Re: PLIP installation

[goswin . brederlow]

Gilles Lamiral <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Hello,
> 
> I wonder if the PLIP installation has been integrated for
> the potatoe.

You need to setup plip after installing the modules. Cant remember if
it was a menu option but you can allways set it up in the shell.

MfG
Goswin


--  
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Re: Switching pcmcia ethernet cards

[Goswin Brederlow]

Charles Baker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> I had been running a 3com ethernet card on a slink w/ some potato install on 
> a 
> Dell Xpi P133 ST.  I had borrowed the card from a friend, so I bought a card 
> for myself, a Linksys EC2T.  The card seems to be recognized just fine by, 
> ifconfig shows it has an ip and the other needed configuration.  However, 
> when 
> I try to ping my router I get this error message "Sendto: operation not 
> allowed."  Is there something else I need to do?

I switch my card frequently. I have one at home and at university
theres another one. No problems at all with that. Should just work
fine.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

PS: Can I tell the cardmgr to use different configs/IPs depending on
the hardware detected?

Re: PLIP installation

[goswin . brederlow]

Gilles Lamiral <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Hello,
> 
> I wonder if the PLIP installation has been integrated for
> the potatoe.

You need to setup plip after installing the modules. Cant remember if
it was a menu option but you can allways set it up in the shell.

MfG
Goswin

Re: Install problem from back pack cd

[Goswin Brederlow]

> " " == development  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

 > I was able to loadlin the inall kernel from a back pack cd
 > (parallel Port). But once the install kernel was in charge, the
 > cd-rom was not recognized. I got swap and a hd partion but
 > cannot get the base system. Where can I find an install that
 > recognizes parallel port cds?

You probably need to make drivers and rescue floppies and install
those. Then, after installing kernel and modules look for the right
module for the cdrom.

MfG
Goswin

Re: Spawned process.

[Goswin Brederlow]

> " " == tom  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

 > I have loaded potato onto my laptop. When I boot and just
 > before the login prompt comes up, I get a page or two of what
 > appear to be command line helps.

 > The message is "Usage: /sbin/getty [-hi...". The last line
 > states "Init: Id "S" respawning too fast: disabled for 5
 > minutes."

You have a broken entry in your /etc/inittab. init tries to start
getty several times and then gives up for 5 minutes.

The faulty line starts with "S:", so look for that. I don't have such
a line in my inittab. Looks strange.

MfG
Goswin

Re: Configuring 100 identical Debian Laptops

[Goswin Brederlow]

> " " == Binary  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

 > Hi, If you have a 2,5" to 3,5" drive adapter you can install
 > one of the laptops, and with a desktop computer clone this
 > harddisk to the disks of the other 99 laptops. You can use the
 > DOS utility GHOST (works pretty with ext2) or with tar if the
 > desktop works in linux. You only need an aditional boot disk
 > for the reinstall of the lilo in each laptop and change the
 > hostname and ip.

Or do the same via network. You need to setup one maschine and have it
run read-only. Single user mode + sshd is fine. Then you build a
small ramdisk with ssh on it that connects to the server and dd's the
harddrive over.

Of cause you could make an image and place it on an existing server
instead of running one laptop as server in readonly mode.

MfG
Goswin

Re: Install problem from back pack cd

[Goswin Brederlow]

> " " == development  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

 > I was able to loadlin the inall kernel from a back pack cd
 > (parallel Port). But once the install kernel was in charge, the
 > cd-rom was not recognized. I got swap and a hd partion but
 > cannot get the base system. Where can I find an install that
 > recognizes parallel port cds?

You probably need to make drivers and rescue floppies and install
those. Then, after installing kernel and modules look for the right
module for the cdrom.

MfG
Goswin


--  
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Re: Spawned process.

[Goswin Brederlow]

> " " == tom  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

 > I have loaded potato onto my laptop. When I boot and just
 > before the login prompt comes up, I get a page or two of what
 > appear to be command line helps.

 > The message is "Usage: /sbin/getty [-hi...". The last line
 > states "Init: Id "S" respawning too fast: disabled for 5
 > minutes."

You have a broken entry in your /etc/inittab. init tries to start
getty several times and then gives up for 5 minutes.

The faulty line starts with "S:", so look for that. I don't have such
a line in my inittab. Looks strange.

MfG
Goswin


--  
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Re: Configuring 100 identical Debian Laptops

[Goswin Brederlow]

> " " == Binary  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

 > Hi, If you have a 2,5" to 3,5" drive adapter you can install
 > one of the laptops, and with a desktop computer clone this
 > harddisk to the disks of the other 99 laptops. You can use the
 > DOS utility GHOST (works pretty with ext2) or with tar if the
 > desktop works in linux. You only need an aditional boot disk
 > for the reinstall of the lilo in each laptop and change the
 > hostname and ip.

Or do the same via network. You need to setup one maschine and have it
run read-only. Single user mode + sshd is fine. Then you build a
small ramdisk with ssh on it that connects to the server and dd's the
harddrive over.

Of cause you could make an image and place it on an existing server
instead of running one laptop as server in readonly mode.

MfG
Goswin


--  
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Re: Help with X11 - Debian 2.0: config for Armada 1750 !!

[Goswin Brederlow]

Stephane Bortzmeyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> On Wednesday 13 October 1999, at 10 h 3, the keyboard of 
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> 
> >  I've got a COMPAQ Armada 1750 with Linux Debian 2.0 installed.
> 
> Did you at least checked 
> 
> . There are two 1750 there...
> 
> >  Video card: ATI LT Pro AGP 2X - 4 Mo RAM
>^^ 
>I believe it needs a fairly recent X11 server, so you 
> may have to upgrade to at least the last stable Debian, 2.1.

I have that gfx chip on my laptop and the current XSVGA does NOT work
on it. Gives a nice plasma effect that gets brigther and brigther.

You need to compile the kernel to use the VESA Framebuffer support and 
use the X86_FBDev framebuffer server. That can run an X in the same
resolution and colordepth you console runs in, e.g. 1024x768-24. I
can´t get the Vesafb to boot a 32 bit mode, since vesa doesn´t seem to 
have a mode for that, but 8,16,24 work fine.

