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hey, i got this lappy for my b-day (which was today), and i cant find the lappy of mine listed as being tested with linux anywhere.
i have used google a lot but found nothing. ive tried linux-on-laptops and tuxmobil with nothing.
can somebody give me advice on this, i dont want to jump in the deep end, although i do wish to install gentoo on it :D
thanks in advance,
-weed
Can you change the hard disk easily on it? If so, get a new cheapo 2.5inch HDD, put it in, and give your fave distro a try. You'll be able to go back to the system that came with the laptop pretty easy if it all goes tits up.
Dont forget to publish the results of what you find; if nobody has tried it before you'll be a compaq presario Linux virgin.
the hadr drive is removable. but i think i will wait a bit b4 i put in a new hdd.
i am thinking of using partition magic to resize the ntfs partition, then installing gentoo on the spare space.
i booted with the gentoo install cd, and it could recognise the sound or video card (it recognised them as ati???).
oh, and btw, i got recovery cd's for windows and the software, so i am assuming if it does screw up, i can reinstall everything (i think).
thanks Roxoff, i am looking forward to putting linux on my lappy,
-weed
i installed fc4 on it, the install took a fair while, but it worked.
the most annoying thing was the toughpad during the installation. it kept on going psycho.
however, it boots much faster (faster than my celeron 2.6ghx with 2X the ram).
it is a pain as the cpu scaling meter button on the gnome bar-thingy shows that it is running at 1.8ghz (which is full speed). it also says that cpu scaling is not enabled, which obviously i need to recompile my kernel to get.
not too shabby. video works, sound works. its all cool. i cant wait until i install gentoo on it though.
-weed out
That's odd - CPU scaling works on my laptop, I use the standard kernels that come with FC4 updates. Are you sure your laptop supports cpu scaling?Quote:
Originally Posted by Weedman
May I ask what the type of processor your laptop has?
And happy birthday :)
thanks onlinebacon :DQuote:
Originally Posted by onlinebacon
the processor is an AMD Sempron 3000+ and is recognised by the compiled 2.6.15 kernel i just made for it as a k8, although the kernel output shows athlon 64???????
i would be stoked if it is a 64bit proc, but my guess is no.
and a check, fc4's kernel does not build in the k8 cpufreq module, it makes it a module. which i cannot find in the lib/modules/kernel thingy.
compiling the 2.6.15 kernel that i have sitting around (and used reliably), cpufreq works, cpu is properly detected, but the kernel output says: "Warning: cannot open initial console", so i may just go ahead and install gentoo on it :D .
i still cant believe that my lappy boots fc4 faster than my 2.6 celeron desktop, but windows runs hell slower. this IS a true linux laptop!
consider yourself amazing if you can read the above, i am sooo damn tired.
-weed
installed gentoo last night.
1st issue. spent over 1 hour trying to figure out the "-mach" option in CFLAGS for my processor, as make gave me errors when i put in "k8". later found to be "athlon-xp".
2nd issue. net took forever to get up and running. but that happens all the time :cool: .
3rd issue. firewire was eth0, not my ethernet (which ended up being eth1, but i cant complain).
4th issue (the biggest by far). cannot get framebuffer working. my original kernel had as a module, so i recompiled with radeofb in by default.
it said in some instructions somewhere that if i compile in vesafb, then i will have problems with X.
41/2th card reader doesnt work. but i knew about that from stuff i read on the net at the start.
any ideas/suggestions for the framebuffer issue?
thanks guys
-weed
tried to install the ati drivers:
i am wondering what i should do as (i think) that emerge emerged the 8.14 drivers, but i think that the 8.21 drivers support pcie (which is what i need).Code:modprobe fglrx
FATAL: Error inserting fglrx (/lib/modules/2.6.15-gentoo-r1/video/fglrx.ko): No such device
the only way to get the 8.21 drivers is to mask the 8.21 drivers.
is that in any way very dangerous?
thanks
-weed
Unmasking isn't really dangerous, it is just that packages which aren't unmasked haven't had every bug fixed. Myself I haven't had trouble using unmasked packages and everything seems to work fine.
Also, you should know that most Semprons are 32 bit, only some of the newer desktop ones are 64 bit. I have yet to see a 64-bit Sempron in a laptop.
IIRC some card readers are supported in the kernel. Just find which one is yours and compile the driver for it.