[lug] installing linux on a fujitsu c4135

[John-David Childs]

I almost didn't read this message because of the subject line, but I've spent the past few weeks installing (and re-installing, and re-installing again) FreeBSD, RH Linux, and Mandrake Linux dual-booting with Win98 on an HP Pavilion 3250 (12.1" 800x600) with a Trident Cyberblade i7 Chipset.  The Fujitsu c4235 (there is no 4135) has a Cyberblade 9525DVD chip, which has its own memory (2.5M) as opposed to the shared memory of the i7.

Synopsis:  despite claims of compatibility in XFree 3.3.5+, the only way I could get this to work in anything other than 320x200 *on my laptop LCD* was to use the Frame Buffer X Server (XFree86-FBDev).  With RH, I had to compile a new kernel (according to the Frame-Buffer HOWTO) and modify XF86Config with the ModeLine output from "fbset -x".  I have read (DejaNews) that others can get it to work with XFre86-SVGA and a regular monitor (even in 1024x768 mode).

Mandrake allowed me to automatically set up a Frame Buffer capable kernel via the installer.  I had to modify the default VGA= (I set it to 0x314) statement in /etc/lilo.conf to get 800x600x16 (bits/pixel) and modify XF86Config (the same file I'd used under RH).  

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-admin at lug.boulder.co.us [mailto:lug-admin at lug.boulder.co.us]On
Behalf Of Wayde Allen
Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2000 5:33 PM
To: List: Boulder Linux User's Group
Subject: Re: [lug] installing linux on a fujitsu c4135


On Thu, 6 Jul 2000, Jason Bowen wrote:

> On Thu, 6 Jul 2000, Wayde Allen wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, 6 Jul 2000, Jason Bowen wrote:
> > 
> > > Peter Bancel is visiting from out of town and is having trouble installing
> > > S.U.S.E. 6.4 on this laptop.  I have never installed Linux on a laptop
> > > before and would have to research as much as him to help.  He is at
> > > 303-444-4972 and will be at this number for today and tomorrow.  It is an
> > > emergency for him and if somebody with laptop experience could help him it
> > > would be much appreciated.
> > > Jason
> > 
> > Has anyone offered to help him?
> > 
> > - Wayde
> >   (wallen at boulder.nist.gov)
> 
> Nobody has written me if they have.
> Jason

Since I haven't heard anything on the list about this, I gave the fellow a
call.  His main difficulty is in getting the X-windows system running.  He
has used some utility that says he has a Trident chipset, and using the
YAST configurator he get X to try starting.  However, for the most part he
seems to be getting unusable displays.

It has been some time since I've played with SUSE and YAST so if there is
anyone out there with more recent experience, you might want to consider
giving him a call.  Supposedly someone did call earlier today and left a
message, but didn't provide him with any way to call them back.  If that
was you, please try calling 303-444-4972 again.

My suggestions to him were to see if he could get the XF86Setup program
running from the command line, and to try selecting the generic 800x600
vga display.  That would bypass YAST so he could experiment a bit more
easily.  I also pointed him to the web page on laptops at
http://www.linux.org. 

He isn't particularly set on installing SUSE so if he is still stuck in
the morning I told him to call me back, and we'd get together and see what
we can do.

- Wayde
  (wallen at boulder.nist.gov)


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