General installation for notebooks with SIS630 / SIS630S / SIS630ST chipset
Get the Linux distribution SUSE Linux 7.1 or newer and download the
latest Linux kernel ( i.e. 2.4.18 at the time of writing of
these instructions ) as tar.gz archive at Kernel.Org.
Prepare your system for Linux installation
Switch on your notebook, go to the BIOS setup ( e.g.
by pressing <CTRL>,<ALT> and <S>
together at the same time when prompted ).
Set the video memory by the menu option "Memory / VGA
Shared Memory" to 8 MByte ( best choise if Linux
is the only operating system ) or 16 MByte ( best
choice if you want to play DVDs with Windows, too )
Do a harddisk partitioning so that some space on the
harddisk is available for a LINUX installation. Make
MSDOS boot from harddisk so that Windows is not loaded
at boot time of MSDOS, enable access to the CDROM drive
for MSDOS:
Do it any way you like, e.g. follow the
instructions in the SUSE manual or ask a friend.
My way deletes all data on the
harddisk !
Step 1: Boot MSDOS from a floppy disk and
repartition the harddisk with the MSDOS command
FDISK.EXE. Here is the FDISK.EXE
partition table for my 15 GB
harddisk = 14402 MByte, which lefts 8998 MByte
for Linux:
Partition
Status
Typ
Bezeichnung
MB
System
Belegung
C: 1
A
PRI DOS
HD1
4401
FAT32
1%
2
EXT DOS
1004
1%
Step 2: Boot MSDOS from a floppy disk and use
the command "FORMAT C: /S/U/V" to format
the MSDOS boot partition !
Step 3: If you decide to install Windows
95/98/98SE now, you must modify the file
"C:\MSDOS.SYS" with a DOS text editor
after the installation of Windows: The line
"BootGui=1" must be changed to "BootGui=0".
Step 4: Please install CDROM drivers for
MSDOS and "MSCDEX.EXE", so that you have
access to the CDROM drive at "DOS prompt" of
COMMAND.COM.
Boot MSDOS from harddisk and run the setup tool of the
SUSE CD #1, e.g. "Z:\SETUP.EXE", if "Z" is your
CDROM drive. Select Loadlin as booting method and set
up the correct amount of memory for Linux, e.g. enter
240 ( 248 ) MByte for a system with 256
MByte main memory and 16 ( 8 ) MByte video
memory.
Select the textmode installation tool "Yast1" and
not the graphical installation tool
"Yast2.0" in the menu. This is a must, as the
graphics card of the notebook is not VGA hardware compatible
!
Create a Linux native partition and a Linux swap partition
with the Linux tool Fdisk. A good choice for the
size of the swap partition is the either single or double
size of the main memory ( e.g. I entered "+512M" for my
notebook with 256 MByte main memory ). Here is the Fdisk
partition table for my 15 GB harddisk:
Device name
From
To
Blocks
Partition
type
/dev/hda1
562
689
1028160
5
Extended
/dev/hda2
690
755
530145
82
Linux swap
/dev/hda3
756
1836
8683132
83
Linux native
/dev/hda4
1
561
4506201
b
Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda5
562
689
1028128
b
Win95 FAT32
Installation of a new Linux kernel for notebooks with SIS630 / SIS630S /
SIS630ST chipset
Install the Linux kernel 2.4.18 sources or newer. Follow
the instructions in the SUSE 7.1 manual, chapter 13 "The
Kernel", to install the kernel sources, to compile and
install a new Linux kernel:
Option 1, for owners of SUSE 7.3 or newer : Let
"Yast1" install the packages d/linux and
d/lininclude
Option 2, if you downloaded the kernel separately:
Execute the commands: cd /usr/src tar xvfz/path_of_the_downloaded_kernel_archive/linux-2.4.18.tar.gz
To let the symblic link "/usr/src/linux" point to
this installation directory, e.g.
"/usr/src/linux-2.4.18" or
"/usr/src/linux-2.4.18.SuSE", please execute the
commands: cd /usr/src ls rm linux ln -s linux-2.4.18 linux
Go to the Linux installation directory and call the menu
configuration: cd /usr/src/linux make menuconfig
Some useful special configuration options for my notebook (
i.e. this does not show all relevant configuration
options ), as available by "menuconfig". Please
tell me, if you find out other useful SIS630 / SIS630S /
SIS630ST specific configuration
options.
