after upgrading, don't forget to run /sbin/lilo to let the changes take effect.

Bryan

[xzvf]

Switch from bare.i kernel to the bareacpi.i kernel.It's on Disc 1. Everything will work Some motherboards require that you put "acpi=force" as a kernel parameter. 10.1 gave you the option to choose kernels during install, haven't seen it with 10.2.

[Ravendark]

Hi everyone,
I have a fujitsu-siemens amilo A1650 laptop running slack 10.2.
I has having the battery problem for a long time. I could make it work. Even the latest kernel 2.6.14.3 doesn't solve the problem.
Until 2 days ago I tried a live ubuntu 5.10 cd and the battery meter was working!
So after a bit of searching I downloaded the patched ubuntu kernel 2.6.12 from here: http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/poo...source-2.6.12/ , compiled it and works fine. Even the touchpad, but the touchpad was working with the vanilla one anyway.
Now I have a complete working system on my laptop, even wireless is working with ndiswrapper although now there is a reverse engineered driver which i havent tried yet.

[SenorDingDong]

I compiled in the 2.6.14.3 kernel, and the ACPI stuff, the battery meter and all that shows up.

Howerver now that internet wont work. I assuming I just gotta configure it, but whats the command?

Also this is a little thing but id like to know how to get it back. Before when it showed the Linux kernel loading, it would be in nice 1024x768 resolution wit the little penguin on top. Now with 2.6 kernel, its in a horrible low resolution and no penguin. How Do i get this back?

[Ravendark]

You have to enable frame buffer support for your console and the linux logo in the configuration of you kernel

[SenorDingDong]

You have to enable frame buffer support for your console and the linux logo in the configuration of you kernel

alright i guess ill configure it again.