Gentoo on Clevo D900T

[Chiefy]

I will try later this weekend to install the latest gentoo on a clevo d900t.

Anyone have any installation problems on this machine? Any hints and tips? :)

[abf]

some good reading before you start:
google cache to the rescue
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:C8KQQldWvzgJ:www.mumble.to/linux/d900t-install.html+gentoo+d900t&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1&client=firefox

or better yet, here:
Installing Gentoo Linux on the D900T(v) portable

(C)2005 by Frits Jalvingh, jal at-sign mumble dot to
Free for all use.

Version: 1.0 of February 20, 2005

<snip --- just list of specs>

To get this machine installed using Linux was a bit of a pain.. And since I like pain I installed the machine using Gentoo.
Base installation

This machine has a Promise 20378 Semi-RAID controller. This controller has both SATA and PATA connections for the embedded harddisks. My model came with 2x a PATA harddisk and sadly the 20387 Linux driver did only support SATA until kernel 2.6.10. So to get this to work you need to install with something having a kernel >= 2.6.10 and with the full driver set compiled. The driver you need is the 20278 driver in the SCSI section of the kernel setup. Lucky for me the new Gentoo 2005.0 beta live CD used that kernel and has the driver aboard ;-)

Before starting the install use the BIOS setup to set the controller to ATA mode, not RAID mode. The controller is a software RAID controller and that is not supported (as it is rather useless) by Linux. We will use RAID on the machine but by using mdraid.

Download the 2005.0 LiveCD (minimal install or whatever) and burn it. Have the Gentoo installation instructions on paper next to you ;-) Boot from this CD.
Installing software RAID

We must start by partitioning the harddisks. When booting with the LiveCD the card reader is seen before the harddisks. This means that using the LiveCD your harddisks are /dev/sdb and /dev/sdc. After installation these will be sda and sdb as usual. We start by partitioning the harddisks. I partitioned them both exactly the same, as follows:

fdisk /dev/sdb

*

Create a primary partition 1 size 100MB (the boot partition) type 0x83 (Linux)
*

Create a primary partition 2 size 512MB (swap) type 0x82 (Linux Swap)
*

Create a primary partition 3 size (rest of disk) type 0xFD (Linux RAID auto-config)

Repeat the exact same steps for sdc. The post important part is the creation of partition 3: this must be exactly the same size on both disks.

Now for the hard part.. We need to create /dev/md0, which is the name of the combined RAID disk. For some reason the device nodes for these thingies are not created so we do that by hand:

mknod /dev/md0 b 9 0
mknod /dev/md1 b 9 1 (if needed)

Now load the software RAID modules. I use RAID0 (striping) so:

modprobe md
modprobe raid0

To create the RAID volume we need to create /etc/mdadm.conf on the LiveCD's /etc directory. Use nano /etc/mdadm.conf and put the following in it:

DEVICE /dev/sdb3
DEVICE /dev/sdc3
ARRAY /dev/md0 devices=/dev/sdb3,/dev/sdc3

Now create the RAID volume using sdb3 and sdc3:

mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=0 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sdb3 /dev/sdc3

You can check if the array creation worked by doing

cat /proc/mdstat

which should show something like:

Personalities : [linear] [raid0]
md0 : active raid0 sdb3[1] sdc3[0]
115796352 blocks 32k chunks


Now proceed with the Gentoo installation, installing a 2.6 kernel. BUT READ THIS DESCRIPTION FIRST as you need to return here a few times during installation. Please remember to use /dev/md0 for all steps that specify the root partition.


Return: before chrooting into /mnt/gentoo

Before the chroot step copy the /dev/mdadm.conf file to /mnt/gentoo/etc


Return: creating /dev/fstab

The fstab we use looks like:

/dev/sda1 /boot reiserfs noauto,noatime 1 1
/dev/md0 / reiserfs noatime 0 0
/dev/sda2 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/cdroms/cdrom0 /mnt/cdrom iso9660 noauto,ro 0 0
#/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0


Please replace the 'reiserfs' entries with the filesystems you used.


