Re: TP755Cs/LINUX Slackware 2.2.0 Installation

[Eugene Fiume <elf@dgp.toronto.edu>]

I can't address the issue of power management, but I loaded a Linux kernel
both from the recent Infomagic release and from David Hind's PCMCIA
boot floppies, and had little trouble installing Linux.  I didn't have
to make any of the dreaded kernel mods for the floppy, nor did I need
the special boot floppy that apparently was needed for prior releases.
That is, the new kernel (1.2.5 and above) seems to know about ThinkPads.

Windows, DOS, OS/2 Warp were already installed on the system, so I
defragmented, and ran FIPS to partition in place.  I admit to taking a
full system backup, however, by tarring to my Sun box and creating
appropriate system floppies.  The HOWTO's are extremely informative.
Also, if you are getting the Infomagic release, be sure to check out
the Windows browser for the HOWTO's.

Target installation:  755CE with 810MB drive.

With PCMCIA support, Linux was able to find my (NE2000 compatible)
ethernet card, so I was joyfully NFS'ing very quickly.  It's a real
treat to be able to cross-mount ThinkPad partitions on my Sun and vice
versa.  You won't be able to do this in a production shop though,
because I found I had to HUP the inetd fairly regularly on disconnect
and reconnect.  A two-point twisted-pair connection requires a special
TP cable, by the way (it's essentially a null-modem TP cable).

To get the card properly initialised, it seems that I have to boot DOS
first, and then do a LOADLIN.  This suits me fine, because the default
is that it's a standard DOS/Windows box.  With IRQ rearrangement, I
could probably get away with not doing this.

Outstanding problems: getting 16bpp from the WD driver, no access to
any MWAVE functions (including modem, SB, fax, MIDI), and no support
for my Raven CD-Note PCMCIA SCSI CD-ROM.  Can anyone provide any advice
on any of these problems?  Note that this is exactly where I'm sitting
with OS/2 as well, so you can guess which one I'm going to trash.
If you have problems loading Linux from your CD-ROM, but the unit is
visible from one of the other systems, then it is quite convenient to
load the distribution from the CD-ROM to your hard disk and install from
there.  It's probably faster that way too.

Anyway, if you have a similar set up, I *might* be competent to answer
questions.

By the way, if you are going to use a ThinkPad exclusively for Linux,
then I would suggest that you purchase a cheaper Pad.  The nifty goodies
like MWAVE/DSP just aren't usable, as far as I can see.   An inconvenience
yes, but I'm not bitter about it as another poster appears to be.

In X, be sure to use a virtual screen (defined in XFConfig).  You'll really
miss the higher resolution otherwise.

Overall, my 755CE performs at an almost identical clip to my Sun SS10/41.
For cache intensive stuff, the 1MB cache of the 41 can't be beat, but
for basic computing they are both qualitatively and quantitatively similar.

Cheers,
Eugene Fiume.