In the summer of 2000, I finally bit the bullet and decided to wipe out my
Windows NT installation and setup Linux on my work Laptop. I had already
been running Linux on a few production and test servers at work, plus I had
recently installed Linux on my home laptop, a Sony Vaio (sorry no info on that
installation is available at this time).
This page is primarily a log of my experiences and what I have done to get
to the current state of affairs. These notes are rough and probably contain
incomplete information and possibly some mistakes. Your mileage may vary.
If you're setting up Linux on your machine, one of the best pieces of advice
is to effectively search the web for help. Just about every problem I ran
into, I was able to find something on the net which helped me solve it. See
the links at the end of this document for some of the links that have been
most valuable to me.
Installing Linux on laptops (and often in general) is a serious undertaking.
If you do not have the time and a second computer to use while you're getting
it to work, you may want to stick with what you already have.
This document is based on the second try instance of a Linux installation.
Initially I started getting things up and running and got to the point where
I was getting frustrated with Linux (as a UNIX) itself and decided to just
wipe everything out and try OpenBSD. Unfortunately, I didn't get very far
with OpenBSD at that time so I went back to Linux. The second time was much
easier of course, because I now knew how to get most major things working.
I would actually like to get OpenBSD running on my laptop. Since I'm a
networking guy, it's architecture is more fitting to my needs. Until then,
Linux will have to do.
Since laptops are especially troublesome with Linux due to availability of
software/driver support, I ended up burning a CD of the Mandrake 7.1 CD. I
was going to use RedHat 6.2, but had some problems with it recognizing some
of my hardware. I probably could have gotten it to work eventually, but it
was simply "easier" to start with Mandrake because it had more recent "stuff".
In the end, the distribution of Linux matters little to me, because after I
get through customizing it, installing a fresh kernel, and so forth, the
differences between Linux distro's is minor. If you can start
with a CD installation it does make things faster and easier. Especially
in my case since I couldn't get the network install to recognize my PCMCIA
Ethernet card.
A humorous aside: When I was first installing Linux, I was having hardware
problems - although I didn't know they were hardware problems at the time.
I couldn't get any distribution to complete the install. Every one I
tried bombed mysteriously somewhere in the process. With SUSE 6.4, the
install went the furthest, but failed the best. Near the end of installing
all the packages, it gave me an error to the effect of "could not set root
password, you will not be able to login". Then after you get past that
dialog, it essentially said "rebooting into Suse...". Well thanks for
nothing! :-) It turned out that the hard drive was FUBAR. IBM replaced
it later that week.
I installed Mandrake 7.1. I choose the expert install and just two partitions, '/' and swap. I made '/' most of the disk (6GB) and the swap about 128MB. I put lilo in the MBR (no Windows/DOS partitions here :-). When it came to do networking, it did not recognize my 3Com PCMCIA card so I skipped that part. Later when the laptop booted, the pcmcia card services drivers found it. I set the video to default to 16bpp at 1024x768. I think I also changed the amount of video RAM to 2MB (although it really has 2.5MB). I installed the common things when doing an expert install which is a lot of unnecessary junk. I will clean up things later as I go.
By default, Linux only recognized and used 64MB of RAM. Since I had 128MB of RAM installed, so I needed to modify /etc/lilo.conf to add the apped="mem=130496K" for each image/profile. Be sure to run /sbin/lilo after changes to this config file. If you have a different amount of memory simply use the amount of memory displayed during the ThinkPad's initial boot process (POST). Also be sure to specify it in 'K' as opposed to megabytes.
I have a 3Com Megahertz 10/100 LAN CardBus PC Card model 3CCFE575BT. I
Grabbed pcmcia-cs-3.1.19 and installed with:
# See how we were called.
case "$1" in
start)
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifup ifcfg-lo
;;
stop)
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifdown lo
;;
restart)
$0 stop
$0 start
;;
*)
echo "Usage: network {start|stop|restart}
exit 1
esac
exit 0
Default XF86Config didn't perform well, used the following:
Section "Files"
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
EndSection
Section "Keyboard"
Protocol "Standard"
AutoRepeat 500 30
XkbKeymap "xfree86(us)"
EndSection
Section "Pointer"
Protocol "PS/2"
Device "/dev/psaux"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic|LCD Panel 1024x768"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "Unknown"
HorizSync 30-64
VertRefresh 50-100
# 640x480 @ 60 Hz, 31.5 kHz hsync
Modeline "640x480" 25.175 640 664 760 800 480 491 493 525
# 800x600 @ 60 Hz, 37.8 kHz hsync
Modeline "800x600" 40 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync
# 1024x768 @ 60 Hz, 48.4 kHz hsync
Modeline "1024x768" 65 1024 1032 1176 1344 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "NeoMagic (laptop/notebook)"
option "power_saver"
VideoRam 2560
Chipset "NM2200"
Clocks 65 40 29.175
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Driver "svga"
Device "NeoMagic (laptop/notebook)"
Monitor "Generic|LCD Panel 1024x768"
DefaultColorDepth 16
Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Driver "vga16"
Device "NeoMagic (laptop/notebook)"
Monitor "Generic|LCD Panel 1024x768"
DefaultColorDepth 8
Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "640x480"
EndSubsection
EndSection
Compiled new 2.2.16 kernel to support options I needed (and remove the ones I didn't). This .config file may be inappropriate for you, because I needed some networking features that may be unnecessary for the average user (e.g. multicast support).
#
# Automatically generated make config: don't edit
#
#
# Code maturity level options
#
CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL=y
#
# Processor type and features
#
# CONFIG_M386 is not set
# CONFIG_M486 is not set
# CONFIG_M586 is not set
# CONFIG_M586TSC is not set
CONFIG_M686=y
CONFIG_X86_WP_WORKS_OK=y
CONFIG_X86_INVLPG=y
CONFIG_X86_BSWAP=y
CONFIG_X86_POPAD_OK=y
CONFIG_X86_TSC=y
CONFIG_X86_GOOD_APIC=y
CONFIG_X86_GOOD_APIC=y
CONFIG_1GB=y
# CONFIG_2GB is not set
# CONFIG_MATH_EMULATION is not set
CONFIG_MTRR=y
# CONFIG_SMP is not set
#
# Loadable module support
#
CONFIG_MODULES=y
# CONFIG_MODVERSIONS is not set
CONFIG_KMOD=y
#
# General setup
#
CONFIG_NET=y
CONFIG_PCI=y
# CONFIG_PCI_GOBIOS is not set
# CONFIG_PCI_GODIRECT is not set
CONFIG_PCI_GOANY=y
CONFIG_PCI_BIOS=y
CONFIG_PCI_DIRECT=y
CONFIG_PCI_QUIRKS=y
# CONFIG_PCI_OPTIMIZE is not set
CONFIG_PCI_OLD_PROC=y
# CONFIG_MCA is not set
# CONFIG_VISWS is not set
CONFIG_SYSVIPC=y
CONFIG_BSD_PROCESS_ACCT=y
CONFIG_SYSCTL=y
CONFIG_BINFMT_AOUT=m
CONFIG_BINFMT_ELF=y
CONFIG_BINFMT_MISC=m
# CONFIG_BINFMT_JAVA is not set
CONFIG_PARPORT=m
CONFIG_PARPORT_PC=m
# CONFIG_PARPORT_OTHER is not set
CONFIG_APM=y
# CONFIG_APM_IGNORE_USER_SUSPEND is not set
CONFIG_APM_DO_ENABLE=y
CONFIG_APM_CPU_IDLE=y
CONFIG_APM_DISPLAY_BLANK=y
CONFIG_APM_IGNORE_SUSPEND_BOUNCE=y
# CONFIG_APM_RTC_IS_GMT is not set
CONFIG_APM_ALLOW_INTS=y
# CONFIG_APM_REAL_MODE_POWER_OFF is not set
#
# Plug and Play support
#
CONFIG_PNP=y
# CONFIG_PNP_PARPORT is not set
#
# Block devices
#
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=m
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE=y
#
# Please see Documentation/ide.txt for help/info on IDE drives
#
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_HD_IDE is not set
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDISK=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDECD=m
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDETAPE is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEFLOPPY is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDESCSI is not set
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CMD640=y
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CMD640_ENHANCED is not set
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RZ1000=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEPCI=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA=y
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_OFFBOARD is not set
CONFIG_IDEDMA_AUTO=y
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_OPTI621 is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_TRM290 is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NS87415 is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_VIA82C586 is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CMD646 is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CS5530 is not set
# CONFIG_IDE_CHIPSETS is not set
#
# Additional Block Devices
#
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP=m
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NBD is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_MD is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_XD is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_DAC960 is not set
CONFIG_PARIDE_PARPORT=m
# CONFIG_PARIDE is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_CPQ_DA is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_HD is not set
#
# Networking options
#
CONFIG_PACKET=m
CONFIG_NETLINK=y
# CONFIG_RTNETLINK is not set
CONFIG_NETLINK_DEV=m
CONFIG_FIREWALL=y
# CONFIG_FILTER is not set
CONFIG_UNIX=y
CONFIG_INET=y
CONFIG_IP_MULTICAST=y
# CONFIG_IP_ADVANCED_ROUTER is not set
# CONFIG_IP_PNP is not set
CONFIG_IP_FIREWALL=y
# CONFIG_IP_FIREWALL_NETLINK is not set
# CONFIG_IP_TRANSPARENT_PROXY is not set
# CONFIG_IP_MASQUERADE is not set
# CONFIG_IP_ROUTER is not set
# CONFIG_NET_IPIP is not set
# CONFIG_NET_IPGRE is not set
# CONFIG_IP_MROUTE is not set
# CONFIG_IP_ALIAS is not set
CONFIG_SYN_COOKIES=y
#
# (it is safe to leave these untouched)
#
# CONFIG_INET_RARP is not set
CONFIG_SKB_LARGE=y
# CONFIG_IPV6 is not set
#
#
#
CONFIG_IPX=y
# CONFIG_IPX_INTERN is not set
# CONFIG_SPX is not set
# CONFIG_ATALK is not set
# CONFIG_X25 is not set
# CONFIG_LAPB is not set
# CONFIG_BRIDGE is not set
# CONFIG_LLC is not set
# CONFIG_ECONET is not set
# CONFIG_WAN_ROUTER is not set
# CONFIG_NET_FASTROUTE is not set
# CONFIG_NET_HW_FLOWCONTROL is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_IS_SLOW is not set
#
# QoS and/or fair queueing
#
# CONFIG_NET_SCHED is not set
#
# Telephony Support
#
# CONFIG_PHONE is not set
#
# SCSI support
#
CONFIG_SCSI=y
#
# SCSI support type (disk, tape, CD-ROM)
#
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD=y
# CONFIG_CHR_DEV_ST is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SR is not set
CONFIG_CHR_DEV_SG=m
#
# Some SCSI devices (e.g. CD jukebox) support multiple LUNs
#
# CONFIG_SCSI_MULTI_LUN is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_CONSTANTS is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_LOGGING is not set
#
# SCSI low-level drivers
#
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_3W_XXXX_RAID is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_7000FASST is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_ACARD is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_AHA152X is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_AHA1542 is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_AHA1740 is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_AIC7XXX is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_IPS is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_ADVANSYS is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_IN2000 is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_AM53C974 is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_MEGARAID is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_BUSLOGIC is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_DTC3280 is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_EATA is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_EATA_DMA is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_EATA_PIO is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_FUTURE_DOMAIN is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_GDTH is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_GENERIC_NCR5380 is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_INITIO is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_INIA100 is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_PPA is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_IMM is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_NCR53C406A is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_SYM53C416 is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_SIM710 is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_NCR53C7xx is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_NCR53C8XX is not set
CONFIG_SCSI_SYM53C8XX=y
CONFIG_SCSI_NCR53C8XX_DEFAULT_TAGS=4
CONFIG_SCSI_NCR53C8XX_MAX_TAGS=32
CONFIG_SCSI_NCR53C8XX_SYNC=20
# CONFIG_SCSI_NCR53C8XX_PROFILE is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_NCR53C8XX_IOMAPPED is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_NCR53C8XX_PQS_PDS is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_NCR53C8XX_SYMBIOS_COMPAT is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_PAS16 is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_PCI2000 is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_PCI2220I is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_PSI240I is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_QLOGIC_FAS is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_QLOGIC_ISP is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_QLOGIC_FC is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_SEAGATE is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_DC390T is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_T128 is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_U14_34F is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_ULTRASTOR is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_DEBUG is not set
