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My name is vader, welcome. My email is badguy@earthling.net.


Here is my report of Slackware 10.1-GNU/Linux on the Dell Inspiron 1000. The Dell Inspiron 1000 is at least 95% perfect under Linux. It is safe to say that the laptop was made for Linux, and is a fine example of how Linux is ready for the mainstream consumer market by fulfilling the needs of a consumer that was previously supplied by Microsoft, Me.

-Just put the installation CD-ROMs in the drive and install. I read absolutely no documentation before installing. This is my 6th Linux distrobution. Previously in chronological order the unices that I used: Damn Small Linux, Red Hat 9[Shrike], FreeBSD[5.2], Fedora Core 3, OpenBSD[3.x, it failed to boot on my laptop], Debian [Woody], Knoppix[don't remember what version, serves me well], and  finally  Slackware  10.1.  I love Slackware over all those other unices. I'm a minimalist. It is no frills-unless you enable them.It follows standards of a Linux distrobution, such as filesystem layout, GNU utilities and more. And you don't know that it's Slackware, when you turn on my laptop you don't know what operating system it runs. No Linux distro logos or anything. It's just Unix.

-Slackware 10.1 occupies 10GB of my 30GB drive. I used the other 20GB for my rescue-maintenance system(Knoppix), backup storage, and storing miscellaneous files. I did this so the file system check at boot time goes by quickly, regardless of the file system on /. I do experiments regularly, and frequent backups keep me in the green zone.

-It was a Christmas gift. So far the best gift ever, besides the gift of life, liberty, and the will and ability to pursue happiness.

-Everything works:
  1. The winmodem works(see below).
  2. The sound works, I had some problems with ALSA(Advanced Linux Sound Architecture), but who isn't-see below. Sound worked good(2.4 through 2.6.8 works-I have used and tested those 2 kernels myself). If it doesn't work initially you have to configure it. If you can't get it to work, it is your fault(or when you configure the kernel do not compile the dummy device-it'll piss you off), because sound works for me. Usually you have to unmute ALSA. Look on Google and you'll see dozens of people can't figure out how to unmute ALSA. The muting is default. I had tons of frustration trying to unmute ALSA :).
  3. The printer that came bundled with it works, a few kinks, but it can still print stuff on paper that will make you extremely happy with it's performance under Linux. It works with CUPS-see more below.
  4. The wireless card that came bundled with it works[Dell Wireless 1350], I use dhcpcd to connect to the net at random places(as I did previously in Windows XP Home (Service Pack 2)), I also did some wardriving! See more on it below.
  5. The ethernet works flawlessly. The driver is built into the kernel-see below.
  6. USB works(1.1 and 2.0). No flaws whatsoever. I have used a USB mouse, USB printer, Lexar USB Jump Drive(128MB) without problems daily.
  7. ACPI works.
  8. Graphics work.
  9. CD-ROM/CD-R/CD-RW drive works.
  10. Suspend to disk-I haven't got it to work successfully. I have not yet tried software suspend. Something for me to test.
-The modem works. It is a winmodem. We're very lucky. The drivers for the modem is included in the kernel-included in newer kernels.(2.6.x that I know of, I'm using it right now.) I also spent weeks looking for that driver. Searching the internet high and low via Google. The driver for the winmodem was sitting on my hardrive(in 3 copies!). Ironically the chipset for the modem has been implanted in computers for the past decade(it is a very popular chipset)-from desktops to laptops. It says something about being an Intel device if you use 'lspci' command without parameters, it's lying. It is in fact a Silicon Intergrated Systems device. You have to enable the driver at compile time. It's near the area where you select sound support. Right below the driver for the builtin sound card. Here, identify if my modem and your modem are same/similar by examining the output from 'lspci -vvx':

00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 650/M650 Host (rev 80)
    Subsystem: Dell Computer Corporation: Unknown device 0195
    Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
    Status: Cap+ 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort+ >SERR- <PERR-
    Latency: 64
    Region 0: Memory at e0000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64M]
    Capabilities: <available only to root>

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Virtual PCI-to-PCI bridge (AGP) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
    Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
    Status: Cap- 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
    Latency: 99
    Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=68
    I/O behind bridge: 00009000-00009fff
    Memory behind bridge: e4300000-e43fffff
    Prefetchable memory behind bridge: e8000000-efffffff
    BridgeCtl: Parity- SERR- NoISA+ VGA+ MAbort- >Reset- FastB2B-

00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS962 [MuTIOL Media IO] (rev 25)
    Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle+ MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
    Status: Cap- 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
    Latency: 0

