Installation
Connect the drive as /dev/hda to another computer and remove all other hard disks in order to avoid their detection by the installation program.
I partitioned the 4 GB drive into one primary partition and a swap partition of 128 MB.
Btw: It looks like it is possible to install a bigger hard disk without any problems. Some LTs are offered at eBay with drives up to 40 GB, but I could not verify this, so if you can tell me some details please do so.
Boot with the first CD / DVD of your distribution, choose the software packages you are planning to use and install the system on the drive.
For the package selection keep in mind:
- Install all packages that are necessary for the kernel compilation.
- Later, after we have a running system our first aim will be to get a network connection to another system. Do you need any special drivers for that? Now is the time to install them!
- After the hard disk is installed again in your Stylistic you will have no possibility to access the data on the CD / DVD directly! In daubt install rather more then less - It will always be possible to uninstall later.
NOTE: In case you have a Styistic with a modem you do not have an internal network adapter, even if there is a connector at your (optional) dockingstation!
Preparing the Kernel
Since the Stylistic LT has an Pentium MMX processor and most distribuations install a kernel for newer models, the system will most probably not boot.
Therefor it is necessary to configure a kernel for the appropriate hardware.
Here is a config.gz file (kernel 2.4.20) that enables a wide range of modules for removable hardware. Extract it to /usr/src/linux and compile the kernel.
Configuring the Bootloader
I installed the bootloader grub in the master boot record (MBR), but encountered quite some problems with the framebuffer.
SuSE wrote the kernel option vga=788 in the grub configuration /boot/grub/menu.lst, which produced a black screen while booting the Stylistic. After removing this option, the system came up without problems.
N.B.: I recomment to changed the option timeout 8 into timeout 0 in the same file, so the boot process does not wait for additional parameter.
The first Systemstart
To install the harddisk in the Stylistic just follow the instructions given before in reversed order.
After hitting the power button you should be able to boot up the little precious to the console log-in.
N.B.: In case the installer already configured X during the setup process, the system will probably try to start X.
This will result in several screen flicker due to the fact that the configuration is set to the graphic card and monitor of the system you used for the installation. This can be ignored at this point.
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