[Back to contents] [Motivation] [Libretto 110CT] [Installation issues] [Windows 95] [OS/2 Warp 3.0] [Epilogue]
Last update 13 June 2001
MANDRAKE 7.0 (current version on my Libretto)
MANDRAKE 6.0 (in turn, dropped in favor of Mandrake 7.0)
RED HAT LINUX 5.2 (dropped in favor of Mandrake 6.0)
INSTALLATION OF MANDRAKE LINUX 7.0
Apart from the Linux on Laptops pages and the Linux Directory, much information can be found on the Mandrake web site. This site contains a number of useful links, a.o. to their ftp server and to some Mandrake forums (e.g., alt.os.linux.mandrake).
Again I hoped Mandrake Linux could be installed using my PCMCIA CD-ROM player, analogous to RH Linux 5.2 (below). However, Victor Gvirtsman had no INITRD version for Mandrake 7.0. So again I decided to install from harddisk, much like I did with Mandrake Linux 6.0. First I had to backup a lot of stuff from the Windows and OS/2 partitions in order to make 650 Mb space available on the DOS FAT16 partition /dev/hda5 (as the setup program cannot read from FAT32, that is, probably not just like that). Then I copied the Mandrake tree (Mandrake\Base, Mandrake\Instimag and Mandrake\Rpms) on the CD-ROM to that FAT16 partition. The long file names are clipped to 8.3 format, however that does not matter for the setup program.
Installation of Mandrake Linux 7.0 proved easy from then on. I started the installation from a boot floppy (made using rawrite from the installation CD), using Mandrake's graphical install. Not all RPM's were installed properly. Checking out the installation log file (/tmp/install.log) revealed that a few rpm installations failed because of a script error; however RPM acknowledged they were installed fine. I reinstalled them using the --replacepkgs flag just to be sure. Moreover, after a while I found out that several RPM's (notably Gnome-stuff) were lacking on my installation CD (purchased from a software dealer in the Netherlands). To get these rpm's from Internet was a little bit of a hassle, as probably all Mandrake mirror sites ugraded to mandrake 7.1 and not all of them still had the 7.0 installation rpm's.
First thing I did was to get the MSDOS and OS/2 partitions auto-mounted by entering the relevant lines in /etc/fstab and creating mount points on /mnt. I mounted the MSDOS partitions read-only (HPFS can only be mounted read-only according to mount) to avoid wiping out my entire harddisk if something goes wrong with Linux.
Installation of the Neomagic video was a piece of cake. Xfree86 now recognizes the Neomagic chipset. All I did was getting the XF86Config from the XFCom-rpm (see below) to /etc/X11 and putting it in /etc/X11.
MD Linux 7.0 features apm-3.0beta9. Works fine in the background, however after a suspend-to-disk it starts asking for attention. Occasionally it echoes the battery charge etc. Probably it needs some parameter-tuning to get rid of this. APM parameters like suspend and power-down upon shutdown etc. can be set when the kernel is rebuilt.
Mandrake Linux 7.0 comes with PCMCIA-3.1.9. No problems at all here. I even managed to get the PCMCIA floppy drive working. To do this I applied a kernel patch plus PCMCIA amendment from David Bateman and then rebuilt the kernel and the PCMCIA package.
In Mandrake Linux 7, the PCMCIA package is situated under /usr/src/linux, instead of /usr/src as Bateman's instructions state. Well, I simply moved pcmcia-cs-3.1.9 from /usr/src/linux to /usr/src and then simply followed David Bateman's instructions carefully. There was only one hunk not processed by the patch (something in /usr/src/linux/block/floppy/floppy.c, somewhere around line 1370) but that was probably due to some new code in the source file which confuses the patch-program. I simply hand-edited the necessary lines myself. Later on I moved the PCMCIA-package back to /usr/src/linux. Then I had the kernel rebuilt and installed.
