I gave up trying to get linux going on my Philips x56. In the end, I just tried PC-BSD and with a little help from googling things, I have it running just dandy. The best thing about BSD is there are no viruses, and the PCBSD version is quite user-friendly. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone struggling to get linux up and running.

Ok, I'm late to this one as you seem to have found something that is working for you. If you want to give Linux another go try installing Slackware and see if it works any better for you.

Hi, literally just registered in the forum so i could post a response to your problem with the Freevents X56 laptop.
I am typing this response having just installed SimplyMepis 3.4 distro onto my Freevents X56 laptop. Up to now the main thing that I still have to fix is wireless support. Not yet fully tested the rest of the install, but at first go it seems stable enough and is co-existing with my original windows installation after resizing the partition. THe distro is Mepis 3.4.3 that I am running from a cd that was on front of Linux Format magazine here in the uk.
Hope this helps
Regards
Paul

Hi There,

The most recent version of Mepis is 6.04
Did you try installing that before installing 3.4?

If not, how old is that magazine disc that you
had to install Mepis 3.4? Was it on a very old magazine?


Thanks.

I decided to experiment with Mepis after all. I tried Mepis 6.0 and that didn't work, so I tried 3.4 like you. It installed fine. (is there no SimpleMepis 4 or 5? - I couldn't find them)

Anyway, everything seems to be working fine on my Philips x56, and infact DVDs play smoother than on PCBSD, which came as a pleasant surprise.

There are 2 small problems I still have to resolve, I was wondering if you could help me with:

1. Resolution. The x56 has a native resolution of 1280x800. I can't find this option in Control Centre - it lists only 1024x768 (and a couple of worse ones too). Do I have to change my xorg.conf file or use 915resolution? If so, could you send me you xorg.conf or post instructions? Thanks.

2. Sound. My sound works fine in that I can hear everything ok (e.g. DVD playback, mp3s, etc.) but it's quite quiet. If I crank up the sound to the max, I just get a nasty background hissing sound coming from my speakers. Is there a way of improving this?


Thanks for any help you can offer - I'm new to Linux - I previously used Windoze for years and PC-BSD for about 2 months (and I was a newbie at that!)

Hi
Sorry I haven't been near pc for a while. I haven't had a great deal of opportunity to fully play with the x56 under linux yet, i was just happy to manage to get it installed and working. I suspect that one of the main problems with the philips and linux is that the display is not quite standard and so I doubt you will get better than the 1084 resolution. I have to do lots of work with it yet to prove that everything works. it may be an idea to get any updates from the Mepis site using the sofware updater options from the menu and see how it goes from there.
Good luck with it and let me know how you get on, unfortunately it could be a while before i get time to do anything more with mine.
Paul

Luke after all you managed to install linux on the x56.

Many say it is this driver or that driver but the reason is
udev which is a little program that interacts with the kernel to reckognize dhe devices.

Mepis 3.4 is quite old and must be using devfs instead udev.

The kernel must be configured to work with devfs rather udev.

This will help you.

After a long struggle with linux and the philips x56 I have managed to install
openSuSE 10.2 with wifi and 1280x800 and full 3d eye candy with beryl

First arm yourself with an openSuse 10.2 dvd and an alternate install cd of ubuntu or kubuntu or xubuntu it does not matter which as long as it's the alternate cd as this includes a usable console hidden behind the text installer

OK boot the suse dvd and choose installation do not press enter yet first type

brokenmodules=8139too

The above command will allow the installer to work bypassing the wired ethernet
continue until reboot BUT take note of the partition you install suse into as you will need to mount it later, mine was sda3 formatted as ext3

After suse is installed and it reboots (suse will not boot at this time until 2 modules are removed) take out the suse dvd and insert your chosen ubuntu alternate cd choose text install

Once the installer loads press ALT+F2 then ENTER for a console

Make a directory to mount the suse partition with
mkdir /mnt/suse

Mount the suse partition (change sda3 to your hard drive partition)
mount -t ext3 /dev/sda3 /mnt/suse

Remove the wired ethernet module with

rm /mnt/suse/lib/modules/2.6.18.2-34-default/kernel/drivers/net/8139too.ko

Remove the SD card module with

rm /mnt/suse/lib/modules/2.6.18.2-34-default/kernel/drivers/mmc/sdhci.ko

Reboot and enjoy the wonderful glory that is openSuSE 10.2

Use 915resolution to set the display to 1280 x 800

God i hope this tip will work on the later model Philips X59 to.
Iv been looking for somehelp regarding this for some time now.

The only distros Iv gotten to work so far are, RHE AS 4.0 (default installation)
and FreeBSD 6.2 (default installation).

I found a way to install a 2007.1 Mandriva on a Freevents X53, maybe you could do the same on a X59 (if installing issues also come from 8139too and SD card reader...).

See here: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...46#post2775746

Yeah its the same problem with the X59...
But have u got the network card to work?
I only get the wireless to work, and my nextdoor neighbors are so anal about password protection on their wireless access point and wont give me the pass (belive it or not).
And i dont feel that i have the need to crack it. Im not like that any more

Yes sir, my network card (a.k.a. Ethernet Adapter) is fully operational!
And yours will soon be if you follow the full "10 steps procedure" (nice name, don't you think?).

To enable the Ethernet Adapter, you just need to build a custom kernel, which is not as difficult as it sounds. I think the proper expression in English would be "piece of cake!".

If you really want to keep avoiding from making friends with you paranoid neighbours just try the "10 steps procedure"

And let me know if you were successful

Hello everybody!

I bought a philips X59** yesterday and today i'm having your same issues...

Right now i tried to boot up a Debian iso (Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r0 "Etch" - Official i386 NETINST Binary-1 20070407-11:29) and it managed to boot with default settings (without passing option to boot...) and it recognize the ethernet card too!!

I have not yet installed it (cause i have to download "another" 2.2GB os for doing dualboot) but i'll try in late afternoon an i'll post results.

Check out the last paragraph of the following link:

http://www.itreviews.co.uk/hardware/h1093.htm

the last paragraph in the link in the previous post reads

If you're a Linux devotee, though, walk away. We tried Ubuntu, Puppy, DSL and Knoppix on it, but there's something here that halts the boot process every time, though we haven't yet worked out what it is


they may not have worked it out but i spent a long time with my brother in laws X56 and have established that the problem seems to be with the PCI interrupt controller built in to the machine but with a little work you can get linux installed and working the only thing i have not looked at getting working is the SD Card slot