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White Paper

June 1999
[

0206-0799-A

]

Prepared by Portables Software
Marketing

Compaq Computer Corporation

Contents

What is Linux? ..............................................3
Key Features..................................................3
Linux Advantages/Disadvantages................4
Linux Availability .........................................5
Compaq’s Linux Strategy for
Commercial Portables...................................5
Services Support............................................6
Linux on Armada 7400 & 7800 ...................6
Hard Disk Support ........................................6
What To Expect...........................................10
Installing RedHat 5.2: .................................11
Installing with SuSE 6.0 .............................15
Installing Linux with Windows NT4 .........21
Questions and Answers...............................22

List of Tables

TABLE 1 – SUMMARY OF LINUX
DRIVERS ......................................................6

Installation of Linux on Compaq
Armada 7400 and 7800 Portables

Abstract:

  

 

According to a recent press article, “Linux runs faster, makes

better use of pre-emptive multitasking and uses only a fraction of the memory
required by a Windows or Mac OS. Notebook batteries last much longer on a
Linux system, partly because it knows how to put the processor to sleep when
idle. It is more stable, crashes far less often and is easier to fix then
Windows.”

1

The Linux operating system was originally developed on desktop Intel
Architecture systems. As such, Linux was developed without portable
features.  Recently, Linux added support for features that portable users
expect such as Advanced Power Management (APM), PCMCIA cards, and X
windows video drivers for LCD panels.  Many other features of portables are
so implementation dependent and have no analogy in the desktop world that
the Linux developers have not considered adding these features.  For
example, each portable manufacturer has their own implementation of device
swapping and docking stations.

This paper provides a summary of the Linux operating system, its history and
features. Also covered are pointers on installation, methods to enable APM,
PCMCIA, Internal modem, Compaq Netflex, and X Windows on the LCD
panel and use on Armada 7400 and 7800 notebooks as well as Compaq’s
Commercial Portables position and strategy on the Linux open source
operating system.

Compaq recommends upgrading to the latest system BIOS available at

www.compaq.com

.

Linux specific information related to features and Year 2000 compliance has
been obtained from the official Linux web site 

http://www.Linux.org

                                                       

1

 

(David Bragi, Portable Computing, March 1999)

Summary of Contents for Armada 7400

Page 1: ...y developed on desktop Intel Architecture systems As such Linux was developed without portable features Recently Linux added support for features that portable users expect such as Advanced Power Management APM PCMCIA cards and X windows video drivers for LCD panels Many other features of portables are so implementation dependent and have no analogy in the desktop world that the Linux developers h...

Page 2: ...Compaq Insight Manager LTE PageMarq Systempro Systempro LT ProLiant TwinTray ROMPaq LicensePaq QVision SLT ProLinea SmartStart NetFlex DirectPlus QuickFind RemotePaq BackPaq TechPaq SpeedPaq QuickBack PaqFax Presario SilentCool CompaqCare design Aero SmartStation MiniStation and PaqRap registered United States Patent and Trademark Office Netelligent Armada Cruiser Concerto QuickChoice ProSignia Sy...

Page 3: ...ributions The source code for Linux was developed under the GNU2 means Not Unix GNU Public License GPL and is freely available to anyone within the restrictions of that license Linux distribution providers may give away or sell copies as long as the source code remains available Because of the nature of the GPL to which Linux is subject the Linux kernel is still free as of its version 2 2 Key Feat...

Page 4: ...wing matrix represents the results of a small qualitative study conducted in December 1998 by Compaq Computer Corporation s Enterprise Computing Group The study group consisted of participants from corporations ISPs research institutes and academic institutions Advantages Disadvantages Free Open Source OS Availability of free or inexpensive productivity applications Runs on most industry standard ...

Page 5: ... Commercial Portables Compaq Computer Corporation Commercial Portables Division is actively investigating Linux to provide as an alternative to existing operating systems for Armada portable products Compaq has run compatibility tests under the latest RedHat distribution version 5 2 on Armada 7400 and Armada 7800 notebooks Compaq is also investigating the feasibility and support issues related to ...

Page 6: ...ed Hat This package provides coverage for a 9x5 service window 8 00 a m 5 00 p m Monday Friday local time Best Endeavor support provides remedial telephone advisory delivered by the Customer Support Centers CSC Compaq Computer Corporation Services are investigating similar support offerings with other distributors in other geographic areas But in the interim for SuSE or other distributions please ...

Page 7: ...until 7 8GB drives report 15 heads 2 After 7 8GB drives report 16 heads and remain ATA compliant 3 If ROM sees a drive that has 16 heads and greater than 8191 cylinders it Issues an Initialize Drive Parameters command to 15 heads 63 spt Perform translation by using words 54 55 and 56 instead of words 1 3 and 6 The translated cylinder count is capped at 1023 4 Extended INT13 services use ID words 6...

Page 8: ...port Armada 7400 and 7800 products use the S3 ViRGE MX 86C260 with 4MB of video RAM and all models use TFT LCD panels which support resolution up to 1024x768 pixels The S3 ViRGE MX is located on PCI Bus 1 that operates at 66MHz The X Windows support for S3 ViRGE MX is in the SVGA X server and not in either of the two S3 drivers The Linux X is an Open Source version of X which is developed by the X...

Page 9: ...ociated bug fixes please see the Linux PCMCIA Information Page http hyper stanford edu HyperNews get pcmcia home html Advanced Power Management APM Support Both RedHat Linux 5 2 and SuSE 6 0 come with an APM Linux daemon but neither has APM support enabled in the kernel To enable kernel APM support follow the kernel compilation instructions for each distribution While choosing kernel features unde...

