Linux on NEC Lavie MX LX60T/7 or Versa DayLite

Other Linux Lavie pages: Japanese

Linux device compatibility status:
USB, 2 ports : [ALi] M5237 USB (rev 03) Working. Use ohci device hub
(win)Modem, Xircom: Unknown device 002b Working. winmodem support.
Ethernet (builtin) Intel Corporation 82557 [Ethernet Pro 100] (rev 09) Working.
PCMCIA Texas Instruments PCI1410 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 01) Working.
Sound ESS Technology ES1969 Solo-1 Audiodrive (rev 02) Working.
Video ATI Technologies Inc Rage Mobility P/M (rev 64) Working. XFree86-4.1.0 XF86Config
Infrared Unknown (haven't tested, may not work)
Power Management Partial, no working suspend. You must use ACPI.

Exact system information:
kernel configlspci -vvdmesg
The NEC Lavie is a very nice piece of hardware. It features two powersaving technologies: a reflective LCD screen and a transmeta processor. The reflective LCD screen does not need a backlight in good lighting conditions (although one is available for bad lighting conditions).

I installed redhat-7.1 and redhat-7.2 on this laptop. Some hand configuration was required to make everything work. Currently, I'm using a linux-2.4.17 kernel.

The lack of suspend is a very serious issue although not fatal to the usefulness of the laptop. The laptop can run for (perhaps) 9 hours with minimal power utilization.

I have one other minor complaint: the system is overly dongleful. There is a dongle for the VGA port and a dongle for the ethernet port. Neither of these appear to be necessary from an engineering point of view - the machine could have been built with a direct vga and ethernet port.

If this laptop had working suspend, I would recommend it without hesitation. As it is, I consider it a reasonable machine which might become very fine when (and if) suspend works.


jl@crush.foo.net