Slackware Linux on the IBM Thinkpad A21m

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Slackware Linux on the IBM Thinkpad A21m
[ email michaeljamesATouDOTedu ]
Last Updated October 17, 2002

2002-09-22: Update on working DVD players, and sound as well.
2002-06-01: OSS sound driver 3.9.6e functions at 100% with the Cirrus Logic 4614 for the 2.2.* kernel. Much better than ALSA drivers. I was able to install it and use it for the 2.4.18 kernel (Slackware 8.1-rc1) but am having problems since then.
2002-02-07: More thorough explanation for installing sound drivers.
2002-01-05: PCMCIA ethernet cards now work.
2002-01-03: More PCMCIA ethernet issues, also DVD update.
2001-12-31: PCMCIA ethernet issues, OSS audio driver, kernel update from 2.2.19 to 2.4.5
2001-10-30: Lucent winmodem drivers now working, PPP setup as well.

A21M SPECS

Processor: 800 Mhz P3
Memory: 192/512 Mb SDRAM
HD: 20G
Display: 14.1" 1024x768
CD: DVD-ROM 8Xmax-2Xmin
Graphics: ATI Rage Mobility M1
Sound Card: Cirrus Logic 4614
Kernel: 2.2.19/2.4.5/2.4.18 (Always changing)
Other: Thinking of buying a 250Mb Ultrabay zip drive
Price: An arm and three legs...

Disk /dev/hda: 240 heads, 63 sectors, 2584 cylinders Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System Mount Point /dev/hda1 * 1 542 4097488+ 7 HPFS/NTFS /win /dev/hda2 543 1188 4883760 83 Linux native / /dev/hda3 1189 1205 128520 82 Linux swap /dev/hda4 1206 2584 10425240 83 Linux native /home hrparm -t /dev/hda produces about 14 Mb/s

INTRODUCTION
The A21m came pre-installed with Windows(tm) 2000 Professional on one big 20Gb partition. After unsuccessfully trying to change the partition table with fdisk and cfdisk on a Linux boot disk, (and also not wanting to pay money for software such as Partition Magic), I erased it all. My hard drive was bare. I then formatted a 5Gb root partition with 10Gb for /home and 128Mb for a swap partition. I then mount a 4Gb NTFS partition to /win.

DISTRIBUTION
Slackware (8.0/8.1/9.0). I choose this distribution mostly because it is what I've always used, and secondly because Slackware seems to keep themselves from slapping their name and logo all over everything like some other distributions. I also enjoy having full control over software installation. Simply download and burn slakware/isos/install.iso and it should start up at boot time. I prefer to use ftp.cerias.purdue.edu to grab the isos.

GRAPHICS
Everything worked just fine using /usr/X11R6/bin/xfree86setup. Here is my [ XF86Config ] file for Slackware 8.0, XFree86 version 4.1.0.

ETHERNET
I opted to not buy the internal ethernet card. Both the Linksys EtherFast 10/100 PCMCIA PC card (PCMPC100) and the Linksys EtherFast 10/100 PCMCIA Integrated PC card (PCM100) work great out of the box, both using the pcnet_cs module. I've also tried to use drivers for a RangeLan 2 wireless card but that was unsuccessful. To read about the wireless drivers, please visit http://www.komacke.com/distribution.html.

I currently use a Netgear RP114 router for my home LAN.

AUDIO

OSS
Currently I use the OSS driver (version 3.9.6e) sold by 4 Front. Earlier versions of the OSS driver did not work properply, but 3.9.6e works perfectly. I recommend it over ALSA drivers to everyone. I have also successfully used the 2.4.5 kernel sound drivers but the quality is very poor. For those who wish to use the ALSA drivers, I have included the section below.

If you are using the shareware version of OSS, note that it does not come with Crystal drivers, you will have to buy OSS for that. If this is your case, the kernel sound driver will work.

ALSA
ALSA drivers work well with the Cirrus Logic 4614. I followed the instructions found here and everything works well. I really can't cover the process better than the author of that page.

Be aware that when loading the modules automatically at startup, if you're using the Gnome desktop environment (gnome-session) you must disable esd on startup or gnome will try to take over your sound card and cause it to stop working for that session. If you're using KDE then be sure to disable artsd. If you're not sure whether the sound drivers are loading correctly and gnome-session is just locking the sound card up, check your system messages for any IRQ conflicts. If there are none, try to play a sound file before starting X (use mpg123 filename.mp3). If sound works before you startx but not after you are inside your desktop manager, you need to disable esd. If you use a display manager such as KDM or GDM, the only advice I can give is to somehow get out of it to a terminal to test your sound.

Finally, here is what I stuck in /etc/rc.d/rc.local,

/sbin/modprobe snd-card-cs461x alsactl restore /sbin/modprobe snd-mixer-oss /sbin/modprobe snd-pcm-oss

Here are the versions that I use:

alsa-driver-0.5.11.tar.bz2
alsa-lib-0.5.10b.tar.bz2
alsa-utils-0.5.10.tar.bz2

DVD-ROM
After having some problems with libdvdcss and Xine, I am now using Ogle to watch DVD's. VLC also works, just not as well. The instructions for installing any of these players are very complete, so the task should not be a challenge.

MODEM
SUCCESS! I finally got the Lucent winmodem to work, and PPP works as well. It seems I had run into problems with the various dialup utilities available. First I was manually connecting using dip -v -t, just to make sure the modem could work before automating everything, then I tried wvdial, and finally now I just use kppp. PPP is loaded as a module, so I am no longer getting any of those dreaded PPP daemon has died! (exit code = 1) messages. Be sure to compile PPP support as a module.

Right now the only utility I can get to work 100% is kppp. wvdial, gnome-ppp, and dip all have their share of problems, so until I have more free time I will just use kppp.

Here's the ltmodem driver I use: http://www.heby.de/ltmodem

For more information, please see the following pages:

www.sai.msu.su/~er/notebooks/a21m
www.airlineticket-center.com/suresh/linux/laptop/calthink.html
www.staff.uiuc.edu/~elton/suse-TPA21m.html
http://www.sixthexit.com/linux/a21m.htm

linux-thinkpad mailing list
www.linmodems.org
DejaNews.com
www.linux-laptop.net

[ michaeljamesATouDOTedu ] - [ weather.ou.edu/~mjames ]

Quick menu: Graphics, Ethernet, Audio, DVD, Modem, Links