install on a VAIO PGC505(FX) w/32Mb RAM

Forum: DSL Tips and Tricks
Topic: install on a VAIO PGC505(FX) w/32Mb RAM
started by: xaccrocheur

Posted by xaccrocheur on Jan. 14 2006,23:47

Hi. Some guidelines. Will save you one week

To install dsl on a
< Sony Vaio PCG-505FX > :

test the live CD. At the boot screen prompt, type :
dsl ide2=0x180 nopcmcia vga=788
the latter option will give you proper 16bit 800x600, witch is plenty on this 7’ish screen. Say "no" to "usb mouse" and "yes" to "serial/PS2 mouse", because that’s only after THAT that X properly starts, with the glidepoint configured.

Then, if you need to *resize* the windows partition, and if this partition happens to be of the NTFS type, follow < these steps >.

Create at least one partition, of at least 50Mb, using fdisk < as explained here >

Say /dev/hd2

Then, choose frugal GRUB from the "system/tools" DSL menu.

Then, follow the friendly menu, enter hd2, and reboot.

At the GRUB prompt, type "e" then "e" again, then *add* the following cheatcodes to the kernel command line :
ide2=0x180 nopcmcia dma the EDIT the cheatcode vga=normal to vga=788.

That's about it. See < this topic > for updates ; Now you got yourself the sexiest typewriter ever :laugh:

Posted by dmoc on Jan. 15 2006,00:02

Thanks for the info, I may just try it on mine. What size hd you got? Also what win os do you have?

Posted by xaccrocheur on Jan. 15 2006,00:18

Hum, this is a toshiba 3.5Gb HD. See < here > 4 details ; And it had a Windows2000 installed & running. It's still running, now in *One* Gig, and the rest is for DSL, apps, and data. Still some polishing < to do >.

Posted by ospreyeagle on Feb. 13 2006,02:22

The same works on Sony Vaio PCG- 505G. Your instructions did help save 4 days if not 7....

good work. thanks for sharing info

Posted by skokielad on April 18 2006,19:40

Thanks for sharing your tips. I installed DSL 2.3 on a Sony Vaio PCG-Z505JE laptop and my experience was a bit different. I'm not sure if it's because my external CD-ROM (PCMCIA) is NOT a Sony, but I absolutely could not get cd-rom booting to work.

I ended up making a boot floppy disk as directed on the < DSL Wiki > The next thing I discovered - after many failed attempts at getting DSL 2.3 to start up - was that I needed the syslinux version of DSL. I tried many combinations of boot parameters like yours but nothing worked until I switched to the syslinux version (dsl-x.x-syslinux.iso in the downloads). My laptop is circa 1999-2000 so I guess that's why. Anyhow, syslinux DSL boots cleanly without any boot parameters.

Getting wireless to work is a whole 'nuther matter right now. I'm at wits end. I'm using a Belkin F5D7010 ver 4 (Broadcom chipset) wireless PCMCIA cardbus card. I've spent countless hours following everyone's ndiswrapper tips from the forum here, but the best I can do is get one of the lights on the card to light up, at which point my laptop immediately locks up. I'm about ready to ditch the card but I'm not convinced that there is a 802.11g card out there that will work out-of the box with DSL. At least not on a Sony Vaio laptop.

If anyone has a good clean simple out-of-the-box success story with DSL, Sony Vaio laptops, and wireless --> please share!!!

Posted by skokielad on April 19 2006,05:57

Ok, after culling thru many help docs I finally found my answer on the < ndiswrapper wiki FAQ >:

Add a boot parameter of acpi=noirq

Now my Belkin wireless card works like a charm!