Return: configuring and installing a kernel

Do this by emerging genkernel and gentoo-dev-sources instead of gentoo-sources. While configuring the kernel you need a proper .config file which can be found in here. The highlights are:

Enable Promise 20287 controller in Device Drivers / SCSI and compile INTO the kernel (not as a module)

Enable ALSA in the kernel and do not enable OSS

See the .config file for more (I will extend on this later)


Return: installing grub

You install grub as usual on /dev/sdb, using /dev/sdb1 (hd0,0) as the boot partition. My menu.lst in /boot/grub looks like:

# Boot automatically after 10 secs.
timeout 10

# By default, boot the first entry.
default 0

splashimage (hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz

# For booting Linux
title Linux 2.6.10
root (hd0,0)
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/kernel-2.6.10-gentoo-r6 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc real_root=/dev/md0 ramdisk=8192
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd-2.6.10-gentoo-r6


Please replace the kernel and initrd filenames with the names in /boot generated by genkernel.


After this you should have a bootable base system. To go on just follow the Gentoo procedures to get a workable graphics workstation: emerge things like xorg-x11, kde etc etc. The configuration for x11 etc can be found here.


Configuring X11

Since the “suicide by license” (license to kill??) of XFree86 most distributions use Xorg as their X11 environment. At this point however both versions are mostly similar. By replacing some of the filenames you can configure a XF86 environment with the same configuration presented here for Xorg.

Start by configuring X11 as usual, by xorgconfig (XF86config) or whatever. Configure a standard machine. Then edit the generated xorg.conf (XF86Config).


A working xorg.conf for the machine is in here. We need to fix things to get the full native resolution of 1680x1050 on the LCD screen, and we need the mousepad to work like it is supposed to do.


To get the screen to work you need the following modelines specified in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Section "Modes"
Identifier "16:10"
# 1680x1050 @ 60.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 65.22 kHz; pclk: 147.14 MHz
Modeline "1680x1050" 147.14 1680 1784 1968 2256 1050 1051 1054 1087
# 1680x1050 @ 75.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 82.20 kHz; pclk: 188.07 MHz
Modeline "1680x1050" 188.07 1680 1800 1984 2288 1050 1051 1054 1096
# 1680x1050 @ 85.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 93.76 kHz; pclk: 214.51 MHz
Modeline "1680x1050" 214.51 1680 1800 1984 2288 1050 1051 1054 1103
# 1680x1050 @ 100.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 111.20 kHz; pclk: 256.20 MHz
Modeline "1680x1050d" 256.20 1680 1808 1992 2304 1050 1051 1054 1112
EndSection

As far as I can see only the mode 1680x1050 @ 60.00HZ is used.


The Monitor section should look like:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "LCD"
DisplaySize 426 266
HorizSync 31.5-100
VertRefresh 30-90
Option "dpms" "on"
UseModes "16:10"
EndSection


The DisplaySize specified is not correct but forces a DPI setting of 100x100DPI which I find very comfortable. Please note the reference to the ModeLine's we've added.


Finally the display driver section:

Section "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "nvidia"
BusID "PCI:01:00:0"
Option "IgnoreEDID" "true"
#VideoRam 131072
# Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
EndSection

The Option “IgnoreEDID” “true” in the device section for the graphics card is needed because the LCD display reports a max. hsync of 64KHz. This forbids the use of the working modeline which uses 65.22KHz..


After these changes the display should come up proper in 1680x1050. To check execute xdpyinfo at a command prompt.


Another thing to configure is better mouse support. The machine uses a Synaptics touchpad with a scroll region. There is a driver for this but it is not in the root xorg tree. If you use gentoo you can emerge this driver using emerge synaptics. Other distributions can download the source from http://w1.894.telia.com/~u89404340/touchpad/ and compile/install it as per the instructions.


