Linux Problems

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There are many known problems with the Linux installation on the tablets. Typically this is because hardware manufacturers to not write drivers for Linux, so we must instead rely on the work of volunteers who reverse-engineer our hardware to make drivers. For this reason, it is recommended that inexperienced users use Windows instead. That having been said, the Linux installations are *mostly* working (the tc1100s seem to work much better than the 4200s), and do offer some advantages over Windows.  
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There are many known problems with the Linux installation on the tablets. Typically this is because hardware manufacturers to not write drivers for Linux, so we must instead rely on the work of volunteers who reverse-engineer our hardware to make drivers. That having been said, the Linux installations are *mostly* working (the tc1100s seem to work much better than the 4200s), and do offer some advantages over Windows.
  
 
Here are some of the problems we know about:
 
Here are some of the problems we know about:
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====Suspend/Hibernate cause problems or do not work====
 
====Suspend/Hibernate cause problems or do not work====
 
:Suspend and hibernate work fairly well on the tc4200s with some problems (for example, wireless networking not working after hibernate), but neither works very well on the tc1100s.
 
:Suspend and hibernate work fairly well on the tc4200s with some problems (for example, wireless networking not working after hibernate), but neither works very well on the tc1100s.
 
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:Wireless networking will stop working after the 4200 comes out of sleep mode. This can be fixed by editing the file /etc/default/acpi-support and changing this line:
====Networking applet dies in KDE====
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::MODULES="yenta_socket ipw2200"
:The default "student" user has an applet in the taskbar which interfaces with the networking system, allowing you to easily switch wireless access points. Sometimes, clicking on this applet will cause it to die.
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:to this:
 
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::MODULES="yenta_socket tg3 ipw2200"
:The simplest way we know so far to get the applet back (and working) is to open a terminal window (click on the monitor-looking icon in the taskbar), type <b>nm-applet& [enter]</b> in the terminal, then type <b>exit [enter]</b>. This should restart the applet and close the terminal. Another solution is to use Gnome, whch does not seem to have this trouble.
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:This problem has been fixed for the next release via a rediculously overcomplicated system of daemon scripts. Ugly, but it works, and the user won't know the difference. We Hope.
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====Tablet sometimes will not boot====
 
====Tablet sometimes will not boot====
:<b>Note: Possibly fixed in latest kernel update?</b>
 
 
:The tc4200 tablets have new ACPI hardware which is not yet well supported in Linux. Sometimes a bug will prevent the tablet from booting into Linux, or make it boot very slowly. This seems to be related to the CPU temperature, and so the only solution currently known is to turn the tablet off and allow it about 10 minutes to cool off before starting it again. We hope to have an update to fix this problem soon.
 
:The tc4200 tablets have new ACPI hardware which is not yet well supported in Linux. Sometimes a bug will prevent the tablet from booting into Linux, or make it boot very slowly. This seems to be related to the CPU temperature, and so the only solution currently known is to turn the tablet off and allow it about 10 minutes to cool off before starting it again. We hope to have an update to fix this problem soon.
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:This appears to be fixed in the 2.6.15 kernel.
  
 
====VPN connection breaks====
 
====VPN connection breaks====
:When using VPN, networking stops working at regular intervals. This is due to the vpn router [http://www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~massar/vpnc/ rekeying]. This can be fixed by disconnecting/reconnecting the VPN.
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:When using VPN, networking stops working at regular intervals. This appears to be due to the VPN server disconnecting the client after a period of no traffic. This can be fixed immediately by disconnecting/reconnecting the VPN.  
 
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====Unsupported features====
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:<b>Screen rotation</b>
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:One way to prevent this happening is to type '''watch -n 10 "ping -c1 slate"''' at a command prompt. As long as this is running (the command window is still open), the machine will ping slate every 10 seconds, which will prevent the VPN being disconnected. We will likely build this solution into our custom VPN software and offer an update for download.
::Not yet supported on either tablet. We hope to have a solution for this soon.
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:<b>Pen Buttons</b>
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====Missing Packages====
::The buttons on the tablet which you press with the pen (not the buttons on the pen) do not yet work.
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The following packages were overlooked in the current build:
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*aspell
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*aspell-en
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*ispell
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*myspell-en-us
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*xpp

Latest revision as of 04:29, 14 February 2010

There are many known problems with the Linux installation on the tablets. Typically this is because hardware manufacturers to not write drivers for Linux, so we must instead rely on the work of volunteers who reverse-engineer our hardware to make drivers. That having been said, the Linux installations are *mostly* working (the tc1100s seem to work much better than the 4200s), and do offer some advantages over Windows.

Here are some of the problems we know about:

Contents

Suspend/Hibernate cause problems or do not work

Suspend and hibernate work fairly well on the tc4200s with some problems (for example, wireless networking not working after hibernate), but neither works very well on the tc1100s.
Wireless networking will stop working after the 4200 comes out of sleep mode. This can be fixed by editing the file /etc/default/acpi-support and changing this line:
MODULES="yenta_socket ipw2200"
to this:
MODULES="yenta_socket tg3 ipw2200"

Tablet sometimes will not boot

The tc4200 tablets have new ACPI hardware which is not yet well supported in Linux. Sometimes a bug will prevent the tablet from booting into Linux, or make it boot very slowly. This seems to be related to the CPU temperature, and so the only solution currently known is to turn the tablet off and allow it about 10 minutes to cool off before starting it again. We hope to have an update to fix this problem soon.
This appears to be fixed in the 2.6.15 kernel.

VPN connection breaks

When using VPN, networking stops working at regular intervals. This appears to be due to the VPN server disconnecting the client after a period of no traffic. This can be fixed immediately by disconnecting/reconnecting the VPN.
One way to prevent this happening is to type watch -n 10 "ping -c1 slate" at a command prompt. As long as this is running (the command window is still open), the machine will ping slate every 10 seconds, which will prevent the VPN being disconnected. We will likely build this solution into our custom VPN software and offer an update for download.

Missing Packages

The following packages were overlooked in the current build:

  • aspell
  • aspell-en
  • ispell
  • myspell-en-us
  • xpp
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