--Install--
Install Mandrake 9.1 as usual with something like
from the install screen f1->f2 (don't press enter immediately you'll hang like a banana)
type boot options
'vga16 noauto noprobe nofirewire nopcmcia acpi=off'
Go through the normal install process. The SMP kernel will not necessarily be installed here, don't worry about it we can get it later. I installed everything, but when I went to install software later, there was still plenty more to install from the Mandrake 9.1 ISO's. I would go back and pick up all the interesting stuff that I missed earlier, in particular the smp kernel, Xawtv and lot's of yummy hacking libraries.
<As a side note, I'm a little pissed that I can't find all the libraries and crap for a DVD::Rip install packaged up (the ones at plf are not complete)...not that I would use DVD::Rip or anything
>
There is one trick here.
When it comes time to do things like network, display, mouse and sound configuration
Configure your display as a 1600x1200 with 76Hz VSync (>70 for sure, I'm not sure exactly what the number is)
Important: under custom video driver's choose the 'radeon' module.
Make sure you test the configuration before you commit to it.
I left my mouse as good old standard ps/2, but would be happy to hear what anyone else has to say about mouse choice for the 8887.
Definitely don't muck about with the sound configuration (it's a 810 sound module, but why sweat it? Mandrake will run the sound servers for you auto-matic-wise).
Really, the rest of the configuration can wait.
A side note, you can pretty successfully configure the wireless network and ethernet card here (during install) if you want as I originally did.
There were some problems. If you don't have the connections set up for the wireless land you can get a really slow boot up hanging at eth1 resolution. I am still waiting to get wireless access at work so I disabled eth1 (WLAN) at boot under Mandrakes Network setup tools.
Other than that there are no other tricks to the install. Just keep things kind of plain until you understand what you're doing. Occam's Razor.
When you're done start to install the smp kernel as below
--Hyperthreaded Kernel--
My friend, T-Jak, turned me on to this...
Use the mandrake package manager's install software gui under the Mandrake configuration panel.
Install the smp kernel (should be on disk 3, but you can view by group and look under Kernel to find
it).
<you can install other packages at this time - but don't be too greedy many packages conflict with one another and can be a pain in the @$$ to install together or uninstall apart. It's better to do one thing at a time and do it well (thanks Confucious)>
After installation of the kernel, the lilo configuration file (/etc/lilo.conf) will be updated and 'lilo' will automatically be run. If you were to reboot now then your next bootscreen will show the smp kernel (2.4.21-13smp or something similar), but don't reboot.
Instead, edit the new 'smp' kernel entry in you /etc/lilo.conf. Add the following:
'acpismp=force'
to the options line. run 'lilo' and reboot. I aliased the new kernel to 'hyperthread' and made it the default.
One note, I removed the gkrellm, psacct and quota daemons from the system. One of these uncooperative bastards was causing me some problems with slow XServer startup, KDE logins, etc. Using the ACPI monitor with gkrellm (like laclasse) might still be an option, but I'm not sure.
Also, so far (crossed fingers), under the smp kernel i am not having as much difficulty with lockups of the loaded 'dri' module under the XServer and I am not hanging on 'halt' (i.e. I am now getting full power off as opposed to partial power off).
--Video
Laclasse and everyone say that the radeon driver for the direct rendering management core of XFree86 4.3.0 is nearly as good as the proprietary driver set provided by ati. I've seen mention both here and for the people using the Dell Inspiron 8200's M9 that the framerate drop for the DRM-DRI drivers is less than an order of magnitude off the ATI one's.
the proof is in the pudding:
goto a konsole
type
'glxgears' let it run for 5 seconds or more
a number for fps should appear in the konsole (something crappy around 200)
1) Backup your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file. I can't stress this enough.
2) Edit the non-backup version adding a line
...
load "dri"
...
below the 'load "glx"' line in the Section "Module"
Create a new Section:
Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection
3) save and exit
4) now, as root you can do a konsole test
init 3
(everything GUI should go away)
5) on the new command-line type
init 5
(everything GUI comes back)
6) do your normal GUI Display Manager login (get back into KDE)
7) open up a konsole
type glxgears (should be faster than before)
8) obviously this is somewhat simplified. You can tell if you have problems if, when you logout of KDE, the machine hangs. The only solutions that I've been able to find were that it seems to have cleared itself up after installing the SMB kernel and forcing the acpismp.