(From /usr/src/linux, do:
Linux probably starts complaining about missing modules. No problem, that will be OK after rebuilding the PCMCIA package. That is again an easy job (from usr/src/linux/pcmcia-cs-3.1.9, just read doc/PCMCIA-HOWTO and follow the instructions). The only important things to know are (1) that the newly compiled kernel and modules had better be installed before compiling pcmcia and (2) that by default modules are also installed in /var/tmp/kernel-2.2.10-root rather than in the proper place. Afterwards I copied them into place (that is, /lib/modules/2.2.14/net & block).
After installation of the kernel, modules and pcmcia modules, everything ran fine. The PCMCIA-floppy was recognized immediately upon insertion; using supermount I can simply insert any floppy type (ext2 of vfat), Linux recognizes the floppy seamlessly.
Not yet installed. Will use ALSA (see below).
I'll try to get my scanner running, install PLIP and do some other thing. I hope I'll have enough time or that, given that I do a lot of travelling these days.
A step forward is that now my ZIP drive (100 mb version) is working under Linux. Using earlier Linux distributions the thing couldn't be set to work, now just typeing modprobe 'ppa' gets it running! on the same parallel port as where my HP Deskjet 970CXi can be plugged in (BTW that one works using WordPerfect 8 for Linux using the HP Deskjet 660C driver). I still have to change plugs manually, I suspect the plug-through feature of my ZIP-drive is not very reliable under Linux. I even do not use that feature under Windows.
A year ago I purchased a really portable CD R/W, which was immediately, without further ado, recognized by the PCMCIA package as an ATAPI CD-ROM player (Freecom traveller - discman format and can be run from 4 penlite NiMH 1,5 Ah rechargeable penlites using only an extra paperclip! I needed it to backup my digital photographs from a Nikon Coolpix 950). Using the info from the CD-Writing HOWTO I was finally able to get it working as a (re)writer. The trick was to revamp the PCMCIA IDE interface into a SCSI interface using the SR_MOD, IDE-SCSI and some other modules. Check out the CD-Writing HOWTO for further details.
One little thing remains too: how to make the PCMCIA system distinguish between my Argosy CD-ROM player and my Freecom CD-R/RW. I would like the one to be always connected to /dev/hdc and the other to /dev/hde. As neither of these PC-card players have a hardware address, this is no easy thing to get together. Anybody any clues?
INSTALLATION OF MANDRAKE LINUX 6.0
(No longer running, replaced by Mandrake 7.0)
Apart from the Linux on Laptops pages and the Linux Directory, much information can be found on the Mandrake web site. This site contains a number of useful links, a.o. to their ftp server and to a Mandrake forum (alt.os.linux.mandrake).
I hoped Mandrake Linux could be installed using my PCMCIA CD-ROM player, analogous to RH Linux 5.2 (below).
Victor Gvirtsman's INITRD package for Mandrake 6.0 did not work out as smoothly as the one for Red Hat Linux 5.2, however. After having started the PCMCIA service, the setup program kept on asking details about my CD-ROM player. As I would not know what parameters are valid for my PCMCIA CD-ROM player, a deadlock situation was encountered. (BTW Nowadays it seems that this issue has been resolved - check out Victor Gvirtsman's site.)
So I decided to install from harddisk. First I had to backup a lot of stuff from the Windows and OS/2 partitions in order to make 550 Mb space available on the DOS FAT16 partition /dev/hda5 (as the setup program cannot read from FAT32, that is, probably not just like that). Then I copied the Mandrake tree (Mandrake\Base, Mandrake\Instimag and Mandrake\Rpms) on the CD-ROM to that FAT16 partition. The long file names are clipped to 8.3 format, however that does not matter for the setup program.
Installation of Mandrake Linux 6.0 proved easy from then on. I booted from a floppy (made it using rawrite on the Mandrake CD). Not all RPM's were installed properly. Checking out the installation log file (/tmp/install.log) revealed that a few rpm installations failed because of a script error; however RPM acknowledged they were installed fine. I reinstalled them using the --replacepkgs flag just to be sure.
