[TriLUG] without better support from the vendors...

[Ed Hill]

Hi Chris,

Ok, I think we can do a lot better than 1 of 5.  I did a little more
research and heres how it stands:

> (since September), I still have a large sist of things that don't work:
> - serial port not recognized


Fixed (enable serial port in BIOS).


> - no video driver - uses generic LCD driver that restricts me to XFree86 3.x


fixed by Savage binary X driver see:

   http://www.patoche.org/alone/info/t23.html


  "Go to http://www.s3graphics.com/ then drivers, then login in at 

   bottom (fourth) you are redirected to https://ranger.s3graphics.com 

   put archive as name and password, accept licence (needs cookie), 

   click on ``370drv'' (ProSavage Drivers) and download 

   Savage_4.1.0_binary.tgz. Extract savage_drv.o and copy it to

   /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers (keep the current one for safety)."



> - no audio driver


Fixed by installing Red Hat 7.2


> - suspend-to-disk non-functional (which means I cannot remove
>   it from the dock without shutting down...which means I must reboot
>   twice/day)


You need to create a hibernation file in a FAT32 partition to get the
suspend-to-disk functionality.  See the following links for free
linux-based tools to accomplish that:

   http://www.procyon.com/~pda/lphdisk/
   http://mobilix.org/Mobile-Guide.db/mobile-guide-p1c3s3-linux-tools-to-repartition.html

And note that you *REALLY* need to backup all critical data on your
disk before using these utilities since they can cause serious
partition corruption.


> - sleep works, but frequenlty looses mouse or keyboard when awakened


First try a newer kernel such as the one that ships with RH 7.2 or
the kernel update for Red Hat 7.2 (http://www.redhat.com/download/mirror.html).
If that doesn't do it, try disabling GPM.  I've had similar problems
and the combo of updating the kernel and disabling GPM has fixed it
and I don't know if it was the kernel, gpm, or both.


> - no hot-swapping of drive-bay devices


See: http://www.grennan.com/t20/

   "You can warm swap your drives by going into suspend mode first.
    First un-mounting any disk you are currently using and then
    pressing Fn-F4 and wait.  After the system is fully suspended,
    swap your devices.  When the swap is complete, tap the Fn key
    to un-suppend."


So give those a try and that should bring us a lot closer to 5 of 5.


Ed


-- 
Edward H. Hill III, PhD
Post-Doctoral Researcher    |  Emails:   <ed at eh3.com>, <ehill at mines.edu>
Division of ESE             |  URL:      http://www.eh3.com
Colorado School of Mines    |  Phone:    303-273-3483
Golden, CO  80401           |  Fax:      303-273-3311