9) I haven't gone out to play on the video drivers yet (can you say quake3 and UT2K3), but I hear that the glx implementation is not necessarily the fullest expression of the OpenGL standards. Evidently there are tweaks that can be performed to get UT2K3 up and running under the open-source DRI drivers. This I am interested in. Oh, laclasse...
--Other Devices--
I have not mucked about with the modem it is the only device that is not fully recognize by Mandrake 9.1 (I don't use a modem anyway). I'll let this bother me for a couple of days and then I may act to resolve the issue.
Also, please note that the installed Mandrake recognizes the IEEE (firewire port) and that I have added a PCMCIA daemon to the startup. So far so good, but I do not have a firewire device or a PCMCIA card to test this stuff with. Also, I do not have the MP3 Player to test that.
Additions to this guide - 4/08/2003
re-post from Mousing About -
get the synaptic drivers they rock
in mandrake
(/etc/sysconfig/usb can be edited to
have usb=yes. On boot up the hardware check will find the usb mouse)
The link for the synaptics drivers has changed recently and an updated link follows:
http://tuxmobil.org/touchpad_driver.htm
compile and install them
edit your XF86Config-4 (after another backup) I have also added sections for a separate usb mouse as per laclasse's suggestions. Here's the relevant parts of mine:
(please note that you should edit already existing sections and add where necessary. Also, you /dev/input/mouse[X] device might be tagged differently than mine. Additionally, your mouse might be a wheel mouse or something else.)
Section "InputDevice"
Driver "synaptics"
Identifier "Mouse[1]"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option"Edges""1900 5400 1800 3900"
Option"Finger""25 30"
Option"MaxTapTime" "20"
Option"MaxTapMove" "220"
Option"VertScrollDelta" "100"
Option"MinSpeed""0.02"
Option"MaxSpeed""0.18"
Option"AccelFactor" "0.0010"
# Option"Repeater""/dev/ps2mouse"
# Option"SHMConfig""on"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "usbmouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mouse0"
Option "Emulate3Buttons"
Option "Emulate3Timeout" "50"
EndSection
.
.
.
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "layout1"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse[1]" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "usbmouse" "SendCoreEvents"
Screen "screen1"
EndSection
Install Mandrake 9.1 as usual with something like
from the install screen f1->f2 (don't press enter immediately you'll hang like a banana)
type boot options
'vga16 noauto noprobe nofirewire nopcmcia acpi=off'
Go through the normal install process. The SMP kernel will not necessarily be installed here, don't worry about it we can get it later. I installed everything, but when I went to install software later, there was still plenty more to install from the Mandrake 9.1 ISO's. I would go back and pick up all the interesting stuff that I missed earlier, in particular the smp kernel, Xawtv and lot's of yummy hacking libraries.
<As a side note, I'm a little pissed that I can't find all the libraries and crap for a DVD::Rip install packaged up (the ones at plf are not complete)...not that I would use DVD::Rip or anything
>There is one trick here.
When it comes time to do things like network, display, mouse and sound configuration
Configure your display as a 1600x1200 with 76Hz VSync (>70 for sure, I'm not sure exactly what the number is)
Important: under custom video driver's choose the 'radeon' module.
Make sure you test the configuration before you commit to it.
I left my mouse as good old standard ps/2, but would be happy to hear what anyone else has to say about mouse choice for the 8887.
Definitely don't muck about with the sound configuration (it's a 810 sound module, but why sweat it? Mandrake will run the sound servers for you auto-matic-wise).
Really, the rest of the configuration can wait.
A side note, you can pretty successfully configure the wireless network and ethernet card here (during install) if you want as I originally did.
There were some problems. If you don't have the connections set up for the wireless land you can get a really slow boot up hanging at eth1 resolution. I am still waiting to get wireless access at work so I disabled eth1 (WLAN) at boot under Mandrakes Network setup tools.
Other than that there are no other tricks to the install. Just keep things kind of plain until you understand what you're doing. Occam's Razor.
When you're done start to install the smp kernel as below
--Hyperthreaded Kernel--
My friend, T-Jak, turned me on to this...
Use the mandrake package manager's install software gui under the Mandrake configuration panel.
Install the smp kernel (should be on disk 3, but you can view by group and look under Kernel to find
it).
