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My GW2K Handbook 486

Updated: 08/05/2002 21:39:05

Specs:

Video:

• XF86Config This is a working XF86config file (640x480) for the handbook 486 with the VGA 16 X server

Sound?:

• I have not tried the PC Speaker driver for linux yet but there is one for Windoze as described below.

Distrobutions of Linux

• RedHat, Debian... pretty much all of them will work this way:
  

  1. Install the drive in another non-pentium laptop/computer (you can use a 
  laptop IDE connector to a normal IDE connector converter to do this with a 
  desktop computer) (the non-pentium computer will assure that you will not get 
  any > 486 style packages installed on the system)
  
  2. fdisk the drive like:
   partition  size    filesystem
   /dev/hda1   10M    dos (this is the bootable one)
   /dev/hda2   100M   linux swap 
   /dev/hda3 the rest linux whatever (ext2 ext3...)
  
  3. format the /dev/hda1 partition as a fat partition and sys the drive
  
  4. Install loadlin.exe on the fat partition (you can find it on most
   distrobution CD's or on the net at http://elserv.ffm.fgan.de/~lermen/
  
  5. Install your favorite distro of linux WITHOUT INSTALLING A BOOTLOADER!!!!!
   and creating a boot disk
  
  6. Boot into Linux and copy the kernel you are running to the 10M DOS partition
  
  7. edit/create the autoexec.bat file on the DOS partition and add the following:
          c:\loadlin.exe THE_LINUX_KERNEL_FILE_HERE root=/dev/hda3
  
  8. reboot without the floppy drive and see if it works..
  
  9. install the HD in the Handbook using these  instructions.
  

• I am currently running RedHat (i used the above instructions to install it)
• I was using the debian distribution of linux. It works fine, and i did not have any problems with it. Their "dselect" program for installing packages works good.
• Redhat did not install due to the low amount of memory that the handbook had (mabe it was a 5.1 issue), but after upgrading my ram to 20Meg I got it to install. Redhat also takes more space to install than you can fit on the hard drive that came with the Handbook, that was fixed too. I changed to redhat because i was helping other people install redhat and i had to conform ;) ( i realy got tired of trying to remember where all of the /etc stuff was, and then bickering about what should be where, that kind of stuff :)
• Monkey/Mini Linux and Dragon Linux: These work fine except for the Xserver. The one that is installed is the SVGA server. You need to get the VGA16 or VGA server (some of these distrobutions are still using libc5) go here to get the VGA server and replace the SVGA server with it (relinking X to the correct server, or just delete the SVGA server and rename the VGA one to the SVGA one, quick and dirty :) You might have a different version than the one that I am linking to. To quickly figure it out type in this "X -bpp 4" and X will puke, do a SHIFT*SCROLL_UP to see the version printed out at the top. That is the version number that you go to from here and the path from the version should be "binaries/Linux-ix86-libc5/Servers/XVG16.tgz".

Things to note:

• I have found that the apm bios does not work to the apm spec. Like the battery meter and suspend mode, almost everything. Linux barfs when it tries to turn off the backlight. I have recently found a fix for the kernel. The APM problem seems to be from the fact that this machine does not like to be idled, even though it is a battery powered notebook. Apm also does not get configured, because power management is "disengaged." I'm not sure what this means, but it prevents all the other apm features from working. In particular, I'd still like the disk to sync on suspend, and the clock to be updated on resume. Here is a undocumentented change that I got from a persons email in an archive (from whom I got the text above; by the way if you DID write this please email me to let me know if I can put your email address on this page for reference)
• Pretty much installing Linux was not a choir for this laptop the pcmcia driver was a default driver and the XF86Config you can get above.
• If you still have the hard drive in it that you got it with, SNICKER, replace it with a BIGGER one (it can be any STANDARD 12.7mm, or smaller, laptop IDE harddrive; go to pricewatch.com and look in the Notebook Drives section). It is a fairly simple task. I will try to get a picture of the process; it was built to swing open and be easily accessible even though it does not look like it would be upgradeable. The hard drive that I put in is a normal 12.7mm TOSHIBA 1926FCV 777MB w/ 128KB cache 1685/15/63 hard drive, the BIOS recognized it right without any problem (after I ran the bios125.exe file, this means you have to have a little dos partition or a boot disk that you do not want to loose) One person that has emailed me put a 4Gig HD in this little thing (that is halarious)
  UPDATE: I put my 20G drive from my Dell Inspinron 3800 in it (IBM-DJSA-220 (20004 MB) w/1874KiB Cache, CHS=2432/255/63) and it seems to work ok (the Handbook complained that its BIOS software was not on the HD and i did not want to worry about corrupting my disk, fdisk, from win 98, shows my partition tables correctly, but i was not able to boot from lilo. when i can get my hands on one that i dont care about i will try a little bit harder to get it up and running)
  • NOTE: both DOS's fdisk and the system bios do not recognize the HD above 503MB. Use linux's fdisk or RedHat's disk druid when you are installing/repartitioning your HD
• Here is a kernel .config file that will minimize the memory used by killing all of the stuff that you do not need. You can use this as a base .config file for your kernel to compile (just put it in the /usr/src/linux directory)
• I just upgraded the RAM in my Handbook to 20MB with a 16MB module, there is 4MB on the motherboard. I bought it at accessmicro for ~$69 (don't laugh at me because there is a noticable difference) Check Resources below for places that sell RAM
  

