updated 2003-05-06
contents:
building a computer from little pieces -- and other, faster ways of getting a good PC.
see also
assembling a custom PC
``The Ultimate Linux Box 2001: How to Design Your Dream Machine'' by Eric S. Raymond 2001-10-16 http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=5563 | mirror http://tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/ultimate-linux-box/ and its sequel, ``Ultimate Linux Box update page'' by Eric S. Raymond 2002-02 http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/ultimate-linux-box/update.html
yogurt lids ... decent electrical insulators and just the right height to cover ill-placed mounting hardware that would otherwise short out the motherboard
TechIMO.com - The hardware enthusiast communityhttp://www.techimo.com/ ???
X-Lotus-FromDomain: BRUNSWICKOUTDOOR From: "David Cary" <dcary at Brunswickoutdoor.com> To: ProtelEDAusers at techservinc.com cc: d.cary at ieee.org Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 16:11:41 -0600 Subject: appropriate hardware to run Protel Dear Robi Bittler, I'm looking for a computer system myself. I appreciate the recommendations from Matt Pobursky. Buyer's Guides and reviews: http://arstechnica.com/guide/ http://www.zdnet.com/computershopper/filters/category/0,12221,1,00.html http://www.pcguide.com/art/mb.htm http://www.compare.net/category.asp?catId=123 http://209.185.142.203/guide_search.jsp?p=go2net&tx=7e&ip=50002 ( http://www.go2net.com/) Price comparisons: http://www.pricewatch.com/ http://www.compgeeks.com/ http://www.mysimon.com/category/index.jhtml?c=reviseddesktoppc http://shopper.cnet.com/ I'm using a AMD-K6(tm) 3D+ Processor 128 MB RAM Windows98se and I'm using the ".ddb" file formap in Protel. As suggested by someone on this list (Abdulrahman Lomax, I think), I put the the "Resource Meter" in my startup folder so it's always displaying in the system tray. I hit "save" and sure it's green (by closing other background applications; sometimes exiting Protel and starting it again) before I do something resource-intensive in Protel like autorouting or editing design rules. I usually reboot the system when I leave for lunch; perhaps this is just superstition. (If I let the resource meter get down to red and then do something intensive like editing Protel design rules or opening a web browser, it often crashes the computer, forcing me to reboot Windows98). Seems to work fine for me. Most likely I'll use another AMD chip in my next machine. -- David Cary Robi Bittler <robi_bi at dingoblue.net.au> on 2001-01-22 06:34:32 PM ... I am looking for a new system. Robi ... Robi Bittler <robi_bi at dingoblue.net.au> on 2001-01-23 03:31:23 AM ... Is anyone running 99SE on an AMD maschine - if so - how does the maschine perform and also which Operating system and how much memory has your computer got put in. ...
[FIXME: don't I have more links to strange-looking case mods ?]
ways to modify a PC to make it much quieter, and reviews of particularly quiet PCs.
see also
...
Mike's Water-cooled CPU ... there are days I wish I could water-cool all the computers in the lab, not to overclock them, but to make them quiet!http://www.agaweb.com/coolcpu/
DAV added this comments:
the Dana wearable_electronic.html#dana is very quiet.
-- David Cary http://www.pixelsandwidgets.com/cgi-bin/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=199Compared to a desktop computer, the AlphaSmart Dana appears to be overpriced, underpowered, colorless, etc.
There are only 2 things it can do that desktop machines cannot do, and no other laptop I've ever seen can do:
- 1. It's completely silent (if you change the "sound" settings to "off"). No humming fan, no spinning CD drive, not even a spinning hard drive.
- 2. It has 25 hours of untethered "on time" between recharges.
A few PDAs can do those 2 things, but the Dana is the only one that
- 3. It has a full-size keyboard that I can peck on while standing up.
Tell me if you find any other computing devices with all 3 characteristics.
This is complete as of 1998-08-13.
DAV's HP48GX is serial number
ID 8 04 06025 | | | +-- unit number 06025 that week | | +---- week 04 | +------ year 8 (1998) +-------- made in Indonesia
When I type ``VERSION'', it says
"Version HP48-R" "Copyright HP 1993"
[FIXME: move this text to the HP Calculators Wiki http://hydrix.com/wiki/pmwiki.php/ ]
ASTR by Martin A. Lang. http://www.hpcalc.org/details.php?id=3271 ``A collection of astronomy and calendar functions: position, rise, culmination and set time and location for sun, moon and planets, moon phases, calendar, holy days, Julian day, coordinate and time conversions, general rise and set time, daylight saving time switch, great circle distance, compass function.''
[FIXME: check this out]
http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/docs/programming/usr_tut.zip set time (utc ?) ??http://www.ecf.utoronto.ca/~fidler/hardware.html ?? cycles.zip from http://www.engr.uvic.ca/~aschoorl/ http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/docs/programming/cycles.zip the HP48 Universal Font Library ufl102.zip uflsrc102.zip from http://www.engr.uvic.ca/~aschoorl/ufl/ http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/docs/programming/brazo-en.zip how one could possibly write a program to control a robot arm.
playing with Paul's machine: d0b1t0d0 Disk Drive (DASD) IC35L040 AVER07-0 39266MB Optimal http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-i386/2002/06/29/0000.html
front of case says:
MaxVision
Symbion series
AXP164A
AlphaPowered
sticker on back says:
Model No.: 202-0017-020
Serial No.: 41973245
...
Part Number SKN9-E30-Zk6Description
ASXP164A S500 NT40SGT256TP48U
MEM KIT 256MB Parity
4.3GB ULTRA WIDE ST3
GLMAX88T
TOSHIBA CD-ROM 12-24 ATAPI
SMC PCI 10/100 ETHERPOWER
I think the video card is a: MaxVision GLmax88T GL 500TX/Delta PCI
I bought a new Belkin PCI 10/100 ethernet card; the CD that came with it says "Some LINUX kernels had supported rtl8139 NIC. ... If your LINUX (ex. RedHat 6.1 or above) can auto-detect rtl8139 NIC, you just skip the following installations and follow the screen's instructions to install rtl8139.o driver directly."
After I bought it (used) for $200 (in 2002), naturally I wanted to install some sort of free OS on it.