According to the Linux Magazin the next X releases should support that 
chip.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: Sony Viao F340 was(Re: Tochiba Satellite 2590CDT and Linux)

[Goswin Brederlow]

Brian Servis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Me again,
> 
> I dropped the Toshiba and went with a Sony Vaio F340.  
> 
> PII-366
> 96M ram
> 6.4G hdd
> 13" 1024x768 w/ Neomagic 256AV
> Neomagic2200 sound chip(supported by patch to 2.2.x kernels)
> internal winmodem(I don't really need it anyway)
> 
> I also purchased a Xircom RealPort Ethernet RBE-100BTX pcmcia network
> card that according to the pcmcia-cs doc's is supported.
> 
> My plan is to install base via floppy and then network to my existing
> desktop Debian machine and install the rest via network(modem on
> desktop).  This will mostly be a traveling machine so I don't expect to
> install tons of apps on it.

Configure pcmcia before configuring the network, then insert the
pcmcia card and you should hear two high beeps (a high and a low shows 
failure). After that you can nfs mount your desktop and install base
via nfs.

> This is also my first laptop install and I have never delt with the
> pcmcia support so I am sure to learn alot this weekend.  So what ever
> links and other sources that are not the obvious ones would be much
> appreciated.
> 
> Brian

Compile your own kernel with framebufer support (probably generic
vesafb) to get a useable console. Try the xserver-fbdev package for
the most easy X or an accelerated neomagic driver from suse. I think
the debian x servers don´t support that chip, but  could be
wrong. When you try the X, keep your fingers on CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE to
quit X fast when something seems wrong (i.e. the sreen gets white or
flickers).

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

apm [Was: Re: Sony F340 sucess!]

[Goswin Brederlow]

Brian Servis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> No questions for now. But I am sure I will have some as I get more into
> it.  Specifically I see questions comming concerning APM/ACPI.  

I have a problem with the apm support, it detects fine when I plug in
the power or remove it, but the batery is allways -1% full.

The Notebook is an Kapok 8700C relabeled to Baycom with a nice 15.1´´
display.

Re: Unidentified subject!

[Goswin Brederlow]

David Goodyear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> First I will start by saying that I am a new linux user.  I have installed
> the debian operating system on my IBM 365XD.  However, when I try to boot
> the system it just hangs after "LILO loading linux".  Additionally my
> debian boot floppy doesn't work either (maybe because of the external
> floppy?).  Anyway, I had to make a windows 98 boot floppy which has
> loadlin.exe and linux on it.  the autoexec.bat file executes loadlin.exe
> ie. " a:\loadlin.exe a:\linux root=/dev/hda1" .  This is th only way I
> could boot my system.  How can I fix things so that I can boot directly
> from hard disk (/dev/hda1)?
> If anyone has any ideas that I could use to fix this problem, your help
> would be appreciated
> 
> David Goodyear

Maybe your linux kernel lies do far down the disk, i.e. behind the 518 
MB mark or the 1024th cylinder or something else. If you have it on /
and / is small and the first partition you might try the following:

1. You can create a small partition with a dos on it that starts loadlin.
2. Do 1. and then tell lilo to install the bootblock on the dos
   partition (this helps on my notebook)
3. Change the geometry mapping of your drive from normal to lba to big 
   or whatever your bios has or tell lilo to adress the harddisk by
   blocks and not gemoetry.
4. Try to find out whats so special about your system that breaks lilos 
   loading routine.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: Debian on an older laptop

[Goswin Brederlow]

"Matthew Guenther" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> [1  ]
> Hi,
> 
> I have an friend who wants to ditch windows and put linux on his laptop.  I
> already have Debian installed on my Dell and it works fine, however I'm not
> sure if it's possible to install on his computer (Zenith Z-Note L425).  The
> biggest problem is that he is without a CD drive, and only has a very slow
> modem (9600 bps).  Is it possible to install most of a working system off of
> floppies?  Would it be possible to easily transfer files between my computer
> and his using a serial cable?  Would Debian even be the best choice for this
> machine?

Try the bootdisks and also try a different kernel with framebufer
support enabled (eigther vga or vesa). If that works theres no reason
not to use linux.

If you have a paralel cable you can use plip to nfs mount your
notebook or another computer. Plip is quite fast with 40 KB/s.
Otherwise you can use a serial cable with slip or ppp with up to
115200 BAUD.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: another newbie/debian on older laptop

[Goswin Brederlow]

[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

> Suggestions to both sunshine_wonder and Matthew Guenther:
> 
> I have run Debian on a Compaq Aero (ancient machine) with 16 meg Ram and
> a 500 meg hard drive and a 486sx 16MHz processor for years now.
> 
> For installation my favourite option is plip + floppies. Much faster than the
> serial
> port and usually easier to setup initially than pcmcia. I have heard the

Hmm, worked for me like a charme. Boot from CD, stick in the card and
configure the network. :)

> ocasional
> report of someone not being able to get plip working but it has always worked
> for me.

For plip to work sometimes you need to set the io and irq for
the parport, without it you eigther get no connection or
timeouts. With the settings it works fine. Maybe thats something to
mention in the plip doku.

> 
> For allowing the install of lots of software I use e2compr. It has been
> reliable enough for me and let me put everything I needed on the mahcine.
> 
> e2compr: http://www.netspace.net.au/~reiter/e2compr
> 
> Don't compress executables or library binaries unless they really don't get
> used very often. I was able to compress most of the xemacs/emacs directories
> and /usr/src (compiles take somewhat longer). I have used double and zlib (?)
> before with some sucess but e2compr has worked much better for me.

I plan to use that for the demo-fs, but at the moment booting of a
ramdisk and the loopback doesn´t work, because losetup is broken. But
thanks for the URL. :) Good to know that its stable.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: pcmcia enet and modem sharing in potato on laptop

[Goswin Brederlow]

Michael Perry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Here is a strange situation.  I have potato installed fresh with a 2.2.10
> kernel custom installed and the new pcmcia-cs services configured for the
> system by me.  On a system exactly the same, Fujitsu Lifebook, Debian
> Potato, but kernel 2.2.12 and same pcmcia level, the 3com combo 556 card can
> have the modem and enet pcmcia used at the same time.  On mine, the modem
> does not load with the ethernet card plugged in.  Remvove the dongle, run
> setserial /dev/ttyS1 autoconfig auto_irq it works using wvdial. On my
> colleagues laptop it works with both connected without having to rerun
> setserial.  This seems rather strange.  The /etc/pcmcia/config.opts is
> exactly the same.  Most kernel compilation options are the same.

