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  • LINUX ASSIMILATIOn PROJECTS - #2
     

    Installing Linux on a Sony Vaio Z505.

    • What is the Sony Vaio Z505 ?
    • Why install Linux ?
    • The Installation Hardware.
    • Linux Installation Time.
    • The Linux Installation Process.
    • The built-in Mouse.
    • X-Windows.
    • Peripherals.
    • Interfacing a Linux laptop to household appliances.
    • Linux Links.

    Having managed to break the screen of my HP Omnibook 800 when I was out launching rockets one day, I had a problem. I needed a laptop to interface to the rocket onboard flight computers both before launch, and after recovery, but the Omnibook without a screen was not particularly useful. I needed a new laptop anyway, so I thought that this time, I'd get a Sony Vaio, since I had always been impressed by their design. The Omnibook 800 could then be used as a monitorless Linux Server.

    I wasn't actually intending on getting a Z505, but wandering down Tottenham Court Road in London, I saw one, and fell in love with it.

    The Sony Vaio came equipped with Windows 98. Obviously, the first thing that needed doing was upgrading it to a real operating system. Given that the latest version of the Red Hat Linux distribution, version 6.1 was available for download, this seemed an ideal choice.

    What is the Sony Vaio Z505 ?

    The Sony Vaio Z505 is a sub-laptop running with an Intel Celeron 333MHz CPU and 64Mb of RAM and a 6.4 Gb hard disk drive. It has a 12.1 inch active matrix (TFT) colour LCD screen with a resolution of up to 1024 x 768 (XGA). It is fitted with an accelerated 128-bit PCI controller with 1 Mb of Video RAM (NeoMagic. 2093). It weighs 1.77 kg, and comes equipped with the following connections on the laptop itself:

    Port/Connector Configuration Gender Comments
    Network Port RJ-45 socket Female 10Base-T/100Base-T Ethernet interface
    Modem Port RJ-11 socket Female V.90 WinModem
    2 x USB Ports USB sockets Female
    IEEE-1394 (Firewire) Firewire socket Female
    Memory Stick Port Memory Stick socket Female
    1 x PCMCIA Card
    Cardbus ready
    1 x Type II
    IRDA-2 Transmitter/receiver standard IR Transceiver NA Up to 4 Mbps data transfer rate
    3.5 inch Floppy Disk port USB Female
    Headphones out
    Stereo out
    jack socket Female
    Microphone in
    Stereo out
    jack socket Female
    Power connector socket jack socket Female 19.5 volts input supply at 1.1 Amps
    Kensington security slot slot Female Allows tethering of the laptop for security
    Hard Disk Drive connector IDE Female Standard IDE Internal Hard disk drive
    External Port Replicator 68-pin, micro-centronics Female Output ports for:
    • Serial
    • Parallel
    • Monitor (VGA)
    The port replicator does not seem to contain any active circuitry. It is merely a way of fitting the outputs of the 3 ports into the densest possibly connector, and then separating the wires out to the various connectors inside the External Port Replicator box.

    This is very good news for anyone who wants to control the ports in the replicator via Linux, since it makes the whole business of talking to the various ports, fairly straightforward.

    Why install Linux ?

    There are several good reasons as to why I wanted to install Linux on the Sony Vaio Z505, these being as follows:

    1. Being a regular user of Windows 95/98, NT, SunOS 4.1.3 and FreeBSD, I prefer it to the other options. Simple as that.
    2. I needed a portable computer for use in the field for data aqcuisition from ground based sensors, and sensor data telemetered in real time from rockets and for launch operations of rockets. Since this was going to entail programming of the parallel port in C, C++ and eventually Java, the simplest options were to use DOS or Linux. Let's face it, with that choice, how could anyone possibly fail to choose Linux ?
    3. Having Apache Web Server running on a portable is a godsend if you need to develop any cgi code on the road.
    4. Vast amount of useful tools.


     

    Thu, Nov 14, 2024, 02:08 GMT (109) 5:58 17:42 43 %
     
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