[FIXME: summarize]
http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/alpha/install Firmware: point to (step-by-step instructions at "Loading MILO from the Windows NT ARC firmware" http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/MILO-HOWTO/load-section.html mirror http://www.gslis.utexas.edu/mirrors/LDP/HOWTO/MILO-HOWTO/intro-section.html ) (information about updating firmware at http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/alpha/ch-rescue-boot.en.html#s-alpha-firmware file://///MUSTANG/Incoming/Debian3r1/install/doc/ch-rescue-boot.en.html#s-alpha-firmware which points to http://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/Alpha/firmware/ ) milo/linload.exe milo/PC164 then: CD-ROM: sr0 boot sr0:/boot/linux load_ramdisk=1 boot sr0:/boot/linux root=/dev/fd0 load_ramdisk=1 boot sr0:/boot/linux root=/dev/sr0 load_ramdisk=1 made a floppy out of rescue.bin, then make a floppy out of root.bin MILO: boot fd0: insert rescue.bin floppy ... insert root.bin floppy. [FIXME: do this from CD; we shouldn't need floppies.] take everything out of the floppy drive boot sr0:/boot/linux root=/dev/sr0/boot/root.bin load_ramdisk=1 boot sr0:/boot/linux root=/dev/sr0/boot/ load_ramdisk=1 boot sr0:/boot/linux root=/dev/ram load_ramdisk=1 made a floppy out of rescue.bin milo> boot fd0: then when it says "Insert root floppy" I put in a floppy I made from root.bin ... installing Debian ... after initializing the / root partitian, instead of taking the default, go to shell and format the 5 MB FAT16 partition # mkdosfs /dev/sda2 then choose the option "mount a previously initialized partition" and select sda2 (the 5 MB FAT16 boot partition) as /boot. add a new boot option: supplementary add a boot on scsi id 0 partition 2 osloader: bootlx ... boot sda2: ... gave up on debian. Discovered http://alphalinux.org/ | mirror http://www.linuxalpha.org/
2002-02-22: tried Red Hat Seawolf. ... \milo\arcsbios\linload.exe \milo\images\pc164.img.gz \milo\arc\linload.exe
2002-02-22: Gave up on Red Hat for Alpha, tried SUSE. http://suse.com/ which pointed at this this mirror: Canada ftp.nrc.ca/pub/systems/linux/suse/ (Ottawa ON) . ... followed the step-by-step instructions in the Readme.axp file ... OsLoader=multi(0)disk(0)fdisk(0)\linload.exe OsLoadFileName=\milo OsOptions= creating disks from the /SuSE/7.1/disks/ floppy images ... hangs after reading from the 1st disk at "Swapping to PALcode at 0x00 ..." ... tried the noname boot floppy 1 ... hangs at same place. ... tried alcore boot floppy 1 .... ... tried \SuSE\7.1\disks\pc164 ... tried sx164 ... tried ruffian "NT firmware Monitor. Machine Check occured" ... copied from Debian 3r1 CD-ROM the files "pc164" and "linload.exe" onto a DOS floppy; OsLoader=multi(0)disk(0)fdisk(0)\linload.exe OsLoadFileName=\milo OsOptions= which *paused* at the "Swapping to PALcode at 0x00 ..." message, then erased the screen, changed the background color from blue to black, a few more messages and the "MILO> " prompt. Now continue to the next SuSE step: Put in disk 2, and
When you can see the Milo-prompt ('milo>'), insert the disk with the 'kernel' image and type: milo> boot fd0:/vm_full.gz root=/dev/fd0 fake_initrdIt asks to put in the "root floppy", I put in disk 3, it spins for a while and asks "Please choose the language". and it leads us through setup. .... "Kernel messages" says "Booting GENERIC on EB164 variation PC164" -- I still don't know which machine type I had; I just tried a bunch until I found "pc164" seemed to work, and I never bothered to try any others. Odd that the Debian "pc164" seems to work, but the SuSE "pc164" doesn't work. Tangent: tried the eb164 SuSE boot floppy hangs after reading from the 1st disk at "Swapping to PALcode at 0x00 ..." ... Tangent: tried the eb164 from Debian on a DOS flopppy with linload.exe hangs after reading from the 1st disk at "Swapping to PALcode at 0x00 ..." . So looks like Debian "pc164" is the only one that works.
Put in Debian boot floppy. Turn on power. Choose "boot from Milo floppy" (that I set up earlier ...); wait for "MILO> " prompt. put in disk 2 (kernel) and type milo> boot fd0:/vm_full.gz root=/dev/fd0 fake_initrd wait for .... then put in floppy disk 3 (RAM file system) ... setting up, answer questions on language, keyboard, color... ... Kernel modules; autoprobe finds rtl8139 ... [ then it asks: "Please choose the source media: CD-ROM, Network (NFS), Network (FTP), Harddisk". I have 6 GB of SuSE stuff I downloaded onto (a different) computer (that has a CD burner), but it's not clear exactly which of that stuff I need to put on a CD. ... OK, I turn on a FTP server on that computer and connect then to a hub, and choose "Network (FTP)". didn't find my network, card, so I hit "back" a few steps: Kernel modules; Load network card module I have a Belkin 10/100BT PCI ethernet card (MPX), but I don't see that on the list. randomly tried pick ne2k-pci: failed. tried 3c90x: failed tried 3c59x: failed. tried 3c509: failed. rtl8139: RealTek: succeeded ! ... ] ... Start installation / system 192.168.100.20 : my alpha 192.168.100.119 : ftp server .... "Trying to connect to the FTP server..." seems to take a long time... The FTP server tells me that it logged on, but then disconnected without downloading anything. I can't figure out how to change this.
2002-02-22: Trying Debian again. Following directions from /Debian3r1/install/doc/install.en.html create 3 floppy disks: a disk containing MILO and LINLOAD.EXE Debian3r1\dists\woody\main\disks-alpha\3.0.23-2002-05-21\images-1.44\rescue.bin Debian3r1\dists\woody\main\disks-alpha\3.0.23-2002-05-21\images-1.44\root.bin turn on power with MILO disk. "Boot Milo floppy" wait for "MILO> " prompt. Switch to rescue disk. MILO> boot fd0:linux.bin.gz root=/dev/fd0 load_ramdisk=1 this fails. (Documentation typo ?) MILO> ls fd0: lets us see what's on this (non-DOS format) disk. MILO> boot fd0:linux.gz root=/dev/fd0 seems to load and run ... when messages says to, switch to "root" floppy. "... bad magic number ... Kernel panic ... Unable to mount". Put the rescue disk back in. MILO> boot fd0:linux.gz root=/dev/fd0 load_ramdisk=1 [FIXME: later try booting from CD-ROM, section 5.4.2] when messages says to, switch to "root" floppy. ... I see the "Release Notes" screen. Adam Di Carlo and the beginning of it asking me a bunch of install questions. ... /dev/sda6: linux swap /dev/sda5: linux ... once we've mounting root filesystem, hit Alt-F2 and create a small FAT-16 boot partition, and copy the files from the MILO disk onto it. After partitioning sda2 as FAT-16, use # mkdosfs /dev/sda2 to format it FAT-16. Then mkdir /target/boot mount /dev/sda2 /target/boot cd /target/boot mkdir cdrom mount /dev/sr0 cdrom cd cdrom/milo cp linload.exe /target/boot cp pc164 /target/boot umount /target/boot/cdrom umount /target/boot Alternate1: mount a previously-initialized partition: choose: /dev/sda2 as /boot hostname: sherman Warning: file:/instmnt/pool/main/..../libdb3_... is corrupt. I started over, and got this far with a *different* file claimed to be corrupt. Burned a fresh CD-ROM, turned the power off, started over ... Seemed to install fine. Make System Bootable Reboot the system just drops me down to the "MILO> " prompt. Now what do I do ? put in rescue disk and boot fd0:linux.gz rescue root=/dev/sda5 "Congratulations, you have successfully installed Debian !". If you want ot revisit this setup process at a later date, just run /usr/sbin/base-config . .... investigate and uncomment the entries for security.debian.org at the bottom of /etc/apt/sources.list . 'tasksel' lets you select additional software. made root.bin floppy disk put in the root.bin floppy put in the Debian CD Turn on the AXP box at bluescreen, arc bios, run ... CD ROM ... /milo/linload.exe and /milo/pc164 boot, it spins the CD and gives the "MILO> " prompt. MILO> boot sr0:/boot/linux root=/dev/fd0 load_ramdisk=1 basic install reboot Then "MILO> " prompt comes up. MILO> boot sda5:/vmlinux_____ root=/dev/sda5 then continue Debian install. Installing Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 For Alpha version 3.0.23, 16 May, 2002 Bruce Perens Sven Rudolph Igor Grobman James Treacy Adam Di Carlo Debian3r1/install/doc/ch-preparing.en.html "The gcc compiler is often the first thing to die from bad memory modules" -- DAV: todo: ask the maintainer to add pointer to reliability test page.
