Slackware Linux on the CTX EzBook 700

0. Introduction

This page describes how to install Slackware Linux 10 on the CTX EzBook 700. I installed it on this system in order to use it as a web server, which it is a fitting purpose for this older laptop. To use this laptop for more common desktop purposes it would be a good idea to upgrade the RAM to the maximum and to install a more modern (faster) hard drive.

1. Installation

The best way to install Slackware Linux 10 is to use the first Slackware 10 CDROM.

Download the first Slackware 10.0 or 10.1 ISO file from linuxiso.org.
Burn that to a CDROM.
If you want to retain Windows then download the FIPS utility (from here). FIPS lets you shrink the size of your Win32 partition. You will have to run that in MSDOS so prepare an MSDOS boot floppy; put FIPS on it; and boot from that floppy to run FIPS.
Boot your PC from the CDROM -- which may require changing the BIOS boot order if your system doesn't already boot CDs.
Log in as root (no password is initially required).
Type fdisk /dev/hda and create your main Linux partition. Set the boot flag on that partition and write the new partition table. Then reboot. Commands are as follows:

p = print list of partitions
n = create new partition
t = change partition type
w = write new partition table
a = set boot partition
x = edit

Boot again from the CD and this time after logging in as root run "setup": this is Slackware's self-explanatory installation program.

My drive is only 2 gigs but after a near-full install sans Gnome, KDE and TeX, I still have 500 megs free.

2. System Profile

The utilities cpuinfo, meminfo, and hdparm inform me that my system has the following profile:

Pentium MMX 200 MHz, stepping 3
Cache : unknown
FPU
Bogomips 400
Memory: 24 megs
Hard drive: original 2 gigs

3. Drivers

3.1. Video

The utility lspci reports that the EzBook 700 has the Neomagic Corporation NM2160 [MagicGraph 128XD].

3.1.1. X Windows

The Xfree86 included with Slackware 10 includes acceleration for the 128XD. Run "xorgconfig" to specify the video card as "neomagic".

3.1.2. Framebuffer

The VESA driver works in 16 bits per pixel mode (in the LILO config file, use vga=789).

3.2. Sound

The audio chip appears to be an ISA-based SoundBlaster 16 compatible. There is no PCI based audio.

Run alsaconfig to automatically detect it as a legacy card and set it up. mpg321 works great.

3.3. APM

The provided kernel has this as a module. Typing "insmod apm ; apm" seems to indicate it basically works. My system does not have a working battery and I have not yet used my Kill-A-Watt meter to see how much power the computer uses when idle.

3.4. USB

There's no port.

3.5. Printing via lp0

-not tested-

3.6. Floppy

Works fine.

3.6. PCMCIA

The PCMCIA bridge is an Omega Micro Inc. 82C092G (rev 02) and it works fine with my 16 bit Ethernet controller.

4. Performance

4.1. Video

4.1.1. X Windows ) In 24bpp mode, opaque window motion is jerky, but jump-scrolling in the Xterm is fast enough.
Because X is a bloated resource hog, on my system which has only 24 megs of RAM the usability of X is merely so-so. I would suggest using 16bpp.

4.1.2. Framebuffer ) Framebuffer performance is in line with what you would expect of a 200 MHz processor with a PCI bus.
I ran my fbmark benchmark and got decent results. See my FBUI in-kernel GUI, which I created for use on resource-limited systems.
Also look at my Memory Bandwidth section, below.

4.1.3. Movies ) The EzBook 700 has a passive display so movies aren't practical except on an external monitor. However the Xine player is included with Slackware 10. I haven't tried it.

4.1.4 Power Usage

Using my Kill-A-Watt meter, I have determined that:

When idle (with apm loaded or not) and with an Ethernet card in the PCMCIA slot the EzBook 700 uses 15 watts.
When compiling a kernel with an Ethernet card in the PCMCIA slot the EzBook 700 about 25 watts.

4.2. Hard drive

I am using the standard 2GB hard drive, which is a Toshiba MK2104MAV according to hdparm. My drive does not appear to have working DMA. I have not bothered trying to upgrade to a bigger drive.

% hdparm -T /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
 Timing buffer-cache reads: 156 MB in 2.02 seconds = 77.23 MB/sec

[ respectable ]

% hdparm -t /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
 Timing buffered disk reads: 16 MB in 3.10 seconds = 5.16 MB/sec

[ slow ]

It's always good to have these in your /etc/rc.d/rc.0 :

/usr/sbin/hdparm -f /dev/hda [flush the hard drive cache]
/usr/sbin/hdparm -S 1 /dev/hda [get it to spin down ASAP]

4.3. Processor

Running the BYTE drystone 2 test which is at http://www.anime.net/~goemon/benchmarks.html, I get an index of 11.7.

Full results here.

4.4. Memory Bandwidth

To ascertain memory performance, I wrote a utility called "bandwidth". You can see the results of testing this laptop here.

5. Manual

I haven't needed it.