00:02.1 SMBus: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]: Unknown device 0016
    Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
    Status: Cap- 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
    Interrupt: pin B routed to IRQ 0
    Region 4: I/O ports at 8100 [size=32]

00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE] (prog-if 80 [Master])
    Subsystem: Dell Computer Corporation: Unknown device 0195
    Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
    Status: Cap- 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
    Latency: 128
    Interrupt: pin ? routed to IRQ 7
    Region 4: I/O ports at 2800 [size=16]

00:02.6 Modem: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] AC'97 Modem Controller (rev a0) (prog-if 00 [Generic])
    Subsystem: Dell Computer Corporation: Unknown device 0195
    Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
    Status: Cap+ 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
    Latency: 173 (13000ns min, 2750ns max)
    Interrupt: pin C routed to IRQ 5
    Region 0: I/O ports at 1000 [size=256]
    Region 1: I/O ports at 2400 [size=128]
    Capabilities: <available only to root>

00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Sound Controller (rev a0)
    Subsystem: Dell Computer Corporation: Unknown device 0195
    Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
    Status: Cap+ 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
    Latency: 173 (13000ns min, 2750ns max)
    Interrupt: pin C routed to IRQ 5
    Region 0: I/O ports at 1400 [size=256]
    Region 1: I/O ports at 2480 [size=128]
    Capabilities: <available only to root>

00:03.0 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 0f) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
    Subsystem: Dell Computer Corporation: Unknown device 0195
    Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV+ VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
    Status: Cap- 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
    Latency: 64 (20000ns max), cache line size 08
    Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 10
    Region 0: Memory at e4000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]

00:03.1 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 0f) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
    Subsystem: Dell Computer Corporation: Unknown device 0195
    Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV+ VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
    Status: Cap- 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
    Latency: 64 (20000ns max), cache line size 08
    Interrupt: pin B routed to IRQ 10
    Region 0: Memory at e4001000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]

00:03.2 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
    Subsystem: Dell Computer Corporation: Unknown device 0195
    Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
    Status: Cap+ 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
    Latency: 64 (20000ns max)
    Interrupt: pin D routed to IRQ 3
    Region 0: Memory at e4002000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
    Capabilities: <available only to root>

00:04.0 Ethernet controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS900 PCI Fast Ethernet (rev 91)
    Subsystem: Dell Computer Corporation: Unknown device 0195
    Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
    Status: Cap+ 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
    Latency: 173 (13000ns min, 2750ns max)
    Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 4
    Region 0: I/O ports at 1800 [size=256]
    Region 1: Memory at e4003000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
    Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=128K]
    Capabilities: <available only to root>

00:0a.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1510 PC card Cardbus Controller
    Subsystem: Dell Computer Corporation: Unknown device 0195
    Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
    Status: Cap+ 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
    Latency: 168, cache line size 20
    Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 10
    Region 0: Memory at e4004000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
    Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=05, sec-latency=176
    Memory window 0: e4200000-e42ff000 (prefetchable)
    Memory window 1: e4100000-e41ff000
    I/O window 0: 00002000-000020ff
    I/O window 1: 00001c00-00001cff
    BridgeCtl: Parity- SERR- ISA- VGA- MAbort- >Reset+ 16bInt+ PostWrite+
    16-bit legacy interface ports at 0001

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 65x/M650/740 PCI/AGP VGA Display Adapter (prog-if 00 [VGA])
    Subsystem: Dell Computer Corporation: Unknown device 0195
    Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
    Status: Cap+ 66Mhz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
    Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 7
    BIST result: 00
    Region 0: Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
    Region 1: Memory at e4300000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
    Region 2: I/O ports at 9000 [size=128]
    Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
    Capabilities: <available only to root>

Here is my /etc/X11/xorg.conf. (I'm using 2 mice, the touchpad and the wireless optical USB mouse.)

 'cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf':

