Installing Slackware 10.1 on a PC110

Kernel configuration

These instructions are intended for use with kernel version 2.4.29, and not with any of the kernels included with the Slackware 10.1 distribution.

The stock kernel requires a patch before $ make config will produce a configuration appropriate for an i486. Alternatively, skip the $ make config stage and use this configuration.

Compile the kernel and modules (overnight, probably :-) and copy the kernel to /boot/bzImage-2.4.29. Install the modules in /lib/modules/2.4.29. Reinstall the hostap modules if # make modules_install removes them.

Boot sequence

Booting with / on a PCMCIA device is a bit tricky. There are two ways to do it:

1. Add "PCMCIA" to the start-up disk choices in the BIOS, or
2. Use an initial ram disk to load the pcmcia modules.

The first option is easier -- the BIOS takes over the slot with the Microdrive in, and the other one is free for other devices. This works for booting, but the BIOS doesn't seem to be able to wake the disk up after a suspend-resume cycle. It used to work with the original type III PCMCIA disk, so it seems the Microdrive needs to be prodded in a different way to revive it.

The solution is to create a PCMCIA-aware initrd to initialise the PCMCIA controller before / is mounted. /sbin/pcinitrd, part of the pcmcia-cs package, will do most of the work. The ramdisk it creates uses ash to execute /linuxrc, so make sure ash is installed before running pcinitrd. The ramdisk created by pcinitrd isn't quite complete; add the missing libraries and binaries like so:

root@carrot:~# /sbin/pcinitrd initrd
2400+0 records in
2400+0 records out
mke2fs 1.35 (28-Feb-2004)
1836K/2357K used
root@carrot:~# mount -o loop initrd /mnt/
root@carrot:~# cp /sbin/insmod.old /mnt/bin/
root@carrot:~# cp /lib/libblkid.so.1 /mnt/lib/
root@carrot:~# cp /lib/libuuid.so.1 /mnt/lib/
root@carrot:~# cp /lib/modules/2.4.29/kernel/drivers/pcmcia/i82365.o /mnt/lib/pcmcia
root@carrot:~# cp /lib/modules/2.4.29/kernel/drivers/ide/legacy/ide-cs.o /mnt/lib/pcmcia
root@carrot:~# ldconfig -v -r /mnt
ldconfig: Can't open configuration file /etc/ld.so.conf: No such file or directory
ldconfig: Can't stat /usr/lib: No such file or directory
/lib:
  libuuid.so.1 -> libuuid.so.1
  libblkid.so.1 -> libblkid.so.1
  ld-linux.so.2 -> ld-linux.so.2
  libc.so.6 -> libc.so.6
root@carrot:~# umount /mnt/
root@carrot:~# gzip initrd
root@carrot:~# cp initrd.gz /boot/initrd

Set the [http://www.basterfield.com/pc110/bios/startup.htm BIOS startup sequence] to "FDD-1", "HDD-1", in that order¹. /boot is mounted on /dev/hda1, the 4MB internal flash disk (Hard disk 1 in the BIOS).

/etc/lilo.conf should look like

boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
prompt
timeout=50
linear
default=slackware-10.1

image=/boot/bzImage-2.4.29
    label=slackware-10.1
    inirtd=/boot/initrd
    read-only
    root=/dev/hdc2
    append="hdd=noprobe"

LILO version 22.5.9, as installed with Slackware 10.1, complains about the linear option, but there is no immediate need to take it out; it's always been there and it's always worked. /dev/hda isn't bigger than 8.4GB, so using lba32 instead wouldn't gain anything.

append="hdd=noprobe" prevents the IDE driver probing for a slave device on the second IDE interface (the other PCMCIA slot); nothing bad happens if the probe takes place, but the boot process hangs for a few seconds. We know there's nothing there, so there's no point looking.

/etc/fstab

/etc/fstab looks like this:

/dev/hda1               /boot                   ext2    ro            1 2
/dev/hdc2               /                     ext3    defaults        1 1
/dev/fd0                /mnt/floppy             auto    noauto,owner    0 0
none                    /proc                   proc    defaults        0 0
none                    /dev/pts                devpts  gid=5,mode=620  0 0
/dev/hdc1               swap                    swap    defaults        0 0

Hint:

Mounting / with option "noatime" might be a good idea.

Hint:

For NFS to work properly, make sure /etc/rc.d/rc.portmap is chmod 755.

PCMCIA configuration

The second serial port and the sound card use IRQs 3 and 5 respectively, and the touch pad uses IRQ 10. Edit /etc/pcmcia/config.opts to prevent any PCMCIA devices being assigned these IRQs:

# Second built-in serial port
exclude irq 3
# Sound card
exclude irq 5
# Touch pad
exclude irq 10

Make sure the /etc/pcmcia/config.opts found in the initial ramdisk /boot/initrd has the same IRQs excluded.

