Chains Of Heaven

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Gateway MX7525, Shipped from Gateway Dec 2005. Purchased Jan 15, 2006. Cost: $1199 + taxes on sale.

Architecture: x86_64
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 Processor 4000+ Cache:1024
Memory: 1GB (2x512)
Harddrive: Fujitsu MHV2100AT PL, 100G, IDE
Graphics Adapter: ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600
I ended up downloading an ATI video driver from their website to enable all card functions.

Mouse: Synaptics Touchpad
Keyboard: Generic 104Key set in SUSE
CD/DVD: TSSTcorp CD/DVDW TS-L532U (7/1/2001)
Conexant AC-Link Audio (6/6/2005)
Modem: CXT AC97 Soft Data Fax Modem with SmartCP
Firewire: VIA OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
Network: Marvell Yukon 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller (3/30/2005)
Broadcom 802.11g Network Adapter (2/18/2005)

Operating Systems:
Windows Media Center Edition 2005
SUSE 10

Installed SUSE from CD-Rs. ISO had been downloaded from the OSS. Install went smoothly with no hiccups at all. After bringing the system up after a reboot, everything appeared to work with the exception of audio and the wireless. Ethernet connection worked from the start, downloaded all available updates.

Ethernet under SUSE: Gateway 2000 88E8036 Fast Ethernet Controller

Wireless was detected as: [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless Controller.

Still working on getting the Wireless card to work and that is about the only reason I still have MS on the laptop.

Audio just required a tweak.

Sound Configuration, Card 0. IXP SB400 AC'97 Audio Controller

In Yast, under Sound card click edit and:
AC'97 codec clock, AC'97 Workaround for strange hardware, S/PDIF over AC-Link

Had to assign a value of 6 to the AC'97 Workaround. Originally it had been set to -1.

Under the Other button on the main sound card properties you can choose Volume and set various levels there.

Of course DVD video did not work right out of the box due to the exclusion of the DeCSS lib. MP3 option had also to be downloaded. Both of these are due to the DMCA and other distros do the same.

Misc:
I have not had a reason to use the modem so that has not really been tested out. Detected as a Gateway 2000 Modem under SUSE.
Boot: grub

I am relearning Linux in general, not having used it since RedHat 7.2. SUSE is completely new to me. I did absolutely no research prior to purchasing the laptop as far as compatability was concerned. Although some of the issues have been frustrating, I have learned a lot by dealing with them.

The display is wonderful and draws people right in. Colours are crisp. The keyboard is very nice and does not overly irritate my CTS. The touchpad sensitivity right out of the box was just right. It would have been nice is some sort of power indicator light could have been on the AC power pack.

Battery life varies, I usually get about an hour and a half if I run about 30-60 minutes worth of video, lots of audio playing, and web surfing. Dropping the brightness (Fn+F7) while running the battery can help extend the time.

For those who have issues with weight, this laptop is not lightweight by any stretch of the imagination. However, it is much lighter than my original laptop, a Tandy 1400LT <G>.