Running Debian GNU/Linux "Squeeze" on the Samsung N145 Plus netbook (model NP-N145-JP01DE)

The Samsung N145P (model code: NP-N145-JP01DE) is a nice little machine with a good price-performance-ratio. The hardware is very Linux-friendly and there are (almost) no issues.

Wireless LAN, ethernet, webcam, video, audio, touchpad and sleep-mode worked out of the box on my machine (Debian "Squeeze" standard kernel 2.6.32-5-686).

I haven't tested compiz/3D and VGA-out.

The function keys for loudness and sleep-mode worked out of the box, many of the other functions keys doesn't. Most important for me was getting the function keys for the display brightness (backlight) to work. This is how it works:

1. Get the script given here (see the "brightness" section) and save it as root with the name "backlight" in /usr/local/sbin (yes, it is sbin, not bin).
2. Only root can run this script. To allow any user to use it, we need a binary wrapper:
   • Get the C source code from here.
   • Compile it with gcc backlight.c -o backlight.
   • Save the resulting binary as root in /usr/local/bin.
   • As root, make it executable and sticky:
     # chmod a+xs /usr/local/bin/backlight
3. Create a keyboard shortcut for /usr/local/bin/backlight with the appropriate preferences tool of your desktop (for example under Gnome with the gnome-keybinding-properties application). Use the command backlight up for higher brightness and the command backlight down for less brightness.

Have fun!

Created 2010-12-14T13:51:00+01:00 by peer@wolldingwacht.de.