Help:

• So Far i have healped 42 people with their Handbook 486 Laptops, so don't hesitate to email me.

Resources:

• Here is a place that sells the floppy drive, battery, and memory. Capital Data
• Ok I am runing my little pricewatch.com here, so I will just link the places and not reference the price :)
  

  Company	What they have	How to get at it
  mundocorp	Memory, Battery, Floppy Drive, Mouse pointer cover, Keyboard replacement, AC Adapter	Click on "486 Laptops" and then on "Handbook"
  kahlon	Memory, Battery
  ExpNet	Memory, Battery	just go to the "Memory Products" and Gateway2000 (16MB item number 113995368, last time I checked)
  3klix.com	Memory, Battery, CMOS Battery	Go to the "Click Here To Find Upgrades and All Other Peripherals for Your Laptop, Notebook, Palmtop, and HandHeld Computer", "Gateway", then "Gateway Handbook 486"

• For Sale:

  Here is a guy that is making the floppy cable and the parallel port adapter. handbooks@wcubed.net
  Floppy cable $45
  Parallel Port Adapter $25
  
  

Windoze Stuff

• Windows 95 CD install (over a parallel cable)

  you can install the 95b version using intrlnk and intrsvr (get you a 
  copy here)
  
  get one of those parallel data transfer cables (or serial if you want, 
  i think a null modem cable will do) and attach your computers togeather
  
  on your Desktop, in DOS (not windows) type:
  intersvr x: /lpt1
  
  where x is your cdrom drive... (issues with this are discussed later)
  or /com1 if you are using a serial cable (on com1)
  
  
  on your laptop, in the config.sys file
  DEVICE=C:\dos\interlnk.exe /noprinter /v /auto
  
  
  
  reboot your laptop (you can even do this on a boot floppy if you want,
  as long as the interlnk program and this config.sys file is on that disk)
  
  
  the server should recognize that something is connected to it
  
  in DOS on your laptop change to the redirected drive. you will see on the 
  server what the client drives look like in relation to the server drives.
  
  do a "dir" and make sure that you can see the "setup.exe" program:
  
  if so:
  	type in "setup"
  
  if not:
  	then you might have a problem with your CDROM driver.
  	make sure that your DOS cdrom driver is installed (usually windows 
  	does this when you exit into DOS mode)
  	if you still cant get it working:
  		You can then just copy the whole 95 cd on to your desktop machine
  		and when you repeat this process, just go to that directory and 
  		execute the "setup" program
  
  If you have any problems just let me know
  

• Windoze 95/98/... tidbit: if you get this pc speaker driver, you can listen to wav's on your Handbook (or any other PC or laptop with an internal pc speaker).

  Installation:
  1. go to add new hardware
  2. dont let windows search for the hardware, select the sound, video,game controllers icon
  3. click on have disk and open the "oemsetup.inf" file in the speaker.zip (make sure that
  the speaker.drv is in the same dir)
  4. select the PC speaker controller from the driver window
  5. set the properties to your likeing
  

• DOS DRIVERS: go here and get them. The PCMCIA driver is the "Socket Services" link on the bottom, on its page it is the last driver down. The BIOS and Memory programs are blatantly obvious.

Pinout fot the Parallel converter

Parallel Connector Handbook Connector 1 2 2 14 3 28 4 27 5 12 6 11 7 25 8 24 9 9 10 6 11 22 12 16 13 7 14 15 15 18 16 5 17 3 18 13 19 13 20 10 21 10 22 8 23 8 24 1 25 1

Handbook Proprietary Connector (looking at the adaptor not the Handbook) (HONDA "PCR E28FS") This is the pinout of the AC connector looking at the cord NOT THE LAPTOP! (the diagram is also on the AC adapter)

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