Gateway 2000 Solo 3350 - Linux setup page.

Solo 3350 running Gnome/XFree86, gimp with some script-fu on screen:

Welcome! While I can't make any guarantees, I had good success with setting up Linux (Slackware 7.1 2.2.18) on my (actually my depts.) sweet Gateway Solo 3350 laptop/notebook. This thing weighs almost nothing! While none of this is rocket science, use the info on this page at your own risk.

This page is by no means comprehensive, I cover the biggies: X windows, sound, networking. I've given up, for now, on getting the built-in ESS "soft/win" modem to work. I plan to use an old pcmcia modem card I have hanging around. But I've had good luck with other components (X, sound, nic) so far.

If you have more information, or a web page on Linux and the Gateway Solo 3350, I'd be happy to provide the links or info here.

Basic Specs
Installing Linux
Getting XFree86 to work.
Getting the Network card to work.
Getting sound to work.

The Solo 3350 comes with the following hardware:

CPU: Pentium III Coppermine 600 Mhz
SCREEN: Hitachi TX31 TFT LCD panel screen. Works native in 1024x768.
VIDEO CHIPSET: ATI Rage Mobility AGP, 4 Megs vram.
NETWORK CARD: 10/100 3com 3c905c "tornado" chipset.
HARD DRIVE: IDE (supports ATA, Fujitsi)
SOUND: ESS "maestro3" chipset. (SB compat.) working..
MODEM: ESS softwin modem. NOT working.. maybe someday. (ESS's DSP code needed, check out winmodems.org. )
FLOPPY: external, works when plugged in.
DVD/CDROM: external, works when plugged in.
MOUSE: touch-pad, love it or hate it. works as a PS2 (/dev/psaux) device.

Installing Linux:

This is how I installed Linux (Slackware7.1, 2.2.18), if you have more patience and a utility like Partition Magic you can shrink the MS partition instead of reinstalling it.

My Solo came with 1 partition dedicated to Win2000. I boot using the suppled Gateway recovery/reinstall cdrom. I boot the cdrom into the line command mode.
Using their fdisk, I deleted the one main partition and create four partitions: hda1, and logical: hda5,hda6,hda7. I made the primary boot parition hda1.
Using the supplied recovery cdrom, I reinstalled Win2000 to hda1.
Using the Slackware7.1 boot/root disks I cfdisk hda5 to ext2, hda6 to linux swap.
Install Slackware to hda5, created boot lilo floppy.
I tweaked lilo.conf (need lba32) to dual boot NT/Linux and installed to /dev/hda.
I'm a happy camper.

Getting XFree86 to work.

I use the XF86_SVGA server with XFree86 3.3.6. Newer versions should work just fine.
The chipset is ATI's Rage Molbility w/AGP but when I used the XF86_Mach* server, X came up, but the screen was severely choppy.

Using XF86_SVGA I get a very nice res of 1024x768 at pixel depths of 8,16,24,32.
I prefer: startx -- -bpp 16 (But it's nice to be able to do 32 bpp for graphics work.)
Here's a copy of my XF86Config file for the Solo 3350.
With this config I get crystal clear 1024x768 at pixel depths of 8,16,24,or 32. While it works well for me on the Solo 3350, use at your own risk.

Getting the Network card to work.

When I re-complied the 2.2.18 kernel, there was direct support for the builtin 3com 3c905c nic chipset. Works like a charm.
Also my slackware net.i boot disk recognized the card. I'm sure other distros have support for this widely used chipset.

Getting sound to work.

To make a long story short, here's the steps I took to get the ESS maestro3 sound working:

Get compile, and install Zach's ESS maestro3 module. Careful! This driver is still considered experimental. Thanks Zach!
To setup sane volume/mic levels I installed the tiny 'setvol' utility
For the module to be picked up I copied maestro3.o to /lib/modules/2.2.18/misc/maestro3.o.
It kind of worked. I have to load, unload, and load the sound modules used by maestro3.
To get it working right I use this startup script. It uses the setvol utility.
There's probably a better way, but this does get the sound working right.
Here's a sample wav I created using the Solo 3350's cheesy builtin mic with sox/rec: wav sample (86k).
Not sure if you need it, but I've also compiled in OSS sound and "100% Sound Blaster compatible" into the kernel.

If you find this information useful, don't be shy to drop me an email to let me know.
To send comments or updated information about Linux on the Solo 3350, contact me at:

tomas@_NOBULK_.oit.umass.edu
(Take out '_NOBULK_', to send.)

Good Luck.
-Tomás