Initial test of x86_64 on eMachines / Best Buy / Circuit City M6805 notebook

[Mike Larkin]

Looks like things still need some rough edges polished out....

1) Keyboard is not detected ( "keyboard adapter time out") - this 
resolves itself after the selection to "test" or "skip" the media check. 
Not sure why you can use the built-in keyboard after that point, but not 
before. Workaround is to use a USB keyboard which works fine from the start.

2) ATI Radeon 9600 card inside the notebook has an unknown PCI minor 
code - card is not detected. This means you have to install in text 
mode. Not a major issue
    * Sisoft Sandra in Windows reports it as an "ATI Radeon 9600" 
manufactured by "Arima" (the ODM that makes the laptop)

3) ddcprobe fails to probe any screen size/monitor type/refresh rates - 
may have something to do with #2 above.
    * Result is "no video hardware detected - assuming headless"

I tested these late last night/early this morning, so I did not go 
through the whole install. I'll finish up testing today and post a more 
thorough report and any fixes/workarounds I've identified at that point.

So far, I'm pretty impressed with the machine. If the types of problems 
I'll encounter are limited to those like I've described above, I'll be 
happy. Those problems are not really show stoppers in any sense.

More later..

-ml