The Hardware
The Fujitsu P1510D (pictured on right) is a 2.1 lb (less than 1 kg!) subnotebook that converts to a tablet PC. It runs very well under recent Linux kernels, and is an excellent general purpose easy to carry linux laptop. This site describes my experiences installing and configuring Ubuntu linux on this beauty. Debian unstable is known to work well, also.
The P1510D is the model sold via retail reseller (like newegg where I purchased mine) and uses the Atheros Wifi card, wherease the P1510 model is available only through Fujitsu direct and uses the Intel pro wireless chipset (centrino). Aside from the wifi card, the two models are identical as far as I know.
As of this writing (6/16/06), the P1510D model I bought with 512mb/30gb/XP-Pro and no bluetooth can be had for under $1400 USD, which is not bad for a specialized computer. The 1gb ram module unfortunately currently sells for $600 due to limited availability, but the search is underway for cheaper DDR2 microdimm modules. As of late July Simpletech is selling a 1GB module that retails for $200 - $275! Mine has been backordered for a while but when I get to try it out I'll post. Others have installed it successfully.
Some updates... (8/1/06)
I've been using this as my primary computer for a couple of months now without any major hiccups. I strongly reccomend this laptop for use with linux, as it's a powerful package in 2lbs. That said, wifi with the Ubuntu madwifi drivers could apparently use some work (although wifi does work OK), and suspend seems like it'll be a major pain to get working on Ubuntu, so it's not as slick as it could be. Too bad emperor linux doesn't sell p1510's or I'd just use their customized kernel ;)
I inserted a refurbished Socket Communications CF bluetooth card (rev H) but unfortunately it didn't seem to be recognized when I did an 'lshw'. I didn't have a lot of time to fool around with it though.
I've had to recalibrate Sam Engstrom's perl touchscreen driver a bit to make the stylus more accurate, but depending on the part of the screen, the cursor is not being reported 100% accurately - there is up to I'd say 4-5 mm of offset from the stylus tip on the worst parts. Anyone have any ideas? I haven't compared it to the binary driver yet.
Still no luck getting XRandR to function. Attempting to rotate with xinerama running gives me one error. In single screen mode, I get another error. I tried with and without the i915 module loaded. Will post errors when I get a chance... could be my xorg, but it's pretty new (7.0). The Xorg.0.log reports the RandR is loaded though. Haven't yet tried running a second X server, as some other people do. Nor have a found a good tutorial on doing so yet - any ideas?
Speaking of things I haven't done yet, I haven't gotten suspend working. Suspend2 requires to recompile a kernel which is seemingly extra complicated on Ubuntu. There are some precompiled kernels for ubuntu (see http://dagobah.ucc.asn.au/dapper-kernels/) but they for some reason or another don't load the restricted modules, which I need for wifi... speaking of which... -- suspend2/madwifi seem to be playing along now. see below:
My atheros wifi hasn't been very cooperative unfortunately. I've had to "wake it up" on many occasions by issuing iwconfig commands seemingly at random until it "comes alive" and will actually connect to a network. Sensitivity of the radio seems pretty blah, although it does work well with strong signals. I couldn't dhcp AT ALl with my old apple airport access point and had to switch to a Linksys. Could be the hidden ESSID I was using, not sure... the madwifi module installed by default seems to be up to date from SVN, so I haven't tried installing it manually, which might actually help... :)
Some updates... (8/8/06)
I managed to install a pre-compiled kernel with suspend2 support from here. I had to remove the restricted-modules package and download and manually build (remember CC=gcc-3.4) madwifi. Hibernating now seems to work alright, except I get weird vertical bars when I resume for about 10 seconds before resume kicks in. The delay is almost so annoying as to make hibernate useless, and I don't know what else might not resume properly (wifi/eth0/touchscreen etc).
Specs:
- 1.2 Ghz Pentium-M
- 256 (or 512 mb) DDR2 microdimm (1 slot, 1gb max)
- 30 gb (or 60 gb) 4200 rpm ATA100 Toshiba HDD (same as ipod)
- 8.9" passive touchscreen @ 1024 x 600
- CF and SD slots
- (optional - not in mine) internal bluetooth
- Atheros Super A/G & Realtek Ethernet
- 2.1 lbs (std battery) & 2.5lbs (extended battery)
- Intel i915/GMA900 chipset
- TPM & Thumbprint Reader
- Internal microphone & speakers
- Alps Stickpoint
See here for official Fujitsu spec sheet
Quick Status top^
Works
- i915 Video - X runs great
- Touchscreen (using sam engstrom's perl driver)
- Atheros Wifi (manually built madwifi)
- Ethernet
- USB
- External VGA - xinerama and mirroring
- SD Slot- reads memory cards
- Hibernate to disk - using precompiled suspend2 kernel
- CF Slot
- Screen Rotation - XRandR not working, need to run 2nd x server
- Microphone - audio is weird, will elaborate later
- Special panel buttons - not mapped to anything apparently
- Fingerprint Reader
- Hibernate to RAM
Other P1510 Linux sites top^
- samengstrom.com/p1510/
- kavaro.com/mediawiki/index.php/P1510
- www.xmission.com/~bmidgley/p1510/
- lkcl.net/reports/fujitsu.lifebook.p1510.html
- Fujitsu xorg touchscreen driver
Fujitsu linux sites
Fujitsu (P1510/D and other) sites