Custom Linux on an Inspiron 9100
A Linux From Scratch approach
posted by: Steve
The following is presented in roughly chronological order. Feel free to send me an email for questions or comments. This section will (eventually) be fleshed out (and organized) some more.
LFS System Changelog
jan 7, 2006:
What follows is a chronicle of the linux system that - initially - was meant for
use only on my dell inspiron 9100 desktop-replacement behemoth of a laptop.
In practice, it has ended up on most of my systems (from cluster to laptop to
firewall to servers) in one form or another. This changelog was intended to be
in chronological order, but that broke down in quite a few cases.
This has gone for several months without a genuine update; one will occur soon.
KERNEL HISTORY:
note: CURRENT.tgz is just a copy of the kernel with the latest date
INITIAL KERNEL:
2.6.10-kern_02-20-05.tgz
compiled via lfs instructions with minimal tampering
used defaults and suggested options (via lfslivecd config?)
4gb upper mem limit
ext2fs only (no ext3)
ntfs w/ write support
alsa
broadcom 4400 internal NIC
chipset options, etc
yenta pcmcia cardbus bridge
usb/uhci stuff
ieee1394 firewire ohci
-----------
2.6.10-kern_02-28-05.tgz
added automounting support
nfs support
fiddled with acpi/apm...no real info there
discovered that the framebuffer driver for radeon
was what caused boot screen to blank :)
(excluded that shite)
nothing really special
did get an error with hermes orinoco driver upon make that
did NOT occur first time around...check pci bus
options..think you may have screwed em up
-----------
-----------
2.6.10-kern_03-02-05.tgz
added module removing
made sure apm was removed, tweaked acpi
added freq scaling
tried to rectify radeon issues..no dice
-----------
NOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
may have lost 03-02-05 kernel...check
within 03-06-05 tar, in the backup dir,
for it
NOTE also: move backup dir out of /boot so
when you back up, you dont do all the
past backups too
UPDATE: done
-----------
-----------
2.6.10-kern_03-06-05.tgz
removed DRI (direct rendering interface)
so that the ati doesnt freak out
on me (i think this was the problem)
UPDATE: was /not/ the problem
..radeon framebuffer support..
..just very simply sucks
added ati drivers again (then removed em)
just gonna let X deal with this
-----------
-----------
2.6.14.4-kern-12-27-05.tgz
upgrade time (i.e. i read a /. posting about the kernel, got fed
up with lacking some hardware support, was hoping for
increased speed, and -- when installing an atheros
minipci wifi adapter -- the old 2.6.10 tree burped at me
because something about its wireless extensions is
frazzled. one too many fscks, i guess. (i really must
remember not to fall asleep if the cord is unplugged).
UPDATE:2.6.10 tree fixed now, just in case.
same configuration as most recent 2.6.10 kernel above
added usb-to-serial converter driver pl2303 so my laptop
can play nicely with a console cable
added cpu frequency scaling to throttle processor...trying to
reduce battery consumption and make the fans chill out
(theyre usually in wind-tunnel mode)
added radeon framebuffer, now functions perfectly for me, finally
noticed some changes in kernel configuration structure..not very
useful in my opinion.
this version includes: the new framebuffer driver, and a (now
unneeded) kernel mode networking section. probably some
minor thing i cant remember (ill update this later after
checking the .config, but the stuff mentioned was the most
important)
2.6.14.4-kern-12-30-05.tgz
alias: 2.6.14.4-no-fb
same config as above 2.6.14.4 kernel, but some changes with the
intention of tracking down some sluggishness noticed with
this kernel. (note: booting under 2.6.10 solves all of
these issues). this computer has far more horsepower
than needed at boottime, so lagginess safely assumed to
be kernel related.
NOTE: may be atheros driver. not sure yet
X and console seemed really extraordinarily sluggish, so i removed fb
driver. performance increased a bit..
2.6.14.4-kern-12-31-05.tgz
alias: 2.6.14.4-no-fb2-no-net
same config as above, but:
removed some more stuff from the console framebuffer
schtuff (i remembered adding something about a
console boot logo and the vesafb, so got rid of
those)
removed the kernel mode network stuff
still sluggish.
2.6.14.4-kern-1-2-06.tgz
alias: 2.6.14.4-no-fb2-no-net-with-ufs-no-cpu-freq
yes, its an ungodly long filename. but it helps me
remember better than timestamps
yes, im senile at age 20
config same as above, but:
-added ufs file system support so i could read the
compact flash cards (via usb reader) that came
from the ibm netvista n2200 8363 thin clients
ive been hacking into a cluster
-removed cpu frequency throttling added in the first
2.6.14.4 kernel version i tried, because i figured
that it might be the reason for sluggishness.
fans still making a weird slow cyclical whine..
think they need cleaning anyway and an oil of
bearings might be in order.
