I installed Redhat 7.2 on my Winbook XL laptop (specs below). The install probe didn't find a a mouse and specifying a generic PS/2 mouse didn't allow the GUI install to continue. The text install went fine and i used all the auto/default features of the install. Unfortunately, I have yet to get the system up and running due to display, keyboard and mouse issues. I have solved the display issues (detailed below) and can display either the X window or GNOME. However, the keyboard and mouse do not work yet. The Winbook is factory spec except for the 20 Gig Western Digital Hard drive and a Xircom 10/100 XE2000 PCMCIA card.

KEYBOARD/POINTER ISSUES: I have tried kbdcfg to configure the keyboard but this has
failed when the command locks up the keyboard, necessitating a reboot. As an alternative kbdconfig gets me a window that
allows me to select a "US type keyboard which gives me no help. I have also used startx
-- test which tells me it expected to find a keyboard but didn't. As explained below, I can't use X-configurator because it asks me to confirm my display settings by using my keyboard or mouse. When I fail to respond, Xconfigurator prompts me to try again or cancel.
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I AM POSTING THE FOLLOWING FOR ANYONE WITH DISPLAY ISSUES OR TRYING
TO INSTALL ON A WINBOOK XL LAPTOP.
i am pretty sure that a linux install is possible on a winbook xl. I have referred to two homepages mentioning their good results (which I have yet to duplicate).
http://www.peter-englmaier.de/winbook/
and http://rei.nerv.gweep.net/~ratinox/wbxl.html

POINTER RESOURCES: Regarding the mouse issues, i have been told that winbook uses a
standard Synaptics Touchpad. I went to the the Synaptics site and downloaded a utility to determine if i have such a pad (http://www.synaptics.com/decaf/utilities/tprev.exe) and the utitlity says I have a generic PS/2 nonsynaptics pad.

DISPLAY RESOURCES: i solved the display issues after a long search for two excellent display resources.
http://www.xmission.com/~howardm/modelines.html and
http://www.hut.fi/Misc/Electronics/f...rgb/calc.html. Using these resources, modlines can be easily calculated by reference to VESA standards. The cacluator suggests: Modeline
"1024x768" 65 10241048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync. This translates into
Horizontal sync frequency = 48.36
vertical sync frequency = 60.

i ran out of options with Xconfigurator, however. Xconfigurator recognized the chip
(C&T65554) and installs a default driver, recognizes the RAM (2048), and asks for the monitor type. If you specify Generic laptop, Xconfigurator tests the settings, displays a beautiful desktop and asks that i confirm the settings by typing 'y.' unfortunately, my keyboard and mouse lock up which Xconfigurator interprets a failure and prompts me to try again or cancel. You can get around this by choosing not to "test" the specifications in which case the mod line should be written to the proper file.

Before I learned this soluction, I was able to get around this problem by using xf386config but i have yet to solve my keyboard and mouse issues. I have a $39.99 incident call into Redhat. There phone system indicates that they will return my call within one business day. I have left a message and will report back on my
results.
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SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS: WinBook XL Laptop

PCMICIA CARD: Xircom 10/100 XE2000
PROCESSOR: Intel Pentium w/MMX 266
MEMORY: 128MB, EDO 60ns, 144-pin SODIMMs
CACHE: Synchronous, pipeline burst, 256k
MECHANICAL LAYOUT, Device Bays: "Three spindle" design, CD-ROM, FDD and HDD are
simultaneously available
CORE LOGIC
Chip Set: Intel Mobile Triton II, 430TX
Display Chipset: Chips & Technologies 65554
Memory Type: EDO
Memory Size: 2 MB
Bus: PCI
Maximum Color Depth/Resolution-
External Monitor: 16.7 Million colors/800x600, LCD, 13.1" TFT, Resolution: 800x600 r
1024x768, Depth:
64k
HARD DRIVE: 20 GB Western Digital (replacement)
CD-ROM: Toshiba
Floppy Drive: 3.5" 1.44 MB- built-in
MODEM
Type: WinModem / Internal
Speed: 56600
Model: LT WinModem
Supported Standards: v.32 bis, v.32, v.34, v.90
SOUND
Chip Set: Yamaha YMF715
Compatibility: SoundBlaster Pro, MS Sound System
Speakers: 2 Stereo, above keyboard
Microphone: Mono, in palmrest
I/O
Chip Set: National Semiconductor NS87338
PORTS
Parallel: 1 25-pin D-sub connector, Bi-directional, EPP or ECP
Serial: 1 9-pin D-sub connector, 16550 UART
USB: 2 Universal Serial Bus Ports
PS/2: 1 mini-DIN 6-pin, keyboard or mouse
PCMCIA
Chip Set: TI PCI 1131
Slots: 2 Type II or 1 Type III
CardBus: Both sockets
ZoomVideo: Lower socket only
Keyboard
# Keys: 84
Windows 95 Keys: Yes
Power Management
APM: 1.2
Modes: Normal, standby and suspend
Suspend to RAM?: Yes
Suspend to Disk?: Yes
Pointing Device: 2-button Touchpad

