The problem is no doubt the interrupt problem solved by the PCIC_OPTS fix listed next. I assume there is a way to get the boot disk to use this type of setup, but it is probably just as easy to do a hard drive install (use windows to move the files onto the hard drive first) or find a PCMCIA card that happens to work (like I did).
Another attack might be to go into the bios setup and disable everything you can find just long enough to get the install working, then customize things later. I don't know which interrupt crashes the machine, but you might work around it this way.
On the other hand, these webgear cards are only about $150 per pair, including PCMCIA to ISA Host adapters, so maybe this is just the excuse you were looking for to pick up a pair. Having this small a laptop with wireless ethernet is extremely nice.
PCMCIA=yes PCIC=i82365 PCIC_OPTS="irq_list=10,3" CORE_OPTS=
When recovering from sleep mode and upon initial startup, the barely compatible cs4232 sound configuration gets badly confused. Note that the initial configuration is done via the Red Hat sndconfig tool.
I can use sndconfig and just say there is a soundblaster installed, and the sound is adequate through the system speaker, but has poor fidelity for serious use (like MP3's). Basically, I think the default sound blaster driver does not do better then 22kHz. The cs4232 driver can do 44Khz, and you can definitely hear the difference.
The cs4232 setup sounds good when working, but has some sort of race condition, and must be uninstalled then reinstalled. This appears to change the order of the opl and cs4232 modules, and then things start working. I have no idea why this solves the problem. I got the dma, irq, and ioport settings for sndconfig from windows. First, here is /etc/modules.conf for the sound chip:
alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc
alias sound-slot-0 cs4232
options sound dmabuf=1
alias midi opl3
options opl3 io=0x388
options cs4232 io=0x530 irq=5 dma=1 dma2=3 mpuio=0x330 mpuirq=5
And here is /etc/sysconfig/soundcard . This was
automatically created by the Redhat sndconfig program:
# THIS FILE IS WRITTEN BY SNDCONFIG # PLEASE USE SNDCONFIG TO MODIFY # TO CHANGE THIS FILE! # There should be no spaces at the start of a line # or around the '=' sign CARDTYPE=CS4232
Next, I coded up a little program in /usr/local/bin called fixsound. Make sure you set the permissions ( chmod 744 /usr/local/bin/fixsound ) to executable.
#!/bin/sh
#
# Unfortunately there seems to be some sort of problem in the (buggy)
# sound hardware. Removing then restarting the driver somehow fixes
# the problem. The order of the opl and cs4232 drivers are changed,
# and this seems to clear things up. I could probably also fix this
# in the modules dependency file, but I would rather fix it after the
# fact with a simple script then go messing in there... call me a
# whimp...
/sbin/rmmod cs4232
/sbin/modprobe sound
Then I added /etc/sysconfig/apm-scripts/apmcontinue to call this upon system start, and restart from suspend. I set the bios to suspend to disk. Given the stability of Linux, about the only time this thing gets rebooted is to switch operating systems (which on the laptop is pretty rare).
#!/bin/sh
# Invoke my kludge to get the sound modules back working on
# sharp actius A150 (same fix is necessary on initial boot).
PROG="$1"
case "$PROG" in
start)
/usr/local/bin/fixsound
;;
resume)
/usr/local/bin/fixsound
;;
*)
;;
esac
#!/bin/sh echo "Bouncing network interface" /sbin/ifdown eth0 /sbin/ifup eth0
# Set LOCK_X to 1 if you want to lock all your X displays at suspend # killbill: note this is a bug, to not set lock you have to set # explicitly to zero, not setting it will still enable it. # LOCK_X=1 LOCK_X=0
This means that (especially with the 800x600 display on the older Actius models) many common websites look pretty awfull with nearly illegible fonts.
Fortunately, XFree86 supports true type fonts very well, and the font definitions can be easily moved from an existing windows install (especially in a dual boot configuration where the dos partition is mounted on boot, as my system does).
Here is how to add the default set of windows true type fonts on the RedHat 7.0 installation. Other distributions should be very similiar, find the documentation on xfs or fs , as well as looking at your XF86Config file for hints on directory locations.