-however, system is STILL sluggish
perhaps pare down kernel a bit more?
tis quite useable. been using it for a week now
some things just dont act quite like they used
to though.
//END kernel history
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// OS history
(everything sitting atop the kernel)
Work done thus far:
-followed LFS 6.1 testing (on livecd) via lynx verbatim.
-everything prior to this point should be easily
tracked. dont think there were any errors whatsoever (except #1
in the errata section that follows the end of this document..
easily fixed, no impact)
-----------------
ON TO BLFS
-----------------
NOTE: per suggestions of blfs website, instructions from the cvs version of
blfs were those followed. old ver blfs 5.1 was not suited for use on a 6.0
base system like mine (6.1 to be particular).
-as it is, the entire new cvs edition of the book is in major testing, so a lot of
this stuff was made up and dealt with personally.
thus the purpose of this document.
-only exceptions to lfs are lynx/links/elinks installed along with
naim and gaim.
-gaim is(update:was) in /stevetemp compiled using the lfslivecd
-naim is was installed direct to this system, compiled by lfs :-)
the text browsers for reading the blfs book, downloading patches,
tarred sources of whatever i need, etc.
-------------------------------
ONWARD!
-------------------------------
-skimmed introduction...who reads those anyway???
- Some of the PATH info from section 2 ("Going Beyond BLFS")
Tried to rectify debate (i.e. /usr vs /usr/local)
via system-wide, user-independent $PREFIX
variable
NOTE: lynx and links seem to be installed in /usr
...move them????
- Crazy Stevecustomization of Bash
copied all ~/.* (root home) config files to /etc/skel
for new-user defaults
NOTE: periodically update /etc/skel files as needed. DO NOT copy .files
wholesale from /root, as they may have absolute path references
to /root causing major issues for other less-privileged users
more bash fun:
learned some basic shell scripting!!!
-made google script that passes search strings into a web browser
(lynx at the moment, edit as desired).
-resides in /usr/local/bin and /root/scripts
- Also from section 2: the blfs bootscripts were downloaded,
some installed as directed
- The entirety of section II.3 (except custom boot device)
-created compressdoc script to zip up all those man
pages. reinvoke occasionally to recompress
-in the 'automate mounting of file systems' a kernel
recompile was required. see section for details.
NOTE: besides autofs-specific kernel updates, also
compiled in some stuff for power management.
check out menuconfig if needed?
NOTE: original kernel, plus recompiled kernel are tarred
in the /boot/backup directory.
-naming scheme is as follows:
ke.rn.ver-dateofcompile.tgz. CURRENT.tgz
is merely a copy of the latest kernel.
UPDATE: now stored in /root/boot-backup
NOTE: found out why kernel wouldnt boot properly last
time - inclusion of the ati radeon framebuffer
driver blanks screen. suggest TRYING old driver,
then saying screw it and using xorg?
- it is now NOT compiled into kernel, thus
bootability
- Section 4 - Security
installed:
OpenSSL-0.9.7e
cracklib-2.7
and associated 15.7mg wordlist
Linux-PAM 0.78
Shadow-4.0.4.1
Stunnel-4.07
NOTE: skipped other available pkgs and firewall stuff at
this time. Return later if implementation is
desired.
NOTE: Had attempted to install OpenSSL 0.9.1c with
elinks to enable SSL https connections..
success with that ver, yet not with elinks.
Potential issue if the two versions dont jive.
Just a heads up if ssl stuff doesnt work.
I.E. Stunnel, puTTY, telnetting w/ ssl, https, etc
NOTE: was directed to reinstall Shadow. note the fact
that lfs 6.1 testing (used to install base system)
installed version 4.0.7 --- not known whether
installing 4.0.4.1, being an older version, will affect
anything. Logins act just fine, but be aware of this
potential.
- Section 22 - Network tools
-installed tcpwrappers
-installed dhcpd
NEEDS CONFIF IN
/etc/sysconfig/network- devices/ifconfig.eth0/dhcpcd
-TRIED to install OpennSSH-3.9p1
-compile died with a
PRNG initialisation failed -- exiting.
ssh-rand-helper child produced insufficient data
make: *** [host-key] Error 255
-might be just that the random seed wasnt random enough
-installed wget
-installed inetutils-1.4.2
-installed ntp-4.2.0
did not do an 'ntpd -q' to roots crontab
nor the optional set hwclock @ shutdown
UPDATE: ntp tried to get time from server
at boot...and given there was no net
connection, that didnt work too well
and ended up hanging the boot.
