Getting LongRun to work on MM10
The following is ripped directly from here: http://web.mit.edu/jjl/www/mm10/
It worked as described.
Transmeta LongRun
The Crusoe can adjust its own clock speed to save power when processor load gets low. There are 2 modes for this: performance and economy. Using the economy mode will save battery life, but it takes longer to speed the processor up when under load. I will soon be testing just how much this helps, though it really depends on how you use it.
In the kernel config, enable /dev/cpu/*/cpuid and /dev/cpu/*/msr support. If /dev/cpu does not exist, you will need to do:
mkdir -m 0755 -p /dev/cpu/0
and then create the msr and cpuid devices. Do that with the following:
mknod /dev/cpu/0/msr -m 0444 c 202 0
mknod /dev/cpu/0/cpuid -m 0600 c 203 0
You will need to install the longrun package (in Gentoo, just emerge longrun). Type longrun -p to show the status. To switch to economy mode, type longrun -f economy. For performance mode, use longrun -f performance. You can also set performance windows (i.e. if you want the Crusoe to never run at 100% speed so you can save battery power, type longrun -s 0 50 to set the window to 0 (low) to 50 (high)). By default the window is 0-100. Here is a table showing what the performance levels are (you can get this info from longrun -l):
# % MHz Volts usage
0 300 0.800 0.114
19 433 0.875 0.196
33 533 0.950 0.285
52 667 1.050 0.435
71 800 1.150 0.626
85 900 1.250 0.832
100 1000 1.300 1.000
Throwing Linux Salt over your shoulder
If you install anything that mentions ‘kernel patch’, running
update-initramfs -u all
means you won’t suffer seven years of bad luck.
Debug gnome-power-manager
Use gconftool-2:
gconftool-2 –set /apps/gnome-power-manager/general/debug –type=bool true
Russian Builders
The builders next door must be Russian. I can hear them shouting at some poor member of their gang called Fuckov. They’re always shouting at poor Fuckov for some reason.
He must be the one who does all of the dirty work.
Good way to see capabilities of Linux Computer
HAL abstracts hardware => Front-end = hardware-independent, function-based, Back-end = hardware-dependent, hardware-specific calls
HAL has a database which shows what it ‘knows’ about the hardware it abstracts, including all kinds of useful ACPI info.
Use ‘lshal’ to see (yep, ‘ls’ on ‘HAL’)
GRUBby Fumblings in the Dark
I’m pretty much in the dark about how GRUB does what it does.
I know:
/etc/default/grub is used to generate an initial GRUB /boot/grub/menu.lst, when /usr/sbin/update-grub is called
the installed menu.lst can then be edited to add lines in the defaults section (all of which is commented, but GRUB will still use these lines)
This is the only way to add more ‘altoptions’ lines, for example.
No matter how many altoptions lines you have in /etc/default/grub, only the last one is included in the resulting menu.lst
If you then edit menu.lst to add more lines, and re-run update-grub, the new alternative boot configs for each available kernel become available.
It’s almost like GRUB ignores /etc/default/grub after initial use, unless it changes…bit like make where /etc/default/grub is a dependency for menu.lst, as is menu.lst.
Anyway, here’s my /etc/grub/default:
# Kernel Options
kopt=”ro vga=773″
kopt_2_6_24=”ro vga=773 resume=swap:/dev/mapper/diddlysharp-swap_1″
## default grub root device
groot=(hd0,0)
## update-grub creates alternative automagic boot options
alternative=true
## update-grub won’t lock alternative automagic boot options
lockalternative=false
## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
defoptions=quiet
## update-grub won’t lock old automagic boot options
lockold=false
## altoption boot targets option
altoptions=”(root-terminal) single”
altoptions=”(minimal) showopt single init=/bin/bash”
## All kernels should be put into the menu.lst
howmany=all
## update-grub should create memtest86 boot option
memtest86=true
## update-grub shouldn’t adjust the value of the default booted system
updatedefaultentry=false
GTD Applescript
The ‘System Events’ application is the key into system-wide GUI scripting. I’m going to make a GTD system that does context-sensitive clipping.
Need to implement double-dispatch:
802.11 Pre-N (802.11g ++) on Linux Laptop for £20
You will need to buy a Belkin Pre-N Card or NETGEAR RangeMax card. For Debian, only lenny or later seemed to contain the necessary gubbins to make working with wireless and WPA less painful than a hip dislocation for the first time in the history of Debian.
1. Install ndiswrapper-common and ndiswrapper-utils. e.g.:
aptitude install ndiswrapper-common ndiswrapper-utils
ndiswrapper -m
ndiswrapper -hotplug
2. Download NETGEAR drivers for Windows (Belkin Drivers don’t work — don’t waste your time). Click on the ‘Firmware Link’, left-hand side
3. Unzip package. cd to directory /Utility/Driver.
4. Run ndiswrapper to insert the driver:
ndiswrapper -i NETANI.INF
5. (Remove and) insert card. It should light flash => driver is doing it’s funky thang.
6. Click on the network manager icon in the menu bar, and with a bit of luck, you’ll see your network advertised among the long list of other people’s networks that you never knew about!
My next tutorial will describe how to make a tin-foil hat and matching body armour to prevent cross-penetration of the trillions of network packets that usually pass through your body, often leaving unsavoury deposits behind.
Testing from Linux
If you can see this, then Whirliwig has posted his first post from DiddlySharp, his teeny-tiny Sharp MM10 running Debian. The program he used is called something poetic, but only half-heartedly, as it just appears as ‘Blog Entry Poster’ in the Applications Menu.
Hoorah!
Note to developers: please consider calling it ‘gBlogPost’: small enough to fit in a menu line, concise enough to please those who rail against the everything-has-to-have-a-stupid-name-usually-involving-an-animal-or-homely-noun brigade.
Or maybe ElephantSoup would be a better name.
Hoorah!
