Slackware Linux on the Compaq LTE 5280

Summary

The LTE 5280 is not a powerful machine, but it could be used very effectively as a server or as a laptop to take to cafes. And it does have a very good quality TFT display; mine is bright, clear, and has good contrast. This laptop's main disadvantage is the low-quality keyboard.

Introduction

This document describes how to install Slackware Linux 10 on a Compaq LTE 5280, which normally has no CDROM drive. The 5280 also has no USB port.

The 5280 is overall a nice machine, with a bright, crisp, 12 inch TFT display. It has adequate ports. Its Pentium 120 CPU is quite sufficient for most activities.

The 5280's main deficiencies are

The stock hard drive uses some sort of proprietary caddy or tray, so upgrading it may be involved or impossible.
It lacks a CDROM drive or USB port, making Linux installation more difficult.
Its keyboard is low quality, therefore it is advisable to connect a PS/2 keyboard.

My 5280

The following is some useful data on my system obtained from /proc/cpuinfo, lspci, manual, etc.

Processor	Intel Pentium 120 MHz
Level 1 Cache	16 kB
Level 2 Cache	256kB L2
RAM	80 MB
Buses	ISA, PCI?
Hard Drive type	type= 1.3 GB (810 MB on some)
CD-ROM	None
Screen	11.3 inch color, active TFT
Video Processor	Cirrus Logic GD 7543 Viking
Video RAM	?
Video Resolution (LCD)	800x600
Ports	Serial, Parallel, PCMCIA (2), PS/2, video
Mouse	Trackpoint (eraserhead)
PCMCIA Slots	2 type II slots
PCMCIA CardBus compatibility	?
PCMCIA Controller	Cirrus PD672x
Sound Hardware	?
Battery Type	removed
Weight (PC)	without battery: ?
Weight (AC adaptor)	?
AC Adaptor Output	18 V, 1.9 A
Modem	None

Why this distro?

I always use Slackware, because I have also found it to be reliably put together and rationally organized. Slackware is slightly different than other distros in that the emphasis is still as much on the command line as it is on the fancy bloated (lame) GUI systems like Gnome and KDE. The command-line fixation is important with regards to the 5280, because the CPU is slower and the stock hard drive (on my system, at least) is only 1.3 GB.

Installation

I was able to install most of the A, AP, L, D, and Y series packages into my 5280's 1 gig Linux partition with 600 megs to spare. This required that I remove stuff that I didn't need like CD writing, music playback, GTK libraries, Java, and RAID utilities. I added a few of the N series utilities and I still had 597 megs free.

The Procedure

This laptop has no CDROM drive, so we cannot install from CD.

This laptop has no USB port, so we cannot install from flash drive.

Here is an installation procedure for getting around these problems. It requires that you still have Windows on your system. If you do not have Windows, you will first need to install an older Linux like Slackware 3.6, and use that to accomplish part 2 and part 3 below.

Create the Bare.i, Install.1, and Install.2 disks which come with Slackware using the RAWRITE.EXE program. This is an MSDOS program but you can run it under Windows.
You need to have two partitions: one that is about 200 megs (drive C:) and one that is the rest. If your hard drive is only 1 partition, run FIPS.EXE on it reduce its size. You may need to defrag the drive first under Windows. Of course, you should remove all unnecessary Windows programs and data first.
Download the Slackware 10.2 "A", "AP" and "L" series files, which are the base installation into the C: drive. They are 206 MB, but you can delete the AP files having to do with CDROM and DVD reading and writing.
Reboot to MSDOS.
If you don't want Windows on your system, delete the Windows directory.
Put the Bare.i disk in and reboot. Follow the instructions, feeding the system the Install.1 and Install.2 disks.
Login as root (no password required), and type: "mkdir /base; mount /dev/hda1 /base" in order to gain access to the installation files.
Run "setup" and tell it to load files from the premounted directory /base. Note, the A, AP, L series take up about 500 megs.

I managed to remove some junk packages and I finally ended up with A, AP, L, Y, and most of D in just 500 megs. I was able to compile the 2.6.9 kernel and still have 200 megs free.

X-Windows

XFree86 4.1

Untested.

Framebuffer

The VESA framebuffer driver refuses to load with a -6 error.

Audio

Rumored to work just fine.

PCMCIA

Works fine.

Performance

Processor

The Pentium 120 is not a super-fast processor, but it's fine for many uses. Running the Dhrystone2 test that you can find at http://www.anime.net/~goemon, it gets a score of 6.6.

Memory Bandwidth

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

Hard drive

I tested the stock 1.3 GB drive with hdparm, with these results:

Buffer disk access: 2.45 MB/sec
Cached disk access: 40.19 MB/sec

This is very slow. For comparison, I tested a modern 40 gig Fujitsu drive installed in a 233 MHz Thinkpad, and it achieved rates of 79 MB/sec cached and 15 MB/sec buffered. This difference or the difficulty of replacing the LTE's drive may not be causes for gloom however, since even if a modern drive could be installed in the LTE 5280, that does not mean that the computer could ever transfer or process data at the higher speeds that a modern drive supports.

Documentation

Repair manual: here.