Page 10: ...not automatically updated it still contains the old entry The can only mount the CD ROM by using the long form of the mount command mount t iso9660 dev hdc cdrom A work around is to install and configure an auto mount utility External Floppy Support Compaq has an external floppy option which connects to the notebook s parallel port This device is detected during POST and all floppy accesses are di...

Page 11: ...ack issue exists mostly on the Armada 7800 series because the microphone and speakers are both on the display lid where mechanical feedback can more easily occur The OSS sound module in SuSE Linux can also cause the problem but loading the sound module adjusting the volumes and saving the new volumes into a configuration file for the OSS module easily fix it All of this is documented in the OSS do...

Page 12: ...dHat CD ROM Press OK 8 Choose Install from the Install Upgrade menu 9 Installation Class Menu has three choices Workstation deletes only existing Linux partitions and uses free space to create three partitions 32MB swap 16MB boot remaining as root Server wipes the disk clean and creates a complicated Linux partitioning scheme Custom allows the user to setup the partitions This example uses Custom ...

Page 13: ...this entry and choose edit Enter a name for this partition i e f10 Press OK or Done 30 Setup is finished Post RedHat installation configuration Boot diskette creation It is a good idea to have a backup mechanism to boot Linux A boot diskette can be created at any time using the following method 1 Log in as root 2 Put a known good floppy diskette in the drive 3 Execute the command mkbootdisk 2 0 36...

Page 14: ...Uvh apmd 2 4 6 i386 rpm or the version of apmd on your CD Then umount the CD and remove it from the drive 9 Tell Linux to load the APM daemon at boot time by using Linuxconf The apmd enable setting is in Control ControlPanel ControlServiceActivity apmd 10 Change directories to usr src Linux 11 Execute make mrproper 12 There are three ways to choose the kernel options make config Pure command line ...

Page 15: ...e PCMCIA has a configuration file etc pcmcia config opts which contains what resources are available You can customize this file to include exclude IRQ s I O and memory ranges For example the audio uses IRQ5 and fast IR COM port uses IRQ9 these should be excluded unless you keep these devices disabled Installing with SuSE 6 0 This sample installation assumes an Armada 7400 with 64MB RAM 6GB hard d...

Page 16: ...llation language 4 Choose color monochrome 5 Choose keyboard layout 6 Main Menu choose start installation system 7 On the next menu choose Start installation 8 Choose CD ROM as the source media 9 Choose Install from Install Upgrade menu 10 Yast now starts choose Installation Linux from Scratch 11 Partition Hard Drives choose Partitioning 12 Use Free Space Yes SuSE will create the partitions In thi...

Page 17: ...the script will take up where it left off 35 Remember to remove the SuSE CD 1 before rebooting Post SuSE installation configuration Boot diskette creation It is a good idea to have a backup mechanism to boot Linux A boot diskette can be created at any time using the following method 1 Log in as root 2 Put a known good formatted floppy diskette in the drive 3 Execute yast 4 Goto SystemAdministratio...

Page 18: ...ext 14 Monitor Select Vendor Compaq and then Name TFT500 15 Click Next 16 Desktop resolution color depth Choose your color depth and then resolution For example 24bit and 1024x768 17 Click Next 18 SaX will ask if you want to test the selection Say yes if the video is corrupted you can down the X server by pressing Ctrl Alt Backspace The screen should switch to the mode you selected and present a s...

Page 19: ... Yes Processor Type PPro Handle bugger SMP BIOS Yes 11 Floppy IDE and other Block devices Normal floppy support Yes Enhanced IDE MFM RLL Yes Use old disk driver No Include IDE ATAPI CD ROM Yes Include IDE ATAPI tape Yes Include IDE ATAPI floppy Yes SCSI emulation No Support removable IDE PCMCIA No CMD640 chipset bugfix No RZ1000 chipset bugfix No Intel 82371 PIIX DMA Yes Other IDE chipset No Loopb...

Page 20: ...cing No PLIP parallel port support Module PPP support Module SLIP support No Radio network interfaces No Ethernet 10 or 100Mbit Yes 3COM ISA EISA PCI cards No PCI ethernet adapters Yes TI ThunderLAN support Compaq NetFlex 3 Module Other ISA cards No EISA VLB and others No Pocket and portable adaptors No Token Ring No FDDI No ARCnet No 15 ISDN subsystem No 16 Non SCSI IDE ATAPI CD ROM drives No 17 ...

Page 21: ...d Exit Kernel configuration is saved in the hidden file usr src Linux config 22 In the usr src Linux directory execute make dep clean zImage 23 Watch for error messages For example if chose too many non modular options then the kernel might be too big 24 Execute make modules 25 Execute make modules install 26 Edit etc lilo conf and change the current kernel from vmlinuz to vmlinuz old and change i...

Page 22: ...cing support for Linux may not understand the complexity of the Linux market requirements and are not prepared to fully support the Linux customer At the corporate level Compaq has studied understands and has developed a plan that includes delivering quality Linux support in line with the growth of the Linux community Q What additional contributions has Compaq made to the Linux marketplace A Start...

Page 23: ...Linux supported Software www xnet com blatura linapps shtml Linux Applications and Utilities www applix com appware oa index htm Linux Applix Office office suite solutions www stardivision com Linux StarOffice office suite www Linuxgames com Linux Game applications www winehq com Linux WHINE Development site devoted to creating a better GUI interface www Linuxcentral com This site has links to the...

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