Code maturity level options --->
[*] Prompt for development and/or incomplete
code/drivers
General setup --->
[*] Networking Support
[*] Support for hot-pluggable devices
PCMCIA/CardBus support --->
<M> PCMCIA/CardBus support
[*] CardBus support
[ ] i82365 compatible bridge support
[ ] Databook TCIC host bridge support
[*] Power Management support
[*] ACPI support
<*> APCI Bus Manager
<M> System
<M> Processor
<M> Button
<M> AC Adapter
<M> Embedded Controller
<M> Control Method Battery
<M> Thermal
<M> Advanced Power Management BIOS
support
[*] Enable PM at boot time
[*] Make CPU Idle calls when idle
[*] Enable console blanking using APM
[ ] RTC stores time in GMT
[*] Allow interrupts during APM BIOS calls
[*] Use real mode APM BIOS call to power off
Parallel port support --->
<M> Parallel Port support
<M> PC-style hardware
<M> Multi-IO cards (parallel and
serial)
[*] Use FIFO/DMA if available
Networking options --->
<*> Packet socket
<*> Unix domain sockets
[*] TCP/IP networking
ATA/IDE/MFM/RLL support --->
<*> ADA/IDE/MFM/RLL support --->
IDE, ATA and ATAPI Block devices --->
<*> Enhanced IDE/MFM/RLL
disk/cdrom/tape/floppy support
<*> Include IDE/ATA-2 DISK support
[*] Use multi-mode by default
<*> Include IDE/ATAPI CDROM
support
[*] Generic PCI IDE chipset support
[*] Sharing PCI IDE interrupts support
[*] Generic PCI bus-master DMA support
[*] Use PCI DMA by default when
available
[*] SiS5513 chipset
support
SCSI Support --->
< > SCSI Support
IEE 1394 (Firewire) support ---> ( just for Clevo
2700c / 2200c )
<M> IEE 1394 (Firewire) support
<M> OHCI-1394
support
<M> OHCI-1394 Video support
Network device support --->
[*] Network device support
<M> Dummy net driver support
Ethernet (10 or 100Mbit) --->
[*] Ethernet (10 or 100Mbit)
[*] EISA, VLB, PCI or on board
controllers
< > RealTek
RTL-8139 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter support
( use the command "lspci -v" to check whether
your SIS630 computer is equipped with this
device, like the Tidalpower Mininote 200X
)
<M> SiS
900/7016 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter support
( use the command "lspci -v" to check whether
your SIS630 computer is equipped with this
device, like the Clevo 2700c / 2200c, 2700s /
2200s, 2700t / 2200t notebooks )
PCMCIA network device support --->
[*] PCMCIA network device support
<M> NE 2000 compatible PCMCIA support (
for my NE2000 compatible PCMCIA network card
)
IrDA (infrared) support --->
<M> IrDA subsystem support
<M> IrLAN protocol
<M> IrCOMM protocol
<*> Ultra (connectionless) protocol
<*> IrDA protocol options
<*> Cache last LSAP
<*> Fast RRs
Infrared-port device drivers --->
--- SIR device drivers
<M> IrTTY (uses Linux serial
driver)
<M> IrPORT (IrDA serial driver)
--- FIR device drivers ( There are no FIR
drivers for my notebook hardware )
Multimedia devices --->
<*> Video For Linux
Video For Linux --->
[*] V4L information in proc filesystem
<M> Quickcam BW Video For Linux (
for my Quickcam BW )
File systems --->
<*> Kernel automounter version 4 support
(also supports v3)
<M> DOS FAT fs support
<M> VFAT (Windows-95) fs support
[*] Virtual memory file system support (former
shm fs)
<*> ISO 96660VFAT (Windows-95) fs
support
[*] Microsoft Joliet CDROM extensions
<*> Minix fs support
[*] /proc file system support
[*] /dev/pts file system for Unix98 PTYs
<*> Second extended fs support
Network File Systems --->
<*> NFS file system support
<*> NFS server support system
support
[*] Provide NFSv3 server support
<*> SMB file system support (to mount
Windows shares ect.)