"If you have booted from MILO, the installer will attempt to find a FAT-formatted partition and copy linload.exe and the MILO binary there." -- Debian3r1/install/doc/ch-init-config.en.html seems incorrect -- I have 2 FAT-16 partitions on this machine, and the installer didn't put linload.exe on either one.If you still have problems, please submit a bug report. Send an email to submit@bugs.debian.org. You must include the following as the first lines of the email: Package: boot-floppies Version: Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 r1 "Woody" - Official alpha Binary-1 CD
I'm getting a bunch of CD-ROM errors, so I plugged a different CD-ROM into this AXP. .... [set up stuff] ... power on: ... selection ... add a new boot ... loadidentifier=DebianMilo sytempartition=scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2) osloader=scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\linload.exe osloadpartition=scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2) osloadfilename=\pc164 osloadoptions= .... boot ... wait for MILO prompt. type MILO> boot sda5:vmlinuz root=/dev/sda5 [How do I get it to do this by default all the time, so I don't have to type this every time there's a power failure ? ] wait for fsck to finish wait for ...
2003-02-28: start all over. Put in root floppy and Debian CD. Turn on. boot Milo off Debian CD (at bluescreen, arc bios, run ... CD ROM ... /milo/linload.exe and /milo/pc164) boot, it spins the CD and gives the "MILO> " prompt. MILO> boot hda:/boot/linux root=/dev/fd0 load_ramdisk=1 (hda is the new CD-ROM drive) wait for VFS: Insert root floppy disk message and hit enter Debian Installation menu. asks a bunch of questions ... mount /dev/sda5/ as / root filesystem ... hostname: sherman Installing Base System ... Alternate1: Reboot the system then type ------------------------------------------------------------------------- MILO> boot sda5:/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- it tells me If you want to revisit this setup process ... /usr/sbin/base-config . it asks more questions.... omni bus ... If you have another Debian CD I stick in the update CD (I'm not sure it really recognized it) ... Use security updates from http://security.debian.org/ ? said No this time time because last time we said yes and it failed. (tasksel ?) Just do minimual stuff now: only [*] X window system [*] desktop environment ... Run dselect ? No, because it was complicated. Please insert so we stick in the first Debian install disk. Kernel link failure info Is this an error message ? I'll just ignore it. ... to configure ... the statd daemon .... use program name statd in /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny Run defoma-psfont-installer later. ... to register PostScript fonts ... ... I choose default display manager: kdm It tells me kdm can be configured to manage remote X servers by ... editing /etc/kde2/kdm/Xaccess and /etc/kde2/kdm/kdmrc . See the kdm(1) manual page ... the "-dpi 100" setting can be changed or removed by editing /etc/kde2/kdm/Xservers . Manage X server wrapper configuration file with debconf ? ( /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config ) Yes. Select a video card drive. we tried "glint" last time; that didn't work. This time we try "vga". Use kernel framebuffer device interface ? I don't know, let's try Yes. mouse port: /dev/psaux plain "PS/2" mouse. "simple" configuration: 15 inch monitor. It automatically chooses 640x480, we'll change that later. We choose 8 bit color; we'll change that later. What is wenglish ? ... Please insert ... Debian ... Update CD 2 Hey, it worked. .... Why does it give me 3 choices Leave alone None C when "C" and "Leave alone" are the same ? Errors were encountered while processing gdm ... Please fix them and run [I]nstall again So we hit alt-F2 and logged to manually to create a link: typed ln -s /dev/psaux /dev/mouse . ... Retry ? Yes. ... exim ... what's that ? I don't want mail on this system. We pick 4 (local mail delivered). ... /etc/aliases ... hit alt-F2 and adduser caryd ... Debian ... sherman login: So now what ? ... Apparently gpm isn't installed. How do I fix that ? "gpmconfig" doesn't exist yet. ... what is c2man ? If I run "tasksel" now, it's missing a few options at the top. So I run /usr/sbin/base-config and it gets to "tasksel" with the full options. Then I looked at http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/reference/ch-package.en.html which recommended Make sure to run the commands as follows: # dselect update # tasksel so now I see "tasksel" with the full options. ( http://www.tldp.org/linuxfocus/English/January1998/article22.html ?) Trying to get Ethernet working ... http://www.debian.org/releases/woody/alpha/ch-install-system.en.html says to run modconf so I do that, and... Select net modules what happens if we select a bunch of these ? ... let it use autoprobing ... picked ne2k-pci.c ... failed. picked 3c509 ... failed. picked 3c59x ... failed. picked 8390 ... Installation succeeded. Now we run base-config ... http://www.debian.org/releases/woody/alpha/ch-install-system.en.html suggests looking at man interfaces which describes the /etc/network/interfaces file. Am I supposed to manually edit this, or is there an autoprobe / autoconfigure program ? ... man page for update-modules we edited vi aliases alias eth0 8390 #Belkin then run update-modules ... http://www.debian.org/releases/woody/alpha/ch-install-system.en.html then says Alternatively, you can install etherconf, which will step you through your network setup. . And how do I do that ? ... used dselect to install etherconf, then run etherconf . didn't find my card. ... following instructions that came with the card in the /Linux directory ... /usr/include/asm/pgtable.h:359: asm-generic/pgtable.h: No such file or directory. Why is pgtable.h trying to include itself ? There's only 1 pgtable.h anywhere on the hard drive. swich between GUI and text consoles with Ctrl-alt-F1 alt-F7 . Change video resolutions: Ctrl-alt-+ kill the X server: Ctrl-alt-backspace http://en.tldp.org/LDP/lame/LAME/linux-admin-made-easy/xwindows-configuration.html The program "Xconfigurator" doesn't seem to exist ... but Debian does have xf86config which references SuperProbe which also doesn't seem to exist on this linux box. xf86config ... out of the most promising 135 Diamond Fire GL 3000 GLINT 500TX 186 ELSA GLoria-L GLINT 500TX 231 Generic VGA 516 unsupported Generic VGA we pick 186 ELSA GLoria-L GLINT 500TX It asks "How much video memory do you have on your video card ?" How am I supposed to know ? I randomly guess 4096 MB (? http://www.deskeng.com/articles/98/March/nt/nt1197.htm ?) (? http://www.maxvision.com ?) The XF86Config file. http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/reference/ch-tips.en.html has a section "Let me disable X on boot!" The "one true way" doesn't seem to work, but the "rename" method does seem to work: now it boots to a sherman login: prompt. http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/reference/ch-tips.en.html briefly mentions Samba networking. todo: Configuring an Ethernet Card http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/users-guide/ch-ctsystem.en.html#s-cnetworks Configuring the Graphical Display http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/users-guide/ch-ctsystem.en.html#s-ctgd \\Mustang\incoming\Debian3r1\install\doc\ch-post-install.en.html
------------- paul re-installed everything; using Debian milo and Red Hat for everything else ----- Red Hat Linux release 7.1 (Seawolf) Linux 2.4.9-40
Kudzu automatically detects that I no longer have Paul's serial mouse plugged in, but have a PS/2 mouse plugged in instead.
When I log in and type startx I see a little bit of graphics, then the screen turns black. Typing Ctrl+Alt+F1 then Alt+F7 then the graphics look OK.
Start | Programs | Settings | Gnome Control Center | Screensaver When I choose the "Flow" screensaver, the computer locks up. The mouse cursor moves when I move the mouse, but clicking and typing on the keyboard have no effect. Have to hit the power button. ... testing out all the screen savers: 3D Clock through Atlantis. Bumps seem OK. Locks up after the demo for "Cage" plays for a few seconds. Coral through flame seem ok. Forest through Hopalong seem OK Locks up after the "Hypercube" demo plays for a few seconds. IFS through Laser seem OK.
"Linux Networking HOWTO" by Joshua Drake 2000 http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Net-HOWTO/ "Linux Ethernet-Howto" by Paul Gortmaker 2000 http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Ethernet-HOWTO "Linuc IP Masquerade HOWTO" http://en.tldp.org/HOWTO/IP-Masquerade-HOWTO/
useful commands: /sbin/ifconfig (shows current IP address on all configured connections; and other information) ??? less /var/log/syslog (view information logged by DHCP, etc.) less /etc/xinetd.conf (some Linux distributions call this the /etc/inetd.conf file) ??? netstat ??? dmesg | less (lets you review the boot-time messages) cat /proc/net/dev /etc/rc.d/init.d/network (gives one-line "help" usage) /etc/rc.d/init.d/network status /etc/rc.d/init.d/network restart
Why do I (sometimes) get a "unaligned trap" on dhcpcd ?
Securing and Optimizing Linux RedHat Edition -A Hands on Guide http://tldp.org/LDP/solrhe/Securing-Optimizing-Linux-RH-Edition-v1.3/
todo: set up serial comm on UPS with "powerd" to properly shut things down 2 minutes (?) after power fails. see less /etc/inittab for details. Appletalk and netatalk http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Net-HOWTO/x2202.html Details on handling memory accesses in an architecture independent fashion are documented in the file linux/Documentation/IO-mapping.txt that comes with recent kernels. -- http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Ethernet-HOWTO-2.html ... changed network settings on tiny from obtain ip address automatically (no gateway) Computer name: CX2044787-A to (fixed ip address) (internal ip of AXP box) Computer name: tiny ... FIXME: later enable DHCP on AXP box and flip this back.
Dell Optiplex GX1 tower ``Dell ... System Optiplex GX1 350MTBR+'' http://www.linuxcare.com/labs/certs/C1F1C6Ra.epl 350 MHz Pentium II 192 MB SDRAM 6 GB HD (784 cyls x 255 heads x 63 sectors x 512 bytes/sector) (4 MB SGRAM video memory)
3Com 3C918 Integrated Fast Ethernet Controller (3C905-TX ...)
Video card: apparently: ATI Rage Pro Turbo AGP 2X (integrated into the motherboard).
bought used; when I bought it, it had Windows ME installed.
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=oplex_other&message.id=29 tells me
sankrom:
Remove case cover on left side. Notice Release button on the power supply case, push it and lift power supply up out of the way. Remove cables from floppy drive. On top front of case near the front notice indented button with icon of case front on it, push it and remove front face cover. Notice a big round lever on left side of floppy drive, push it and pull out floppy drive. You then can remove the floppy drive screws.
11-26-1999 02:25 PM
Doesn't look anything like http://www.stephan-i.com/DellGX1.htm .
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=oplex_upgrade&message.id=5399 [offline ?]
It does look like http://www.angelfire.com/wy/DellOPTIPLEX/GX1.htm and ($180 including shipping) http://www.a1computerstuff.com/gx1-333.html
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums?category.id=optiplex support forum
BIOS settings: ... Drives: auto ... Reserved memory: None CPU speed: 350 MHz Chassis: disabled DAC snoop: off ACPI: off -------- Do I want to change this ? On: hold power button more than 4 seconds to turn off. [ ACPI: Advanced Configuration & Power Interface http://www.acpi.info/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/acpi/ http://acpid.sourceforge.net/ http://developer.intel.com/technology/iapc/acpi/downloads.htm http://mobilix.org/apm_linux.html ] Boot Sequence: Diskette First --------- I think I really want CD-ROM first.
2003-02-10:DAV: all slots are empty.
It has 5 (five !) PCI slots and 4 ISA (16 bit) slots, on on a special daughter card.
C: used space: 651 MB Capacity: 5.98 GB
original partition:
784 cylinders of 255 heads * 63 sectors * 512 bytes =~~= 6 GB. /dev/hda1 1 783 (b = Win95 FAT32) WindowsME
2003-02-12:DAV: installing software that came with CD writer hardware: This Ahead license agreement (license) does not include the right to use the included MPEG Layer-3 audio compression technology for use in real time broadcasting (terrestrial, satellite, cable or other media) or broadcasting via Internet or other networks, such as but not limited to intranets etc. or in pay-audio or audio-on-demand applications.
Installed: Windows XP from CD. Windows update from microsoft.com (Winzip not needed) comlink API from 2 CDs Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.1 from http://www.adobe.com (Mandrake)
2003-08-31: DAV: downloaded Nero 6 from http://nero.com/ and installed on Dell. 2003-11-18:DAV: installed WinZip http://winzip.com/ on my Dell.
2003-11-20:DAV: installing the Eclipse IDE for Java http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?JavaIde http://eclipse.org/
2003-11-22: installed (on Dell box) the Java SDK from NetBeans IDE v 3.5.1 with J2SE v 1.4.2 COBUNDLE http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/download.html j2sdk-1_4_2-nb-3_5_1-bin-windows.exe Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition, v1.4.2 and NetBeans IDE 3.5.1 was installed successfully. Installation location: C:\Program Files\sun\j2sdk_nb Installation log: C:\Program Files\sun\j2sdk_nb\install.log To Run the IDE: Double click the NetBeans IDE 3.5.1 Desktop icon.
2003-11-24: installed (on Dell box) Borland C++ Builder 6 trial edition (It installs Java JRE 1.2.2 unless it finds a higher version ...).
2003-11-30 As specified in the Eclipse "readme_eclipse.html", I created a shortcut to the Eclipse executable and modifed the properties of that shortcut to target: "C:\Program Files\eclipse-SDK-3.0M4-win32\eclipse\eclipse.exe" -data "C:\Documents and Settings\caryd\My Documents\caryd\java_workspace" -vm "C:\Program Files\sun\j2sdk_nb\_jvm\bin\javaw.exe"
2004-02-18:DAV: installed on Dell: installed Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition 1.5.0 Beta 1 -- the SDK, not the JRE. http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/download.jsp
2004-03-14: re-installed latest version of Eclipse from http://eclipse.org/ . Stable Build: 3.0M7 February 12, 2004 . [FIXME: JUnit]
2004-03-15:
As specified in the Eclipse "readme_eclipse.html", I created a shortcut to the Eclipse executable and modifed the properties of that shortcut to target: "C:\Program Files\eclipse-SDK-3.0M4-win32\eclipse\eclipse.exe" -data "C:\Documents and Settings\caryd\My Documents\caryd\java_workspace" -vm "C:\Program Files\sun\j2sdk_nb\_jvm\bin\javaw.exe"
set the path according to http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/install-windows.html to: C:\Program Files\Java\j2sdk1.5.0\bin;
Simplified the shortcut to target: "C:\Program Files\eclipse-SDK-3.0M4-win32\eclipse\eclipse.exe" -data "C:\Documents and Settings\caryd\My Documents\caryd\java_workspace" (Now that Java is on the path, it works just fine with this shorter path.)
Compaq ProSignia 200
hardware disassembly:
hardware re-assembly:
Compaq ProSignia 200 PII/233
...
...
System Identification Number: D739BP210079
...
It apparently has a "network server mode":
With
network server mode,
when the [AC power] resumes,
it will not wait for a password to be entered at the power-on password prompt.
Instead, it will start from fixed disk drive C.
However, keyboard input will not be accepted
until the password has been entered.
64 MB RAM
(32 MB EDO and 32 MB FPM)
to get to CMOS setup (BIOS): take disks out of drives, turn on power, hit F10 at the magic moment.
[hardware]
Compaq
intial hard drive partitions when I bought it:
#:id: LBA start: size : name
0:12 63: 80262 Compaq Diag. (39 MB)
1:07 80325:4016250 HPFS/QNX/AUX
2: 0 0:0
3: 0 0:0
http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq4.html#Disks
mentions
Many Compaq systems, some Dell and other systems use a "maintenance" partition, which should be kept intact.
Apparently had Windows NT Server 4.00 on it...
but I couldn't guess the password so I just wiped that partition.
...
the BIOS "test" gave errors on a couple of different CD-ROMs; it seems to read many sectors OK before the failure
...