Maybe you have an IRQ conflict. My friend had the problem that he
couldn´t use sound when the pcmcia network card was inserted for the
very reason.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: eth0: startup messages - pseudo newbie

[Goswin Brederlow]

Jordan Howarth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> I have a Versa Note with an inbuild ethernet card and if I am not connected 
> to the
> network when I start, I get a whole list of stuff like transmit timed out,
> switching to 10baseTx-FD media, etc... in the startup messages. The ethernet 
> is
> not modular and was setup to automatically detect which media to use. I am
> assuming that these are just it going through the motions of finding that 
> NOTHING
> is there - (True/False) ?

True.

> ALSO, if I remove the ethernet cable and put it back later I lose my 
> connection
> entirely. /etc/init.d/network restart doesn't work and I am not quite sure 
> about
> ifconfig, route, etc.
> 
> Thanks - be kind ...

Well, /etc/init.d/network won´t work, since its not a normal
start/stop like script. It will allways start and if your card is
already started nothing will happen.

The problem probably lies in the autodetection of the network
speed. The driver will autodetect the right speed and will probably
keep that for ever or for some time.

Look at the output from "ifconfig -n" and "route -n" to see how your
card is configured before and after removing/attaching the
cable. Nothing should change. Try to ping the outside for some time
and see if the cards leds (or someones others leds blink) and see if
the card goes back into autodetecting the speed. If it doesn´t you
have to remove the driver and start it again, so you should build it
as module.

To restart your network card the following is normaly enough:

ifconfig eth0 down; rmmod ; insmod ; /etc/init.d/network; ping 


May the Source be with you.
Goswin

PS: If you have some custom routing, remove that as well.

Re: eth0: startup messages - pseudo newbie

[Goswin Brederlow]

Drew Parsons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> On Wed, Oct 20, 1999 at 11:18:14PM +0200, Goswin Brederlow wrote:
> > Jordan Howarth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> > > ALSO, if I remove the ethernet cable and put it back later I lose my 
> > > connection
> > > entirely.
> > 
> > To restart your network card the following is normaly enough:
> > 
> > ifconfig eth0 down; rmmod ; insmod ; /etc/init.d/network; 
> > ping 
> 
> 
> I have a suspicion it might be even simpler than this.  Am I wrong I thinking 
> that all you need to do is
> ifconfig eth0 down; ifconfig eth0 up
> 
> ??

That won´t remove the module and thus the card wll not be
reconfigured. If autonegotiation is a problem reinitialising the
module will be the only sollution.

> For my part, I seem to be able to pull the ethernet cable in and out of my 
> pcmcia card without losing the network.  Perhaps I would have to leave the 
> cable out for longer before the connection times out?

Do you have a 10/100 MBit card? And did you have any autosense
problems with it?. Probably not. Normaly it should be a problem, but
with some hardware and drivers it is.

> But I have another similar "problem" that is more annoying than anything 
> else.  If I put my laptop into sleep mode, then when I turn it back on I find 
> I've lost the network, and I have to perform a 
> /etc/init.d/pcmcia restart 
> to get it going again.  

There is an option in the apm configuration or the pcmcia utils
nowadays that restarts the pcmcia after sleep mode automatically.

> Also, coming out of sleep mode, I find half the screen has gone out of sync, 
> and I have to run xvidtune to get it straight again.
> 
> Does anyone know if this means my system is configured inadequately, or if 
> the restart and reset can be performed automatically upon resumption?

yep, see above.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: eth0: startup messages - pseudo newbie

[Goswin Brederlow]

Drew Parsons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> > There is an option in the apm configuration or the pcmcia utils
> > nowadays that restarts the pcmcia after sleep mode automatically.
> 
> I couldn't see an option for that.  Should that be one of the kernel
> compilation options when you do make menuconfig?  I'm still using

No, its not a kernel or module option. Its in the pcmcia-cs package.

>From /var/lib/dpkg/info/pcmcia-cs.postinst:

. Newer version of Debian's apmd package allow the system administrator to
. automatically run arbitrary scripts when the system is brought to and from
. a suspended state.  While the PCMCIA modules provide APM support (that is,
. they are supposed to detect through the kernel when the system is being
. suspend and when it is brought back from a suspended state), this does
. not work on some computers.  Furthermore, certain cards, most notably
. SCSI cards, cannot recover from a suspend/resume cycle.  Therefore, it
. is recommended to automatically eject these cards when the system is
. suspended.
. 
. You now have three options:
. 1) You can use a script to automatically suspend/resume your PCMCIA
.cards during a APM suspend event.
. 2) You can use a script to automatically eject/insert your PCMCIA cards
.during a APM suspend event.  (Note that this will break any connections
.established by network cards.)
. 3) You can do nothing; that is, let the PCMCIA modules' APM support
.handle card suspend/resume events.
. 
. Unless you know that your system cannot adequately handle APM
. suspend/resume events on its own, you should choose option 3.  If you
. decide later that you need to automatically suspend/resume your PCMCIA
. cards with a script you should modify the /etc/pcmcia/apm.opts file so
. that it contains the following line:
. APM=suspend

> kernel 2.0.36 on slink.  Are you referring to the pcmcia modules for
> the 2.2 kernels? I've been nervous about upgrading to 2.2 because of
> the bugs still in potato.

I´m using potato on all my maschines without problems and the 2.2.x
kernels are a must I would say. My soundcard, my tft display
(framebuffer driven), my complete alpha, the ipchains and so on come
to my mind. :)


May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: GVC-PCMCIA-EtherNet?

[Goswin Brederlow]

Tobias Bachmor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Hi there!
> 
> I just bought an ACER TM512T and now I'm thinking about a 10/100MBit
> EtherNet-Card. My dealer can sell me a GVC 10/100MBit-Card for about 120CND
> which ist quite cheap.
> 
> Has anyone outthere any experiences with these cards? Or any suggestions?

Just a suggestion:

Go to the dealer with your laptop with pcmcia configured and
running. Ask him to test the card and stick it in. If it beeps twice
wth a high pitch the card gets detected and started. Thats a good sign
that it will work (but no guranty). If you have a second notebook with
ethernet (a friends one maybe) you could also try a ping or floodping
or ftp download.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: GVC-PCMCIA-EtherNet?

[Goswin Brederlow]

Gerhard Kroder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Tobias Bachmor wrote:
> 
> > Hi there!
> >
> > I just bought an ACER TM512T and now I'm thinking about a 10/100MBit
> > EtherNet-Card. My dealer can sell me a GVC 10/100MBit-Card for about 120CND
> > which ist quite cheap.
> >
> > Has anyone outthere any experiences with these cards? Or any suggestions?
> 
> 
> 
> i'm using sometimes a 3c589b on an 513t, wich is not quite the same. so i 
> can't
> realy answer to your question. but i may say/ask something related: i noticed
> that booting linux will hang on loading modules for this card until i change
> current state of the card, what ever it was during bootup: pluged or unpluged.
> this happens on plain slink, as it was distibutet with the 5-cd-set.

Do you use kernel 2.0.36 as you would with a plain slink?
If so, update to 2.2.x and the problem should go away.

May the source be with you.
Goswin

Re: listing packages in order of size

[Goswin Brederlow]

Drew Parsons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> [1  ]
> Is there a utility which lets you know what Debian packages you have
> installed and what their size is?   I couldn't find any such
> capability in the standard tools - dpkg, dselect or apt. 

Install console-apt, start it and press s. Its not perfect but a beginning.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: Trying to correctly configure X

[Goswin Brederlow]

"Bryan K. Walton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Hi everybody,
>   I just found out about this list and hope that somebody can help
> me.  (I have been asking questions on the debian-user list, and have
> received much help, but still am having difficultly.)
>   I have an IBM Thinkpad 390E in which I have installed Debian
> 2.1.  I am struggling to configure X Windows.  This weekend I managed to
> get a screen and a GUI interface, but I can't get my resolution any better
> than (what appears to be something like) 320 X 240!!!  I have a 14.1 inch
> TFT screen capable of 1024 X 768 (XGA) at something like 60 Hz (at
> least when I am in Windows).  I have a NeoMagic 256AV video card in the
> machine that I believe has about 2.5 meg of memory.  
>   Can anyone give me some advice regarding how to configure X?  What
> resolution should I be setting, what X server should I be picking, and 
> how many colors?  I have tried configuring X about 20 times now
> and either get a poor image, or don't get a screen at all.  I hope someone
> out there (maybe with the same type of computer as mine) can lead me out
> of the darkness.
> 
> Much Thanks!
> Bryan Walton

Use potato, that works. The neomagic isn´t supported by slinks X.

What you should also do (and might need to get X working) is to
compile a 2.2.x kernel with vesa framebuffer support. When you
compiled that add one of the following lines to your /etc/lilo.conf

vga=773 # 0x305 1024x768 8-Bit
vga=791 # 0x317 1024x768 16-Bit
vga=792 # 0x318 1024x768 24-Bit

If it works you will have a penguin in the top corner and a fullscreen 
console. Also if X doesn´t want to work, the XF86_FBDev will allways
work on the framebuffer, but without hardware accelleration.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: Help: exim not accepting mail!

[Goswin Brederlow]

Drew Parsons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: Connection refused

That means that nobody lisens to port 25.

Did you reboot after the update? If you have strange problems like
that, a reboot is allways the easiest to check if its a
start-stop-deamon problem. If rebooting helps, file abug against exim
descibing the problem.

If rebooting doesn´t help check the syslog and messages file and exims 
logfiles.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: Dell 9100XL

[Goswin Brederlow]

"Matthew R. Pavlovich" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> I have a friend who has a Dell 9100XL w/ the Trident Cyber9397 4mb Video
> Chipset.  I am setting this system up remotely, and do not wish to fry his
> LCD, or his chipset.  
> 
> Does anyone have a recommended monitor selection for this line of Dell's?
> I can't find anything close to it in the Linux Laptop web sites.
> 
>  Matthew R. Pavlovich

Try the vesa framebuffer support (disable the vga16) in the kernel and 
add a correct setting to the lilo.conf. After that you can use the
XF86_FBDev X server. Thats the savest setup (but slower than others).
Even with a different X server the framebuffer is a big surplus for a
laptop.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: task-laptop uploaded

[Goswin Brederlow]

Werner Heuser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Sean 'Shaleh' Perry schrieb:
> > 
> > First run of task-laptop uploaded.  Please submit wish list bugs against it.
> Today I found the package at debian/Incoming. Since
> I don't have Potato yet, so I installed it over Slink, this worked
> fine. Just to try it out, I purged it than. This worked fine, too.
> This meta-package is a good start for laptop users.

Could you post a list of stuff that the package depends / recommends /
suggests? A copy of the control file should be fine.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: Recommendations for Laptop

[Goswin Brederlow]

Andrew Clark <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> I would like to get a laptop and run Debian on it.  Does anyone have any
> recommendations for machines/manufactures to buy or avoid?
> 
> Regards,
> Andrew Clark.

I have a 15.1´´ Laptop from KoPak (relabled to baycom). Celeron 466,
128 MB ram, 10 GB harddisk, 24x CD. Boots from slink CD and installs
cleanly. Console and XF86_FBDev X-server in 1024x768. Only problem is
the sound (maestro 2).

Price ~2400 Euro/$.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: Ethernet-Card for Laptop

[Goswin Brederlow]

Russell Coker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> >> The issue of Cardbus being required for 100baseT is definately worth
> >> noting.
> >
> >It's also not true.  I have a 100baseT PCMCIA card.  I haven't tried
> >measuring the actual throughput, but it's definately much faster on a
> >100baseT network than a 10baseT network.  (And it's capable of talking 
> >on a 100baseT network, which a 10-only card is not.)
> 
> 1a)  Most 100baseT networks will auto-negotiate to 10baseT if needed.

Only if you have a 10/100 switch that works fine.

On a 10/100 Hub all ports will drop to 10 MBit/s and the network will
be slow. Also all Windows PCs will probably have to be rebooted or
even manually switched to 10 MBit/s in the configuration.

If you have a cheap 100 MBit Hub it might not switch to 10 MBit and
then it doesn´t work at all with a 10 MBit/s card.

> 1b)  Those which don't will have spare 10baseT ports anyway.

??? Where from? A switch? Mixed 10/100 MBit networks are
expensive. Its much cheaper to buy a second network card and setup one 
linuxbox as gateway, if linux is present, than to have a switch. And
if you have only 100 MBit cards you won´t have 10 MBit switch or
gateway ready.

> 2)  If 100baseT on PC-Card is only capable of 20Mb/s as has been suggested
> then it is still capable of being faster than 10baseT while (IMHO) not being
> fast enough to justify extra expense or effort.  Also there is the issue of
> the amount of CPU time required for transfers.  I expect that CardBus will
> require less CPU time which is something that interests me!

I have one 100 MBit card in my Alpha and a 10 MBit card in my old
PC. Also at work they have a 100/10 MBit network via Linux gateway and 
hubs. If I had a 10 MBit card for my Laptop I couldn´t just plug it in 
at work, but would have to get a cable connected to the right hub,
i.e. I would have to grab the cable and follow it till I reach the hub 
and then maybe plug it into the other one. 10 MBit/s cards can be
realy anoying.

The only problem with 100 MBit cards is that they don´t have a BNC
connector, but who is using BNC only nowadays?

I have a "Fiber Line 16 Bit 10/100 Fast Ethernet" card in my laptop
and it works great.

Only problem is the throughput. On a 100 MBit/s switched network I get 
11 MBit/s and a lot of CPU useage. Anything I could configure
differently to make it faster or is that the limit of pcmcia?

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: Attaching external hd via PCMCIA ?

[Goswin Brederlow]

Blair Kelly III <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Does anyone have experience attaching
> an external hard drive via a
> SCSI PCMCIA card?
> 
> I have a Sony 505F notebook running Debian 2.1.
> I would like to backup a very large (1 G)
> file that took a large amount of
> computer time to generate.  (Minor question-
> Is a SCSI card attached to an external
> hard drive my best way to go?)
> 
> I have been reading the PCMCIA HOW-TO.
> I have been considering the ADAPTEC
> APA-1460 SlimSCSI card, but have seen
> one newsgroup posting where someone said
> they had trouble using it to connect to
> a hard drive.
> 
> Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

If you have another computer I would suggest to buy a network card for 
the laptop and copy the data to the other computer. You probably don´t 
want to carry the external harddrive with the data around with you, so 
its fine when the data sits on the other PC´s drive and a network card 
has more uses than an pcmcia-scsi adaptor.

Just my 2c.
Goswin

Re: PCMCIA problems ( system crashing)

[Goswin Brederlow]

NaNoFlaW <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> I have a Compaq presario 1685. I installed debian 2.0 ( hamm ) on it i 
> configured the PCMCIA with the option i82365. When im runnig the module
> "insmod 182365.o" the system crash
> 
> here the probe dump:
> INTEL PCI probe: 182365sl DF found, 2 sockets
> 
> please i need help
> I read many times the HOWTO!
> 
> Linux is not my os. It's my religion

Update to potato and the problem should be gone. I had the same
problemw ith an older pcmcia package.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: Switching pcmcia ethernet cards

[Goswin Brederlow]

Charles Baker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> I had been running a 3com ethernet card on a slink w/ some potato install on 
> a 
> Dell Xpi P133 ST.  I had borrowed the card from a friend, so I bought a card 
> for myself, a Linksys EC2T.  The card seems to be recognized just fine by, 
> ifconfig shows it has an ip and the other needed configuration.  However, 
> when 
> I try to ping my router I get this error message "Sendto: operation not 
> allowed."  Is there something else I need to do?

I switch my card frequently. I have one at home and at university
theres another one. No problems at all with that. Should just work
fine.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

PS: Can I tell the cardmgr to use different configs/IPs depending on
the hardware detected?

Re: Help with X11 - Debian 2.0: config for Armada 1750 !!

[Goswin Brederlow]

Stephane Bortzmeyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> On Wednesday 13 October 1999, at 10 h 3, the keyboard of 
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> 
> >  I've got a COMPAQ Armada 1750 with Linux Debian 2.0 installed.
> 
> Did you at least checked 
> 
> . There are two 1750 there...
> 
> >  Video card: ATI LT Pro AGP 2X - 4 Mo RAM
>^^ 
>I believe it needs a fairly recent X11 server, so you 
> may have to upgrade to at least the last stable Debian, 2.1.

I have that gfx chip on my laptop and the current XSVGA does NOT work
on it. Gives a nice plasma effect that gets brigther and brigther.

You need to compile the kernel to use the VESA Framebuffer support and 
use the X86_FBDev framebuffer server. That can run an X in the same
resolution and colordepth you console runs in, e.g. 1024x768-24. I
can´t get the Vesafb to boot a 32 bit mode, since vesa doesn´t seem to 
have a mode for that, but 8,16,24 work fine.

According to the Linux Magazin the next X releases should support that 
chip.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: Sony Viao F340 was(Re: Tochiba Satellite 2590CDT and Linux)

[Goswin Brederlow]

Brian Servis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Me again,
> 
> I dropped the Toshiba and went with a Sony Vaio F340.  
> 
> PII-366
> 96M ram
> 6.4G hdd
> 13" 1024x768 w/ Neomagic 256AV
> Neomagic2200 sound chip(supported by patch to 2.2.x kernels)
> internal winmodem(I don't really need it anyway)
> 
> I also purchased a Xircom RealPort Ethernet RBE-100BTX pcmcia network
> card that according to the pcmcia-cs doc's is supported.
> 
> My plan is to install base via floppy and then network to my existing
> desktop Debian machine and install the rest via network(modem on
> desktop).  This will mostly be a traveling machine so I don't expect to
> install tons of apps on it.

Configure pcmcia before configuring the network, then insert the
pcmcia card and you should hear two high beeps (a high and a low shows 
failure). After that you can nfs mount your desktop and install base
via nfs.

> This is also my first laptop install and I have never delt with the
> pcmcia support so I am sure to learn alot this weekend.  So what ever
> links and other sources that are not the obvious ones would be much
> appreciated.
> 
> Brian

Compile your own kernel with framebufer support (probably generic
vesafb) to get a useable console. Try the xserver-fbdev package for
the most easy X or an accelerated neomagic driver from suse. I think
the debian x servers don´t support that chip, but  could be
wrong. When you try the X, keep your fingers on CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE to
quit X fast when something seems wrong (i.e. the sreen gets white or
flickers).

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

apm [Was: Re: Sony F340 sucess!]

[Goswin Brederlow]

Brian Servis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> No questions for now. But I am sure I will have some as I get more into
> it.  Specifically I see questions comming concerning APM/ACPI.  

I have a problem with the apm support, it detects fine when I plug in
the power or remove it, but the batery is allways -1% full.

The Notebook is an Kapok 8700C relabeled to Baycom with a nice 15.1´´
display.

Re: Unidentified subject!

[Goswin Brederlow]

David Goodyear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> First I will start by saying that I am a new linux user.  I have installed
> the debian operating system on my IBM 365XD.  However, when I try to boot
> the system it just hangs after "LILO loading linux".  Additionally my
> debian boot floppy doesn't work either (maybe because of the external
> floppy?).  Anyway, I had to make a windows 98 boot floppy which has
> loadlin.exe and linux on it.  the autoexec.bat file executes loadlin.exe
> ie. " a:\loadlin.exe a:\linux root=/dev/hda1" .  This is th only way I
> could boot my system.  How can I fix things so that I can boot directly
> from hard disk (/dev/hda1)?
> If anyone has any ideas that I could use to fix this problem, your help
> would be appreciated
> 
> David Goodyear

Maybe your linux kernel lies do far down the disk, i.e. behind the 518 
MB mark or the 1024th cylinder or something else. If you have it on /
and / is small and the first partition you might try the following:

1. You can create a small partition with a dos on it that starts loadlin.
2. Do 1. and then tell lilo to install the bootblock on the dos
   partition (this helps on my notebook)
3. Change the geometry mapping of your drive from normal to lba to big 
   or whatever your bios has or tell lilo to adress the harddisk by
   blocks and not gemoetry.
4. Try to find out whats so special about your system that breaks lilos 
   loading routine.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: Debian on an older laptop

[Goswin Brederlow]

"Matthew Guenther" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> [1  ]
> Hi,
> 
> I have an friend who wants to ditch windows and put linux on his laptop.  I
> already have Debian installed on my Dell and it works fine, however I'm not
> sure if it's possible to install on his computer (Zenith Z-Note L425).  The
> biggest problem is that he is without a CD drive, and only has a very slow
> modem (9600 bps).  Is it possible to install most of a working system off of
> floppies?  Would it be possible to easily transfer files between my computer
> and his using a serial cable?  Would Debian even be the best choice for this
> machine?

Try the bootdisks and also try a different kernel with framebufer
support enabled (eigther vga or vesa). If that works theres no reason
not to use linux.

If you have a paralel cable you can use plip to nfs mount your
notebook or another computer. Plip is quite fast with 40 KB/s.
Otherwise you can use a serial cable with slip or ppp with up to
115200 BAUD.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: another newbie/debian on older laptop

[Goswin Brederlow]

[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

> Suggestions to both sunshine_wonder and Matthew Guenther:
> 
> I have run Debian on a Compaq Aero (ancient machine) with 16 meg Ram and
> a 500 meg hard drive and a 486sx 16MHz processor for years now.
> 
> For installation my favourite option is plip + floppies. Much faster than the
> serial
> port and usually easier to setup initially than pcmcia. I have heard the

Hmm, worked for me like a charme. Boot from CD, stick in the card and
configure the network. :)

> ocasional
> report of someone not being able to get plip working but it has always worked
> for me.

For plip to work sometimes you need to set the io and irq for
the parport, without it you eigther get no connection or
timeouts. With the settings it works fine. Maybe thats something to
mention in the plip doku.

> 
> For allowing the install of lots of software I use e2compr. It has been
> reliable enough for me and let me put everything I needed on the mahcine.
> 
> e2compr: http://www.netspace.net.au/~reiter/e2compr
> 
> Don't compress executables or library binaries unless they really don't get
> used very often. I was able to compress most of the xemacs/emacs directories
> and /usr/src (compiles take somewhat longer). I have used double and zlib (?)
> before with some sucess but e2compr has worked much better for me.

I plan to use that for the demo-fs, but at the moment booting of a
ramdisk and the loopback doesn´t work, because losetup is broken. But
thanks for the URL. :) Good to know that its stable.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: pcmcia enet and modem sharing in potato on laptop

[Goswin Brederlow]

Michael Perry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Here is a strange situation.  I have potato installed fresh with a 2.2.10
> kernel custom installed and the new pcmcia-cs services configured for the
> system by me.  On a system exactly the same, Fujitsu Lifebook, Debian
> Potato, but kernel 2.2.12 and same pcmcia level, the 3com combo 556 card can
> have the modem and enet pcmcia used at the same time.  On mine, the modem
> does not load with the ethernet card plugged in.  Remvove the dongle, run
> setserial /dev/ttyS1 autoconfig auto_irq it works using wvdial. On my
> colleagues laptop it works with both connected without having to rerun
> setserial.  This seems rather strange.  The /etc/pcmcia/config.opts is
> exactly the same.  Most kernel compilation options are the same.

Maybe you have an IRQ conflict. My friend had the problem that he
couldn´t use sound when the pcmcia network card was inserted for the
very reason.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: eth0: startup messages - pseudo newbie

[Goswin Brederlow]

Jordan Howarth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> I have a Versa Note with an inbuild ethernet card and if I am not connected 
> to the
> network when I start, I get a whole list of stuff like transmit timed out,
> switching to 10baseTx-FD media, etc... in the startup messages. The ethernet 
> is
> not modular and was setup to automatically detect which media to use. I am
> assuming that these are just it going through the motions of finding that 
> NOTHING
> is there - (True/False) ?

True.

> ALSO, if I remove the ethernet cable and put it back later I lose my 
> connection
> entirely. /etc/init.d/network restart doesn't work and I am not quite sure 
> about
> ifconfig, route, etc.
> 
> Thanks - be kind ...

Well, /etc/init.d/network won´t work, since its not a normal
start/stop like script. It will allways start and if your card is
already started nothing will happen.

The problem probably lies in the autodetection of the network
speed. The driver will autodetect the right speed and will probably
keep that for ever or for some time.

Look at the output from "ifconfig -n" and "route -n" to see how your
card is configured before and after removing/attaching the
cable. Nothing should change. Try to ping the outside for some time
and see if the cards leds (or someones others leds blink) and see if
the card goes back into autodetecting the speed. If it doesn´t you
have to remove the driver and start it again, so you should build it
as module.

To restart your network card the following is normaly enough:

ifconfig eth0 down; rmmod ; insmod ; /etc/init.d/network; ping 


May the Source be with you.
Goswin

PS: If you have some custom routing, remove that as well.

Re: eth0: startup messages - pseudo newbie

[Goswin Brederlow]

Drew Parsons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> On Wed, Oct 20, 1999 at 11:18:14PM +0200, Goswin Brederlow wrote:
> > Jordan Howarth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> > > ALSO, if I remove the ethernet cable and put it back later I lose my 
> > > connection
> > > entirely.
> > 
> > To restart your network card the following is normaly enough:
> > 
> > ifconfig eth0 down; rmmod ; insmod ; /etc/init.d/network; 
> > ping 
> 
> 
> I have a suspicion it might be even simpler than this.  Am I wrong I thinking 
> that all you need to do is
> ifconfig eth0 down; ifconfig eth0 up
> 
> ??

That won´t remove the module and thus the card wll not be
reconfigured. If autonegotiation is a problem reinitialising the
module will be the only sollution.

> For my part, I seem to be able to pull the ethernet cable in and out of my 
> pcmcia card without losing the network.  Perhaps I would have to leave the 
> cable out for longer before the connection times out?

Do you have a 10/100 MBit card? And did you have any autosense
problems with it?. Probably not. Normaly it should be a problem, but
with some hardware and drivers it is.

> But I have another similar "problem" that is more annoying than anything 
> else.  If I put my laptop into sleep mode, then when I turn it back on I find 
> I've lost the network, and I have to perform a 
> /etc/init.d/pcmcia restart 
> to get it going again.  

There is an option in the apm configuration or the pcmcia utils
nowadays that restarts the pcmcia after sleep mode automatically.

> Also, coming out of sleep mode, I find half the screen has gone out of sync, 
> and I have to run xvidtune to get it straight again.
> 
> Does anyone know if this means my system is configured inadequately, or if 
> the restart and reset can be performed automatically upon resumption?

yep, see above.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: eth0: startup messages - pseudo newbie

[Goswin Brederlow]

Drew Parsons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> > There is an option in the apm configuration or the pcmcia utils
> > nowadays that restarts the pcmcia after sleep mode automatically.
> 
> I couldn't see an option for that.  Should that be one of the kernel
> compilation options when you do make menuconfig?  I'm still using

No, its not a kernel or module option. Its in the pcmcia-cs package.

>From /var/lib/dpkg/info/pcmcia-cs.postinst:

. Newer version of Debian's apmd package allow the system administrator to
. automatically run arbitrary scripts when the system is brought to and from
. a suspended state.  While the PCMCIA modules provide APM support (that is,
. they are supposed to detect through the kernel when the system is being
. suspend and when it is brought back from a suspended state), this does
. not work on some computers.  Furthermore, certain cards, most notably
. SCSI cards, cannot recover from a suspend/resume cycle.  Therefore, it
. is recommended to automatically eject these cards when the system is
. suspended.
. 
. You now have three options:
. 1) You can use a script to automatically suspend/resume your PCMCIA
.cards during a APM suspend event.
. 2) You can use a script to automatically eject/insert your PCMCIA cards
.during a APM suspend event.  (Note that this will break any connections
.established by network cards.)
. 3) You can do nothing; that is, let the PCMCIA modules' APM support
.handle card suspend/resume events.
. 
. Unless you know that your system cannot adequately handle APM
. suspend/resume events on its own, you should choose option 3.  If you
. decide later that you need to automatically suspend/resume your PCMCIA
. cards with a script you should modify the /etc/pcmcia/apm.opts file so
. that it contains the following line:
. APM=suspend

> kernel 2.0.36 on slink.  Are you referring to the pcmcia modules for
> the 2.2 kernels? I've been nervous about upgrading to 2.2 because of
> the bugs still in potato.

I´m using potato on all my maschines without problems and the 2.2.x
kernels are a must I would say. My soundcard, my tft display
(framebuffer driven), my complete alpha, the ipchains and so on come
to my mind. :)


May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: GVC-PCMCIA-EtherNet?

[Goswin Brederlow]

Tobias Bachmor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Hi there!
> 
> I just bought an ACER TM512T and now I'm thinking about a 10/100MBit
> EtherNet-Card. My dealer can sell me a GVC 10/100MBit-Card for about 120CND
> which ist quite cheap.
> 
> Has anyone outthere any experiences with these cards? Or any suggestions?

Just a suggestion:

Go to the dealer with your laptop with pcmcia configured and
running. Ask him to test the card and stick it in. If it beeps twice
wth a high pitch the card gets detected and started. Thats a good sign
that it will work (but no guranty). If you have a second notebook with
ethernet (a friends one maybe) you could also try a ping or floodping
or ftp download.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: GVC-PCMCIA-EtherNet?

[Goswin Brederlow]

Gerhard Kroder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Tobias Bachmor wrote:
> 
> > Hi there!
> >
> > I just bought an ACER TM512T and now I'm thinking about a 10/100MBit
> > EtherNet-Card. My dealer can sell me a GVC 10/100MBit-Card for about 120CND
> > which ist quite cheap.
> >
> > Has anyone outthere any experiences with these cards? Or any suggestions?
> 
> 
> 
> i'm using sometimes a 3c589b on an 513t, wich is not quite the same. so i 
> can't
> realy answer to your question. but i may say/ask something related: i noticed
> that booting linux will hang on loading modules for this card until i change
> current state of the card, what ever it was during bootup: pluged or unpluged.
> this happens on plain slink, as it was distibutet with the 5-cd-set.

Do you use kernel 2.0.36 as you would with a plain slink?
If so, update to 2.2.x and the problem should go away.

May the source be with you.
Goswin

Re: listing packages in order of size

[Goswin Brederlow]

Drew Parsons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> [1  ]
> Is there a utility which lets you know what Debian packages you have
> installed and what their size is?   I couldn't find any such
> capability in the standard tools - dpkg, dselect or apt. 

Install console-apt, start it and press s. Its not perfect but a beginning.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: Trying to correctly configure X

[Goswin Brederlow]

"Bryan K. Walton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Hi everybody,
>   I just found out about this list and hope that somebody can help
> me.  (I have been asking questions on the debian-user list, and have
> received much help, but still am having difficultly.)
>   I have an IBM Thinkpad 390E in which I have installed Debian
> 2.1.  I am struggling to configure X Windows.  This weekend I managed to
> get a screen and a GUI interface, but I can't get my resolution any better
> than (what appears to be something like) 320 X 240!!!  I have a 14.1 inch
> TFT screen capable of 1024 X 768 (XGA) at something like 60 Hz (at
> least when I am in Windows).  I have a NeoMagic 256AV video card in the
> machine that I believe has about 2.5 meg of memory.  
>   Can anyone give me some advice regarding how to configure X?  What
> resolution should I be setting, what X server should I be picking, and 
> how many colors?  I have tried configuring X about 20 times now
> and either get a poor image, or don't get a screen at all.  I hope someone
> out there (maybe with the same type of computer as mine) can lead me out
> of the darkness.
> 
> Much Thanks!
> Bryan Walton

Use potato, that works. The neomagic isn´t supported by slinks X.