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "X.org Configured"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "PS/2 Mouse(TouchPad)" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice    "USB Mouse"    "SendCoreEvents"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option    "AllowOpenMouseFail"    "true"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    RgbPath      "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
    ModulePath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
    FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
    FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/"
    FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
    FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/"
    FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
    FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load  "record"
    Load  "extmod"
    Load  "dbe"
    Load  "dri"
    Load  "glx"
    Load  "xtrap"
    Load  "freetype"
    Load  "type1"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Keyboard0"
    Driver      "kbd"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "PS/2 Mouse(TouchPad)"
    Driver      "mouse"
    Option        "Protocol" "PS/2"
    Option        "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option    "CorePointer"    "true"
    Option "Emulate3Buttons"    "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier    "USB Mouse"
    Driver    "mouse"
    Option    "Protocol"    "IMPS/2"
    Option    "Device"    "/dev/input/mice"
    Option    "Buttons"    "5"
    Option    "ZAxisMapping"    "4 5"
    Option    "SendCoreEvents"    "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier   "Monitor0"
    VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
    ModelName    "Monitor Model"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        ### Available Driver options are:-
        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
        ### [arg]: arg optional
        #Option     "SWcursor"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "HWcursor"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "NoAccel"                # [<bool>]
        #Option     "TurboQueue"             # [<bool>]
        #Option     "FastVram"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "NoHostBus"              # [<bool>]
        #Option     "RenderAcceleration"     "true"
        #Option     "ForceCRT1Type"          # <str>
        #Option     "ForceCRT2Type"          # <str>
        #Option     "YPbPrAspectRatio"       # <str>
        #Option     "ShadowFB"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "DRI"                    # [<bool>]
        #Option     "AGPSize"                # <i>
        #Option     "GARTSize"               "32"
        #Option     "Rotate"                 # <str>
        #Option     "NoXvideo"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "Vesa"                   # [<bool>]
        #Option     "MaxXFBMem"              # <i>
        #Option     "ForceCRT1"              # [<bool>]
        #Option     "XvOnCRT2"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "PanelDelayCompensation"     # <i>
        #Option     "PanelDelayCompensation1"     # <i>
        #Option     "PDC"                    # <i>
        #Option     "PDC1"                   # <i>
        #Option     "EMI"                    # <i>
        #Option     "LVDSHL"                 # <i>
        #Option     "SpecialTiming"          # <str>
        #Option     "TVStandard"             # <str>
        #Option     "UseROMData"             # [<bool>]
        #Option     "NoInternalModes"        # [<bool>]
        #Option     "UseOEMData"             # [<bool>]
        #Option     "NoYV12"                 # [<bool>]
        #Option     "CHTVType"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "CHTVOverscan"           # [<bool>]
        #Option     "CHTVSuperOverscan"      # [<bool>]
        #Option     "CHTVLumaBandwidthCVBS"     # <i>
        #Option     "CHTVLumaBandwidthSVIDEO"     # <i>
        #Option     "CHTVLumaFlickerFilter"     # <i>
        #Option     "CHTVChromaBandwidth"     # <i>
        #Option     "CHTVChromaFlickerFilter"     # <i>
        #Option     "CHTVCVBSColor"          # [<bool>]
        #Option     "CHTVTextEnhance"        # <i>
        #Option     "CHTVContrast"           # <i>
        #Option     "SISTVEdgeEnhance"       # <i>
        #Option     "SISTVAntiFlicker"       # <str>
        #Option     "SISTVSaturation"        # <i>
        #Option     "SISTVCFilter"           # [<bool>]
        #Option     "SISTVYFilter"           # <i>
        #Option     "SISTVColorCalibFine"     # <i>
        #Option     "SISTVColorCalibCoarse"     # <i>
        #Option     "SISTVXScale"            # <i>
        #Option     "SISTVYScale"            # <i>
        #Option     "TVXPosOffset"           # <i>
        #Option     "TVYPosOffset"           # <i>
        #Option     "SIS6326TVAntiFlicker"     # <str>
        #Option     "SIS6326TVEnableYFilter"     # [<bool>]
        #Option     "SIS6326TVYFilterStrong"     # [<bool>]
        #Option     "SIS6326TVForcePlug"     # <str>
        #Option     "SIS6326FSCAdjust"       # <i>
        #Option     "UseColorHWCursor"       # [<bool>]
        #Option     "ColorHWCursorBlending"     # [<bool>]
        #Option     "ColorHWCursorBlendThreshold"     # <i>
        #Option     "RestoreBySetMode"       # [<bool>]
        #Option     "NoCRT2Detection"        # [<bool>]
        #Option     "ForceCRT2ReDetection"     # [<bool>]
        #Option     "SenseYPbPr"             # [<bool>]
        #Option     "CRT1Gamma"              # [<bool>]
        #Option     "CRT2Gamma"              # [<bool>]
        #Option     "StoredGammaBrightness"     # <str>
        #Option     "StoredGammaPreBrightness"     # <str>
        #Option     "XvGamma"                # <str>
        #Option     "XvDefaultContrast"      # <i>
        #Option     "XvDefaultBrightness"     # <i>
        #Option     "XvDefaultHue"           # <i>
        #Option     "XvDefaultSaturation"     # <i>
        #Option     "XvDefaultDisableGfx"     # [<bool>]
        #Option     "XvDefaultDisableGfxLR"     # [<bool>]
        #Option     "XvChromaMin"            # <i>
        #Option     "XvChromaMax"            # <i>
        #Option     "XvUseChromaKey"         # [<bool>]
        #Option     "XvInsideChromaKey"      # [<bool>]
        #Option     "XvYUVChromaKey"         # [<bool>]
        #Option     "XvDisableColorKey"      # [<bool>]
        #Option     "XvUseMemcpy"            # [<bool>]
        #Option     "XvDefaultAdaptor"       # <str>
        #Option     "ScaleLCD"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "CenterLCD"              # [<bool>]
        #Option     "EnableHotkey"           # [<bool>]
        #Option     "EnableSiSCtrl"          # [<bool>]
        #Option     "OverruleFrequencyRanges"     # [<bool>]
        #Option     "MergedFB"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "TwinView"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "MergedFBAuto"           # [<bool>]
        #Option     "CRT2HSync"              # <str>
        #Option     "SecondMonitorHorizSync"     # <str>
        #Option     "CRT2VRefresh"           # <str>
        #Option     "SecondMonitorVertRefresh"     # <str>
        #Option     "CRT2Position"           # <str>
        #Option     "TwinViewOrientation"     # <str>
        #Option     "MetaModes"              # <str>
        #Option     "MergedDPI"              # <str>
        #Option     "NoMergedXinerama"       # [<bool>]
        #Option     "NoTwinviewXineramaInfo"     # [<bool>]
        #Option     "MergedXineramaCRT2IsScreen0"     # [<bool>]
    Identifier  "Card0"
    Driver      "sis"
    VendorName  "Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]"
    BoardName   "SiS650/651/M650/740 PCI/AGP VGA Display Adapter"
    BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen0"
    Device     "Card0"
    Monitor    "Monitor0"
    SubSection "Display"
        Viewport   0 0
        Depth     16
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Viewport   0 0
        Depth     24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