I may have discovered the source of this problem. the touchpad mouse requires the psaux port (IRQ 12). enabling the nic causes the psmcia controller to grab IRQ 12). for a further discussion of this see post http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...threadid=25048

for a dicussion of the reason that the psaux port is getting stolen by the pcmcia controller see http://www-hft.ee.tu-berlin.de/~strauman/tp4utils/

I have confirmed my suspicions about some of the newer linux distros not being able to install on laptops with psaux mouse and pcmcia network cards. I just successfully dual booted this winbook xl laptop with RedHat 6.2 using the default installation. I have tried lots of new distros (redhat 7.2 and 7.3, etc) to try to install linux on this winbook laptop. All my efforts failed, including purchased installation support personnel from Redhat. Enabling the nic on newer distros causes the psmcia controller to grab IRQ 12, causing the mouse and keyboard to lock up in any X session (it also knocked out the floppy). This seems to only apply to laptops that use psaux. This appears to be a known problem with newer installations. see http://www-hft.ee.tu-berlin.de/~strauman/tp4utils/

Regardless, this laptop is running correctly under Redhat 6.2 with its psaux mouse configured as a ps-2 generic with the three mouse button emulation. The RedHat 6.2 install correctly configured the Xircom PCMCIA nic. I only had to use netconfig to supply the IP addresses and the default installation did the rest.

Here is the correct configuration of the IRQ's.

# cat /proc/interrupts
CPU0
0: 185024 XT-PIC timer
1: 2265 XT-PIC keyboard
2: 0 XT-PIC cascade
3: 865 XT-PIC xirc2ps_cs
6: 23 XT-PIC floppy
8: 1 XT-PIC rtc
12: 15469 XT-PIC PS/2 Mouse
13: 1 XT-PIC fpu
14: 186451 XT-PIC ide0
15: 4 XT-PIC i82365
NMI: 0

I simply disabled the touchpad and only enabled an external mouse and that worked for me. Though I cant use the touch pad, I can use XFree86. Hope this helps. If you would like more information pls email me.

thanks for your reply. could you be more specific on how you disabled your touch pad? what kind of laptop are you using?

in my winbook xl bios, i only have two options for the touch pad: (1) auto and (2) intellimouse.

are you talking about the device directory perhaps?

I don't have the laptop with me right now, but I'll describe it as best I can.

I set the option for the touchpad to 'intellimouse', then saved settings and rebooted. I had my usb mouse in the usb slot and when rh7.3 was booting Kudzu picked up the new device and installed it. After that I did not have to do anything else. My keyboard , mouse (external mouse only), and the network card works fine.

If you figure out a way to get the touch pad working please post. It would be nice to be able to use it.

I like my new 'LinBook XL'.

yes. i can make the same change. i don't have a usb mouse but i'll try the ps/2 mouse with the intellimouse setting.

maybe you should post your work around to
http://www.linux-laptop.net/

did you ever get it working? I plugged up a ps2 mouse because I did not have mine with me and now it locks up again even after i removed it.

no and i broke it thoroughly by upgrading the software to redhat 7.3. the way it broke is interesting to me, however. i have a bug report on this on the kernel-pcmcia-cs but it really may be the installation software (anaconda) that is the problem.
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla...g.cgi?id=70999

my only successful install with both mousepad and PCMCIA NIC functionality on this box was redhat 6.2. by upgrading from 6.2, i was able to keep the keyboard and mousepad function fine but the pcmcia module could not be loaded by 7.3. i know that the mouse (not the pad) was working at some level because in the terminal i could move the mouse and make random characters generate on the screen. because the mousepad stayed working during the upgrade, i'm beginning to think that its not the kernel module but the installation software anaconda. it seems like the latest anaconda is in such a hurry to get the NIC up and running to faciliate a network install that it just runs over the mouse IRQ in the process.

in the meantime, back to redhat 6.2

Hi,

I know this thread is ancient, but I can't seem to find a solution to this problem elsewhere. I also have a Winbook XL, and have been struggling with similar problems. Did you ever figure this one out?

I installed college linux 2.5 just to see if it worked on the thing. Everything works fine (keyboard and nic) when I'm not running X (i've tried both xfree86 4.3 and 4.4), but if I try then the keyboard stops responding completely (no LEDs, ctrl+alt+del, or anything), and an external mouse doesn't work either.

I tried setting the touchpad to intellimouse in the bios, and booting up without any pcmcia cards in, and still ended up with the same exact problem.

So it seems the problem is with college linux, and the same solution you had doesn't work for me. I'm thinking perhaps I should just switch to Red Hat or some other distro? Have you gotten your touchpad working?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

Sorry I missed your February post. This bug was closed unresolved. You could resubmit the bug and see if someone can take a look at it as the closing note indicated: