Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 09:22:00 +0200 From: "T. Ribbrock" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Back, with Linux!
On Mon, May 23, 2005 at 04:04:12PM -0700, Christopher Kalos wrote: [...] > 1) Installation of Fedora Core 2 One question: Does FC2 use kernel 2.6? I'm asking 'cause under Mandrake 10.1, I can only use kernel 2.4, as the Libby's IDE chipset is not recognized. I'm wondering whether that's a "kernel 2.6 problem" or a "Mandrake's kernel problem"... > The principles will remain the same for most systems, but here's what I > went through, starting with a desktop IDE adapter. Just as an aside: I was able to install Mandrake 10.1 without having to remove the harddrive. Mandrake's PCMCIA install floppy luckily also had the driver for my PCMCIA SCSI-card. I was then able to install the base system from a SCSI CD-ROM drive... :-) Might be worth a try to see whether a USB CD-ROM or suchlike works as well. > * X, and how to get around it. > I went for less memory usage, you may want more speed. > For the default Neomagic chipset driver, go to this URL, it's got a > Fedora-compatible replacement for /etc/X11/xorg.conf: > http://wiki.bsdforen.de/index.php/Toshiba_Libretto_100CT I found the most important parts of the X setup are: 1) The mode lines in the "Monitor" section: ModeLine "800x480" 29.59 800 832 944 976 480 490 495 505 ModeLine "640x480" 24.11 640 672 760 792 480 490 495 505 2) Telling XFree86 or X.org to ignore conflicts with mode lines: Option "overrideValidateMode" (in the "Device" section) 3) What I'm missing in the file on that site is a virtual desktop size of 800x600. I think it works very nicely. You can the scroll with the mouse. The rest is pretty much standard. > * Not out of the woods yet, or what fits in 64MB? [...] > 1) fluxbox - Fluxbox window manager I also had good experiences with Window Maker. A bit bigger, but still very usable on the 1x0CT. > 2) dillo - Dillo web browser, often used in Linux handheld projects Another alternative is Opera. Its speed on the Libby really surprised me. I'm actually thinking about buying it to get rid of the advertisement (which takes up precious screen real estate). On the other hand, if you are using a 800x600 virtual desktiop, you can scroll the browser window to somewhere in the middle - that way you get the maximum out the actual page that is displayed, as all other elements are off-screen (works with other browsers, too, of course). > 3) multi-aterm - Tab-enabled Linux terminal Nice one - didn't know about that one... > * Trimming the fat [...] > Disable anything you don't need for a plain laptop. This includes nfs, [...] > vncserver, kudzu, microcode_ctl, isdn, gpm, nfslock, and smartd. [...] Actually, I would never want to run without gpm... :-) gpm provides mouse support on the console, which I deem very handy at times. I also never boot into init 5 - takes far to long to start up and if I just want to check some mail, the console is good enough by far (mutt is an excellent mail program for this, though it's definitely aimed at power-users). > * Tiny gotchas > 1) Kernel compilation. Just don't. It'll take forever. You should, however, be able to compile the kernel on a faster machine, then transfer the files. Fortunately, so far I never had reason to do so. > 3) Enhanced Port Replicator. Don't disconnect power, Linux will shit > itself if the USB controller and any dock-attached PCMCIA cards > disappear. Did I ever learn this one the hard way... Yup, that one can be annoying. > 4) A Better browser: [...] As I mentioned already: Give Opera a try... Another thing: Have a look at http://www.buzzard.org.uk/toshiba/tuxtime.html On Mandrake 9.2, the necessary kernel module was already present (haven't checked on 10.1 yet). Once you have it running, it allows you to set things like display brightness etc. depending on whether the Libby is running on battery or power - works nicely! Personally, I'm very happy with my Linux Libby (there's no Win installed on it). With 60GB, it makes a great (stationary) Ogg-Player... ;-) Cheerio, Thomas -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thomas Ribbrock http://www.ribbrock.org "You have to live on the edge of reality - to make your dreams come true!"