Next thing I did was to get the MSDOS and OS/2 partitions auto-mounted by entering the relevant lines in /etc/fstab and creating mount points on /mnt. I mounted the MSDOS partitions r/w (HPFS can only be mounted read-only according to mount), but I now tend to think that mounting them read-only may be better, in order to avoid wiping out my entire harddisk if something goes wrong with Linux.
Installation of the Neomagic video was a piece of cake. I had the RPM (see below) on one of the MSDOS partitions. Just copied them to /tmp and ran rpm from there.
MD Linux 6.0 features apm-3.0beta9. Works fine, however as soon as the battery charge level drops below 50 % is starts complaining about the battery charge. Changing the option line in /etc/syslevel/apmd to -p 109 -w 10 -W does not help (109 % should mute down messages about decreasing charge levels every x percent change). Probably this is due to some bug. APM parameters like suspend and power-down upon shutdown etc. can be set when the kernel is rebuilt.
Although the kernel pcmcia daemon worked OK directly after installation, I had to upgrade the kernel because of a (documented) kernel 2.2.9 specific bug in the IDE driver. This would lead to a kernel trap as soon as my PCMCIA CD-ROM was shut down. This happens automatically upon system shutdown, so this trap was unavoidable. Unmounting / (the next and the last step before system halt) would fail and next boot fsck would run and remove faulty inodes, in some cases vital ones.
The Mandrake update section suggests to upgrade to kernel-2.2.9-27mdk and to upgrade some initscripts; however the kernel upgrade rpm refused to install - it insisted to be dependent on kernel-headers-2.2.5 (!). So I decided to upgrade to kernel version 2.2.10.
I tried to upgrade through patching. I downloaded both the .gz and the .bz2 patch files (patch2.2.10-gz or -.bz2) using Windows 95 internet access (my Linux was out of order). It turned out that the .gz version would not survive the FAT16 -> ext2 filesystem transfer; the bz2 verzion was more robust (before patching, test with either gz -t -v patch2.2.10.gz or bzip2 -t -v patch2.2.10.bz2). Applying the patch yielded a large number of hunks and rejects. However, it turned out that the majority of these related to ALPHA and SPARC specific stuff, i.e. irrelevant for my Intel Pentium system. There was only one relevant .rej left (I forgot the name - it was something with a declaration of new_buffer, but you can run make modules just as well and make will tell you. Just mend it and rerun make, it will resume action from there). Another .rej related to the top level Makefile - minor version had to be set to 10 by hand (and -19mdk removed). All (and there were only a few) other .rej pertained to simple comments.
I then renamed the whole Linux source tree from Linux-2.2.9-19mdk to Linux-2.2.10 and updated the symlink to the Linux source tree accordingly. Compiling the kernel was an easy job then.
Upon make modules_install, the pcmcia modules still had to be compiled. That is again an easy job (from /usr/src/linux/pcmcia-cs-3.0.9, just read doc/PCMCIA-HOWTO). The only important things to know are (1) that the newly compiled kernel, modules and System.map should be installed before compiling pcmcia and (2) that by default the modules are installed in /var/tmp/kernel-2.2.10-root rather than in the proper place. Better specify / as target directory.
After installation of the kernel, modules and pcmcia modules, everything ran fine. No more kernel traps and/or umount problems at shutdown time.
Not yet installed. Will use ALSA (see below).
I'll try to get the PCMCIA floppy, my ZIP drive and my scanner running, install PLIP and do some other thing. I hope I'll have enough time, given that I travel abroad for a few months.
In the meantime I purchased a really portable CD R/W (Freecom traveller - discman format and can be run from 4 penlite NiMH 1,5 Ah rechargeable penlites using only an extra paperclip! I needed it to backup my digital photographs from a Nikon Coolpix 950), which was immediately, without further ado, recognized by the PCMCIA package as an ATAPI CD-ROM player. My wish now is to get it working as a CD-writer under Linux.
