Installing Linux on an HP Omnibook 900

The HP Omnibook 900 is nice, and installing Linux on it was not a major task. This particular one has 96MB, 6.4GB, 800x600 LCD, 1024x768x16 bit 1x AGP video from a NeoMagic  chip, 16 bit stereo from a NeoMagic 256AV,  a Linksys PCMPC200 10/100 Ethernet cardbus card, and two pointing devices. The distribution I am using is RedHat 6.2.
 

1. As the laptop comes with Windows preinstalled, you need to make room on the hard drive. You can remove the Windows parition entirely, or use FIPS to cut the partition in twain. I choose FIPS, as not many ISPs are supporting Linux these days. Before you do anything: Note that there is a second partition already there. This partition is the hibernation partition. Do not touch it. I don't know what would happen, but I didn't want to take a chance. You have been warned.
2. I used text mode and NFS for installation, as I did not get the optional CD-ROM drive. This worked almost perfectly. The only problem I experienced was with the text entry fields. No cursor appeared to indicate the field was active, or where I was in the field.
3. X Configuration had a minor hitch as well. In my first attempt, I selected LCD 800x600. X would not start, however. Instead, I selected a custom monitor, capable of 1024x768 at 75 Hz. For the final setting, verticle refresh, I chose 50-90. X then started fine.
4. Next, I upgraded a few packages, including the kernel. I compiled my own 2.2.14-12 kernel, and PCMCIA stopped working. It turns out that, once you create a new modules tree in /lib, you need to add in the PCMCIA modules afterward. Go into the pcmcia directory in the linux source directory. I did a make configure, a make all, and a make install. Then I copied the install tree from /var/tmp/kernel-2.2.14-12-root to /. My ethernet card started working again at this point.
5. Another point about PCMCIA: The service starts up late in the sequence. You may want to adjust the order. Just rename the pcmcia service in /etc/rc.d/rc2.d and /etc/rc.d/rc3.d to S01pcmcia.
6. The last annoying problem was sound. The OSS drivers in the kernel do support the NeoMagic 256AV, but not the way you would think. If you run sndconfig, it will detect the chip, but the driver hangs the system. As I enjoy listening to mp3s, this wasn't acceptable. To get around this, I ran sndconfig --noprobe. I selected the MSS audio codec driver, also known as ad1848. For settings, I chose IO port 0x530, IRQ 7, DMA1 1, and DMA2 0. I saved this configuration. Then I edited /etc/conf.modules to change the IRQ to 5. 5 is the correct value, but it is not an option under the sndconfig program. My MP3s now sound great.

I hope this helps. Keep the pengiun dancing!

Last Modified 6/5/2000.