What you should also do (and might need to get X working) is to
compile a 2.2.x kernel with vesa framebuffer support. When you
compiled that add one of the following lines to your /etc/lilo.conf

vga=773 # 0x305 1024x768 8-Bit
vga=791 # 0x317 1024x768 16-Bit
vga=792 # 0x318 1024x768 24-Bit

If it works you will have a penguin in the top corner and a fullscreen 
console. Also if X doesn´t want to work, the XF86_FBDev will allways
work on the framebuffer, but without hardware accelleration.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: Help: exim not accepting mail!

[Goswin Brederlow]

Drew Parsons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: Connection refused

That means that nobody lisens to port 25.

Did you reboot after the update? If you have strange problems like
that, a reboot is allways the easiest to check if its a
start-stop-deamon problem. If rebooting helps, file abug against exim
descibing the problem.

If rebooting doesn´t help check the syslog and messages file and exims 
logfiles.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: Dell 9100XL

[Goswin Brederlow]

"Matthew R. Pavlovich" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> I have a friend who has a Dell 9100XL w/ the Trident Cyber9397 4mb Video
> Chipset.  I am setting this system up remotely, and do not wish to fry his
> LCD, or his chipset.  
> 
> Does anyone have a recommended monitor selection for this line of Dell's?
> I can't find anything close to it in the Linux Laptop web sites.
> 
>  Matthew R. Pavlovich

Try the vesa framebuffer support (disable the vga16) in the kernel and 
add a correct setting to the lilo.conf. After that you can use the
XF86_FBDev X server. Thats the savest setup (but slower than others).
Even with a different X server the framebuffer is a big surplus for a
laptop.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: task-laptop uploaded

[Goswin Brederlow]

Werner Heuser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Sean 'Shaleh' Perry schrieb:
> > 
> > First run of task-laptop uploaded.  Please submit wish list bugs against it.
> Today I found the package at debian/Incoming. Since
> I don't have Potato yet, so I installed it over Slink, this worked
> fine. Just to try it out, I purged it than. This worked fine, too.
> This meta-package is a good start for laptop users.

Could you post a list of stuff that the package depends / recommends /
suggests? A copy of the control file should be fine.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: Recommendations for Laptop

[Goswin Brederlow]

Andrew Clark <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> I would like to get a laptop and run Debian on it.  Does anyone have any
> recommendations for machines/manufactures to buy or avoid?
> 
> Regards,
> Andrew Clark.

I have a 15.1´´ Laptop from KoPak (relabled to baycom). Celeron 466,
128 MB ram, 10 GB harddisk, 24x CD. Boots from slink CD and installs
cleanly. Console and XF86_FBDev X-server in 1024x768. Only problem is
the sound (maestro 2).

Price ~2400 Euro/$.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: Ethernet-Card for Laptop

[Goswin Brederlow]

Russell Coker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> >> The issue of Cardbus being required for 100baseT is definately worth
> >> noting.
> >
> >It's also not true.  I have a 100baseT PCMCIA card.  I haven't tried
> >measuring the actual throughput, but it's definately much faster on a
> >100baseT network than a 10baseT network.  (And it's capable of talking 
> >on a 100baseT network, which a 10-only card is not.)
> 
> 1a)  Most 100baseT networks will auto-negotiate to 10baseT if needed.

Only if you have a 10/100 switch that works fine.

On a 10/100 Hub all ports will drop to 10 MBit/s and the network will
be slow. Also all Windows PCs will probably have to be rebooted or
even manually switched to 10 MBit/s in the configuration.

If you have a cheap 100 MBit Hub it might not switch to 10 MBit and
then it doesn´t work at all with a 10 MBit/s card.

> 1b)  Those which don't will have spare 10baseT ports anyway.

??? Where from? A switch? Mixed 10/100 MBit networks are
expensive. Its much cheaper to buy a second network card and setup one 
linuxbox as gateway, if linux is present, than to have a switch. And
if you have only 100 MBit cards you won´t have 10 MBit switch or
gateway ready.

> 2)  If 100baseT on PC-Card is only capable of 20Mb/s as has been suggested
> then it is still capable of being faster than 10baseT while (IMHO) not being
> fast enough to justify extra expense or effort.  Also there is the issue of
> the amount of CPU time required for transfers.  I expect that CardBus will
> require less CPU time which is something that interests me!

I have one 100 MBit card in my Alpha and a 10 MBit card in my old
PC. Also at work they have a 100/10 MBit network via Linux gateway and 
hubs. If I had a 10 MBit card for my Laptop I couldn´t just plug it in 
at work, but would have to get a cable connected to the right hub,
i.e. I would have to grab the cable and follow it till I reach the hub 
and then maybe plug it into the other one. 10 MBit/s cards can be
realy anoying.

The only problem with 100 MBit cards is that they don´t have a BNC
connector, but who is using BNC only nowadays?

I have a "Fiber Line 16 Bit 10/100 Fast Ethernet" card in my laptop
and it works great.

Only problem is the throughput. On a 100 MBit/s switched network I get 
11 MBit/s and a lot of CPU useage. Anything I could configure
differently to make it faster or is that the limit of pcmcia?

May the Source be with you.
Goswin

Re: Attaching external hd via PCMCIA ?

[Goswin Brederlow]

Blair Kelly III <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Does anyone have experience attaching
> an external hard drive via a
> SCSI PCMCIA card?
> 
> I have a Sony 505F notebook running Debian 2.1.
> I would like to backup a very large (1 G)
> file that took a large amount of
> computer time to generate.  (Minor question-
> Is a SCSI card attached to an external
> hard drive my best way to go?)
> 
> I have been reading the PCMCIA HOW-TO.
> I have been considering the ADAPTEC
> APA-1460 SlimSCSI card, but have seen
> one newsgroup posting where someone said
> they had trouble using it to connect to
> a hard drive.
> 
> Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

If you have another computer I would suggest to buy a network card for 
the laptop and copy the data to the other computer. You probably don´t 
want to carry the external harddrive with the data around with you, so 
its fine when the data sits on the other PC´s drive and a network card 
has more uses than an pcmcia-scsi adaptor.

Just my 2c.
Goswin

Re: PCMCIA problems ( system crashing)

[Goswin Brederlow]

NaNoFlaW <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> I have a Compaq presario 1685. I installed debian 2.0 ( hamm ) on it i 
> configured the PCMCIA with the option i82365. When im runnig the module
> "insmod 182365.o" the system crash
> 
> here the probe dump:
> INTEL PCI probe: 182365sl DF found, 2 sockets
> 
> please i need help
> I read many times the HOWTO!
> 
> Linux is not my os. It's my religion

Update to potato and the problem should be gone. I had the same
problemw ith an older pcmcia package.

May the Source be with you.
Goswin