[*] Use a default NLS
Default Remote NLS Option: "cp437"
Native Language Support --->
Default NLS Option: "iso8859-1"
<M> Codepage 437 (United States,
Canada)
<M> ISO 8859-1 (Latin 1; Western
European Languages)
Console drivers --->
[*] VGA text console
[*] Video mode selection support
Frame-buffer support --->
[*] Support for frame buffer devices
<M> SiS
accelleration
[ ] VGA 16-color graphics console
[*] SIS 630/540/730
support
Sound --->
<M> Sound card support
<M> Trident 4DWave DX/NX, SiS 7018 or ALi 5451 PCI Audio Core
USB support --->
<M> Support for USB
<M> OHCI (Compaq, iMacs, OPTi, SiS, ALi, ...) support
You may ask me to send you the
current working Hemmerling (R) Linux
Configuration for Clevo 2700c, i.e. the complete Linux
kernel configuration file /usr/src/linux/.config, for use with Clevo 2700c
notebooks ! A great help when starting to compile your own
Linux kernels for your notebook with SIS630 / SIS630S / SIS630ST chipset !
Linux drivers for the built-in HAMR 5600 modem,
once available for download at the ftp site of the
manufacturer SmartLink, are now mirrored by Gabor Takacs !
Now compile and install a new Linux kernel and its
modules. Follow the instructions in the SUSE 7.1 manual,
chapter 13 "The Kernel". Especially you must copy the new
kernel to the "C:\LOADLIN" directory of your MSDOS partition.
In this example I assume that the MSDOS partition "C:"
is mounted in "/dos_c". Execute the commands: make dep clean bzImage make modules make modules_install cp /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage
/dos_c/loadlin/zImage
Finally, you must set the environment variable
"PCMCIA" to "yenta_socket", manually,
by "Yast1" ( "System Administration / Change
configuration file / PCMCIA" ). Do not set the value
to "tcic" or "i82365", as advised by SUSE.
Installation of X-Window with a native driver ( i.e.
without the framebuffer device ), for notebooks with
SIS630 / SIS630S / SIS630ST
chipset
Installation of X-Window and the framebuffer device, for
notebooks with SIS630 / SIS630S / SIS630ST
chipset
In the past, computers with SIS630 /
SIS630S / SIS630ST chipset must setup the framebuffer device
to make X-Window run ! Read the SUSE 7.1 manual, chapter 8,
"The X Window System", subchapter 8.3.3, "Troubleshooting - The
graphics card is not supported" and check the "SUSE Support
knowledgebase" for the keyword FRAMEBUFFER, but follow the instructions
provided here.
Now, compile and install a new Linux kernel with
activated framebuffer support ( see above ).
Modify the Loadlin configuration file
"C:\LOADLIN\LINUX.PAR" and the LILO
configuration file "/etc/lilo.conf": Include the line
"vga=791" to use the framebuffer with 1024x768
resolution, 16-bit color depth. 8-, 15-, and 16-bit color
depths work, the 24-bit color depth is not available.
Use Loadlin or LILO for rebooting Linux,
which now makes use of the framebuffer. You see the Linux
penguin during the boot process at the left upper corner of
your screen.
If you want to use a bootdisk for rebooting Linux, you
must modify the bootdisk before, so that the proper VESA
video mode "791" is activated at boottime,
automatically: make bzdisk mount /floppy vidmode /dev/fd0 791
You may either run XFree86 4.x ( best choice ) or XFree
3.3.x as X-Window server !
