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napalmgod
Starting Member
1 Posts |
 Posted - 08/26/2007 : 20:57:25
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This is a FAQ for the P1120 that I wrote back when I first got mine. It's by no means complete, but I did what I could. :)
Keep it, trash it, whatever y'all wanna do.
Disclaimer: If you read this and do something that turns your laptop into a flaming puddle of goo, I'm not responsible.
Fujitsu P-1120 FAQ
Some of this information also applies to other P1* models from Fujitsu. This FAQ specifically covers the P1120, however.
1) What is the Fujitsu Lifebook P1120?
The Lifebook P1120 is a sub-notebook produced by the Fujitsu Corporation of Japan from 2000-2002. Size savings to reach the "sub-" designation were created by the omission of CD/DVD drives, only one PCMCIA/Cardbus Type-II slot, shrinking the keyboard to approximately 80-85% of "normal" size and removal of serial/VGA/Parallel ports.
2) What CPU powers it?
It is powered by a Transmeta Caruso TM5800 800MHz CPU with LongRun technology. It supports MMX, but not SSE/SSE2/SSE3/3dNow!. It is 32-bit only.
Performance-wise, it's around the same speed as a Pentium-III 500/600MHz.
3) How much RAM does it have?
256 megs PC133 SDRAM, 3-3-3-10. It is not expandable. Note: The CPU utilizes approximately 16 megs of RAM for itself.
4) Hard drive?
Out of the box, it came with a 30-gig notebook IDE drive, 2.5"/9.5mm. The specs for the one in mine (a Toshiba MK3021GAS) were: 13ms access time, 2 meg cache, 4200 RPM. It's UDMA-100 capable. (P1120 supports UDMA-66 only?)
5) What video information can you give me?
The P1120 has an integrated ATI Mobility Radeon LY with 8 megs of RAM. It drives a 8.9" widescreen color LCD display, with touchscreen. It supports 1024x600 resolution in 16 million colors @ 60Hz.
External monitors can be driven up to 1280x1024 resolution, 64K colors.
6) Touchscreen? Wha?
The screen of the P1120 is pressure-sensitive. You are able to draw, have it act like a mouse, or scribble notes with the appropriate software. The Stylus for it is concealed in the top of the LCD cover.
7) What ports does the P1120 have?
The right-hand side has headphone, microphone, PCMCIA/Cardbus, and power ports.
The rear has two USB 1.1 ports, a 10/100 networking port, a 56k v90 winmodem, and a proprietary VGA-out port.
In addition, some models were equipped with bluetooth, and some with 802.11b mini-PCI adapters. On those models, the radio on/off switch is on the left side of the cover.
8) Wait, what's this other hole on the back?
That's for a Kingston-style laptop lock.
9) What about the front and left-hand side?
The left hand side is where the hard drive is, so there are no ports there. The front is where the battery plugs in.
10)What's this dot in the middle of the keyboard?
That is a mouse replacement, officially called a "Quickpoint". It's also called "Trackpoint" by IBM. Others call it "eraser mouse", "<cough>clittermouse", and "That damn thing in the way". Some people love them. Some people despise them. The buttons are between the keyboard and the battery pack, so either left-hand or right-hand mousers can access them. It is managed using either the "Mouse" or "QuickPoint" control panel(s).
11)There's a button marked with an envelope on the left side of my screen?
That's the "Application Panel" or "Mail" button. You can assign a task to it, like running a specific application, using the "Application Panel" control panel. Supposedly for easy access to your email application, which is why it has the envelope on it.
12) What are all the little graphics on the small LCD?
That is the "Status Indicator Panel". From left to right, it has:
Power-Indicator mode - Shows if the laptop is in power on or suspend mode.
DC-In - If this is lit, then the laptop is plugged in.
Battery Status - More blocks = more charge. An arrow on the left side indicates that the battery is charging.
Hard Drive Access - Flashes when the HD is in use.
PCMCIA Card Access Indicator - Flashes when the PCMCIA card is in use.
Numlock - Number lock is active.
Capslock - Capitals lock is active.
Scroll Lock - Scroll lock is active.
