Linux on the Fujitsu E7110

written for Linux on Laptops, and based heavily on this page.

What I bought:

Fujitsu Lifebook E7710D, from their website
1.7 GHz Pentium 4 processor
15" SXGA+ TFT display (1400x1050)
ATI Radeon 7500 Mobility video
256 + 128 MB RAM
40 GB hard drive (5400 rpm)
8x DVD, 24x10x24x CD-RW drive
2 USB 1.1 ports
1 iLink/Firewire port
56K V.90 modem
10/100 base-T ethernet
Lithium battery (lasts about 2 hours)
about $1800 in November 2002

Installing Linux

Installation of RedHat 9 from CDs was quite straight forward, as were previous versions. Upon the first boot, I joyfully declined Microsoft's license agreement, promptly rebooted, and reformatted the entire disc for use with Linux.

What works, and what doesn't

These items (drivers) worked without difficulty:
DVD / CD drive
Ethernet (8139too)
Video / XFree86
Sound (i810_audio)
USB 1 (usb-uhci)
Firewire
Most everything else (touchpad, keyboard, ...)
The linmodem works. Based on the results from scanModem (get it here) and help from the Linmodems discussion group, and the experience found at this page I tried the slmodem-2.9.1, which worked like a charm. See the page linked above and of course the documentation that came with slmodem-2.9.1 for help getting started.

The Orinoco Gold wireless card (8420-WD) works great, but required a bit of a hassel to get the driver compiled. The driver it uses is wlags49_h2_cs . I am awaiting the 2.6 series Linux kernel for power management. My previous Fujitsu laptop (much older) worked well with APM without a struggle. Not so in this case. Hopefully ACPI will work.

I would like to capture the 5 "security code" buttons to launch xterms or other useful applications. Anyone know how?

Contact me

If you wish to contact me regarding the status of my laptop or want help configuring what you think might be a similar system, email me at wbrisken dot nrao at edu.
last modified June 2004