...
I had to re-format my floppy before the Compaq would accept a OpenBSD boot floppy ...
...
"Available disks are: sd0."
a: / (min 60 MB, below 2 GB for booting), /usr (min 390 MB), /var (min 25 MB), /tmp (min 50 MB), /home
b: swap: 256 MB
...
tinydog
...
Configure the network:
Available interfaces are: xl0 tl0
Which one do you wish to initialize ? [xl0]
I dunno. One is the ethernet on the motherboard, the other is a PCI ethernet card, but I don't know which is "xl0".
The default media for xl0 is
media: Ethernet autoselect (10baseT)
Do you want to change the default media ?
...
dhcp
...
duplicate IP address
what ? I thought dhcp was supposed to take care of that for me.
...
since it found the dhcp server, xl0 must be the PCI ethernet card.
...
(from BIOS step 2:)
(from BIOS step 3:)
Software error recovery: Enabled Software error recovery time-out: 10 minutes Standby recovery: Disabled Standby recovery server port: COM1 Standby recovery time-out: 1 minute Software error recovery boot option: Boot operating system Thermal shutdown: enabled UPS shutdown: disabled [FIXME:] UPS shutdown threshold: 5 minutes
Serial interface: COM2 Dial in status: disabled Network status: disabled Network card slot: System
Network Resources: Enabled Network Address: 00 80 5F A9 B0 E1 Network interface module: 100 Base-TX
installing Debian: I made a boot CD ("sarge") from http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/ . I just turned on the power and the Compaq booted off it. I hit Enter ...
selected the default language (English-US) ...
selected "Detect a keyboard and select layout", hit enter, and I got the message
[!] Error running kbd-chooser An error or warning message was logged while running kbd-chooser Segmentation fault kbd-chooser's postinst exited with status 35584 Go Back Continue
Start over: I download the "rescue.bin" and "root.bin" floppy images from ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/disks-i386/3.0.23-2002-05-21/images-1.44/ . As instructed in http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-appendix#s-obtain I use http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/woody/main/disks-i386/current/dosutils/rawrite2.exe to write those images to floppies. (More info at http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-install-methods#s-create-floppy )
OK, stick in the rescue floppy, hit enter.
It churns for a while, then asks me "Insert root floppy disk" (not even a please !).
... it spins the root floppy for a while ... then I get several "data CRC error" messages. I put that floppy back in my other computer, re-format it, and use rawrite on it again. This time (that same floppy) works fine.
" ... built on 2002-05-15 by Adam Di Carlo ...". Thanks, Adam !
...
Select Disk Drive: it's silly to ask me, because it only gives one choice:
/dev/sda. Partitioning:
You must create at least one ``Linux native'' (type 83) disk partition, and you probably want at least one ``Linux swap'' (type 82) partition.-- http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-partitioning.en.html
"5 to 10 MB ... [for] /boot" -- on-screen install instructions.
- The root partition / must always physically contain /etc, /bin, /sbin, /lib and /dev, otherwise you won't be able to boot. Typically 100 MB is needed for the root partition, but this may vary.
- /usr: all user programs (/usr/bin), libraries (/usr/lib), documentation (/usr/share/doc), etc., are in this directory. This part of the file system needs most of the space. You should provide at least 500 MB of disk space. If you want to install more packages you should increase the amount of space you give this directory.
- /home: every user will put his data into a subdirectory of this directory. The size of this depends on how many users will be using the system and what files are to be stored in their directories. Depending on your planned usage you should reserve about 100 MB for each user, but adapt this value to your needs.
- /var: all variable data like news articles, e-mails, web sites, APT's cache, etc. will be placed under this directory. The size of this directory depends greatly on the usage of your computer, but for most people will be dictated by the package management tool's overhead. If you are going to do a full installation of just about everything Debian has to offer, all in one session, setting aside 2 or 3 gigabytes of space for /var should be sufficient. If you are going to install in pieces (that is to say, install services and utilities, followed by text stuff, then X, ...), you can get away with 300 - 500 megabytes of in /var. If hard drive space is at a premium and you don't plan on using APT, at least not for major updates, you can get by with as little as 30 or 40 megabytes in /var.
- /tmp: if a program creates temporary data it will most likely go in /tmp. 20-50 MB should be usually enough.
... ... create a small (5-10MB should suffice) partition at the beginning of the disk to be used as the boot partition, and then create whatever other partitions you wish to have, in the remaining area. This boot partition must be mounted on /boot ...
For new users, personal Debian boxes, home systems, and other single-user setups, a single / partition (plus swap) is probably the easiest, simplest way to go. However, this might not be such a good idea when you have lots of disk capacity, e.g., 20GB or so. Ext2 partitions tend to perform poorly on file system integrity checking when they are larger than 6GB or so. For multi-user systems or systems with lots of disk, it's best to put /usr, /var, /tmp, and /home each on their own partitions separate from the / partition.
...
--
http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-partitioning.en.html
the swap partition... double the amount of RAM on your machine in size.
--
http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=2016&page=4
(cylinders) sda1 5 41 MB Compaq diagnostics sda2 1 8 MB /boot "If you are using lilo, your boot partition must be contained within the first 1024 cylinders of the drive. ... If you have more than one boot partition (from other OSs, for example,) keep them all in the first 1024 cylinders " DAV: asked for 5 MB; cfdisk rounded up to 1 cylinder (8.2 MB) sda5 12 99 MB /home (DAV: asked for 100) I [DAV] like to keep my user directory small enough (under 600 MB) to make it easy to archive on CD-ROM. sda6 16 132 MB SWAP (DAV: asked for 128) sda7 221 1818 MB / (no more empty space)
When Debian asks if it wants me to scan for bad blocks, I say "yes".
...
"Please select the medium you will use to install the system." OK, I want to do a network install, like http://www.debian.org/distrib/floppyinst . But I don't see any "network" option.
I randomly choose "floppy"
and it asks
"Please place the Rescue Floppy in the first floppy drive."
OK, I take out the root disk, stick in the floppy, and hit enter.
It spins for a while, then asks
Please insert driver disk 1.
I hit "cancel". ... I scroll down (following the directions at Section 7.1, 7.7 http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-install-system.en.html ) and select "Configure the Network", type in the hostname
tinydog, then it claims it didn't find a network interface. Odd. *both* the internal and the add-in PCI ethernet card are cabled in to my hub ... although the lights by the internal and the corresponding lights on the hub are dark. The lights corresponding to the add-in PCI card are all light; I know that card worked before ...
OK, I just realized that I *should* have followed the directions at http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-install-methods.en.html#s-kernel-choice and used the "compact" 4 floppy set at http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-install-methods.en.html#s-kernel-choice
...
2003-10-28:DAV: I want to install over the network. Starting at http://www.debian.org/ and clicking "Network install" leads me to http://www.debian.org/distrib/netinst and then http://www.debian.org/distrib/floppyinst I think the floppyinst page should give just a tiny bit more detail ... Back at http://www.debian.org/ I click on "Installation manual". This leads me to http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/install .
I choose the the "compact" 4 floppy set because the manual http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-install-methods.en.html#s-kernel-choice says "These built in drivers allow you to take full advantage of the Debian installer's net install feature to install the driver floppies over the network so that only the root and rescue floppy disks need to be made."
4 floppies ? 5 floppies ? (see http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-install-methods.en.html#s-where-files which matches http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-appendix.en.html#s-rescue-images ) I created these 5 floppies with http://sourceforge.net/projects/ntrawrite/ .
http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-appendix.en.html#s-rescue-images lists a bunch of "rescue floppy" images -- aren't they all the same ?
FIXME:Should I use ext3 filesystems or what ?
... the manual http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-preparing.en.html recommends that I read "Dselect for Beginners" http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/dselect-beginner "after the basic install is complete."
todo: backup the Compaq partition.