<you can install other packages at this time - but don't be too greedy many packages conflict with one another and can be a pain in the @$$ to install together or uninstall apart. It's better to do one thing at a time and do it well (thanks Confucious)>
After installation of the kernel, the lilo configuration file (/etc/lilo.conf) will be updated and 'lilo' will automatically be run. If you were to reboot now then your next bootscreen will show the smp kernel (2.4.21-13smp or something similar), but don't reboot.
Instead, edit the new 'smp' kernel entry in you /etc/lilo.conf. Add the following:
'acpismp=force'
to the options line. run 'lilo' and reboot. I aliased the new kernel to 'hyperthread' and made it the default.
One note, I removed the gkrellm, psacct and quota daemons from the system. One of these uncooperative bastards was causing me some problems with slow XServer startup, KDE logins, etc. Using the ACPI monitor with gkrellm (like laclasse) might still be an option, but I'm not sure.
Also, so far (crossed fingers), under the smp kernel i am not having as much difficulty with lockups of the loaded 'dri' module under the XServer and I am not hanging on 'halt' (i.e. I am now getting full power off as opposed to partial power off).
--Video
Laclasse and everyone say that the radeon driver for the direct rendering management core of XFree86 4.3.0 is nearly as good as the proprietary driver set provided by ati. I've seen mention both here and for the people using the Dell Inspiron 8200's M9 that the framerate drop for the DRM-DRI drivers is less than an order of magnitude off the ATI one's.
the proof is in the pudding:
goto a konsole
type
'glxgears' let it run for 5 seconds or more
a number for fps should appear in the konsole (something crappy around 200)
1) Backup your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file. I can't stress this enough.
2) Edit the non-backup version adding a line
...
load "dri"
...
below the 'load "glx"' line in the Section "Module"
Create a new Section:
Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection
3) save and exit
4) now, as root you can do a konsole test
init 3
(everything GUI should go away)
5) on the new command-line type
init 5
(everything GUI comes back)
6) do your normal GUI Display Manager login (get back into KDE)
7) open up a konsole
type glxgears (should be faster than before)
8) obviously this is somewhat simplified. You can tell if you have problems if, when you logout of KDE, the machine hangs. The only solutions that I've been able to find were that it seems to have cleared itself up after installing the SMB kernel and forcing the acpismp.
9) I haven't gone out to play on the video drivers yet (can you say quake3 and UT2K3), but I hear that the glx implementation is not necessarily the fullest expression of the OpenGL standards. Evidently there are tweaks that can be performed to get UT2K3 up and running under the open-source DRI drivers. This I am interested in. Oh, laclasse...
--Other Devices--
I have not mucked about with the modem it is the only device that is not fully recognize by Mandrake 9.1 (I don't use a modem anyway). I'll let this bother me for a couple of days and then I may act to resolve the issue.
Also, please note that the installed Mandrake recognizes the IEEE (firewire port) and that I have added a PCMCIA daemon to the startup. So far so good, but I do not have a firewire device or a PCMCIA card to test this stuff with. Also, I do not have the MP3 Player to test that.
Additions to this guide - 4/08/2003
re-post from Mousing About -
get the synaptic drivers they rock
in mandrake
(/etc/sysconfig/usb can be edited to
have usb=yes. On boot up the hardware check will find the usb mouse)
The link for the synaptics drivers has changed recently and an updated link follows:
http://tuxmobil.org/touchpad_driver.htm
compile and install them
edit your XF86Config-4 (after another backup) I have also added sections for a separate usb mouse as per laclasse's suggestions. Here's the relevant parts of mine:
(please note that you should edit already existing sections and add where necessary. Also, you /dev/input/mouse[X] device might be tagged differently than mine. Additionally, your mouse might be a wheel mouse or something else.)
Section "InputDevice"
Driver "synaptics"
Identifier "Mouse[1]"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option"Edges""1900 5400 1800 3900"
Option"Finger""25 30"
Option"MaxTapTime" "20"
Option"MaxTapMove" "220"
Option"VertScrollDelta" "100"
Option"MinSpeed""0.02"
Option"MaxSpeed""0.18"
Option"AccelFactor" "0.0010"
# Option"Repeater""/dev/ps2mouse"
# Option"SHMConfig""on"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "usbmouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mouse0"
Option "Emulate3Buttons"
Option "Emulate3Timeout" "50"
EndSection
.
.
.
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "layout1"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse[1]" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "usbmouse" "SendCoreEvents"
Screen "screen1"
EndSection
