Clevo D901C

From LinuxLaptopWiki

Manufacturer's page: Clevo D901C

Also rebranded as the Eurocom D90xC Phantom-X, the Eurocom D901C Phantom-X, and the Sager NP9261.

Sager Model	Clevo base	Comments
Sager NP9260	Clevo D900C	Base model, blue casing (models below are black).
Sager NP9261	Clevo D901C	Added support for Quad Core, 1333 mHz FSB.
Sager NP9262	Clevo D901C	Added support for the nVidia 8800M GTX

This is still a work in progress. For the record, almost everything worked out of the box. I commented on some of the harder things I had to deal with below. But for the most part I'm relying on some communal help to completely document this baby :)

PowerNotebooks.com have a good article on Name brands in laptop computing and also seem to have some linux support going, so if you're going to buy a Sager, you should buy it from them. I had to buy from Sager direct because I'm not from the US... while I haven't had the need for post-sales support, I can testify that their sales department is on the ball, offering very quick responses in helping me to customize the system - I delt with Brian Liaw, the Sales Manager.

Contents 1 General Status 2 Model Specifics 2.1 Audio Digital Out 2.2 Suspend to RAM 2.3 RAID 2.4 Special Keys 3 Heat Issues 3.1 Footnotes

[edit] General Status

Component	Chipset	Status	Comment
Graphics Card	NVidia GeForce 8700M	Working
5-in-1 card reader	TI FlashMedia xx12/xx21	SD/MMC working
Webcam 1.3MP USB2.0	ALi Corp M5602	Driver in development	Fn-F10 to power on the camera!
WiFi / Wireless	Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN	Working	Possible problems, see Talk:Clevo_D901C.
Bluetooth	Cambridge Silicon Radio Bluetooth Dongle	Working	Fn-F12
Sound card	Intel ICH8 HD Audio Controller	Working

[edit] Model Specifics

[edit] Audio Digital Out

By default the snd-hda-intel driver doesn't guess the correct card.

1. Edit /etc/modprobe.conf and make sure you have a line like:

2. options snd-hda-intel index=0 model=6stack-dig

3. The important part is the model=6stack-dig.

Now you'll have an IEC958 switch in your mixer which toggles the digital out.

[edit] Suspend to RAM

My suspend is working perfectly even with the NVidia closed source driver and compiz fusion. This is what I did from a fresh Fedora install:

1. Installed the NVidia driver from the Livna repositories
2. Regardless of distribution, it's essential to disable the Sync_to_VBlank option in Compiz. Depending on how you have compiz running, you'll need to run one of these commands (it's fine to run both if you're not sure):
   1. (Gnome): gconftool -s /apps/compiz/general/screen0/options/sync_to_vblan k -t boolean false
   2. Run 'ccsm', go 'General' -> 'General Options' -> 'Display Settings' and uncheck 'Sync To VBlank'
3. Without installing the atrpms repositories, I installed the latest hibernate-tuxonice package from their site.
4. I had to edit /etc/hibernate/blacklisted-modules and comment out the line for 'nvidia'.
5. I also edited the hibernate.conf file and commented out all lines except for ram.conf (because it's all I want).
6. Now I can suspend either by typing 'hibernate' at the prompt, or from within Gnome Power manage, in preferences -> general, set the suspend key config to 'suspend', so Fn-F4 works great too.

In theory Suspend-to-disk should work too but I didn't try this since it doesn't interest me.

[edit] RAID

Although the notebook has options for RAID, there is no physical hardware RAID controller, and the RAID is controlled by software both in the BIOS and through Windows drivers. This is known in the community as "FakeRAID". There are Linux drivers available for the particular hardware in this laptop, but no support for RAID 5 which is what I wanted. In anycase, Linux software RAID is faster than the regular FakeRAID^[1], so if you really want a RAID system, you're better off disabling the FakeRAID and having Linux manage everything for you.

[edit] Special Keys

• Fn-F1 toggles the touchpad. 1 beep = on, 2 beeps = off.
  • You'll need 'Master', 'Front Speakers', 'PC Speaker' mixers enabled with volume up to hear it.
• Fn-1 toggles fans between auto and full.

[edit] Heat Issues

This model is particularly sensitive to overheating. Make sure that not all the air vents are unblocked, but also that there is a considerable gap between the vents and any obstruction (such as a raised gap at the end of university desks to prevent your pens from falling off). If the system overheats it will automatically shut down (without warning) to prevent damage. Here are some more tips:

• GNOME users: install the sensors-applet
• Run 'sensors-detect' to get some extra readings.
• Without an applet
  • CPU temp: cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THM0/temperature
  • GPU temp: use nvidia-settings
• Fn-1 (not Fn-F1) will switch the fans between auto and full.
• Consider getting a Desktop cooler like the Zalman NC1000.
• There are some temperature readings for this model here.

[edit] Footnotes

1. ↑ dmraid FakeRAID vs Linux Software RAID http://blog.shaf.net/?p=6