= Graphics adapter (ATI X700) and LCD display =

 * '''Etch/Xorg 6.8.0:'''
 My display is running fine with the '''Xorg''' "ati" driver in 1600x1050 now. The BIOS battery charge icon (when Fn-F2 is pressed) appears cleanly in the upper left screen corner (I have seen negative reports on this for Samsung notebooks). Peformance is ok (glxgears reports 84 Frames/s at 1000x1000 window size).

   Here are is relevant modeline from {{{Xorg.log.0}}}:
{{{
# Mode "1680x1050": 119.2 MHz (scaled from 0.0 MHz), 64.8 kHz, 59.1 Hz
Modeline "1680x1050"  119.25  1680 1728 1760 1840  1050 1052 1058 1096
}}}

 * '''Etch/Xorg 6.8.0/ATI proprietary {{{fglrx}}} driver:'''
 I followed the procedure outlined by [[http://xoomer.virgilio.it/flavio.stanchina/debian/fglrx-installer.html|Flavio Stanchina]], replacing the ATI packages by the more recent package 8.18.6.  Unfortunately, opening the "TV out" panel in the QT control application locked my laptop hard. With that exception, the driver has been stable so far. 

 ''Update 2005/11/08'': there are a number of issues with the {{{fglrx}}} driver. The 8.16 drivers are unable to get the 16:9 resolutions on X50 notebooks right (important for Ubuntu "Breezy" users who will have these preinstalled). For 2.6.14, a patch is needed that Flavio's 8.18.6 packages already include (get rid of the {{{verify_area()}}} function call). The 8.18.6 driver reports incorrect screen dimensions to clients, leading e.g. to wrong aspect ratio in video playback applications. Must be fixed by putting the line
 {{{
 DisplaySize 330 208
 }}}
 into the Monitor section in {{{xorg.conf}}}. The [[http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33831604|Rage3d forum]] has a lot of interesting information on the ATI driver.

 * '''Sarge/XFree86 4.3:'''
 Initially I was unable to run '''XFree86''' in the native 1680x1050 resolution of the X50 LCD panel. I tried to hardcode th differnet modelines I found on the web but with no success. The VBE/DDC monitor detection of the vesa driver failed:
   
 Good news: The '''above modeline from Xorg''' works on Sarge with the VESA driver.