Mandrake Linux 8.1, 8.2 (and 9.0) on a Mitac 5033

This document describes the problems (and their solutions) that I've encountered while installing Mandrake Linux 8.1 and 8.2 on my MyNote 810 laptop, a rebadged Mitac MiNote 5033 OEM laptop. My laptop is fitted with an AMD k6-2 333Mhz processor, 160MB of RAM and a 4GB harddisk. More information about Linux on laptops can be found at www.mandrakeuser.org and at www.linux-laptop.net.

From e-mails that I've received from several people I can conclude that the procedure below also works for the Mitac 7020, the Mitac M722, the MyNote 820 and the Mitac MiNote 6133 (a.k.a. Fujitsu Liteline 6133). It also works for the AMS Tech Roadster 15 and 156, and the Topline 8000, which are rebadged Mitac MiNote 5033's.

Although I haven't tested it myself, I've received confirmation that the procedure below also works for Mandrake Linux 9.0, with a few modifications. I no longer use Mandrake, so if anyone could mail me those modifications, I would be more than happy to update this page. The same thing goes for RedHat 8.0, which apparently also suffers from the 'make cpu idle calls when idle' problem described below.
One person reported to me that adding 'apm=off' to the kernel parameters fixed the problem for him (he was using Mandrake 9.0).

last update of this document: 2006-05-04

• The first problem that I encountered was the speed at which the installation progressed. Booting the installation cdrom can take many minutes, and the installation of packages is very slow as well.
  There is however a very simple and effective way to speed up the installation process. Just turn off the power management in the BIOS. This may sound very trivial, but I've installed Mandrake Linux many times before I found out about this. You usually don't need the power management during installation, because the laptop will be plugged into mains. You can turn the power management on again after installation, if you want.
  Another tip regarding the BIOS, that was e-mailed to me, is to turn off the "Boot Sector Protect" option, because sometimes the LILO (or GRUB) bootloader will not install when it is turned on.
  
  
• The second problem that I encountered was the installation of X. The onboard trident videochip is very picky about resolution, color depth and refresh rate. You should choose XFree 4.1.0 with a resolution of 800x600, a color depth of 65 thousand colors (16 bits) and a 'generic laptop display panel 800x600'. If you have a Mitac MiNote 5033 with a 1024x768 screen, you have to change these settings accordingly.
  
  
• The third problem that I encountered was that the system would hang during the first boot after installation. The system just stopped responding while booting the kernel. This problem occurs because the standard kernel that is installed is compiled with the option 'make cpu idle calls when idle', and this doesn't work with the Mitac 5033 (don't ask me why). The kernel that is used during installation is apparently not compiled with this option, because the installation works quite well.
  I solved this problem by recompiling the kernel, with the 'make cpu idle calls when idle' option turned off. You can do this by following the steps below. The procedure slightly differs between Mandrake Linux 8.1 and 8.2 & 9.0.
  
  The procedure for Mandrake Linux 8.1 is:
  • during installation, make sure you select the 'development' packages; these contain the kernel sources and everything you need to compile them
  • during installation, make sure you select the 'lilo' bootmanager and not 'grub' (this is only asked in expert mode, if I'm not mistaken)
  • after installation boot the laptop from the first installation cd-rom
  • press F1 upon seeing the Mandrake logo
  • type 'rescue' followed by a return
  • rescue mode should automagically mount the root partition on your harddisk in /mnt, you will probably be asked to confirm this by pressing enter.
  • type 'chroot /mnt'
  • type 'cd /usr/src/linux'
  • type 'make mrproper' (the kernel will not compile if you forget this step)
  • type 'make menuconfig'
  • turn off the option 'make cpu idle calls when idle' in the 'general setup' section.
  • exit the kernel configuration program, and select 'yes' when you're asked if you wish to save your new kernel configuration.
  • type 'make dep clean bzImage modules' and wait for the kernel to compile (this could take a very long time, about 5 hours on my machine)
  • type 'make install'
  • type 'lilo'
  • type 'make modules_install'
  • remove the cd-rom and type 'exit' followed by 'reboot'; your system should reboot using the new kernel
  
  
  The procedure for Mandrake Linux 8.2 (and 9.0) is:
  • during installation, make sure you select the 'development' packages; these contain the kernel sources and everything you need to compile them
  • during installation, make sure you select the 'lilo' bootmanager and not 'grub' (this is only asked in expert mode, if I'm not mistaken)
  • after installation boot the laptop from the first installation cd-rom
  • press F1 upon seeing the Mandrake logo
  • type 'rescue' followed by a return
  • the rescue mode menu appears and you should choose 'Mount your partitions under /mnt' followed by 'Goto console'.
  • type 'chroot /mnt'
  • type 'mount /proc'
  • type 'cd /usr/src/linux'
  • type 'make mrproper' (the kernel will not compile if you forget this step)
  • type 'make menuconfig'
  • turn off the option 'make cpu idle calls when idle' in the 'general setup' section.
  • exit the kernel configuration program, and select 'yes' when you're asked if you wish to save your new kernel configuration.
  • type 'make dep clean bzImage modules' and wait for the kernel to compile (this could take a very long time, about 5 hours on my machine)
  • type 'make install'
  • type 'lilo'
  • type 'make modules_install'
  • remove the cd-rom and type 'exit' followed by 'reboot'; your system should reboot using the new kernel