Kubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) and Slackware 12 on a Sony Vaio VGN-FS740/W

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December 23, 2007

I fixed the LILO problem...by installing GRUB. It's the the /extra directory on your favorite FTP mirror. The install was easy and went off without a hitch. I rebooted, got the GRUB screen, choose Windows and it booted. Rebooted, choose Linux, and it booted. Easy as pie.

October 22, 2007

I scrapped the Kubuntu install after about a week and decided to set this laptop up as a dual-boot. First, I installed Windows XP on it. Next, I used Partition Magic to shrink the partition and set aside 14 GB for Slackware. The basic Slackware install went well, except for adding LILO. The installer failed to install LILO automatically so I tried it myself and still, no luck. I also had to update the firmware for the ipw2200 which I blogged about here. Once I did that, the wireless worked fine. I installed Slapt-Get and that was easy enough too.

The only major problem is LILO. It appears to be a problem with the partition table on the Windows side of things. If I ever get this resolved, I will post the fix here.

I found my problem with not being able to install Bluefish. I simply needed to edit the Adept package manager and enable the universe repositories (*brian says "d'oh"). After I did that, I did "apt-get update" then "apt-get install bluefish" and I got the confirmation that 85 MB of dependencies need to be downloaded. From the KDE menu ->system->adept->view repositories; then right click to enable/disable sources.

July 31, 2007

Basic Specs: Intel Centrino 1.73 MHz processor, 512 MB Ram, 40 GB WD HD, 15.4" screen, DVD/CDROM.

The Kubuntu install was about as easy as you could ask for. Follow the prompts and let it go. The only problem I had was the keyboard. I let the installer auto-detect my keyboard and it came up as Japan instead of US English. So, I just did it myself. The wireless uses the ipw2200 driver and that works right out of the box. I was unable to get the wired nic to work (Intel eepro100) but the wireless worked immediately.

I don't like the Adept package manager. It could not find the package Bluefish even though the Bluefish home page says "apt-get install bluefish" will install it; unless they really mean Ubuntu and not any of its variants (updated - see above). I and I saw no Firefox in there either. It's not that big of a deal since downloading those packages from a mirror is easy enough.

A few other quirks:

• The KDE weather applet only displays in Celsius.
• I don't like how K/Ubuntu doesn't set up a root account first. I am used to the old way in other distros (at least Mandrake, Fedora, Slackware) - install prompts you for a root password during the install and then asks you if you want to add users.
• Shutdown takes too long and it displays the same screen as during the graphical bootup.

July 19, 2007

Sony Vaio

I will be installing some flavor of Linux on Sony Vaio Pentium 4/Centrino as soon as I get a new hard drive for it. Right now I am favoring Slackware. I may try Kubuntu though. I haven't had any luck with Ubuntu on Pentium II or Pentium III desktops. They either hang on the install or do silly things like telling me there's not CD drive. Of course, those same systems took Slackware 10 and 12 without a problem. I should be working on the Vaio by the end of summer. As the for Dell, it's still running Mandrake 9.2.

brian -at- brianwsnyder -daht- c0m                         

Last updated December 23, 2007