To configure XFree86 4.x, don't follow the SUSE
instruction ! Especially don't run the command
"sax2" ! Instead, execute the command "xf86cfg
-textmode" for a comfortable menu based configuration
( best choice ) or the command "xf86config"
for the classical console configuration! The name of the
framebuffer device is "fbdev". The modified
configuration file is written to
"/etc/X11/XF86Config". To setup Linux for use with
XFree86 4.x, finally, please execute the commands, if
necessary: cd /var/X11R6/bin dir rm X ln -s /usr/X11R6/bin/XFree86 X
Start X-Window by the command "startx"
I failed to configure XFree86 3.3.x of SUSE
7.1. If you want to try so anyhow, please execute the
command xf86config3x". This command is the one
named "xf86config" in the SUSE 7.1 manual, by
mistake. Don't try to run the commands "sax" and
"XF86Setup", as advised by SUSE ! The modified
configuration file is written to
"/etc/XF86Config". To setup Linux for use with
XFree86 3.3.x, finally, please execute the commands,
if necessary: cd /var/X11R6/bin dir rm X ln -s /usr/X11R6/bin/XF86_FBDev X
Start X-Window by the command "startx -- -bpp
16" If you succeed to configure XFree86 3.3.x properly,
then please tell me !
Note: The XFree86 3.0 server "XFCom_SiS" of 17. March
1999, as supplied with SUSE 7.1, is not suitable for
graphics cards with SIS630 /
SIS630S / SIS630ST chipset. Especially, the
configuration command "xf86config3x" just mentions
the predecessor chipset SIS620.
The Clevo 2700c BIOS offers the menu option "Startup /
Display" to activate display devices:
[ ] CRT
[ ] LCD
[*] LCD+CRT
In fact, with either setting, both LCD and CRT display devices
are activated: If you connect a VGA monitor to the notebook and
if the VESA BIOS is active, there is always a display on the
VGA monitor. Both devices are always addressed in 1024x768
resolution, so that the display quality of the display
resolutions 640x480 and 800x600 is reduced the same for LCD and
CRT.
Graphics screen resolution
VESA video mode
Effective monitor screen width
Horizontal sync frequency
Vertical sync frequency
textmode
-
1024x768
49 KHz
60 Hz, non-interlaced
648x480
vga=785
1024x768
49 KHz
60 Hz, non-interlaced
800x600
vga=788
1024x768
49 KHz
60.5 Hz, non-interlaced
1024x768
vga=791
1024x768
49 KHz
60 Hz, non-interlaced
So while a Linux text console is displayed, or if
X-Window uses the VESA framebuffer driver, the VESA BIOS
is active and controls the horizontal and vertical sync
frequencies. Just if a X-Window server is running, using a
special SIS 630S driver and while the X-Window console
is displayed, the horizontal and vertical sync frequencies are
taken from the file "/etc/X11/XF86Config" !
So be aware, VGA monitors with a maximum horizontal
frequency of less than 49 KHz, as usual in the early 1990th,
don't work with this notebook !
In opposite to MSDOS and Linux, Win98SE and W2K always
override the VESA BIOS by its special graphics drivers.
Linux network installation tips
In addition to the built-in network adapter, my notebook is
equipped with an NE2000 compatible "10M Ethernet COMBO FL-4680"
PC Card of Fiberline Technology Corp., distributed in
Germany by Seditec and sold by Atelco and Pearl Agency. I
found a confirmation of inofficial Linux support
for this PC Card.
After each run of the script SuSEconfig, you must
modify the file "/etc/hosts" if you like to assign the host
name to several IPs, or to assign a different host name for
each IP. Note that "Yast1" runs this script mostly,
automatically.
Please use "Yast1" ( "System Administration /
Network configuration / Network base configuration" ) to mark
all network devices as "Active". Especially, network
devices of PC Cards must be marked to be of "PCMCIA"
type.
Currently, I may not use both the SIS 900/7016 network
adapter and the PC Card network adapter with Linux,
concurrently, if both network adapters are configured to be
in the same subnet ( e.g. 192.168.1.* ). You may list all
active network adapters by the command ifconfig.
If the PC Card is not activated ( i.e. the PC
Card with the media coupler is not plugged into
the PC Card slot ), I may access the local network
connected to the SIS 900/7016 network adapter.
If the PC Card is activated ( i.e. the PC Card with
the media coupler is plugged into the PC card slot ),
access to the local network connected to the SIS 900/7016
network adapter is disabled: A ping to an IP of that
local network "hangs". Access to the local network
connected to the PC Card is granted.
In opposite, I may use both network adapters with Windows,
concurrently.
Linux on notebooks, with focus on notebooks with SIS630 / SIS630S /
SIS630ST chipset
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language ! Translations provided by: www.tranexp.com.