#
# I2O device support
#
# CONFIG_I2O is not set
#
# Network device support
#
CONFIG_NETDEVICES=y
#
# ARCnet devices
#
# CONFIG_ARCNET is not set
CONFIG_DUMMY=m
# CONFIG_BONDING is not set
# CONFIG_EQUALIZER is not set
# CONFIG_ETHERTAP is not set
# CONFIG_NET_SB1000 is not set
#
# Ethernet (10 or 100Mbit)
#
# CONFIG_NET_ETHERNET is not set
#
# Ethernet (1000 Mbit)
#
# CONFIG_ACENIC is not set
# CONFIG_HAMACHI is not set
# CONFIG_YELLOWFIN is not set
# CONFIG_SK98LIN is not set
# CONFIG_FDDI is not set
# CONFIG_HIPPI is not set
# CONFIG_PLIP is not set
CONFIG_PPP=m
#
# CCP compressors for PPP are only built as modules.
#
# CONFIG_SLIP is not set
# CONFIG_NET_RADIO is not set
#
# Token ring devices
#
# CONFIG_TR is not set
# CONFIG_NET_FC is not set
# CONFIG_RCPCI is not set
# CONFIG_SHAPER is not set
#
# Wan interfaces
#
# CONFIG_HOSTESS_SV11 is not set
# CONFIG_COSA is not set
# CONFIG_SEALEVEL_4021 is not set
# CONFIG_SYNCLINK_SYNCPPP is not set
# CONFIG_LANMEDIA is not set
# CONFIG_COMX is not set
# CONFIG_HDLC is not set
# CONFIG_DLCI is not set
# CONFIG_SBNI is not set
#
# Amateur Radio support
#
# CONFIG_HAMRADIO is not set
#
# IrDA (infrared) support
#
CONFIG_IRDA=m
#
# IrDA protocols
#
CONFIG_IRLAN=m
CONFIG_IRCOMM=m
# CONFIG_IRDA_ULTRA is not set
# CONFIG_IRDA_OPTIONS is not set
# CONFIG_IRDA_COMPRESSION is not set
#
# Infrared-port device drivers
#
#
# SIR device drivers
#
CONFIG_IRTTY_SIR=m
CONFIG_IRPORT_SIR=m
#
# FIR device drivers
#
# CONFIG_NSC_FIR is not set
# CONFIG_WINBOND_FIR is not set
# CONFIG_TOSHIBA_FIR is not set
# CONFIG_SMC_IRCC_FIR is not set
#
# Dongle support
#
# CONFIG_DONGLE is not set
#
# ISDN subsystem
#
# CONFIG_ISDN is not set
#
# Old CD-ROM drivers (not SCSI, not IDE)
#
# CONFIG_CD_NO_IDESCSI is not set
#
# Character devices
#
CONFIG_VT=y
CONFIG_VT_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_SERIAL=y
# CONFIG_SERIAL_CONSOLE is not set
# CONFIG_SERIAL_EXTENDED is not set
# CONFIG_SERIAL_NONSTANDARD is not set
CONFIG_UNIX98_PTYS=y
CONFIG_UNIX98_PTY_COUNT=256
CONFIG_PRINTER=m
CONFIG_PRINTER_READBACK=y
CONFIG_MOUSE=y
#
# Mice
#
# CONFIG_ATIXL_BUSMOUSE is not set
# CONFIG_BUSMOUSE is not set
# CONFIG_MS_BUSMOUSE is not set
CONFIG_PSMOUSE=y
# CONFIG_82C710_MOUSE is not set
# CONFIG_PC110_PAD is not set
#
# Joysticks
#
# CONFIG_JOYSTICK is not set
# CONFIG_QIC02_TAPE is not set
# CONFIG_WATCHDOG is not set
# CONFIG_NVRAM is not set
CONFIG_RTC=y
#
# Video For Linux
#
# CONFIG_VIDEO_DEV is not set
# CONFIG_DTLK is not set
#
# Ftape, the floppy tape device driver
#
# CONFIG_FTAPE is not set
#
# Filesystems
#
# CONFIG_QUOTA is not set
# CONFIG_AUTOFS_FS is not set
# CONFIG_ADFS_FS is not set
# CONFIG_AFFS_FS is not set
# CONFIG_HFS_FS is not set
CONFIG_FAT_FS=m
CONFIG_MSDOS_FS=m
# CONFIG_UMSDOS_FS is not set
CONFIG_VFAT_FS=m
CONFIG_ISO9660_FS=m
CONFIG_JOLIET=y
# CONFIG_MINIX_FS is not set
# CONFIG_NTFS_FS is not set
# CONFIG_HPFS_FS is not set
CONFIG_PROC_FS=y
CONFIG_DEVPTS_FS=y
# CONFIG_QNX4FS_FS is not set
# CONFIG_ROMFS_FS is not set
CONFIG_EXT2_FS=y
# CONFIG_SYSV_FS is not set
# CONFIG_UFS_FS is not set
# CONFIG_EFS_FS is not set
#
# Network File Systems
#
# CONFIG_CODA_FS is not set
CONFIG_NFS_FS=m
# CONFIG_NFSD is not set
CONFIG_SUNRPC=m
CONFIG_LOCKD=m
CONFIG_SMB_FS=y
CONFIG_NCP_FS=y
# CONFIG_NCPFS_PACKET_SIGNING is not set
# CONFIG_NCPFS_IOCTL_LOCKING is not set
# CONFIG_NCPFS_STRONG is not set
# CONFIG_NCPFS_NFS_NS is not set
# CONFIG_NCPFS_OS2_NS is not set
# CONFIG_NCPFS_MOUNT_SUBDIR is not set
# CONFIG_NCPFS_NLS is not set
# CONFIG_NCPFS_EXTRAS is not set
#
# Partition Types
#
# CONFIG_BSD_DISKLABEL is not set
# CONFIG_MAC_PARTITION is not set
# CONFIG_SMD_DISKLABEL is not set
# CONFIG_SOLARIS_X86_PARTITION is not set
# CONFIG_UNIXWARE_DISKLABEL is not set
CONFIG_NLS=y
#
# Native Language Support
#
CONFIG_NLS_DEFAULT="cp437"
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_437=m
# CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_737 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_775 is not set
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_850=m
# CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_852 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_855 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_857 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_860 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_861 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_862 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_863 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_864 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_865 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_866 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_869 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_874 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_932 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_936 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_949 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_950 is not set
CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_1=m
# CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_2 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_3 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_4 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_5 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_6 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_7 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_8 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_9 is not set
# CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_14 is not set
CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_15=m
# CONFIG_NLS_KOI8_R is not set
#
# Console drivers
#
CONFIG_VGA_CONSOLE=y
# CONFIG_VIDEO_SELECT is not set
# CONFIG_MDA_CONSOLE is not set
# CONFIG_FB is not set
#
# Sound
#
CONFIG_SOUND=m
# CONFIG_SOUND_CMPCI is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_ES1370 is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_ES1371 is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_MAESTRO is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_ESSSOLO1 is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_ICH is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_SONICVIBES is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_TRIDENT is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_MSNDCLAS is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_MSNDPIN is not set
CONFIG_SOUND_OSS=m
# CONFIG_SOUND_PAS is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_SB is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_GUS is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_MPU401 is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_PSS is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_MSS is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_SSCAPE is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_TRIX is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_VIA82CXXX is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_MAD16 is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_WAVEFRONT is not set
CONFIG_SOUND_CS4232=m
# CONFIG_SOUND_OPL3SA2 is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_MAUI is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_SGALAXY is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_AD1816 is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_OPL3SA1 is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_SOFTOSS is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_YM3812 is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_VMIDI is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_UART6850 is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_NM256 is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_YMPCI is not set
#
# Additional low level sound drivers
#
# CONFIG_LOWLEVEL_SOUND is not set
#
# Kernel hacking
#
# CONFIG_MAGIC_SYSRQ is not set
I wanted to use the serial port for connecting to devices such as routers, switches and the like. I originally grabbed the tpctl utils, but they didn't really do much for me so I ended just using IBM's PS2.EXE utility booted from a DOS diskette. I ran the following:
This configures the IrDA port on /dev/ttyS0 and the rear serial 9-pin port on /dev/ttyS1. Using minicom, I configured the port for /dev/ttyS1 at 9600-8N1. Then make sure you 'chmod g+rw /dev/ttyS1' to the group you want to be able to use the serial port.
IBM's ftp site should contain the file uttpfdos.exe which contains the PS2.EXE utility for laptops. If you need a DOS boot disk, you should be able to build one from PowerLoad. Note, I tried the MS-DOS version 5 and the PS2 did not seem to work properly. MS DOS version 6.22 worked fine.
I was to pretty much follow the DVD HOWTO. I had a couple of errors in the process of building the utilities, but I just carried on. The sound crackels and the video is a bit slow, but it did somewhat work. The sound is probably lousy due to the OSS sound drivers I'm using. Others have reported good sound using the ALSA drivers. On the mailing list I also saw that one person put the sound pipe on a RAM drive, which apparently helped improve sound performance.
In addition to the above, other things I used included ipchains which works flawlessly, although I wish I could use IPFilter. I am mainly using Gnome and am looking for a decent Gnome mail app. I tried Mahogany and it appears to be still be a quit too early for using as my main mail tool. OpenSSH is also nice, I highly recommend it. I am able to print to NetWare queues and attach to NetWare volumes as long as you can use bindery emulation. There seems to be some support for NDS, but I didn't bother trying to get that to work. I can easily mount and access Windows NT SMB based file systems using the Samba tools. Sun's StarOffice is pretty cool. It seems to have very good compability with the MS Windows Office equivalent tools which is very important for me. I'm using pump for DHCP when I need it. There are other typical things that work well (e.g. NTP), but no need to get into all the minor details.
Some of the other things that I plan to do in the future? XFree86 v4.0, multicast/MBone tools, better sound (possibly using the ALSA drivers), a decent mail application to use on a regular basis (not Netscape's), VMWare for those pesky apps I might not be able to get to run in Wine (e.g. Visio) and better DVD playback.
Last updated: July 18, 2001