13) What do these symbols on the function keys mean, and how do I use them?
These keys operate specific hardware functions on your laptop. You utilize them by pressing the "Fn" key in the lower left corner of your keyboard, and the appropriate F-key for that function, at the same time. The functions are:
Fn+F3 = Audio Mute on/off
Fn+F4 = QuickPoint mouse on and off (must be enabled in BIOS)
Fn+F5 = Video Compensation toggle. Adjusts video resolutions to the widescreen display.
Fn+F6 = Decrease the brightness of the display. There are 8 brightness levels.
Fn+F7 = Increase the brightness of the display.
Fn+F8 = Decrease the audio volume of the notebook.
Fn+F9 = Increase the audio volume of the notebook.
Fn+F10 = Cycle through video output selections. The options are: Built-in panel only, both built-in panel and external monitor, or external monitor only.
Fn+PgUp, Fn+PgDn, Fn+Home, and Fn+End = Help for quickly navigating the screen via keyboard.
14) What batteries are available?
There were two kinds of batteries, the normal battery (1900mAH) and the high-capacity battery (3800mAH). Both are Lithium-ions and available on eBay.
15) What other official accessories are there?
The VGA adapter cable was pretty much it.
16) No docking station?
No. However, if you really need one, several third-parties create pseudo-docks that are plugged in via USB and provide extra ports (like serial, parallel, network, PS/2 keyboard/mouse). Take a look at what Kensington puts out. Remember: The built-in USB is 1.1, which is very low-performance. If you're planning on using a dock with either VGA or 100MB/s Ethernet, you'll need a USB 2.0 PCMCIA card.
17) Where can I download drivers for all this?
Fujitu has Windows drivers available at http://www.fujitsu.com/cn/services/hardware/pc/support/driver/lifebook/p/p1120.html
as of 8/2007.
18) What about external CD-Roms?
Kinda screwed there, the P1120 only boots off of certain USB CD-Roms. (generate list of known-working external CD-Roms)
19) Can I boot off of USB thumb drives?
HA! No. The Bios in the P1120 really don't like thumbdrives. They'll boot off of USB Floppy drives and (some) USB CD-Roms. The only known thumb drive to work is an obscure one that has a "emulate USB Floppy" switch integrated, and it's pretty rare.
I've probably spent a hundred hours or so investigating this, including re-partitioning the USB drives to emulate floppy boot partitions and whatnot. It no workie.
20) What linux can I install?
A handy guide to linux on older laptops can be found here:
http://www.linuxforums.org/desktop/a_linux_distribution_for_an_old_laptop.html
And
http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT6185716632.html
I installed Xubuntu (http://www.xubuntu.com/), the version of Ubuntu that uses the XFCE window manager (http://www.xfce.org/) on my P1200 and it worked very well. The performance was better than Gnome or KDE due to XFCE's reduced memory requirements.
21) What upgrades do you recommend?
Personally, as soon as I got it, I upgraded the hard drive and the Wifi. The existing hard drive is very slow. Replacing the hard drive with either a 5400 RPM or a 7200 RPM drive will result in a decent performance boost. Be aware that the faster drives will have greater power requirements (ie. - drain the battery quicker) and put out more heat (7200 RPMs gets VERY warm).
The Wifi upgrade will require some trade-offs. In particular, you will lose use of the modem port, and the "Wifi on/off" switch on the left of the LCD screen. The mini-PCI card that Toshiba used was a custom job, apparently.
The most popular Wifi replacement, with the best success rate, uses a Atheros CM-9 mini-PCI card. These 802.11a/b/g cards are moderately common and found on eBay at reasonable prices. Installation is fairly easy, consisting of removing the cover on the bottom of the laptop, removing the old 802.11b module, and plugging in the new 802.11g module. The wires that go to the modem port are left disconnected. Drivers are either included or easily downloaded for both Windows and Linux (Xubuntu had the driver already).
I also purchased a USB 2.0 PCMCIA adapter from geeks.com for about $10. I use that for when I need faster transfer rates than the built-in USB 1.1. |
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FAQ P1120
