Installing Slackware 10.1 on a PC110
Contents
Summary
This article describes how to configure Slackware 10.1 on a PC110, with a 4GB Hitachi Microdrive in one PCMCIA type II slot, a wireless network adapter in the other PCMCIA slot, as well as configuration settings for the video hardware, the built-in peripheral devices including the pointing stick and touch pad, the modem and IrDA serial ports, the sound hardware, and the power management features.
What works
- 4GB Hitachi Microdrive in a PCMCIA slot, from where the root filesystem is mounted
- PCMCIA Network adapters (3Com 3c589, Linksys WPC11 11Mbps 802.11b WLAN Card)
- Graphics adapter and accelerator (CT-65535)
- X.Org 6.8.1
- Digitizer pad
- IrDA
- ES488 Audio controller
- Modem
- Suspend/resume to RAM
What needs to be fixed
- Occasional video corruption when switching from X to console
- Suspend to disk (FnF12 -- there is an appropriate symbol on the key, but it is unknown whether the PC110 can suspend to disk at all)
- Floppy drive
ed@carrot:~$ sudo mount -t msdos /dev/fd0h1440 /mnt/floppy/
mount: block device /dev/fd0h1440 is write-protected, mounting read-only
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/fd0h1440,
missing codepage or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so
ed@carrot:~$ dmesg | tail
inserting floppy driver for 2.4.29
Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
FAT: bogus logical sector size 223
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 02:28.
FAT: bogus logical sector size 223
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 02:28.
Kernel configuration
The stock 2.4.29 Linux 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 (do this overnight if you're compiling on the PC110 itself) and copy the kernel to
/boot/bzImage-2.4.29. Install the modules in /lib/modules/2.4.29. Install any other modules you may have (hostap wireless network card driver modules, for example) 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:
- Add "PCMCIA" to the start-up disk choices in the BIOS, or
- 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 order. It's essential that the BIOS boot sequence doesn't include "PCMCIA", because if it does the BIOS will control the slot with the disk in, and pcmcia-cs will only control the one with the network card. The BIOS doesn't seem to be able to wake up the 4GB Hitachi Microdrive properly after a suspend/resume cycle, whereas the Linux IDE driver does.
/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
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
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).
WPA configuration
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
General wireless network configuration
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 (described in the next section).
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
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.
Keyboard map
Create /etc/rc.d/rc.keymap containing this:
#!/bin/sh # Load the keyboard map. More maps are in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps. if [ -x /usr/bin/loadkeys ]; then /usr/bin/loadkeys pc110.map fi
and chmod 755.
It'll be called from /etc/rc.d/rc.M when the system boots.
Sound
The sound card is 8-bit, mono, and SoundBlaster compatible.
Put this in /etc/modules.conf:
alias sound-slot-0 sb alias midi opl3 options opl3 io=0x388 options sb io=0x220 irq=5 dma=1 alias sound sb
Touch pad
The touch pad is fiddly and inconvenient to use, but it may as well be configured.
mknod /dev/pc110pad c 10 9
Run # /usr/sbin/mouseconfig and choose a PS/2 mouse, in order to link
/dev/mouse to /dev/psaux and create /etc/rc.d/rc.gpm.
Edit /etc/rc.d/rc.gpm to invoke gpm in repeater mode: change both occurrences of
/usr/sbin/gpm -m /dev/mouse -t ps2
to
/usr/sbin/gpm -R -tps2 -M -tps2 -m /dev/pc110pad -g1 -i500 -d8
And in /etc/modules.conf:
alias char-major-10-9 pc110pad
Serial ports
In the BIOS, [http://www.basterfield.com/pc110/bios/serial.htm set the serial ports] to "Infrared 1" (ttyS0) and "Modem 2" (ttyS1). The potentially most useful setting, activating the serial port on the port replicator and IrDA at the same time and ignoring the crappy modem altogether, is not available because these two devices share UART circuitry.
IrDA
The device files need to be created:
mknod /dev/ircomm0 c 161 0 mknod /dev/ircomm1 c 161 1 mknod /dev/irlpt0 c 161 16 mknod /dev/irlpt1 c 161 17 mknod /dev/irnet c 10 187 chmod 666 /dev/ir*
Put this in /etc/modules.conf:
alias tty-ldisc-11 irtty alias char-major-161 ircomm-tty
Get the [http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=5616 user-space IrDA tools] and install them.
# irattach /dev/ttyS0 -s should load all the required modules, and start flashing
the red light.
Modem
The modem is "FAX Class2/2.0 9600bps, DATA 2400/MNP5, VOICE (no standard)", and mostly undocumented. Finding suitable initialisation and command strings is left as an exercise for the reader.