FIXED by rm'ing /etc/init.d/ntp and a
symlink /etc/rc.d/rc3.d/S26ntp -->
/etc/init.d/ntp, plus every other
symlink in /etc/rc*.d/ to same
-installed net-tools-1.60
- This is where steve steps in and crosses his fingers
-installed wireless tools 26 (i hope)
-worked fine
-upgraded to more current wireless tools ver 27
-installed ndiswrapper, currently unable to load wlan windows
drivers...working on it
-configured networks stuff in /etc/sysconfig/network-devices
-disabled loading of eth0 interface at boot so no dhcp timeout
-disabled wlan0 in a similar fashion and then realized i should just
do it anyway, as ill have the wireless router available (or can find one)
most of the time.
-ndiswrapper now works with m$ ndis drivers wrapped by ndiswrapper...must load
module with modprobe, bring up the interface via ifconfig, config ssid via
iwconfig, and then dhcpcd it to get an IP
-made a wifi script to do that...run at console..kinda inconvenient :\
-finally got ndiswrapper working via rc hotplug script !!! :)
-(its in /etc/hotplug/ , called wifi.rc; analysis of the /etc/rd.d/ hotplug-specific
scripts and functions file showed that hotplug references and runs any *.rc scripts
located in /etc/hotplug)
-UPDATE: ..wavemon, kismet do not work with ndiswrapped drivers and i
am most unhappy :(
-gotta whip out the good ol orinoco for some serious stumbling
...oh well
-discovered /proc/acpi/battery and ../. - craziness!!
-made battstat script (now in /usr/local/bin) that parses /proc/acpi/battery/....
info and does calculation to determine remaining battery percentage
using voltage information and perl for math
-NOTE: get acpid working so you can script some power management for this
power hungry beast!!!
-installed pci-utilities-2.1.11 (i.e. lspci, setpci, update-pciids) for probing pcibus
-installed usb-utilities (lspci functionality for the usb bus, program is-surprise!-lsusb)
-installed proftpd and got that working
currently only supports anonymous login
ftp home dir is /home/ftp
-got pissed off at ntp and disabled it by killing the startup
scripts in rc.d/
-realized that it wouldve helped if i had a package management
system to uninstall it instead of letting it gather dust
-looked into both lpm (via lfs hint) and emerge (gentoo)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
big break. my eyes hurt.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
compiled Xorg 6.8.2 with blfs directions
for 6.8.1 (hehe)
SUCCESS with the radeon!!!
installed fcron
added m$ ttf fonts plus freetype stuff suggested by lfs
configured font server
put 100dpi fonts ahead of 75dpi so that my poor eyes dont die
FINALLY got around to doing a package management system
decided to use one, very barebones, based off of lpm (per lfs hint)
-if i want stuff from gentoo ill download their
source directly
-only issues i can see with lpm:
a) if user X modifies stuff while root
is installing, running lpm -l
after make install MIGHT result
in that user X's stuff going byebye
upon uninstall??
b) what if i forget to do a
make install && lpm -l?
-try making 'make install && lpm -l' alias
installed lpm
moved /boot/backup to /root/boot-backup
installed a crapload of libraries for X and general system use
NOTE: update what i installed!!!!!!
---
realized that /usr/X11R6/bin was NOT on my path as it should
have been due to /etc/profile.d/X.sh -- had to add it
manually. CHECK TO SEE if those scripts are executable
BECAUSE the same thing in the same script did not add
the required addendum to the pkg_config_path
----------------------
----------------------
ok its mid march... been a while...big ass update:
did all that fun stuff with xorg, got it working just fine.
