This document aims at helping people install and configure Linux on a Texas Instruments TravelMate 4000M notebook computer. The information given here is known to be accurate only for the DX/4 75 and 100 Mhz models with active matrix (TFT) LCD screens. The DX/2 models are not explicitely covered due to a lack of experience with those, although much of the information given here probably applies to them. Feedback and input regarding models not presently covered by this document is more than welcome.
This computer was as good a choice for running Linux as anything else available at the time. These notebooks were merely sold under the Texas Instruments label, but were made by Acer. After just four years of use, the following serious flaws have become obvious: the notebook BIOS is not Y2K compliant, Acer used cheap and even used parts in construction (for which a class action lawsuit was filed,) and the BIOS implementation of Advanced Power Management is not compliant with the 1.0 or any subsequent version of the APM specifications.
I would personally never purchase another computer from either Texas Instruments or Acer again.
For specific technical support, the only hope is the repository of legacy files (all DOS based) available at: http://www.acer.com/aac/tmate/support/bbs_4.htm and the TravelMate Owner's Home Page.
HTML document last updated 18 February 1999