-Like I said, the sound works. The only problem that you'll have is unmuting ALSA. Be sure to enable OSS(Open Sound System) compatibility with ALSA in the kernel. You cannot miss it; it's right next to 'Sound'. OSS is the old sound system previously used by Linux. ALSA gave me trouble, but I managed to get it working correctly by following instructions over at www.alsa-project.org.

-The Dell Photo Printer 720 from dell is actually a Lexmark printer(z600,z615 or a920)! I searched high and low to find a driver that works; after a few weeks I did find it. It is configureable via the CUPS web interface. The printer sometimes act up if you plug out the USB cable and expect to use it without turning it off, but behaves after I turn it off and restart CUPS. Also the printer acts unintelligent sometimes: if you do 'lpr' with no files to print it will spray ink all over it's self all day. Nevertheless it prints photos that you're more than satisfied with. If you are searching for a driver for your dell printer and its a a920(or a Dell PhotoPrinter) or something like that (a*-hint it's multifunctional device). You have to enable USB Printer in the kernel at configuration time. But you need the individual driver for the printer that is independent of the Linux kernel, go here for all the instructions: http://www.staerk.de/thorsten/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=43 and the independent driver. You will be okey-dokey from there. Thank the guy named Thorsten for posting up on a site so that google can bring the information to us all.

-The wireless card[Dell Wireless 1350, it actually has a broadcom chipset] also works under linux-with the help of ndiswrapper. Just follow the instructions from http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/phpwiki/index.php/Installation. Check if you have some thing first before you download it while going through the guide, such as the "Linux wireless utilities" or drivers for your card. I used the drivers from my CD-ROM that has the drivers.


Searched every inch of the CD-ROM, the files are in a /Setup/AR/ directory. The guide says not to use the ones from your driver CD-ROM. I Used bcmwl5.inf file-the one on my CD-ROM, he he, heh heh. Like I said above I have done some wardriving. Just follow the instructions on the site I listed earlier, they don't give you tips on wardriving with ndiswrapper-but I did it anyway. rfmon does not work and kismet, airsnort, aircrack and friends do not work. Kismet's authors explain why ndiswrapper will not work with similar software(AirSnort, AirCrack) and others, www.kismetwireless.net.


But the Dell Wireless 1350 does support scanning to see if there are any Access Points in the vicinity, and if there are any in range it tells you the essid of them. You tell the card to focus on the essid of that AP, then use 'dhcpcd wlan0' and it connects. Everything above is on the ndiswrapper installation site above. Follow the instructions word for word like I did. To wardrive with this card you have to walk to a neighborhood that you think people might have wireless lans, scan then take 7 steps and again and again until you find an AP.