-picked xfce as my window manager
installed 4.0.2 (or whatever version blfs suggested)
realized xfce4.2 was out, then redid the entire damn thing
--
installed battery monitor, wavelan, audiomixer, etc goodies for the panel
still trying to figure out how to alter the menu
need a good icon scheme
-loved lynx, links, and elinks...but i want firefox
was impatient, didnt want to compile, so i downloaded firefox binary
installer...it complained that i didnt have libstdc++.so.5 (which i didnt)
---
was more impatient...installed mozilla from binary installer. thought it was
yucky..uninstalled it..got back into firefox mood
still in the lazy, binary install mode for firefox
tackling the libstd issue:
libstdc++.so.5 was from gcc3.2.x....so i got around the issue by
partly compiling that ver, without a make install, and
grabbing the library to dump in /usr/lib
---
result: firefox works
decided to adhere more properly to lfs, got firefox 1.0.1 source and compiled
it..think i had some minor issues but easily fixed (stupid steve typos
i think)
---
now to install java, flash, etc plugins
NOTE: firefox plugin dir = /usr/lib/firefox-1.0.1/plugins
---
JAVA: downloaded and installed j2sdk (binary)...funky ass install.
kinda had to mess with blfs instructions.
installed in /opt in the end...symlinked as directed
symlinked plugin libjavaplugin_oji.so to
/opt/j2sdk/j2sdk-precompiled-1.4.2/jre/plugin/i386/...
...ns610-gcc32/libjavaplugin_oji.so
---
interestingly enough, it just occurred to me that the only reason
this probably works is because i stole that libstdc++ lib from
the old gcc 3.2.x half compile and dumped it into /usr/lib...the
other jre plugins crashed firefox, so i tried this just for the hell
of it..
---
..whatever. it works. me happy.
---
FLASH: followed directions on firefox plugins page. downloaded flash
from macromedia, untarred, copied plugin into firefox plugin
dir
-on a similar note, installed thunderbird from mozilla for mail
configured for gmail and huskymail
-made firefoxcheck script
This script is for dumb programs that dont check
for an already running firefox thread. Checks to
see if firefox is already running. If so, loads
url/file in new window or tab (see usage by
running with no parameters). If not
running, spawns new process with url/file. Gets
around the issue of the profile manager
complaining.
-was bored, wanted porn. compiled and installed mplayer with some basic codecs
-recompiled gaim to run off of harddrive rather than out of /stevetemp
-moved /stevetemp, merged with /root
-got bored of video without sound, installed alsa (lib, util, etc etc)
-compiled and installed xmms 1.2.10...realized winamp skins worked with it,
downloaded and installed a bunch of those. YAYYYY
note: skins dir is /usr/share/xmms/Skins
-as is the issue with most mixers upon default installation, all channels were muted
wanted multimedia key support on keyboard, so went with aumix (despite
presence of alsamixer)
unmuted channels, yayyyy sound works.
NOTE: mixer defaults to mute upon reboot...soooo needed something to
restore it...tried to make this a bootscript, but then realized that i was
doing it before the harddrive was mounted..big error when it couldnt
find the conf file
-instead: added aumix -L to .xinitrc so that it resets the mixer
everytime i head into x.
-again, granted, this wont allow console based multimedia playing
without the invocation of aumix -L..dont forget
-installed lineakd (not the other stuff) and made config (~.lineak/lineak.conf) work
with xmms via console switches....realized lineak supported ctrl, alt, mod keys
...should come up with some other cool button uses
also made /usr/local/etc/lineakd.def as directed by one of my "nix on the
inspirion" docs. ..not sure it did anything..used lineakd --help
to list available keyboards and selected the one im using to type
this entry....twas all good
NOTE: added lineakd to .xinitrc so that it picks the multimedia keystrokes
up in x...i suppose i could do this in console, but dont think ill be
listening much to music from there.
-this screams bootscript
-added a few gaim plugins for systray, popup notifications
-installed gkrellm for system monitor
-installed xpdf
-installed Eterm, made default terminal (via $TERMCMD in /etc/profile)
-NOTE: having some issues with /etc/profile, /etc/bashrc, ~/.bashrc, and
~/.bash_profile
-Is xfce and/or X even looking at them when it/they load?????
---
-sort of unrelated:
-make SURE that user steve (and any other) have the correct path and
permissions being assigned.
-having some issues when su-ing into that account and might
be due to
a) out of date .bashrc / .bash_profile
and/or
b) issues in .files copied from /root into /etc/skel when steve
was created.
---
-needed some better file manager fun (xffm is ok, just kinda clunky)
at jdawg's suggestion, looked up and downloaded Rox
-just using fileman portion, did not use desktop integration
-look into for the future??
