linux on the acer travelmate c300 tablet

EDIT: 1/9/06 – My beloved tablet is up on eBay, so I won’t be updating this doc anymore.

Here are my notes on the install on Fedora Core 3. They are still a work in progress. (Last update Feb 5)

Fedora Core 3 Linux on the Acer Travelmate c300 tablet PC

These directions are specific to FC3 and the TM C301XCi, but much of it should apply to different distros and models. If you haven’t already, install apt. The broadcom NIC is ready to go out of the box with FC3 so you will want to plug in for a while to make life easier. I use atrpms kickstart package. Once installed as root run
# apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade
This step may take a while depending on your connection. You may find it helpful to install apt’s gui Synaptic and some other repositories as well.
# apt-get install synaptic medley-package-config

Already working

• Broadcom NIC
• USB
• DVD / CD-RW
  # apt-get install k3b
• Synaptics touchpad
• Audio
• Battery/Power monitor
• CPU throttling
• Card reader
• Firewire

Video

In the display settings choose monitor type Generic LCD Panel > LCD Panel 1024×768

Wireless

# apt-get install ipw2100
I think this installs everything, but I don’t remember. If it doesn’t already grab them, you will need:
# apt-get install ipw2100-firmware kernel-module-ipw2100-`uname -r`
# /sbin/depmod -a
# /sbin/modprobe ipw2100
# /usr/sbin/kudzu

Kudzu should find and configure your card as eth1.

Wacom Tablet

Thanks to Dean Townsley who reverse engineered the Wacom digitizer, Linux Wacom capabilities are now built into the stock FC3 kernel. Just some extra setup to get it working.

We need to setup the tablet as a serial device it is at I/O port 0x06f8. This will force it to happen at boot.
#
echo setserial /dev/ttyS0 port 0x06f8 autoconfig << /etc/rc.d/rc.local


Now configure it for X. Add the following to /etc/X11/xorg.conf (make a backup of your working xorg.conf just in case):

Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “cursor”
Driver “wacom”
Option “Device” “/dev/ttyS0”
Option “Type” “cursor”
Option “ForceDevice” “ISDV4”
Option “BottomX” “28800”
Option “BottomY” “21760”
Option “Mode” “absolute”
EndSection

Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “stylus”
Driver “wacom”
Option “Device” “/dev/ttyS0”
Option “Type” “stylus”
Option “ForceDevice” “ISDV4”
Option “BottomX” “28800”
Option “BottomY” “21760”
Option “Mode” “absolute”
EndSection

Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “eraser”
Driver “wacom”
Option “Device” “/dev/ttyS0”
Option “Type” “eraser”
Option “ForceDevice” “ISDV4”
Option “BottomX” “28800”
Option “BottomY” “21760”
Option “Mode” “absolute”
EndSection

and add these lines to the ServerLayout section:

InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"


Here is my xorg.conf

The easiest thing to do now is to just reboot and keep your fingers crossed. On startup, your pen should be working.

To get the right click button on the pen working, install xinput
# rpm -Uvh ftp://194.199.20.114/linux/Mandrake/10.1/i586/media/main/xinput-1.2-7mdk.i586.rpm
(appearently the Mandrake rpm works fine).
Then
xinput set-button-map stylus 1 3 2 4

Handwriting recognition

Download xstroke 0.6 from http://xstroke.org

$ tar xvzf xstroke-0.6.tar.gz
$ ./configure
$ make
# make install
$ xstroke &

You should see the icon in your System Tray now. Xstroke will recognize graffitti-like gestures on the desktop and send them to the active window.

If you are using KDE you can autostart Xstroke with this line:
$ ln -s /usr/local/bin/xstroke ~/.kde/Autostart/

There is also a commercial application called ritePen, but I haven’t tried it yet.

Onscreen keyboard

# apt-get install gok

Acer hotkeys

This seems to have at least partial functionality. Acer Hotkey drivers, but I haven’t had a chance to do anything with it yet.

To do

• Screen rotation
• Suspend to disk
• • See Tom’s comment (S3 Suspend Works!) below.
  • Here is a how-to, I gave a run at it with a vanilla kernel a few weeks ago and had some success, but did not have time to get all the kinks worked out. Let me know if you have any luck.

Haven’t tried yet / don’t care

• Smart Card
• VGA out
• S-Video out
• Modem

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If you have any problems, improvements, additions, etc. please email me (junk_AT_umich2_DOT_com) or just leave a comment. Hope it helps! Please check out my freebie links in the upper-right corner of the page.

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Change log

• 05.02.03 – Updated stylus right-click, devices working out of the box, and some notes on S3 suspend. Thanks to Tom, Teus, and zoltan.
• 04.12.29 – Fixed swsusp link
• 04.12.28 – Removed redundant wacom install. Apparently it was already built into the kernel.
• 04.12.20 – Added software suspend link to to do list. Added detailed model number.
• 04.12.14 – Removed reboot from wireless section and added TuxMobil sticker
• 04.12.13 – Initial post