Gateway CX2724 CentOS Compatibility

Gateway CX2724:

CentOS 5 Compatibility Report

Last Modified: June 8, 2007 (Cornel Pop)

What works and what doesn't:

	Standard install:	With some tweaking:
Gigabit Ethernet	Works	Works
Wireless Card	Not detected	Works
Sound	Works	Works
Modem	Not tested	Not tested, but unlikely to work.
LCD Monitor	Works, partially	Works
3D Acceleration	Works	Works
Pen	Not detected	Works, but read below
Screen Rotation	Works	Works
Tablet Buttons	Not detected	Unknown
Card Reader	Not tested	Not tested
USB	Works	Works
Power Management	Works	Works

General Remarks:

I must admit that I had second thoughts about purchasing a tablet for such a low price, but as it turns out the Gateway CX2724 is an excellent laptop; I have been using it for several months and it has served me well. It may not be 100% compatible with CentOS, but a standard install will leave you with a very usable system.

Required Post-Install Configuration:

Configure the RPMForge yum repository (we will have to fetch some packages from here). Up to date instructions can be found here, but I used the following command:

`rpm -i http://apt.sw.be/packages/rpmforge-release/rpmforge-release-0.3.6-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm`
Set the screen resolution (by default it is set to 1024x768):
- Install the 915resolution package: `yum install 915resolution`
- Set resolution to 1280x768: `/usr/sbin/915resolution 58 1280 468 32`
- Since the changes made by 915resolution are temporary and do not survive a reboot, you may want to run the command automatically at boot time: `echo "/usr/sbin/915resolution 58 1280 468 32" >> /etc/rc.d/rc.local`
Wireless:

You should follow these instructions, but if you're feeling somewhat lazy just execute these commands:
- `yum install dkms-ipw3945` (installs from RPMForge).
- `chkconfig --level 35 NetworkManager on`
- `chkconfig --level 35 NetworkManagerDispatcher on`
- Reboot the system
Pen:

I should start this section by saying that although the pen works and it is tracked very accurately, clicking still presents some problems. Clicking on the same object on the screen may trigger right mouse button, left mouse button, or middle mouse button behaviour more or less randomly. I haven't been able to figure out why this is happening, but I'm confident it's simply a configuration problem. In any case, to get the pen working do the following:
- Make sure the fpit driver is installed: `rpm -qa|grep fpit`. If the command doesn't return any results, do a `yum search fpit` and install the package returned by the search.
- Configure the serial port: `setserial /dev/ttyS0 port 0x06A8 uart 16954 irq 4 baud_base 38400`.
- Add this to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf:
  - In the ServerLayout Section, add:
    Identifier "Tablet"
  - Create a new InputDevice section that reads:
```
      Section "InputDevice"
      Identifier "Tablet"
      Driver     "fpit"
      Option	 "Device" "/dev/ttyS0"
      Option	 "BaudRate" "19200"
      Option	 "AlwaysCore" "on"
      Option	 "MinimumXPosition" "400"
      Option	 "MinimumYPosition" "400"
      Option	 "MaximumXPosition" "12550"
      Option	 "MaximumYPosition" "7650"
      Option	 "SendCoreEvents"
      Option	 "InvertY"
      Option	 "TrackRandR"
      Option	 "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
      Option	 "ButtonThreshold" "17"
      Option	 "ReportingMode"   "Scaled"
      EndSection
     
```
For more information go here .
Screen Rotation::

Works well. Use `xrandr -o [0,1,2,3]` to rotate screen (only choose one of the 4 modes: 0, 1, 2, OR 2).