Arch Linux

aqd

Member

Registered: 2010-03-04

Posts: 8

Success story with Compaq CQ40 laptop (full A/V support)?

Hi all!

Anyone got success story with the HP/compaq CQ40 (-304AX) laptop or the individual components?

Here is the spec of my laptop:
- CPU: AMD Athlon X2 QL-64 2100MHz (dual-core)
- RAM: 3GB (DDR2-800)
- Video: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470 / 256MB RAM
- Audio: IDT 92HD71B7 @ ATI SB700
- HD: SATA-2 / SAMSUNG HM500JI / 500GB
- CD: TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-L633A SATA DVD-RW

And the followings are what I need:

1.External HDMI output
2.Full 3D acceleration i.e. same performance as on windows (I know nvidia cards can.....)
3.GPU-accelerated h.x264/blu-ray playing (utilizing ATI UVD)
4.Sound output
5.DVD writing
6.Running skype, oracle 10gand wine/games

I tried arch x64 two weeks ago, and got frustrated with various weird problems (not all are hw-related)

Here are my own experiences last week:

(1,2,3) Video driver problems: (UNRESOLVED)
* ati-radeon fails on HDMI - after x ends, it would return to console with main monitor off (though I can still type blindly to enter x again)
* catalyst driver 10.2 with xorg 10.4 can't close laptop screen
* ati-radeonhd works with HDMI output but no 3d accel and 2d accel appears very slow (for switching chrome tabs - which should be instant)

(4) Audio driver problems: (RESOLVED FINALLY)
* ALSA: volume too small, no hardware mixing.... i hate dmix
* OSS: works perfect after changing the output channels(?) and re-attach vmix

(5) DVD writing: untested.... anyone got it working?

(6) no official skype for 64-bit , oracle 10g x64 not installing (missing 32-bit libs), wine: direct3d failed immediately with catalyst driver (but native 3d games did work)

BTW should I just install 32-bit arch? Is there improvement I can get by installing 64-bit version?

Last edited by aqd (2010-03-20 15:01:52)

cesura

Package Maintainer (PM)

From: Tallinn, Estonia

Registered: 2010-01-23

Posts: 1,867

Re: Success story with Compaq CQ40 laptop (full A/V support)?

I have a Compaq Presario CQ60-211DX, exact look as yours, but completely different under the hood. (32-bit, 2GB ram, intel graphics, everything works well).

Anyway, answering your question about Arch 32 bit vs Arch 64 bit, you should use Arch64 if you plan to use more than 3GB of ram.

This wiki article may help:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch64_FAQ

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