[WBEL-users] New Laptop!

[Daniel J. Summers]

(no, it just *looks* like I'm talking to myself...)

Okay - I got the install to come up, using

linux text nofb noapic nolapic xdriver=sis

At some point, I'm going to try dropping those (probably the "text" 
first, to see if the xdriver specification is enough), and I'll let you 
all know what that it.  (I'm also planning to write up what I had to do 
and post it on the web, so others can benefit from my blood (none yet), 
sweat (this laptop *does* get hot at times), and tears (none of those 
yet, either).

I'm running this laptop as a dual-boot with Windows XP.  I've done this 
more than once before, but never with a hard drive this size - and I 
think I messed up my partitions.  Automatic partitioning tells me that 
it can't create the required partitions.  I tried to reserve some 
"unpartitioned space" at the front of the drive (100MB) for grub, but 
Windows setup made me format it, so I formatted it with vfat.  Windows 
then installed on what it says is D:, and I've allocated a third 
partition (which Windows calls E:) to be formatted with vfat as a common 
area between the two OS's.

Since I was using the textmode version of anaconda, the below is a 
recreation of what Disk Druid reports, when I pull it up.

/dev/hda        Start    End    Size   Type
 hda1              1     13     101M  vfat
 hda2             14   7295   57121M  Extended
   hda5           14   1580   12291M  ntfs
   hda6         1581   3589   15759M  vfat
   Free space   3590   7295   29070M  Free space
 Free space     7296   7296       7M  Free space

I used XP's fdisk to allocate the partitions, and I'm guessing that it 
can't allocate /boot on a primary partition (which I thought I was 
doing).  Any ideas on what I need to do?  If my partitions are hosed, 
then they're hosed, and I'll have to rebuild them, which means setting 
XP back up (which isn't too much of a pain, but it's not painless 
either).  If I have to do that, would I need to allocate the partitions as

windows (12GB)
boot (100MB) - then delete this after creating the next...
shared (15GB)
swap (1GB)
linux (the rest)

or would it need to be windows / boot / linux / swap / shared?

Thanks...  :)

(this is a top-post - history follows...)

Daniel J. Summers wrote:

> Good evening.
>
> As an early Father's Day present, hastend by the demise of my previous 
> computer, I now have a brand new laptop.  I did research last night 
> and this morning, determining what I needed and what I needed to get 
> to assure a high level of compatibility with Linux.  What I settled on 
> was the Averatec 6200 series (specifically the 6240-EH1).  Folks 
> online have had success using FC1&2 and RH 9 on these, so I thought it 
> was a safe bet.  When I drop the WBEL4 install disk in the drive and 
> boot up, I see the "press enter for graphical, 'linux text' for text 
> mode" screen.  From this point, no matter what I enter, the kernel 
> unpacks, runs through and finds a bunch of devices, and then, when it 
> should come up and say "starting anaconda...", the screen blanks out 
> and, a few seconds later, the CD stops spinning.  The computer isn't 
> locked up, I just can't see what's going on.
>
> Here are the commands I tried...
> [Enter] (default graphical install)
> linux text
> linux resolution=1024x768
> linux noprobe
> linux noprobe skipddc
> linux noprobe skipddc resolution=1024x768
> linux noprobe skipddc resoluiton=1280x800 (it's a wide-screen)
>
> The 'text' version not working has really got me puzzled.  I was 
> already planning to write up a "how I did it" report once I got it 
> online - but I thought I would get to the integrated wireless LAN 
> adapter before I had my first hiccup!  :)  Here's what Knoppix's lspci 
> says (apologies in advance if it wraps)...
>
> 0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 760/M760 
> Host (rev 03)
> 0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SG86C202
> 0000:00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 
> SiS85C503/5513 (LPC Bridge) (rev 25)
> 0000:00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE]
> 0000:00:02.6 Modem: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] AC'97 Modem 
> Controller (rev a0)
> 0000:00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller: Silicon Integrated Systems 
> [SiS] Sound Controller (rev a0)
> 0000:00:03.0 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 
> Controller (rev 0f)
> 0000:00:03.1 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 
> Controller (rev 0f)
> 0000:00:03.3 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 
> Controller
> 0000:00:04.0 Ethernet controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 
> SiS900 PCI Fast Ethernet (rev 91)
> 0000:00:0a.0 CardBus bridge: ENE Technology Inc CB1410 Cardbus 
> Controller (rev 01)
> 0000:00:0e.0 Network controller: RaLink Ralink RT2500 802.11 Cardbus 
> Reference Card (rev 01)
> 0000:00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
> 0000:00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
> 0000:00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
> 0000:00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
> 0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems 
> [SiS] 661FX/M661FX/M661MX/741/M741/760/M760 PCI/AGP
>
> Thanks...  :)
>


-- 
*Daniel J. Summers*
E-mail - 	daniel at djs-consulting.com <mailto:daniel at djs-consulting.com>
*Web Sites:*
Business -  	http://www.djs-consulting.com <http://www.djs-consulting.com/>
Personal - 	http://www.djs-consulting.com/personal 
<http://www.djs-consulting.com/personal/>


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