INSTALLATION OF RED HAT LINUX 5.2
(Dropped some time ago and replaced by Mandrake 6.0)
The Linux on Laptops pages provide a wealth of information. Regarding Librettos, Grant Taylor's Linux on Libretto pages (Alas! disappeared) contained much additional information on Libretto-specific tricks. Although many are based on a Linux installation on a Libretto 30CT, porting them to later Libretto models can probably be done without any problem.
Another source may be the various Libretto webrings. Links to them can be found through the Adorable Libretto website.
Finally, you can search the Linux Directory.
Redhat Linux could be installed using my PCMCIA CD-ROM player. Again, the floppy was to be avoided because Linux needs to read a supplemental floppy for PCMCIA support.
A way out was supplied by Victor Gvirtsman. I put the LOADLIN program together with a Linux kernel (VMLINUZ, on Redhat Linux CD-ROM) and INITRD52.GZ on a DOS subdirectory in one of the FAT drives. I made a DOS batch file called LINLOAD.BAT containing the following instruction:
LOADLIN VMLINUZ INITRD=INITRD52.GZ
When I type LINLOAD, a Linux kernel is booted which asks if PCMCIA support should be started. If "Y" is answered, the PCMCIA CD-ROM player is indeed started. After working one's way through some more questions, the Redhat installation program is finally started from the CD-ROM.
However, be warned that you must boot from a DOS floppy or boot only a DOS command interpreter in order to avoid nasty questions about CD-ROM drive types. If Windows 95 has been started and shut down to a DOS prompt, such questions will be asked. Nor will booting Win95 and tapping F8 to get just a command prompt save you much....If you see a Windows screen upon booting DOS, you are bound for trouble.
Redhat Linux's boot partition should be somewhere at the beginning of the hard disk space, as outlined in Installation issues & Partitioning scheme.
Other Linux partitions were placed in the end of the extended partition.
From then on, installation of Linux was an easy exercise. Ofcourse, like most other Linux novices, in the end it turned out that I've installed it five times or so, usually forced by repartitioning the harddisk. Another motivation was that a Linux "distribution" like RedHat is merely a way to dump an enormous amount of shit to your harddisk, even with almost all optional components deselected during installation. Compared to this, even Microsoft's collection of silently installed utilities seems quite modest :-). For novice users, probably only 30 percent of all installed Linux packages is really needed. IMHO, the rest should be amenable for installation afterwards only when needed. (Motivation: I like to keep my harddisk as empty as possible right from the start.)
RedHat Linux 5.2 ships with a default kernel with neither APM nor PCMCIA support. In addition, the PCMCIA floppy drive poses problems. So, some kernel rebuilding is warranted. After reading the relevant documentation, that is a piece of cake. In the printed Red Hat manual, not all steps seem to be outlined. Better read the README files in /usr/src/linux.
However, RedHat Linux recognized the Neomagic graphics card - but of course not the 800x480 screen resolution.
Rebuilding the kernel (I run 2.0.36) is actually quite easy. Be sure to install all kernel sources and headers, and all C++ compilers, headers and libraries. If compilation of the kernel fails somewhere, probably one of these is still missing.
An X-server for the Neomagic NM2160 chip might be found at the RedHat site or mirror sites (e.g. RedHat ftp site), but AFAIK the Neomagic should be included in recent Xfree86 versions. I can give you my XF86Config; it was originally meant for the Libretto 100CT but that is merely the same system, apart from a smaller harddisk and somewhat slower CPU.
The server starts with a virtual 800x600 screen. I changed some lines to have a 1024 x 768 virtual screen with 16bpp color depth. As the virtual display size is only limited by video memory, other virtual screen sizes may perform just as well.
How to switch screen resolutions on the fly is a bit obscure at first sight; the Libretto has no numeric keypad, but Xin Feng found out where it is hidden. <Ctrl><Alt><grey+> is to be substituted with <Fn><Ctrl><Alt><;> and <Ctrl><Alt><grey-> with <Fn><Ctrl><Alt><p>.