For everyone, the sharp actius A150 is a fantastic little laptop for linux. Small, light, powerful enough, fantastic display. Very nice. Note that my laptop is actually a Mebius PC-PJ1-M2, which was an international version of the Actius A150. It was brought to the states before the Actius appeared.
Note that with Linux and Windows, you can tell the operating system that it is not actually an international keyboard, but actually a US keyboard. This gets the keys in the right places (for the most part), but now the labels on them are wrong.
My solution? An elegant hack (in the old noble sense of the word). I scanned the keyboard into my scanner, fired up my ancient copy of photostyler (could have used gimp), and manually retouched the image to copy and paste the bitmaps for the appropriate keys to the appropriate places for the new keyboard. I have the jpeg if anyone wants to repeat this exercise.
Then, I printed this on a 8x11 piece of sticker from my inkjet printer. I found sheets of these at a local office supply store, just like name tags for the inkjet printer but without the cuts. With a little work, the nametag ones could be made to work as well.
Then, I took the resulting print out to the garage and gave it about 5 coats of automotive clear coat laquer (any auto parts store). Between each coat, I let things dry (not long) and buffed slightly with steel wool until the finish was dull. Eventually, the paper stopped absorbing clear coat, and the sticker had a nice glossy durable finish.
I found this finish to have too much glare for use in the dark (the screen reflected and I could not make out the keys). A final rub with some fine steel wool buffed the paper to a nice matte finish. Finally, I cut this sticker down to individual key sized pieces... make them smaller then the top of the key so they don't pop up... you want them completely flat and flush on the tops of the keys.
Put each one in the right place, and it looks as good as factory. People don't even notice unless I mention it and tell them to look closer. This technique could also be used to "skin" a keyboard (like the winamp skins) for a pretty cool custom look. The only real drawback is a few slightly smaller keys... the international keyboard has more (smaller) keys, notably around the space bar. If I ever get bored, I may map these keys to particular tasks (launch web browser, launch MP3 player, etc). You end up with 5 extra keys.
After nearly a years use, the stickers are holding up great, and still look as good as new (which is more then I could say for the original printing on some of the keys before sticker application).
Anyway, enough editorial. At home and at most client sites, you are behind a firewall. You can't trust any client system, however, so you really need to take a few steps to secure your box.
This is easier under Red Hat 7, as you can scare up the gnome-lokkit package and give it a run. The default configuration it created was pretty good for a basic security configuration, but it caused me some problems with DNS and shut down FTP. Since I am often at poorly or non configured client sites, I need FTP server open and running, as it is about the only thing I can count on those brain dead windows boxes being able to do right.
Shown here is my final /etc/sysconfig/ipchains script setup. It is not the most secure setup in the world, I am still vulnerable to weak password guessing, FTP, DNS, Apache, and telnet exploits.
If the IP address was static, I could lock it down better, but since I am moving from network to network I can't do this easily. Maybe a better approach would be to only allow these services when using non-routable IP addresses (i.e. 10.x.x.x or 192.168.x.x), but I can't even count on clients to get this much right, so this will eventually cause me some grief. Also, please don't confuse me for a firewall expert, the following changes are at best a kludge.
It should stop most script kiddies though, especially if I keep my packages up to date (via the RedHat up2date tool). Also note that any use of telnet or FTP is a danger, as any sniffer will easily catch my password, though this would not immediately get them root.
:input ACCEPT :forward ACCEPT :output ACCEPT -A input -s 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 -d 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 80:80 -p 6 -j ACCEPT -y -A input -s 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 -d 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 22:22 -p 6 -j ACCEPT -y -A input -s 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 -d 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 23:23 -p 6 -j ACCEPT -y -A input -s 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 -d 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 20:20 -p 6 -j ACCEPT -y -A input -s 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 -d 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 21:21 -p 6 -j ACCEPT -y -A input -s 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 67:68 -d 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 67:68 -i eth0 -p 17 -j ACCEPT -A input -s 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 -d 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 -i lo -j ACCEPT -A input -s 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 53:53 -d 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 -p 17 -j ACCEPT -A input -s 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 -d 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 -p 6 -j DENY -y -A input -s 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 -d 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0 -p 17 -j DENY