Network

NOTE!

This section describes how to configure Hostap to use a Zyxel ZyAir B-100 11Mbps 802.11b WLAN card. This card uses the Prism3 chipset, and identifies itself as a "Linksys WPC11 11Mbps 802.11b WLAN Card". The following guidelines may work with other Prism3 chipset WLAN PCMCIA cards, but have only been tested with the card named above.

Hostap isn't included with the pcmcia-cs distribution, so needs adding to the configuration files. Edit /etc/pcmcia/config and add this to the "Device driver definitions" section at the top of the file:

device "hostap_cs"
  class "network" module "hostap_cs"

and in the "Wireless network adapters" section (about half way through the file) change

card "Linksys WPC11 11Mbps 802.11b WLAN Card"
  manfid 0x0274, 0x1613
  bind "orinoco_cs"

to

card "Linksys WPC11 11Mbps 802.11b WLAN Card"
  manfid 0x0274, 0x1613
  bind "hostap_cs"

Compile the driver modules and install them in /lib/modules/:

/lib/modules/2.4.29/kernel/drivers/net/pcmcia/hostap_cs.o
/lib/modules/2.4.29/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/hostap.o
/lib/modules/2.4.29/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/hostap_crypt_ccmp.o
/lib/modules/2.4.29/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/hostap_crypt_tkip.o
/lib/modules/2.4.29/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/hostap_crypt_wep.o
/lib/modules/2.4.29/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/hostap_pci.o
/lib/modules/2.4.29/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/hostap_plx.o
/lib/modules/2.4.29/pcmcia/hostap_cs.o

(/lib/modules/2.4.29/pcmcia/hostap_cs.o is a symbolic link to ../kernel/drivers/net/pcmcia/hostap_cs.o).

Build and install wpa_supplicant according to the instructions in the source package. See its README file for details. Configure wpa_supplicant as described in the README, and summarised here.

Create /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf:

network={
	ssid="<the network name>"
	scan_ssid=1
	key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
	psk="<the key>"
}

Add the following block to the end of 'start' action handler in /etc/pcmcia/wireless:

    if [ "$WPA" = "y" -a -x /usr/local/bin/wpa_supplicant ]; then
        /usr/local/bin/wpa_supplicant -Bw -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -i$DEVICE
    fi

Separate 'restart', 'resume', 'check' and 'suspend' action handlers from 'stop', and add the following block to the end of 'stop' action handler in /etc/pcmcia/wireless:

    if [ "$WPA" = "y" -a -x /usr/local/bin/wpa_supplicant ]; then
        killall wpa_supplicant
    fi

Edit /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts. Remove the section marked "SECTION TO REMOVE" at the beginning of the file and replace it with this:

*,*,*,*)
    ESSID="<the network name>"
    KEY="<the key>"
    MODE="Managed"
    WPA="y"
;;

Configure the network settings in /etc/pcmcia/network.opts. It's easiest if there is a DHCP server on the network, then the only change necessary is to ensure that

    DHCP="y"

dhcpcd will clobber /etc/ntp.conf if you don't tell it not to. Edit /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 and /etc/pcmcia/network and add -N to every invocation of /sbin/dhcpcd. dhcpcd restores the original /etc/ntp.conf when it exits, so kill any running dhcpcd process before editing /etc/ntp.conf.

Setting the clock

NTP configuration is optional but it's nice to have the clock tell the right time, particularly if there are NFS mounts.

The ntpd (version 4.2.0) supplied with Slackware 10.1 is a big program that will hog more than 3MB of memory, so chronyd is probably a better choice for the PC110. chronyd also measures the drift of the hardware clock, so can make a better estimate of the time immediately following a reboot.

Create /etc/chrony.conf containing this:

driftfile /etc/chrony.drift
rtcfile /etc/chrony.rtc
rtconutc
keyfile /etc/chrony.keys
commandkey 0

local stratum 10

server 0.europe.pool.ntp.org
server 1.europe.pool.ntp.org
server 2.europe.pool.ntp.org
server ch.pool.ntp.org
server uk.pool.ntp.org

deny all
allow 127.0.0.1

Hint:

Choose NTP servers located fairly close by geographically, if possible. This particular choice of time servers is appropriate for a computer somewhere in Europe.

Hint:

Set the time in the BIOS to UTC, or remove the line "rtconutc" from the configuration file. Keeping the time in the BIOS as UTC allows chronyd to keep track of daylight saving time correctly, but has the disadvantage that the time displayed on the front of the PC110 will be UTC not the local time.

Launch chronyd from /etc/rc.d/rc.local:

Create /etc/rc.d/rc.local, chmod 755, if it doesn't already exist. Add

echo "Starting NTP daemon: /usr/sbin/chronyd"
/usr/sbin/chronyd

to start NTP when the PC110 boots.