-installed valknut (dc++ client for nix) and associated libraries
-installed abiword
-installed cups, began looking at printing options and drivers for my printer
hp has them on sourceforge yayyy
downloaded hpijs-1.7.1.tar.gz
downloaded hpoj-0.91.tgz
see http://hpoj.sf.net for more info
at same time, refer to cups docs
-this is going to be a pain
-trying to install yahoo messenger to get webcam support
depends are messy...requires some gnome libraries. major hacking of the system
will be required. good luck :-)
-try installing just gnome-core, not gnome itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TO DO:
----------
-use acpid to script acpi events for some power management, because this thing just eats
batteries for breakfast lunch and dinner
-get wine working better
-icons for desktop, theme icons, either stick with xfce and improve your setup or find a better
wm (stay away from kde/gnome bloat unless you want some of their utils)
-either tar or get rid of expanded source dirs, keeping the packages handy
-this system currently (mar 21) has about 15 gig used out of 40, a large portion of
which is entirely from the presence of packages, patches, and untarred sources
-xscreensavers and implement xlock
-find some way to use logitech quickcam pro webcam under linux so that it may be used via
gaim/aim/yahoo messenger
-install open office!!!
-map windows key to something
-smaller text editor that abiword?? gvim?
-install printing support!! (started)
downloaded hpoj-0.91.tgz
see http://hpoj.sf.net/ for more info
at the same time, refer to cups docs
-figure out if/what/anything is wrong with automounting fs...because its not automounting...
what do i need to do with config files??
-figure out wine config files to do app-specific settings
-use knoppix scripts??
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LFS/BLFS ERRATA:
----------------
BUG 1:
./hotplug.functions: line 113:
lib/modules/2.6.10/modules.isapnpmap: no such file or
directory
UPDATE: fixed with depmod -a
BUG 2:
DO NOT CAT BINARIES!!! if they have escape sequences, itll screw
up console output as if the garbage characters of the binary
were a filter
FIX: type reset, even if the characters seem like garbage, and press
enter
BUG 3:
firefox, when lots of tabs are open, will bring down the system
BUG 4:
wine will sometimes hang, and even killing the process pid wont get rid of the window in X
BUG 5:
wine will not do app-specific windowing
BUG 6:
removing ndiswrapper module will sometimes bring down the system into a
kernel panic VERY BAD DONT DO IT
BUG 7:
xfce: cannot edit desktop menu!!!
BUG 8:
have difficulty with x-based consoles not getting proper env variables and settings
BUG 9:
aumix will NOT run without paremeters in an x console....(gives segmentation
fault), but will run with options and will run without options in native console.
why?
--------------------------
--------------------------
--------------------------
MARCH 3 2005: hard drive suffers a catastrophic head crash. minimal
data recovered. luckily includes /etc, /boot, and most of /root
--------------------------
--------------------------
--------------------------
afterthecrash i installed:
---------------------------
-screen libs for
-naim
-vim
-openssl
-hdparm
-autofs mounting
-ndiswrapper
-net-tools
-wireless tools
-which
-pci-utilities
-lynx
-libusb
-usb-utils
hereafter started to use the user package management system.
it works well and reliably. to see packages installed to date, look in
/usr/src/
installed m$ truetype fonts into /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/ms-ttf-fonts,
and symlinked to /usr/share/ms-true-type fonts (or something like
that..its obvious if you look for it).
refer to
http://wiki2.archlinux.org/index.php/XOrg%20Font%20Configuration
-relevant text:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Adding new fonts
When new fonts are added, they are just files on your system. A
handful of utilities need to be run in order to tell the system that new
fonts have been added.
/usr/bin/fc-cache
This will update the fontconfig cache, assuming the new fonts can be
searched by fontconfig (see the above section about /etc/fonts)
/usr/X11R6/bin/mkfontscale
/usr/X11R6/bin/mkfontdir
ln -s /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/encodings/encodings.dir encodings.dir
These utilities need to be run from inside the directory of the new
fonts. mkfontscale creats a fonts.scale file and mkfontdir creates a
fonts.dir file. These files are used by the X Server, and only need to
be done if the fonts are to be served through the FontPath? of X.org.
The encodings soft link allows the X Server to use these new fonts under
all supported encodings. After all this, you should have 3 new files in
the font dir : fonts.scale, fonts.dir, and encodings.dir.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
needed X to run with 120 dpi fonts...various HOWTO's referred to
Xresource and XftConfig, etc...none of which helped me much at all.
