Laptops :: frugal install on Sony Viao PCG-SR33

I am trying to frugal install DSL 2.3 on a VAIO pcg-sr33. I downloaded and burnt a cd for the iso. But when I try to boot it using the CD, the booting stalls after it finds the image in the CD drive. Is it because I am using an external CD-ROM drive connected to the pcmcia slot? Am I supposed to use some special cheatcode to get it to work? I wonder if anyone else has been able to get DSL running on a Sony Vaio SR33? Can someone help? Thanks.

Ok...after some google searches, I found that someone use the following cheatcode to get it to work with Fedora core:

pci=off ide1=0x180,0x386

Can someone explain to me what these cheatcodes mean?

I used the following cheatcode:
dsl pci=off ide1=0x180,0x386

Miraculously, it did boot in dsl but then when I tried to use xsetup to configure my usb mouse, it didnt work. The mouse doesnt respond at all. Its a Kensington optical mouse. I will try to borrow a friend's non-optical usb mouse to see if it works. I will report here how it goes.

Ok...after some trial and errors, I got my touchpad on the laptop to work. I just selected mouse as PS/2 while running xsetup and it worked. I still havent been able to make my mouse work though. I dont think I will spend any more time on that since the touchpad will be good enough for the kinds of things I will be using this laptop for.

One question for those "linux experts" who visit this thread...while booting using the cheatcode "dsl pci=off ide1=0x180,0x386", I get the following error message:
"modprobe: modprobe could not locate module block-major-2."

Does anyone have an idea if this is something I should worry about? Other than this, once the booting is complete, the laptop functions just like normal...or at least so far it has not shown any abnormality. Although I must say, I have not yet connected it to the internet yet to see if I can configure my network card.

That error message only appears when there is no floppy drive present in the computer. It is a harmless error message.

Thanks cbagger. Thats good to know that things are going ok so far.

One issue that I now have is that the screen doesnt seem to be as bright as it used to be when running WinME even when running on AC adapter. In WinME when I plug in the AC adapter, the screen brightens up significantly from when running on the battery. But in DSL, the screen seems very dark all the time whether running on the battery or on AC. Anyone else facing the same problem?

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