Zillabit Projects

• Mobile Celeron 2.4GHz
• 14-inch LCD
• 30 GB HD
• 256 MB RAM upgradable to 1 GB. Uses PC2100 DDR.
• combo drive (CD-R/RW plus DVD-ROM)
• One PC card slot
• One mini-PCI slot covered with a panel with a special sticker that says "This system is not configured to support wireless technology. The computer can not be upgraded for wireless operation". Yeah, right, we'll see about that.
• Two USB 2.0 ports
• Ethernet
• Video is from Intel 852GM chipset (Dual-video capability!)
• Parallel port (in 2003? why?)
• There is no IR port unfortunately
• modem

• smaller hard drive (30 vs 40)
• the A10-S1291 has a 15-inch LCD with (i'm guessing here) an integrated antenna that has antenna cables running to the mini-PCI slot, but the A15-S1292 has a 14-inch display with no antenna.

cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 15
model           : 2
model name      : Mobile Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.40GHz
stepping        : 9
cpu MHz         : 2394.037
cache size      : 256 KB
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 2
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm
bogomips        : 4771.02


lspci -v
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 3580 (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems: Unknown device 0001
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Memory at <unassigned> (32-bit, prefetchable)
        Capabilities: [40] #09 [e105]

00:00.1 System peripheral: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 3584 (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems: Unknown device 0001
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

00:00.3 System peripheral: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 3585 (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems: Unknown device 0001
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 3582 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
        Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems: Unknown device 0002
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 10
        Memory at d8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
        Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
        I/O ports at eff8 [size=8]
        Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 1

00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 3582 (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems: Unknown device 0002
        Flags: fast devsel
        Memory at 10000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [disabled] [size=128M]
        Memory at 18000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=512K]
        Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 1

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB (Hub #1) (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
        Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems: Unknown device 0001
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 10
        I/O ports at cfe0 [size=32]

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB EHCI Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
        Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems: Unknown device 0001
        Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 11
        Memory at 18080000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=1K]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
        Capabilities: [58] #0a [2080]

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BAM/CAM PCI Bridge (rev 83) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=03, sec-latency=64
        I/O behind bridge: 0000c000-0000cfff
        Memory behind bridge: cff00000-cfffffff

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24cc (rev 03)
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24ca (rev 03) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
        Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems: Unknown device 0001
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
        I/O ports at <ignored>
        I/O ports at <ignored>
        I/O ports at <ignored>
        I/O ports at <ignored>
        I/O ports at bfa0 [size=16]
        Memory at 18080400 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]

00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB AC'97 Audio (rev 03)
        Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems: Unknown device 0241
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
        I/O ports at 1000 [size=256]
        I/O ports at 1400 [size=64]
        Memory at 18080800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512]
        Memory at 18080a00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2

00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corp. 82801DB AC'97 Modem (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [Generic])
        Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems: Unknown device 0001
        Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 11
        I/O ports at 1800 [size=256]
        I/O ports at 1480 [size=128]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2

01:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82801BD PRO/100 VE (MOB) Ethernet Controller (rev 83)
        Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems: Unknown device 0001
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 11
        Memory at cffff000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        I/O ports at cf40 [size=64]
        Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2

01:0b.0 CardBus bridge: Toshiba America Info Systems ToPIC95 PCI to Cardbus Bridge with ZV Support (rev 33)
        Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems: Unknown device 0001
        Flags: bus master, slow devsel, latency 168, IRQ 11
        Memory at 18081000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Bus: primary=01, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0
        Memory window 0: 18400000-187ff000 (prefetchable)
        Memory window 1: 18800000-18bff000
        I/O window 0: 00004000-000040ff
        I/O window 1: 00004400-000044ff
        16-bit legacy interface ports at 0001

Obsolete setup notes:

1. Windows: keep factory-installed. I booted Windows, turned off virtual memory (and rebooted for that to take effect) to avoid an unmovable paging file. Then used the Windows defragmenting tool to move all the data as far back as possible. Then i booted Knoppix in order to run the ntfsresize tool, however the version (1.8) on Knoppix 3.3 is not new enough to have some critical features (can't relocate MFT), so a more recent binary was downloaded to the /tmp ramdisk. The ntfsresize FAQ is essential for this. Following that the NTFS partition was down to about 5200 MB in size.
2. To avoid complicating the process of booting Windows, set up NTLDR->GRUB following clues from the Dual-Boot Linux and Windows 2000/Windows XP with GRUB HOWTO. The trick here is to provide NTLDR with an image of GRUB's boot sector (512 bytes) and modify NTLDR's configuration file (c:\boot.ini) to name that image as one of the booting options. Note that NTLDR has to be able to read that image file (implying that it needs to be on an NTFS or FAT partition). I'm not sure but it may be true that the GRUB bootsector image must be made from a GRUB install on that machine. My solution to all this is to create a file right on the c: disk named grubforntldr.bin Detailed steps:
   • boot Knoppix
   • Use fdisk to create a boot partion (/dev/hda2) just after the Windows partition. Used about 64 MB since this will be used for GRUB and boot partition only. Set type to ext2.
   • Make an ext2 filesystem: mkfs /dev/hda2
   • Get rid of Knoppix's /boot which is is our way: rm /boot Then mount the new partition there: mkdir /boot; mount /dev/hda2 /boot
   • Install grub using grub-install /dev/hda2 --root-directory=/
   • Create C:\grubforntldr.bin as an image of the GRUB bootsector (first 512 bytes): dd if=/dev/hda2 of=/tmp/grubforntldr.bin bs=512 count=1 then copy that grubforntldr.bin file off to somewhere that you'll be able to access from Windows (e.g. another machine on the network, a floppy, etc.).
   • Reboot into Windows. Copy the grubforntldr.bin file into c:\ and edit c:\boot.ini (after saving off a backup copy). My original c:\boot.ini looked like this:

     [boot loader]
     timeout=30
     default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
     [operating systems]
     multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect

     After editing it looked like this:

     [boot loader]
     timeout=10
     default=c:\grubforntldr.bin
     [operating systems]
     c:\grubforntldr.bin="GRUB"
     multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect

     Note: It would be nice to do these tasks under Knoppix without rebooting into Windows but the current version of Knoppix (v3.3) as of this writing uses the old untrustworthy NTFS driver and won't allow writing to an NTFS partition. In the near future this should not be a problem.
   • Time to reboot. Make sure you can still reboot into Windows then reboot again and try to boot to GRUB. You'll know the latter has succeeded if you get a "grub" prompt. Remember that we haven't set up GRUB's configuration yet so that's all we expect for now.
   • Now were starting the setup of the boot partition the lazy way --- using the Knoppix kernel and binaries for now. (More about that below.) Reboot to Knoppix and mount the planned boot partition again as /boot (see above). Then make a directory named boot inside the boot partition and create a file grub/menu.lst. That's right, we're making a file /boot/boot/grub/menu.lst --- if you're wondering why the strange path, this FAQ answer addresses this point. Anyway, your menu.lst should look something like this:

     default=0
     timeout=10
     title Linux 2.4.22-xfs (from Knoppix)
             root (hd0,1)
             kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.22-xfs root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc mykey.key
             initrd /boot/initrd-2.4.22-xfs.img
     title Back to NTLDR (Windows XP)
             rootnoverify (hd0,0)
             chainloader +1
     

     Of course, change the names of the kernel, initrd, and keyfile as appropriate. Now in theory GRUB setup is finished and it's time to set up the boot kernel and initrd.
3. Set up the boot partition with kernel and initrd that supports disk encryption, roughly following the Disk Encryption HOWTO but just grabbing what we need off Knoppix to get up and running quickly --- this will work since the Knoppix kernel's got the crypto and filesystem stuff we need. Steps for this specific setup, which you should modify as needed --- especially note that i set up /dev/hda3 since that will be the encrypted partition I'll be mounting.
   • Copy the kernel over from Knoppix to our boot partition: cp /KNOPPIX/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.22-xfs /boot/
   • head -c 1m /dev/zero > /boot/initrd-2.4.22-xfs.img
   • mke2fs -F -m0 -b 1024 /boot/initrd-2.4.22-xfs.img
   • mkdir /tmp/initrd
   • mount -o loop=/dev/loop3 boot/initrd-2.4.22-xfs.img /tmp/initrd
   • cd /tmp/initrd
   • mkdir -p {bin,dev,lib,mnt/{keys,new-root},usr/sbin,sbin}
   • cp -a /dev/{console,hda3,loop0,loop1,tty} dev/
   • cp /bin/{mount,sh,umount} bin
   • cp /sbin/{losetup,pivot_root} sbin
   • cp /usr/sbin/chroot usr/sbin
   • cp /lib/{ld-linux.so.2,libc.so.6,libdl.so.2,libncurses.so.5} lib
4. Set up encrypted file systems: to do. This page has lots of good ideas.