just made an alias:
alias startx='startx -- -dpi 120'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
firefox
thunderbird
java sdk
open office
xfce
xmms
gaim
---
mplayer-
note: installed via usr pkg man system, but dir
/usr/lib/mplayer/codecs was chown/chgrp'd
to root per directions of install
if need to remove program do so here too
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
RETROACTIVE UPDATE
March (After The Crash) till October 05
-lots of software added. an out put of /usr/src:
lsa-libs/ kismet/ openssl/
alsa-oss/ lame/ pango/
alsa-util/ lesstif/ pcre/
amarok/ lft-traceroute/ perl-xml-module/
atk/ libao/ pkgconfig/
aumix/ libart/ popt/
blfs-bootscripts-6.0-pre1/ libast/ portmap5/
cdrtools/ libglade/ proftpd/
cedega/ libgpod/ puTTY/
chkrootkit/ libid3tag/ qt/
driftnet/ libjpeg/ rar/
eterm/ libogg/ rkhunter/
ethereal/ liboil/ rox/
expat/ libpcap/ sec_rpc/
firefox/ libpng/ sharutils/
fontconfig/ libtiff/ snmpwalk/
freetype2/ libungif/
startup-notification/
gaim/ libvorbis/ subversion/
ghostscript/ libxml2/ taglib/
gimp/ lineakd/ tcpwrappers/
glib/ linux-2.6.10/ thunderbird/
glib1/ linux-2.6.10.tar.bz2 traceroute/
gsstreamer/ linux-2.6.14.4/ unzip/
gsview/ linux-2.6.14.4.tar.bz2 valknut-dc/
gtk+/ mad/ wavemon/
gtk+1/ madwifi/ xchat/
gtkpod/ md5/ xfce4.2/
iftop/ mplayer/ xmlsoap/
iglooftp/ naim/ xmms/
imlib/ netcat/ Xorg/
imlib2/ net-tools/ xpdf/
inetutils/ nfs-utils/ yamipod/
john-the-ripper/ nmap/
kdelibs/ openssh/
--software compiled for kicks and then installed anyway might
include a few things...this list will be updated as i
remember
-- some software added that was not source based (yes yes, you
weep. get over it)
--binaries include:
firefox (i am NOT waiting for that bastard to compile)
thunderbird (ditto)
NX client from nomachine
cedega (transgaming's version of wine)
IglooFTPro
via wine:
radmin
winzip
winrar
AVIedit
BitTorrent
LViewPro
GetRight
EphPod
//NOTE: most of these wine programs were added when...
Oct - November 05
....segfaults began happening left and right with random programs. first
noticed with xfce4-taskmanager (frontend to top which i originally
mapped to ctrl-alt-del) that segfaulted whenever run.
-strace didnt help at all
when ndiswrapper and the bcmwl drivers threw too many errors to even
function (and in fact, killed the system on more than one
occasion), that was the last straw. so:
to rememedy this situation, i installed (somewhat out of desperation) an
old copy of the core LFS system on top of the presumably corrupted
system. (this included libs and core programs i.e. from lfs and not
beyond). note: the userbased package manager installed scripts for
useradd and userdel, etc...which were not replaced with the binaries.
these were later copied into place.
-recompiled ndiswrapper and used the dell wificard for a lil while
longer
some issues remain.
open office opens a document successfully from the
local directory and via firefox (which uses a very short path
name that is either direct or one step out, so that works).
these symptoms discovered by trying to perform function
in xterm after running normally didnt work
-throws an error sporting something about a unary
operator error
cedega (when trying to run radmin from the original xfce link
i made) also pukes in the same fashion as open office.
-issues also discovered in xterm as above
-same error as above
xfce4-taskmanager ALSO does not work, which especially figures,
because that was the main thing that prompted this
renewal and regeneration of the system.
-i suspect xorg needs to be recompiled, but as it works
for now...do it later
-also recompile and upgrade xfce..this version is old
-simply segfaults
December 05 - Jan 06
-application of old LFS core seems stable and successful.
-same "some issues remain" from above are applicable
-upgrades needed in some major applications
xfce
firefox
xorg
OOo
etc
-battery life shrinking to ~65 percent :(
-still never got acpi scripts going
=still have yet to get printer functioning
-installed atheros a/b/g wireless card, compiled 2.6.14 kernel
-installed madwifi-ng drivers (module) to use this card
-plus included utilities
-used 2.6.10 source tree to compile kernel for thin client
cluster, so be sure to make mrproper (and save the
config!!) before using again for this laptop or
elsewhere
-old compaq server running for: 34 days, 1 reboot, 56 days
shows how robust original 2.6.10 system is :)
-installed amarok (and all of the kde crap required by it)
pleasantly surprised
upgrade in kernel highlighted issue with sound (perhaps
due to the overall sluggish issue). it skips
occasionally, especially when unplugged)
what next??