This blog started out as an install log of RedHat 9 on a Compaq Presario 2538cl laptop (linuxpresario.blogspot.com) . However, I soon started to include little logs to myself when I made configuration changes to software, etc. So, I've moved it over to our domain, and changed its name to Linux Log. Here you will find some tips & tricks related to Linux configuration on a laptop, as well as software related things that I run into. I log here things that worked for me, of course, your mileage may vary.

Any questions/comments? E-mail me at linux_atsign_boshoff|za|net.

News

Not a lot happening...

November 13, 2003

Well, I've not tinkered much with anything lately. Trying to get this thesis written up and done, maybe in December I'll have more time to fool around with Linux...

USB Hotplug

October 23, 2003

I've noticed that a software resume causes my USB mouse to stop functioning. This is because /etc/hotplug/usb.agent cannot effectively start the drivers required by the mouse when it's plugged into the usb port. Mmmm, annoying, since I rely on the mouse pretty heavily for work. Until I've resolved this, software suspend becomes pretty much useless to me...

[2003-10-29] RESOLVED. Turns out that this problem dissapears if I use the uhci module instead of usb-uhci. The uhci is the alternative host controller driver that one can compile in the kernel. Now it works well! You can download my current 2.4.22swsusp kernel configuration file here.
To make sure that /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit loads the appropriate driver, I needed to change the file /etc/modules.conf:

WAS: alias usb-controller1 usb-uhci
NOW: alias usb-controller1 uhci

Software Suspend Setup

October 22, 2003

Installed the suspend.sh script today by downloading it from the swsusp mailing list. (Check out the software suspend site).

Then ran suspend.sh --install. Also, since I'd like to be able to suspend without becoming root, I edited /etc/sudoers, and added:

Host_Alias LOCALHOST=localhost,teleo.che.udel.edu
ALL LOCALHOST=NOPASSWD: /usr/local/sbin/hibernate *

It appears to work right off the bat. Woa! It's pretty cool, and definitely cuts down on boot-up and shutdown time. It's really cool not to have to close all windows before turning off the laptop either. I hooked up software suspension to be activated when I press the power button on the laptop: File /etc/acpi/events/power:

event=button[ /]power
action=sudo /usr/local/sbin/hibernate

To-Do

September 23, 2003

My to-do list currently stands at:

1. Enabling software suspend. I stumbled upon the Software Suspend site at Sourceforge. Will try to incorporate this. Wondering whether it will shorten boot time?
2. I'd like set up digital video editing on Linux. This would require compiling and installing some libraries and software. I'll document progress etc. here.
3. Think about re-arranging some of the info on this site. The blog is nice, but makes it rather hard to get to stuff.

NTFS

July 09, 2003

Mmm, noticed today that I can't mount the WinXP NTFS filesystems. So went to the RedHat NTFS Project Page and downloaded the rpm. However, since I've recompiled the kernel, the module they have available won't work right away. You need to recompile the kernel if you'd like this to work. Since this is not crucial to me, I'll wait until the next kernel release when I have to recompile anyways.