|
Howtos & Links
Online Programs
Online Programs - Beta
Emerging Technologies
ToDo's Incomplete
Fun Favourites
|
|
Installing Debian(Sarge) on IBM R51
Last updated: 1-Aug-05
General Hardware Specifications of R51:
|
Hardware Components
|
Status under Linux
|
Notes
|
| Pentium M Processor, 1.6 GHz |
Works |
No special procedure required during installation.APIC needed to enable cpu based dynamic frequency scaling |
| 15" XGA TFT Display |
Works |
Select Generic LCD Display in Installer |
| ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 -32MB |
Works |
Select 'ati' driver required during installation. ATI doesnot explicitly provide Linux based notebook drivers so out of luck. |
| 512MB, SDRAM, 2DIMMs |
Works |
No special procedure required during installation |
| 40 GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive |
Works |
No special procedure required during installation |
| No Floppy Drive |
- |
No special procedure required during installation |
| Integrated Network Card 10/100Mbps |
Works |
No special procedure required during installation |
| Internal 56k Modem |
Haven't tried |
In progress |
| 24X Max Variable CD-RW/DVD-ROM Drive |
Works |
No special procedure required during installation. Burner works fine in K3B |
| Internal Intel Pro 2200B/G |
Works |
ipw2200 at sourceforge.net work perfectly. Use the ipw2200 package available with debian. To see which package to install use
'apt-cache search ipw2200'. A useful utility is module-assistant. Also a 2.6.4+ kernel is required. |
| 6 cell Lithium-Ion Battery |
Works |
No special procedure required during installation. But to enable power-charging icon,etc in Graphical mode, a APIC-enabled kernel would be needed. To do that just dowload the latest kernel using apt and make sure APIC is enabled. |
| AC'97 |
Works |
Worked out of the Box
|
This laptop is operating under Kernel version 2.6.8-11
Basic Installation of Debian:
- Obtaining Debian
It can obtained from Debian.org. Rememeber to get an i386 edition of the CD-ISO. Usually the first CD-ISO is more than enough.
- Installing
If you have a dedicated ethernet connection. Pop the first CD in the laptop and reboot. Once the installation starts 'configure the netwrok' in the installation, and obtain a DHCP ip. If your machine has a Static IP configure that.
Once that is done, APT will give you an option to select the source from where you want to download the packages from. Use ftp or http sites and apt will download required packages from there. Dont panic,if the installation screen confuses you, default paramaters always work in debian!!!
I can easily boast that installation of R51 was just about 10-15 continous 'enter' key presses with the occasional choosing of options like Partitioning and giving a password to the linux system.
- Post-Install modifications/tweaks
Using apt its good to download tools like module-assistant, udev & usbmount(for USB), wget(if not already there). Compiling kernel is also very easy( will be required if you want to use APIC.
use 'apt-cache search kernel-source' and it will give you a list of kernel-sources. Download a latest version using 'apt-get install kernel-source-2.X-XX' X-XX= will depend on you. Now change to /usr/src and there you will see the downloaded file. Unzip it and then enter the unzipped directory.
use 'make xconfig'. If it complains that qt is not installed, call up our good friend apt to install it for us. Once 'qt' is installed a kernel-configuration window will pop up. Select the required options and 'save'. Once the kernel starts compiling, go for a coffee. Once the whole kernel is installed
,you will find a new .deb file in the /usr/src directory. This is the compiled kernel. To install it use dpkg -i *.deb' and the new kernel is installed. Now you are ready to reboot and try your new kernel. For more information on custom kernel compiling in debian see here and here.
For the faint-of-heart
you can install one of those pre-made kernel-image. Use apt-cache command to find them, and install using 'apt-get install kernel-image-X-XX'.
In case of a query or an errata shoot an email here to me at abhishek (at) ieee.org
Links you might find useful:
Enjoy Linuxing
|