///Install Debian:/// ... 2003-10-29 So I stick in the "rescue floppy" and turn it on. At the "boot:" prompt I hit "Enter". After a bunch of stuff scrolls by, it asks "Insert root floppy disk... and press ENTER" So I do that. I select "en ... and press Enter to proceed in English.". I wonder what the difference is between English(Ireland) and English(United Kingdom) ? "This installation set was built on 2002-05-15 by Adam Di Carlo"
Partitioning /dev/sda :
(cylinders) sda1 5 41 MB Compaq diagnostics sda2 1 8 MB /boot "If you are using lilo, your boot partition must be contained within the first 1024 cylinders of the drive. ... If you have more than one boot partition (from other OSs, for example,) keep them all in the first 1024 cylinders " DAV: asked for 5 MB; cfdisk rounded up to 1 cylinder (8.2 MB) sda5 12 99 MB /home (DAV: asked for 100) I [DAV] like to keep my user directory small enough (under 600 MB) to make it easy to archive on CD-ROM. sda6 16 132 MB SWAP (DAV: asked for 128) sda7 221 1818 MB / (no more empty space)It tells me "Partition table has changed. Please reboot the system" -- is it *really* necessary to reboot the system ? I tell it to initialize the swap partition, and scan for bad blocks. Next I "Initialize a Linux Partition". The first one hilighted is "/dev/sda2", which I want to be /boot. Taking the advice at http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=2016&page=5 I select "/dev/sda7", the partition I want to be "/", and I say "Yes" to scan for bad blocks. After a long scan, I say "Yes" to mounting it as "/". Then I hit "Alternate :" to initialize "/dev/sda2", scan for bad blocks, and mount it as "/boot". Then I hit "Alternate :" to initialize "/dev/sda5", scan for bad blocks, and mount it as "/home". Next: Install Kernel and Driver Modules. I select "network". Hostname: tinydog Do I want to use DHCP ? Of course. "The network has been successfully configured using DHCP/BOOTP." If I hit alt-F2 now and type ifconfig, I find out that "eth0 ...inet addr:192.168.2.49". odd -- there's another machine on my network that has that address ... When I "Continue" it tells me: "Going to download the following files over a HTTP connection: images-1.44/compact/rescue.bin compact/drivers.tgz" I thought I already downloaded rescue.bin to create the floppy I first stuck in when I turned it on ... From where ? Ah, the next screen tells me: Download URL: us.debian.org/debian/dists/woody/main/disks-i386/current/ and allows me to change it, but I just take this default. Q: "woody" ? How do I install the latest development over the network ? (That's "sarge" or "sid" I think). It starts downloading, the little thermometer bar gets about 3/4 of the way across, then pauses for a very long time. One of the other machines on my network pops up a "network address conflict", and sure enough, that machine has ip address 192.168.2.49, and when I hit alt-F2 and type ifconfig on the (hopefully soon-to-be-Debian box) it also says it's at 192.168.2.49 . How odd. Is my DHCP server broken ? work-around: I unplug the ethernet cable from that other box temporarily, until I finish this Debian install, then reboot with the "rescue" floppy and start over. "Next: Configure Device Driver Modules". Um... I just hit "Exit", hoping I don't need any special configuration. "Next: Install the Base System". "Select installation medium": I choose "network". Hey, I'm feeling deja-vu. "Installing Base System, please wait..." the thermometer runs by ... when it's completely filled yellow, it pauses ominously long, but after 30 seconds it continues to retrieve more stuff. After a few minutes, filling and emptying the thermometer bar, I get "Unpacking required packages..." "Installing base packages..." Then I choose "Next: Make System Bootable". "Where should the LILO boot loader be installed?" either /dev/sda (the MBR master boot record), or /dev/sda2 (the boot block of the boot partition, aka /boot). What do I know ? Since the comment next to "/dev/sda" says "use this if unsure", I use it. Include: put all into the menu. I get the warning about LILO not being secure against local attacks (physical access to the box). "Debian is now installed (although not yet fully configured). You should build a custom boot floppy,..." So I stick in a fresh blank floppy ... "It's time to reboot..." So I take out the floppy, and hit "Next: Reboot". The moment of truth ... I get the LILO boot menu. Excellent. It times out, "Loading Linux........". ... stuff scrolls by ... Kernel panic: assertion "k != -1" failed: file "sym53c8xx.c", line 10128 OK, let's try a cold boot. I turn off the power, wait a few seconds, then turn it back on: ... LILO times out and loads Linux ... ... stuff scrolls by ... "Congratulations, you have successfully installed Debian!". WooHoo !. "... setting up ... If you want to revisit this setup process ... later ... just run /usr/sbin/base-config." OK, I hit Alt+F2 and I get a "tinydog login:" prompt. Odd, I haven't set up *any* passwords yet ... so I just hit Alt+F1 and continue ... Yes, I want to set my hardware clock to GMT (it's a bit off at the moment; I'll fix that later). "Select a city or time zone:" -- odd, there are *no* cities listed. OK, I know I'm "Central". "Shall I enable md5 passwords?" Yes. -- shouldn't "Yes" be the default ? "Shall I enable shadow passwords?" Yes. -- Yes is already the default. I set a root password. (change with "passwd"). Gaaa -- I don't even get the little dots. Annoying. ... you may create additional accounts later by typing 'adduser
2004-10-21:DAV: I get a nice email from someone at Debian asking if the latest version fixes the bug I reported. I dust off the Compaq and start over.
Following the polite request in response to my bug report
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=242338 , I go to http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer . (Odd that this redirects to http://www.nl.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/ , but it's all still in English, so I ignore it.)
Under "daily built images" I choose "other boot images".
Then under "i386" at the intersection of "floppy" (because I suspect my CD drive is bad) and "Daily builds", I click "working". That leads me to http://people.debian.org/~joeyh/d-i/images/daily/floppy/ . I see 4 floppy images there, so I make 4 floppies with http://sourceforge.net/projects/ntrawrite/ .
Then I return to http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer and follow the link Installation Howto http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/en.i386/apa.html (see also http://wiki.debian.net/?DebianInstaller ) and follow the instructions.
2004-10-22:DAV: I try to take the default as much as possible.
I stick the boot.img floppy into the Compaq and turn it on.
At the "boot:" prompt I hit "Enter". After a bunch of stuff scrolls by, it asks "Insert root floppy disk... and press ENTER" So I do that. ...
"You probably need to load drivers" Really ? No, I don't think so.
... Grrr -- on a different machine on the network, I get "there is an IP address conflict" pop up. I temporarily unplug its ethernet cable while I finish installing ...
hostname: tinydeb
domain name: david.internal.org (I think this was selected automatically from my local DHCP server)
...
Partitioning /dev/sda (2.1 GB):
SCSI1 (0,0,0) - 2.1 GB
#1 41 MB Compaq diagnosticsI delete all the other partitions, then I use "Guided partition" on the free space. It recommends "All files in one partition". It actually creates 2 more partitions (a total of 3), 123 MB for swap, 1.9 GB for /. ( / is ext3, bootable). (no more empty space).
... "Installing the Debian base system" ... (my blinky lights show it's downloading a bunch of stuff) ...
"Install GRUB ... to the master boot record ?" Yes.
"installation is complete". Suuuuure it is. So I pull out the floppy and hit "Continue". Reboot.
Debian Configuration ...
... adduser caryd ...
apt configuration: ftp
I ping a few Debian mirrors from a different machine on this network; it seems that the fastest mirrors are:
debian.midco.net time=28ms debian.uchicago.edu time=44ms ftp.debian.org time=49ms ftp.us.debian.org time=49ms
"Add another apt source ?" Sure, why not.
"Add another apt source ?" I hope 2 is enough.
