Debian GNU/Linux on the Compaq Tablet TC1000

It would seem that not even the Tablet PCs are safe from the clutches of Linux. According to Linux Tablet PC, you can in fact dual boot XP-Tablet edition with Debian by following the the same basic methods for doing the same on a standard desktop or notebook I would imagine.

Installing Debian GNU/Linux

I have successfully installed Debian GNU/Linux Woody & then adding packages from testing and unstable. I have no known operating system issues, and am dual-booting with Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. The howto has details about installing the minimal set of Debian components.

The TC1000 is a relatively standard Microsoft “legacy-free” system. It has a Transmeta Crusoe processor with a VIA chipset. The system has a built-in Nvidia GeForce2 Go video chipset with an approximately 12″ 1024×768 LCD display. The only included ports are USB, telephone, Ethernet and external VGA video. The only built-in keyboard device is a small set of keys on the side (Enter, Escape, Tab, Arrow up/down and a special CTRL-ALT-DEL button). The Phoenix BIOS also supports the pen/digitizer at the initial boot-up. The detachable keyboard/mouse are USB devices, though the BIOS can use them at boot-time. Linux must re-initialize them with USB drivers once fully booted. USB keyboards work until the kernel boots (so it works within most boot-loaders like GRUB and SYSLOAD, but not in a Linux install program unless the kernel supports USB HID).

Configuring XFree86

The Nvidia GeForce2 Go chip is supported by the Nvidia driver version 2880 (maybe earlier) and the XFree86 driver in version 4.2.1 (maybe 4.2.0). The XFree86 driver supports portrait mode, but thus far I have experienced troubles with icon drawing under KDE and the console no longer works after starting X. The Nvidia driver does not support portrait mode, but has only a strange flickering problem when switching back to the console, so it remains usable. The Nvidia driver supports dual-head with the external monitor port and numerous configuration options using the TwinView functionality.