Hardware
 

CPU	AMD Mobile Athlon 1.2 MHz
RAM	256 MB
Harddisk	30GB, Hitatchi HITATCHI_DK23CA-30
DVD/CD-RW	Hitatchi HL_DT_ST GCC-4080N
Network (built-in)	Realtek, RTL-8139
Modem (built-in)	VIA, VT82C686 (Apollo Super AC97/Modem)
Video	8MB ATI, ATI 3D Rage Mobility (AGP 2x)
Sound	VIA, VT82C686 (Apollo Super AC97/Modem)
Monitor	15" TFT XVGA, max resolution 1024x768
USB	VIA, VT82C586B
Ports	1 x serial, 1 x parallel, 2 x USB, 1x external monitor, 1 x audio in, 1 x audio out, 1 x iLink (note: no PS/2 port)

The machine came with Windows XP installed on a 15GB FAT32 drive C: and an empty 15GB FAT32 drive D:.
 

Installing Mandrake 8.1

Installation itself was flawless and it detected all hardware without a glitch. The only problem was that the kernel that gets installed (2.4.8-mdk26) will cause a reset during boot; the last message that I can see fly by was about detecting PNP bios. In order for this kernel to boot properly you have to specify "nobiospnp" as a kernel parameter in the LILO config.

Unfortunately I discovered this way too late. I had installed mdk 8.1 on a reiserfs root partition and could not get any other 2.4.8-mdk26 kernel to boot because they haven't got reiserfs built-in and thus the kernel stops because it can't mount the root partition. After much messing about (and not knowing about the nobiospnp option), I wiped my Mandrake 8.1 partition and installed Mandrake 8.0 on an ext2 root partition instead. After that, I did an "update install" of Mandrake 8.1. The end result was an ext2 root partition containing the updated 8.1 packages and both the 2.4.3-20mdk (Mandrake 8.0) and 2.4.8-26mdk (Mandrake 8.1) kernels. I could then boot the 2.4.3-20mdk kernel.
Only a few hours later I came across the "nobiospnp" option. After updating /etc/lilo.conf I could boot the 2.4.8-26mdk kernel correctly.

I received an email from Barry Rountree. He had the same Mandrake-8.1-continuous-reboot problem on his fxa49. Here's what he did:

1.  Put in the Mandrake 8.1 CD #1 and boot.
2.  Hit the F1 key for more options.
3.  At the prompt, type in
        rescue
4.  Press the enter key when prompted.
5.  At the prompt, type in
        chroot /mnt
6.  Edit /etc/lilo.conf so that the word "nobiospnp" (no quotes) appears in each "append" string.  For example, my lilo.conf file now has the line:
        append=" hdc=ide-scsi devfs=mount nobiospnp"
7.  Run /sbin/lilo to update the changes.
8.  Remove the cd, reboot, and enjoy!

Network
The RTL ethernet adapter was recognized without problem. The configuration can be done during installation and was working correctly after restart.

Modem
I haven't looked at this at all, although the KDE Control Center does list  the VIA built-in modem under the modem hardware. I won't use the modem under Linux anyway.

Video
The ATI card is supported under XFree86 4.1. X was up and running without problem. Haven't looked at 3D support.

Sound
Sound works, but I don't know to what degree. I've disabled the "sound" service because it's slow on startup. None the less I get some startup tune when I startup KDE. I don't care for sound under Linux so I can't be bothered.

PCMCIA
When I insert an 8MB compact flash card (in a PCMCIA adpater) in any of the 2 PCMCIA sockets, it gets detected properly. I had to manually mount /dev/hde1 in order to access the card, even after uncommenting the lines in /etc/pcmcia/ide.opts that indicated this will be done for me. I've never used PCMCIA cards under Linux before so I've probably not configured it correctly yet. Said that, I do wonder why I get messages from cardmgr about not being able to "stat /dev/cdrom"!?

USB
My old USB web cam (canon dvc 323) showed up correctly when running usbview so it probably works.

Firewire
I haven't got any firewire devices so I don't know if it works.

Battery
The apm functionality works fine and under KDE, the battery icon showed the correct status.
 
 

Page last updated: 10 March 2002