Change the xorg.conf file and install the mouse modules:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "mousepad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "LeftEdge" "1700"
Option "RightEdge" "5300"
Option "TopEdge" "1700"
Option "BottomEdge" "4200"
Option "FingerLow" "25"
Option "FingerHigh" "30"
Option "MaxTapTime" "180"
Option "MaxTapMove" "220"
Option "VertScrollDelta" "100"
Option "MinSpeed" "0.09"
Option "MaxSpeed" "0.18"
Option "AccelFactor" "0.0015"
Option "SHMConfig" "on"
# Option "Repeater" "/dev/ps2mouse"
EndSection


Do not forget to change the reference to the mouse in the CorePointer line.

A very nice module to configure the mousepad after it's been installed is the ksynaptics (or qsynaptics) package which can be obtained from http://qsynaptics.sourceforge.net/. This module gives you a kcontrol panel to configure the touchpad panel.


Configuring audio

The audio driver needed is the azx driver. This is part of the newest alsa drivers. In a gentoo system emerge alsa-driver and the rest. This will compile a newer set of Alsa drivers than the ones present in the kernel tree. Then change /etc/modules.d/alsa to have the line

alias snd-card-0 snd-azx

and do a modules-update.

Other distributions should put this line (and all other lines required for alsa) in their /etc/modprobe.conf or equivalent.


Getting wireless to work

The wireless card in the machine is a INPROCOMM 2220 card. This is a combo 802.11G (Wifi) and Bluetooth card. Since I do not use Bluetooth I have no info on that. The WLAN driver can be configured using ndiswrapper. The following part is very gentoo-centric because it is very different on other distributions.


Start by obtaining the Windows drivers for the wireless module. These come from the CD or can be downloaded in here as w900t-wireless-driver.tgz. We need the *.sys, *.cat and the *.inf files. Place these somewhere on the machine, say /home/xxx/inf

We also need the wireless tools.

So: install ndiswrapper etc and make it use the drivers:

emerge ndiswrapper
emerge wireless-tools
ndiswrapper -i /home/xxx/inf/neti2220.inf


Add the following lines to /etc/modules.d/ndiswrapper:

alias wlan0 ndiswrapper


To check if the card works you can use:

modprobe wlan0
iwlist wlan0 scan
iwconfig


This should show a list of access points and networks and the configuration for wlan0, the wireless card.


Do not forget to make sure the wireless card is powered on by using the FN+F11 key until the wireless light is green. Disable the Bluetooth thing using FN+F12.

We now have a driver but wireless networking on Gentoo at this time (feb 2005) is not present in the basic Gentoo installation. To get it to work we have to emerge a baselayout >=1.11.9 as follows:

ACCEPT_KEYWORDS=”~x86” emerge baselayout


Update the config files (etc-update) and edit the configuration files /etc/conf.d. The files needing a change are wireless and net. Descriptions on their use are specified in the examples.

The baselayout I used had a bug in the hotplug script. To fix this patch the /etc/hotplug/net.agent script with the following net.agent.patch contained herein

cd /etc/hotplug
patch </home/xxx/net.agent.patch


This fixes the “dhcp already running” boot message which prevents the driver from getting an IP address.

[Chiefy]

Nice. Thanks

[Starcub]

The xorg configuration info there is good (assuming you are using an Nvidia version). ALSA info is dated, sound drivers are now included in the 2.6 kernel used by 2006.0. Your wireless card may vary.

Whatever you do, I STRONGLY recommend you print out and follow the Gentoo provided 2006.0 installation documentation. My own personal preference is to use the command line install method instead of the new GUI installer used by default by the live CD (GUI still needs work I think). In addition there are several guides for tweaking various hardware and software that you'll find usefull on Gentoo's site.

[aaronjb]

There's a GUI installer in 2006.0? Argh! Kill it quick! ;)

(die hard command line person here - it's why I love Gentoo so much!)

[Chiefy]

I use gentoo for some years now, always im doin stage2 install by hand.

I will stick with the 2.6/stage3 for sure on this machine. Oh and... i hate that GUI... needs alot of work to be done.

The xorg looks perfect.

There's a GUI installer in 2006.0? Argh! Kill it quick! ;)

(die hard command line person here - it's why I love Gentoo so much!)

