Debian Sarge/Etch on Samsung X50

This page is work in progress.

$/!\$ This page should probably be moved to a sub-page of InstallingDebianOn/Samsung.

I am currently abusing this Wiki to take public notes about my attempts to install Debian on a Samsung X50 WVM 2130.

Currently (Oct. 12, 2005), neither Linux on Laptops nor Tuxmobil have entries on this laptop, but plenty of articles on other Samsung notebooks.

I am a seasoned Linux user but pretty new to Debian, so these notes will probably be plagued by my ignorance the of Debian ways... I'll be very grateful for any comments and suggestions.

Troubleshooting

HD is slow / DVD-ROM not detected: see HDD and DVD-ROM.
The kernel 2.6 hangs when accessing the RTC (real time clock). (Got timeout on my machine; other people have reported boot failure).
Workaround: use the kernel command line option hpet=disable. (Background: The HPET timer grabs the RTC interrupt. The kernel HPET driver has an option to emulate the RTC, but it is disabled in 2.6.12-10-686.
Alternatively, you can enable the RTC emulation by recompiling your kernel. Works well for me (although the workaround above is perfectly OK). Make the following changes in menuconfig against stock Debian 2.6.12-1-686:

==> Device drivers->Character Devices
<*> Enhanced Real Time Clock Support   (not as a module!)
==> Processor type and features
[*] HPET Timer Support
[*]   Provide RTC interrupt

CategoryLaptopComputer

SamsungX50

Debian Sarge/Etch on Samsung X50

Troubleshooting