APM support can be setup right away during installation (needs a kernel rebuild though). The only problem I encountered was that the linux installation script would not properly install APM; I had to rpm the relevant .rpm from CD myself after installation. APM even shuts down the PCMCIA cards if not in use, and can shut down power supply upon system shutdown (i.e. contrary to system reboot). Additional tips and tricks for power saving can be found in the Battery-Powered mini HOWTO.
Apart from the floppy (Toshiba part nr. PA2940U, actually a Y-E Data Flashbuster) I use only a PCMCIA CD-ROM player (Argossy 6-speed) which runs perfectly. I'd like to buy a modemcard soon but currently my Dynalink 14k4 serial pocketmodem performs just as well (at 57600 bps, under Linux, OS/2 and Win95. Note that a Dynalink PCI 57k6 Winmodem in my desktop, using the same phoneline, usually made 49999 bps, at particularly good days 52000 bps. So much for Winmodems then.)
PCMCIA floppy disk support for the Libretto FDD can be compiled in into the kernel. David Bateman wrote a floppy driver. I used version 1.02 from his site. However, Bateman explains that the drivers there are primarily beta-stuff and suggests to check Linux FTP sites as these offer better chances for a stable driver (well, I've checked out a lot of FTP sites but nope - no FDD driver. Anybody out there more lucky?). The current state of things at my Libretto is that if the floppy driver card is inserted while booting Linux, I can mount a floppy. Unmounting won't work, nor does plugging the card in after booting or mounting a new floppy. But anyway I can use my floppy now. I'm still busy with this.
My Libretto is still deaf mute under Linux. I'll try to fix this later this year. A commercial solution (OSS, see 4Front) is suggested by Quentin Stafford-Fraser.
Probably the most promising approach, pointed out to me by William Ball (remove_NO_SPAM from the address) (author of a number of Linux books), is to use the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture software to be found on the ALSA site. ALSA stuff also provides sound input.
Here are relevant parts of messages from W. Ball:
the IBM i1451 uses the same type of sound system as the Libretto (actually, the SaX)... the current OSS drivers (both free and commercial) are unable to properly configure the sound card...
the good news is that the ALSA sound drivers now completely configure and provide complete sound support through Linux!basically you download the ALSA stuff, run the make and configuration files and build the software according to the ALSA mini-HOWTO, then use a series of probe commands, such as (for the i1451):
modprobe snd-opl3sa
modprobe snd-pcm1-oss
amixer -c 1 master 125:125 unmute
amixer -c 1 pcm 125:125 unmute
amixer -c 1 cd 125:125 unmute
amixer -c 1 fm 125:125 unmute
(.....)
detailed instructions (at least for the IBM i1451), along with working source tarballs (compiled quickly and easily under Red Hat 6.0) may be found at: http://www.cirs.org/patrick/
(End of e-mail excerpts)
I've downloaded the KDE desktop (version 1.1.1) and installed it on my desktop. It looks very nice, even impressive, but devours a lot of memory. I might install it on the Libretto one day, but only if it proves to be sufficiently object oriented (i.e. cut and paste across applications) - I'll check this out. BTW it strikes me that so much efforts have been made to make a Linux application resemble Windows this much!
Another favorite of mine is WordPerfect. I got a free trial copy of WordPerfect 8 for Linux from Corel and installed it together with the Dutch language module. It works fine, though it does crash occasionally. You must register this copy within 90 days. At the time of writing, Corel's web site was a bit confusing regarding where to register - it provides several links which in the end point to only two different sites. I finally got through somewhere on their own site and got my registration key number there immediately.
Wishes for future improvements
Still not all my hardware and other stuff is working under Linux. So some wishes remain:
(After reading the above, you might wonder why I won't stick to Windows - after all, everything works fine under W95. Well, a part of the answer is that Windows 95 is not a hobby project of mine, and Linux is.)
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