Re: Linux on a Fiva?

[Finn-Arne Johansen <http://www.bzzware.org/~finnarne>]

There's quite a lot info on setting up Linux on Fiva, But most of the
info is in japanese, and with Distributions not so common in Europe/US.

I'm succesfully running a Slack7.1 installation on my Fiva, som
installation help is given in http://www.bzzware.org/fiva, but the page
is not finnished. 

My setup now:

/dev/hda1 mounted as /, ext2 1.5 GB
/dev/hda2 mounted as /home reiserFS 1.2
/dev/hda5 mounted as swap  (128MB)
/dev/hda6 mounted as /win4lin (~800 mb)

Slackware 7.1 with kernel 2.2.17, 
	patched for reiserfs and win4lin
Sound is working
Irda is working
Pcmcia is working
Xfree with 800x600, 16 bit virtual desktop 1024x600
WindowMaker

Win98 is running under Win4LIn (http://www.netraverse.com)
I'm running win4lin beta2, with sound support

I had some problems with APM, and the setup now is no hibernation
(suspend to disk) Nonetheless, I'm using the machine as a PIM at work,
and there's no problem with the battery. I ran out of battery when I
used the standard battery at work (after 6 hours), but then I also
compiled some things (I think it was a new kernel.)
No problem when I'm using the machine to write something in abiword or
gnumeric (http://www.gnome.org/gnome-office), then the battery last the
whole day when using the big one. 
There is a patch for making the hibernation work, but after using it for
a while under win98, I found that it was quicker to restart LInux+win98
under win4lin, than waiting for the resume to stabilise. The suspend to
disk under Linux made the machine lock up, resulting in a damaged file
system  when the machine resumed. I had to reinstall some times before I
found out that I was better off without hibernation. I've used the
suspendd (linux utility for suspending to disk , e.g swap partion), but
It's not installed now. I dont remember why. I had a goal of makeing the
root partion (/dev/hda1) read-only, and only using the reiserfs under
/home (dev/hda2) as writable, but has left it for now. 

I hope to finish my site some day, but if you have some questions on
Linux on Fiva, I'm happy to help. 


BTW: Never plugg in the power supply when the machine is running. This
also led to a complete reinstallation a couple of times. I always put
the machine in sleep mode befor I plug in the power. 

Best Regards

Finn-Arne Johansen
http://www.bzzware.org/~finnarne
http://www.bzzware.org