...
Choose software to install: [ ] Desktop [ ] Web server ... I wish it told me how to get back to this menu. (Later I find out: run the "base-config" or "tasksel" program) I leave them *all* blank. (selecting only [*] Desktop made it download almost half a gigabyte of stuff ... and eventually gave the error (during video card autodetection ?) screen fills up with lots of copies of the message "Use of uninitialized value in join or string at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/Stack.pm line 83." plus a few other messages mixed in, such as "Can't call method "description" on an undefined values at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/Question.pm line 76, <GEN0> line3." "INIT: Id "1" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes" )
Leaving them all blank gives the error: "There was a problem installng the selected software. One or more packages failed to install."
It's not OK, but I hit the OK button anyway, because there was no other option.
That returns me to the "base system configuration menu"; I hit enter to select "Select and install packages". Choosing *nothing* just returns me here again.
I choose [*] Desktop.
I get the same error: "There was a problem installing the selected software" ... "If you want, you can go back to the package selection step, and try again. If you decide not to try again, bear in mind that some packages on your sistem will be in a broken state until you manually resolve the problem." .
I skip over "Configure the Mail Transfer Agent" and jump right to "Finish configuring the base system".
"If you want to revisit this setup process at a later date, just run the base-config program."
I get a text login prompt. ping works fine. I run "base-config" ... I log in as root, and run "base-config".
Same error.
(Copied to http://wiki.debian.net/index.cgi?DavidCary ) (Now I need to "After using the Debian-Installer, please send us an installation report using the template, even if there weren't any problems." -- http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/ )
//end install//
2005-05-31:DAV: OK, I'm sick of floppies. I (finally!) replaced the bad CD-ROM drive with a nice CD-RW drive (48x16x48). While booting Mepis cd, "Boot 2.6 (newer hardware)"
"REALTIME operation timeout exceeded - Switching to normal scheduling"
... it seems to get stuck for a *long* time at "Updating fstab..." ... screen goes blank ... and it reboots.
Try again ... run the MEMTEST on the Mepis CD boot options ... Pentium II 233.2MHz L1 Cache 32K 2286MB/s L2 Cache 512K 335MB/s Memory 64M 64MB/s
... try booting Mepis with "Boot 2.4 (older hardware)" ... "You passed an undefined mode number" ... "Updating fstab..." seems to take a long time ... "Running ntpdate to synchronize clock" seems to take a long time when it's not connected to a network ... hdd: command error: error=0x50 ...
Bummer. Maybe the old CD-ROM drive was just fine ... but there's some other problem with IDE on the motherboard ?
After installing the Palm Desktop for Dana (came on CD with Dana) on my desktop PC and syncing for the first time, I have FreeSpace: 6.1M out of 7.5M
Then I installed Aileron (email on Dana)(came on same CD with Dana)... not sure why.
Then I installed PicoMap (PiCoMap ?) (concept maps) and Sketchy (drawing and animation) (came on same CD with Dana), apparently from the Center for Highly-Interactive Computing in Education http://www.handheld.hice-dev.org/index.htm http://hi-ce.org http://hi-ce.org/palms [FIXME: check out the web site] . FreeSpace: 5.8M of 7.5M
What's the difference between the QuickOffice on the Palm Desktop CD and the QuickOffice CD ? What's the difference between the ThoughtManager on the Palm Desktop CD and the ThoughtManager CD ? What's the difference between the powerOne Graph on the Palm Desktop CD and the powerOne Graph CD ? Installed powerOne Graph from the Palm Desktop CD. FreeSpace: 5.4M of 7.5M installed QuickOffice from the QuickOffice CD with everything turned on. FreeSpace: 4.6M of 7.5M Installed QuartusForth and RsrcEdit from Quartus. FreeSpace: 4.2M of 7.5M
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?PalmWiki mentions (or should mention):[FIXME:] (expires ...) WikiPad : http://www.jera.com/wikipad/ $25 WikiWorld : http://www.dogmelon.com.au/products_palm_wikiworld.shtml (open source) PalmWiki : http://pitecan.com/PalmWiki/index_e.html (unavailable) MindMason : http://www.mindmason.com/ (open source) Q-Pocket : http://pitecan.com/QPocket/Palm/index_e.html the Palm OS Development FAQ http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?PalmTwikiFaq : http://flippinbits.com/twiki/bin/view/FAQ/WebHome
other languages on Palm: should they all be listed at http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?OoEnvironmentForPalm ? Make sure the following are listed: http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?EmbeddingSchemeOnPalm http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?JavaOnThePalm http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?PocketSmalltalk http://www.wiki.org/ ??? http://www.goknow.com/Products/Sketchy/ for my wiki ? "trying to find websites on the Dana which are NOT associated with AlphaSmart directly." http://www1.alphasmart.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=26;t=000061 SDK for Alphasmart Dana http://www1.alphasmart.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=22;t=000196#000000 http://www.palmos.com/dev/tools/sdk/sdk_other.html http://www.palmos.com/cgi-bin/sdk_other.cgi
2003-09-24:dav: opened battery compartment on the Dana for the first time. Plugged in wall wart (green LED came on), then Followed instructions in User's Guide: 1. Turn Dana off. (the rounded "palm powered" logo keeps blinking, about every 2 seconds). 2. Remove optional screw (if installed). (It was ... but there are what look like 4 little screw holes in the clear red I/O panel that never had any screws installed). 3. Slide the battery door to the left and lift it off. 4. Remove the rechargeable battery but DO NOT unclip it. 5. Place 3 AA alkaline batteries in the battery compartment (positive to right). I used brand new, never been used before AA batteries. (It would be nice if Dana's needs were molded into the case -- 3 AA; DC 7.5V 500 mA.) 6. Unclip the rechargeable battery. (I flipped Dana over to see if the blinky thing was still going. Yes, it is. All the batteries also fell out over the table. Note to self: Next time, close the battery door, *then* flip it over. Put the batteries in again, then) 7. Replace the battery door and slide it to the right to lock it in place. Now I flipped it over, and I see the logo is still blinking on and off about every 2 seconds. I press reset button in back: screen stays blank as long as I press the stylus in, but a few seconds after I pull it out, the logo blinks on and off about every 2 seconds. Hold down "up arrow", press reset button: same as reset button alone. Hold down on/off, press reset: When I let up, I get a message: Erase all data? YES - press "up arrow" key. NO - press "memo" key. I hit the "memo" key, and it starts blinking again. Hold down on/off, press reset: When I let up, I get a message: Erase all data? YES - press "up arrow" key. NO - press "memo" key. I hit the "up arrow" key, and the logo starts blinking again about every 2 seconds. OK, I haven't gotten that message before, so I guess the rechargable batteries were doing something bad ... I unplug the wall wart; the green LED turns off. Hold down on/off, press reset: When I let up, I get a message: Erase all data? YES - press "up arrow" key. NO - press "memo" key. I hit the "up arrow" key, and the logo starts blinking again about every 2 seconds. OK, let's do something random: plug in wall wart, take out *all* the batteries: reset alone: still blinks the logo every 2 seconds. Hold down on/off, press reset: When I let up, I get a message: Erase all data? YES - press "up arrow" key. NO - press "memo" key. I hit the "up arrow" key, and the logo starts blinking again about every 2 seconds. Try something else random: all batteries still out, unplug wall wart: of course the screen instantly goes blank. I wait a couple of minutes, then put the "new" batteries back in. The logo starts blinking again about every 2 seconds. reset alone: still blinks the logo every 2 seconds. Hold down on/off, press reset: When I let up, I get a message: Erase all data? YES - press "up arrow" key. NO - press "memo" key. I hit the "up arrow" key, and the logo starts blinking again about every 2 seconds. Try something else random: wall wart still unplugged, I take out all batteries still out. of course the screen instantly goes blank. I wait a couple of minutes, then plug the wall wart back in. The logo starts blinking again about every 2 seconds. The green LED is now on. reset alone: still blinks the logo every 2 seconds. Hold down on/off, press reset: When I let up, I get a message: Erase all data? YES - press "up arrow" key. NO - press "memo" key. I hit the "up arrow" key, and the logo starts blinking again about every 2 seconds.