Here is the information it is prepared to tell us:
ati0 Ver. 1.04 OK ati1 197 OK at&v ACTIVE PROFILE: E1 M1 Q0 T V1 X4 &C1 &D2 &K3 &Q0 &S0 &T0 S00:000 S02:043 S03:013 S04:010 S05:008 S06:003 S07:030 S08:002 S09:020 S10:014 S11:070 S12:050 S96:015 DEFAULT PROFILE: E1 M1 Q0 T V1 X4 &C1 &D2 &K3 &Q0 &S0 &T0 S00:000 S02:043 S06:003 S07:030 S08:002 S09:020 S10:014 S11:070 S12:050 S96:015 OK
The modem is really loud, so ATM0 would be a good start; wvdial might be useful too. /etc/wvdial.conf might look like:
[Dialer Defaults] Modem = /dev/modem Baud = 57600 # The PC110 modem doesn't like spaces in command strings. Init = ATZ Init2 = ATX3M0 Init3 = ATQ0V1E1S0=0&C1&D2S11=55+FCLASS=0 Phone = 555 555 5555 Username = name Password = password
APM
Standby mode
The BIOS takes care of entering standby mode and turning off the display backlight when running on battery power. The backlight stays on when connected to AC power.
Sleep mode
The system can be suspended by pressing FnF4, or by closing the lid. Opening the lid, or pressing Fn, wakes the machine up again.
Use the spare space on /dev/hda, mounted at /boot to keep a few handy binaries available even when /, the disk, is unavailable:
root@carrot:/boot# ls -lR apmd/ apmd/: total 2 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 2006-07-23 16:17 bin/ drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 2005-03-21 00:50 lib/ apmd/bin: total 349 -rwxr--r-- 1 root root 650 2006-07-23 12:09 apmd_proxy* -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 263064 2005-03-21 01:12 ash.static* -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 14276 2005-03-21 00:50 cardctl* -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 47656 2005-03-21 18:12 hdparm* -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 14288 2005-03-21 18:13 sleep* -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 11892 2005-03-21 18:13 sync* apmd/lib: total 1433 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 100449 2005-03-21 00:49 ld-linux.so.2* -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1357414 2005-03-21 00:50 libc.so.6*
/boot/apmd/bin/apmd_proxy is a script called by apmd immediately before going to sleep, and again immediately after waking up. Some experimentation has resulted in the following script:
#!/boot/apmd/bin/ash.static
# Make sure everything is flushed to the disk before suspending,
# and tell the disk to spin down.
LD_SO=/boot/apmd/lib/ld-linux.so.2
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/boot/apmd/lib
case "$1" in
suspend)
$LD_SO --library-path $LD_LIBRARY_PATH /boot/apmd/bin/sync
$LD_SO --library-path $LD_LIBRARY_PATH /boot/apmd/bin/sync
$LD_SO --library-path $LD_LIBRARY_PATH /boot/apmd/bin/sync
$LD_SO --library-path $LD_LIBRARY_PATH /boot/apmd/bin/hdparm -f /dev/hdc
$LD_SO --library-path $LD_LIBRARY_PATH /boot/apmd/bin/hdparm -Y /dev/hdc
;;
resume)
# The IDE disk driver will wake the disk up again if it is properly stopped before suspending.
;;
esac
Edit /etc/rc.d/rc.M to tell apmd where to find the script to execute.
# Start APM or ACPI daemon.
# If APM is enabled in the kernel, start apmd:
if [ -e /proc/apm ]; then
if [ -x /usr/sbin/apmd ]; then
echo "Starting APM daemon: /usr/sbin/apmd"
/usr/sbin/apmd -P /boot/apmd/bin/apmd_proxy
fi
elif [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.acpid ]; then # otherwise, start acpid:
. /etc/rc.d/rc.acpid start
fi
Hibernation mode
Although the F12 key has a symbol on it that suggests suspending to disk, FnF12 does nothing.
X.Org 6.8.1
Turn off "Font Window" in the BIOS memory settings.
Here is a working xorg.conf. Note that
Option "SWCursor"
is essential: configured to use the default hardware cursor, X will fail to start, and will just show a black screen and use 100% CPU until it's killed.
The PC110 has enough video RAM to display 800x600 and 256 colours, either using a virtual desktop and a 640x480 viewport on the computer's own display, or full-screen using an external monitor connected to the VGA port on the port replicator. The appropriate Modeline to use depends on the desired settings for the external monitor.
Using lwm is a good way to make the most of the PC110's limited memory. Finding button 2 on the mouse is a bit tricky, and so is accurately moving the pointer to a window frame, so
lwm*button1: xterm lwm*focus: click
makes a good addition to ~/.Xresources.
Miscellaneous
Prevent syslogd from filling up the log with
Mar 12 08:40:33 carrot -- MARK -- Mar 12 09:00:36 carrot -- MARK -- Mar 12 09:20:41 carrot -- MARK -- Mar 12 09:40:43 carrot -- MARK -- Mar 12 10:20:48 carrot -- MARK -- Mar 12 10:56:35 carrot -- MARK --
messages (and, more importantly, waking up the disk all the time and draining the battery without good reason) by editing /etc/rc.d/rc.syslog: add -m 0 to the invocation:
echo -n "/usr/sbin/syslogd -m 0 " /usr/sbin/syslogd -m 0
/etc/rc.d/rc.modules is mostly comment; it only loads two modules as installed -- agpgart and ide-scsi. Neither are useful on the PC110, so comment both of them out to avoid a couple of error messages at boot time.
External Sources
- This guide is listed at the TuxMobil Linux laptop and notebook installation survey (IBM/Lenovo).