You must do it as root to get fresh results, otherwise the 'iwlist wlan0' command will exhibit "cache" like behavior-giving you results of a previous scan even if your a mile away from the previous AP and your next to a new AP with a different essid and not listing the new one! That's what I did and I found an AP in a neiborhood close to mine. I have found 4 altogether like that where I can use them freely! Use a script to automate this feature, as I have. That is officially illegal and shouldn't be done, wink wink. Some guys are working on GUI versions of the iwlist, dhclient and or dhcpcd commands that are "combined/string together" into one scanning and connecting tool, apradar is such one. I downloaded it installed it with 'installpkg' command but I'm missing gtkmm-2.0.so library when I ran it. I deleted it and continued with my handcrafted script(bash, you could do better with a perl one). I could have chased that little dependency, but that's annoying and I made my own workaround. The wireless card reports exciting information via /proc/net/wireless/-that's how the '/sbin/iwlist' script works(man iwlist). Sometimes it scans the area for APs in under 3 seconds, seriously.

-Now the ethernet. The ethernet also works, perfectly though. I know you don't have a problem with that, right? The driver for the SiS900 device is in the kernel; just say yes to the sis900 chipset in the networking section.

-USB works perfectly also, and the drivers is in the kernel package. Both the new and old version USB work, 1.1 and 2.0. You have to enable it into your kernel. USB devices work(what I use right now without problems): usb mouse, usb jump drives, usb printer.

-ACPI does work. I use hdparm to spin down the drive after 2 minutes. Note you can spin down the disk on a journaling file system, such as ext3. Ext3 has a mount option, called commit=nrsec, to tell the system when it should sync to disk. See the man page for mount, lines 666-670. I am assuming that this will override the kernel thread, pdflush, with tinkering with '/proc/sys/vm/nr_pdflush_threads'. There is some pretty virtual files in '/proc/sys/vm'. All that for a total battery life from the lithium ion of 3.2+ hours! Other reports of this laptop under Windoze(on many sites) rates the battery at around 2.5 hours. Also see information on laptop-mode in your '/usr/src/linux/Documentation/laptop-mode.txt'.

IMPORTANT
As a Linux laptop user you must go to this website: http://acpi.sourceforge.net/documentation/. It will tell you how to wield ACPI in Linux for tremendous gain, literally. You'll feel like a god, because you'll be able to command your box with the utmost authority when it comes to power consumption.

-The embedded display adapter in the notebook gives you a gui. It's not for gaming though. No OpenGL first person shooters. The card is OpenGL compatible though, but it's no number cruncher. glxgears reports about 295-315 frames per second. ATI and Nvidia cards do around 2500-3000 frames per second, just for comparison. The card gives 5-20 frames per second on a screen saver! The card is an integrated display adapter "...VGA...PCI/AGP" not a GPU enabled app killer.
The driver is also in the kernel. You can go flatout frambuffer and get a pretty Tux logo at boot time, also you can add a graphics card later from ATI or Nvidia(or other graphics card manufacturers that I have not heard ot yet). I'm going back to the pretty logo, because I don't have anything to gain with the AGP enabled.

-It works perfectly period. I used it to burn an iso containing a full backup of my system. 2.4.x kernels work fine with cdrecord(Cdrecord Clone)-version 2.01. With the stock 2.4.29 kernel that came with Slackware, I use it with confidence. It says that there are quote "unsettled issues with 2.5+" kernels. This is an issue with cdrecord(not the device). The driver for the CD-drive is in the kernel. Jorg Schilling, who wrote this software confuse me. Why doesn't a piece of software not work with my standard hardware under the latest stable kernel. Thanks for the CD writing utility though. I had to get that off my chest. I will get the latest version of the software from http://www.fokus.gmd.de/research/cc/glone/employees/joerg.schilling/private/cdrecord.html.
Maybe he fixed the program.

-Suspend to disk works. It gives problems here and there. This is the only flaw of the system-a minor one at that. I have the hunger for some serious tinkering and mischief; I will be experimenting! When I'm successful, I'll post back here.

-Happy tinkering in Slackware. Cheers to Linus Torvalds and his creation, Linux. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
Unix is a trademark of the Open Group.

-I think I have to include this or I'll get sued somehow. Windows XP is a registered trademark of Microsoft Incorporated. Linux rules! Signed Vader-badguy@earthling.net. June 5, 2005.

According to counter.li.org I am registered Linux user #361374. Let us show the planet that Linux is ready for prime time. Sign up, it's free. I think that they should stop erasing accounts after 2 years of inactivity, make it 3.