2003-09-26: talked to Aaron at AlphaSmart on the phone. 530.528.7200 ext. 1204. He said I needed to sent my Dana in to be fixed:
Attn: RMA#33652 AlphaSmart Service 1005 Vista Way Red Bluff CA 96080
2003-10-06 I dropped the Dana off at the Fedex place Oct. 6. As I was walking from my car to the Fedex office, I noticed 2 different RMA numbers written on it. Wierd.
I got a new Dana back a few days later, and it's been working fine ever since.
2003-11-15: re-installed Sketchy from http://goknow.com/Products/Sketchy/ onto Dana.
2004-05-31
[FIXME: perhaps add sections "hardware I have", and "hardware I want".]
Among many other things,
2001-10-20:DAV: I downloaded the printer driver (dated 11/27/00) from http://www.alpsusa.com/Product/MDP/drivers/drv_tbl.htm and installed it on my current Win98 box.
I'm still trying to figure out how to get it to work with a Linux box. http://www.linuxprinting.org/ http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=Alps-MD-2010 recommends using the ppmtomd driver. http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_driver.cgi?driver=ppmtomd
Carl A. Cook (quantum@ultra2k.com) http://lists.suse.com/archive/suse-linux-e/2002-Jan/0506.html | http://lists.suse.com/archive/suse-linux-e/2002-Jan/1083.html
http://www.kondara.org/docs/Kondara-Print-HOWTO/C/autogen-3.html
How to Setup and Use Printers by Norihito Ohmori http://www.kondara.org/docs/Kondara-Print-HOWTO/C/
45 GB hd: hda1 1 901 (b) hda2 902 5473 (f) hda5 902 1020 hda6 1021 2996 (b) hda7 2997 4972 (b) hda8 4973 5040 hda9 5041 5473 40 GB hd: hdc1 1 12 (83) hdc2 13 4865 (f) hdc5 13 913 (b) hdc6 914 2888 (b) hdc7 2889 4863 (b) 4864 4865 (unpartitioned)
``Pocketop Computer Corporation ... Founded in 1997 by architect Michael Katz, the company's core business strategy is based on his lifelong work philosophy: to maximize the utility of small spaces.'' [FIXME: creed ? 3D_design ? #keyboard]
hda1 16 MB /boot "If you are using lilo, your boot partition must be contained within the first 1024 cylinders of the drive. ... If you have more than one boot partition (from other OSs, for example,) keep them all in the first 1024 cylinders " hda5 ?? MB /var hda6 ?? MB SWAP ??? ?? MB /tmp ??? ?? MB /var/tmp ??? ?? MB /usr (/usr must not be a symbolic link because of X11) hdb5 ?? MB / (/etc must never be a seperate partition) hdb6 ~600 MB /home I [DAV] like to keep my user directory small enough to make it easy to archive on CD-ROM. I don't have nearly enough users to need anything larger. Yet. I also like to put /home on a *different* physical drive than all the activity on SWAP, /tmp, /var. (... unless I'm doing RAID ...) hdb7 ?? MB SWAP hdb8 ~600 MB /home/RH62 (a copy of the Red Hat 6.2 CD-ROM, or whatever CD I installed from)
How do you tell how many minutes have been used ?
"Menu", then choose "Recent Calls", "Show Call Timers", then either "Show Last Call" or "Total for all calls". I started (2003-05-08) with 0 minutes.
2003-05-16:DAV: just after connecting to recharger, total for all calls: 1:13:41 2003-05-20: after charging: 1:32:10 2003-05-22: empty again: 1:33:37 2003-05-26: 2:02:33 2003-05-28: 2:20:23 2003-06-02: after charging and talking and charging again, took off the charger at about 5:12:57 2003-06-04: battery drained and it turned itself off. just after connecting to charger: 5:28:48 2003-06-06: still looks fully charged: 5:30:03 2003-06-08: getting the "low battery message" at 5:34:04 2004??????: T-Mobile persuaded me to get a "free upgrade" to a Motorola C350.
When the batteries ran out, I: -- put in fresh batteries -- Preferences: Connection: The default is: Direct USB/Serial, Serial to PC, 57,600 bps. I change it to USB to PC. Then after I try to sync, I change from "Direct USB/Serial" to "Custom". I change speed to 38,400 bps, then back to 57,600 bps. -- Preferences: General: Beam Receive: Off.
When I hold down the "Dell AccessDirect(TM)" button and tap the power button, I see the "Pre-boot system Assessment Build 3004" ... all the tests seem to pass, then I get the message: "No Diagnostic Utility Partition found. To run diagnostics, insert your Dell "Drivers and Utilities" CD, then select OK to restart the system and boot off the CD. OK or Cancel".
During boot up, I can press F2 or F12. If I press F2, I get to the BIOS Setup menu. Page 1 of 7: BIOS Version: A04 Mobile Pentium 4 1.60 GHz/1.20 GHz Current CPU Speed: 1.60 GHz System Memory: 256 MB Video Controller: ATI Radeon 7500 Video Memory: 32 MB Audio Controller: Crystal 4205 Primary Hard Drive: 30007 MB Modular Bay: CD-RW/DVD Combo Service Tag: F1Z4S11 Asset Tag: Not Installed Page 2 of 7 Boot order: CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive Diskette Drive Internal HDD Page 3 of 7 Boot POST: Minimal Boot Speed: 1.60 GHz Boot Messages: Enabled LAN Controller: Enabled Docking Ethernet: Enabled Docking IRQ: Optimized Universal Connect: Enabled Page 4 of 7 Serial Port: COM1 Infrared Data Port: Disabled Parallel Mode: ECP Audio Mode: Full Duplex Click volume: [*******] Keyboard Click: Disabled Num Lock: Disabled Enable Keypad: Only by Fn Key External Hot Key: Scroll Lock USB Legacy: Enabled Pointing device: Touch Pad - PS/2 mouse Primary video: Dock Video Card Page 6 of 7 Brightness: [***** ] [********] Power Management: Enabled Enabled Display Time-Out: 4 minutes Disabled Disk Time-Out: 3 minutes Disabled Suspend Time-Out: 10 minutes Disabled S2D Time-Out: 8 hours Disabled Smart CPU Mode: Enabled Enabled Display Close: Suspend Active Ring/Event Resume: Enabled Alarm Resume: Enabled Wakeup on LAN: Disabled Intel SpeedStep(tm): Enabled CPU on AC: Automatic CPU on Battery: Automatic Auto On Mode: Disabled Auto On Time: 00:00 Page 7 of 7 System Security (passwords)
Latitude C640 Service Tag F1Z4S11 Express Service Code 32771210725 Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 Mobile CPU 1.60GHz Processor Speed: 1.56 GHz Memory (RAM): 256 MB Operating system: Microsoft Windows XP Professional Operating system version: 5.1.2600
27.9 GB hard drive NTFS Used: 2.14 GB
Power Options Properties: Power Scheme: Portable/Laptop never never never never never never /* DAV: these looks like horrid defaults, so I'm going to change them */ ( scheme Minimal Power Management: 15 min 5 min never 15 min never 5 min ) (Hibernation is disabled -- given Standby, do I really need it?)
2002-11-02:DAV: Future plans.
cable modem --- Linux or BSD firewall -+- laptop --- PDA +- desktop -+- CD burner | +- scanner +- RAID fileserver
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