Thats why i love Gentoo too! :)

[aaronjb]

Gentoo FTW ;)

I was always a stage1 man - gutted when they removed 'official' support for the stage1 install method :(

[Chiefy]

Gentoo FTW ;)

I was always a stage1 man - gutted when they removed 'official' support for the stage1 install method :(

Yeap thats bad... ;/

[jasn]

The howto referenced above is also hosted at;

http://www.mumble.to/linux/d900t-install.html

In addition to the recommendation for following the Gentoo docs for your install, I would suggest that there's little bits and pieces in the howto that seem dated. The reference to SATA driver support at the beginning and the patch for baselayout at the end in particular. The big challenges will be to pick the right SATA driver for your controller, and then to configure things like your WiFi and other hardware components correctly, (the howto seems like it has good information in these regards).

In addition to the Gentoo docs, the BEST place for questions with specific hardware issues and Gentoo, are at their forums. I've learned a ton there myself.. I searched there for Clevo D900T before coming here and the following was posted, which may help you (again some of it may be dated);

http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-324202-highlight-clevo+d900t.html
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-331506-highlight-clevo+d900t.html
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-321718-highlight-clevo+d900t.html

Lastly my Toshiba laptops support RAID configurations as well, but I would never use it on a laptop. Especially in a RAID 0 config as the howto author has indicated. You only need one problem with one drive to kill your entire volume. But since your laptop supports it, you may want to try it.. If you do, be careful and backup often..

[seablade]

Actually at first glance it seems that the audio setup there will work fine, and is the way many audio folks prefer to do it as they can update ALSA in that method without having to recompile the kernel.

Seablade

[Chiefy]

Nice... the install was successfull, thanks to abf post.

[aaronjb]

Congrats :)

I must admit, in a sick kinda way, I'm really looking forward to flattening the Nemesis when it arrives and installing Gentoo ;)

[Chiefy]

The only problem is the grub...

After the installation restarted the machine and grab failed to boot... i was like WTF? TILT#$%

I was sure everything was ok, after spending 1 hour i disconnect my external HDD to move the machine and everything was ok....

Boot loader was normal after removing the ext HDD...

[aaronjb]

That's kinda funky.. I guess the external enclosure must be messing with the boot order as reported by the BIOS, so grub's device numbers change..

Can you fix the boot order in the BIOS at all?

[Chiefy]

I tried... order change and even bios flash to the latest...:scratch:

Anyway need to boot without the ext.

[jasn]

Try adding "rootdelay=5" or "rootdelay=10" to the kernel parameters. This will make the system wait for the specified number of seconds before mounting root, hopefully long enough for the device to be fully initialized.

[easysea]

i can not get my machine to boot gentoo, i think ive screwed up the kernel config file, and im not quite sure how to fix or rewrite it to default so that i can reattempt to boot.

i got grub to work, and windows hhd will still boot. gentoo hhd trys, but freezes up, and will not boot.

ive been trying to do this install for 5 days now. :mad:

not sure what to do, i really need some help.

[seablade]

What happens when you boot your gentoo disk? Error Message? Lockup? When does it happen exactly?

Gotta post some details in order for us to be able to help you.

Seablade

[easysea]

sry i took me so long to post, but i got slammed with family stuff and had to fly half way around the world for three weeks.

anyways.....

seablade, i get an error like this(whole page of it)

Unknown interrupt of fault at EIP 00010046 00000060 c02726d3




and then it just sits and doesnt nothing more.
any help would be great. thnx ahead of time. :bow:

[seablade]

That is a new one on me....

I think I might start by booting from a live CD, chrooting into your gentoo envrionment and resource the files needed, and then move your .config file to a different location, and build your kernel using the genkernel script(So you end up with a generic kernel), making sure to use the bootloader flag so that it takes care of that for you as well. Then see if that boots, then we can go from there.

Seablade

[aaronjb]

That would be something going 'kaboom' and dumping a stack trace to the screen - given the box dies afterward, probably the kernel (the linux kernel doesn't dump core, so it just punts a stack out to the default console and dies)

So yeah - seablades advice is good there.