Installing Linux on the Victor (JVC) MP-XP7210



Version history

version 0.1 – 11 August 2002

First version

version 0.2 – 26 August 2002

pcmcia-cs package 3.2.1 contains updated ide-cs driver which directly supports the CDROM

version 0.3 – 27 August 2002

The Victor MP-XP7210 is now also available in Germany under the JVC brand.

version 0.4 – 22 September 2002

Kernel 2.4.19 + ACPI 20020918


The Installation

Installing Linux on this nice A5 size laptop is not really like a nice walk in the park. Although installing Red Hat 7.3.93 (Second beta version of what presumably will become RH8) is a bit easier. I reverted back to the regular 7.3 because of strange problems (which can be aspected from a beta).

Because the CD-ROM drive (MP-CDX1) which comes with the laptop doesn't work out of the box with the RedHat installer we have to revert to a alternate method of installing Linux. The easiest way is to use a network install.


What you need for a netwok install:

Insert CD 1 and reboot the laptop. At the prompt choose expert

When the question “Do you have a driver disk?” appears answer “yes”. Make sure the driver disk with network driver is in the USB floppy drive. It will automatically load the sis900 ethernet driver and extra Installation Methods will be shown.


select prefered installation language (default English)

Keyboard type: jp106

install method: Local CDROM / NFS image / FTP / HTTP or Hard drive


If you have to German version of the laptop from JVC you should probably opt for a German keyboard type (I am not sure the German version has a German keyboard with a QWERTZ layout)


Configure TCP/IP (default DHCP)

HTTP setup

website name

red hat directory



Running anaconda, the Red Hat Linux system installer – please wait...

Probing for video card: SiS 630

probing Monitor type: Unable toprobe

Probing for mouse: Generic – 3 Button Mouse (PS/2)

Graphical installation not available for HTTP installs


< wait 1 minute>


Welcome screen

Choose OK

Choose mouse type -> Generic – 3 Button Mouse (PS/2)


Choose installation type: Laptop


> choice from


Because the USB floppy drive is managed by a SCSI layer. It is known to the system as /dev/sda. Because of this the Red Hat installer thinks there is a (real) SCSI disk in the system and tries to read the Mast Boot Record (MBR) of it. Because floppies generally do not have master boot records this will fail. Disk druid will spit out a lot of warning which can safely be ignored. Just keep trying until it displays hda. Because this is the disk we want.


Disk Partitioning Setup -> Disk Druid


< wait a considerable time>


opens /dev/sda as read only

do not initialize /dev/sda



/dev/hda1 2047M hidden FAT32 restore

/dev/hda2 10934M FAT32 WinXP Pro Japanese

/dev/hda4 10228M ext3

/dev/hda3 5114M Extended

/dev/hda5 243M swap

rest free space


Choose to format partition (no check)

Add Partition Warning -> Add anyway


Boot Load Configuration



I choose Lilo


Boot Loader Configuration


-> Force LBA32


Boot Loader Configuration


Edit Boot labels


DOS -> xp


Boot Loader Configuration


where to install the boot loader


-> /dev/hda Master Boot Record (MBR)


Network Configuration for eth0


Firewall Configuration


-> no firewall


Language support


-> English (USA) only


Time Zone Selection


-> Europe / Amsterdam


Root Password


-> ****


Add User


-> ....


> Installation starts


Workstation Defaults


Customize software selection?


Select from various package types


for the really adventurious

-> Select individual packages


You can see the total size on the bottum


After selection follows the formatting of the partitions and swap


Skip bootdisk creation


Video Card Configuration


Video Card: SiS 630

Video RAM: 16MB


Monitor: Unprobed Monitor


Change to Generic Laptop Display Panel 1024x768


Leave sync rates untouched


Leave color depth at 16 bit (High Color)

Resolution 1024x768


(leave unchanged)


Default login: change to text

Select your prefered desktop environment KDE or GNOME.


Don't test graphics settings


unplug PCMCIA CDROM


system reboot


Select Linux from the lilo prompt / menu


after booting the first thing to do is to modify the XFree86 configuration


/etc/X11/XFree86-4


Modify with your favorite editor the line that says


Modes “1024x768” “800x600” “640x480”


into



Modes “1024x600” “800x600” “640x480”


APM troubles


Now you can start X with startx. Now you will probably run into the APM problem. The laptop' APM support doesn't cooperate well with the Linux APM driver. My guess is that APM support was dropped in favor of APCI support.


The result is that the Linux APM driver cannot read the battery status and reports a empty battery and asks to suspend the laptop (under KDE). This message can safely be ignored. Another problem is that the APM screen blanking kicks in when you don't want it. E.g. During the startup of X. If you want these problems to go away then the only viable sulotion is to install a new kernel from source.


Installing a new kernel


Why would you compile your own kernel? First because we need to get rid of the APM support and replace it with ACPI support. And secondly we need it to get the PCMCIA CD-ROM with comes with the laptop to work.

Now make your own kernel, I recommend you to get 2.4.19 which is the latest as of this writing. And make sure to include support for the following:


The DRI (Direct Rendering Manager) XFree86 support has an option for SiS but is doesn't compile. So you'd be better of by disabling DRI support altogether (for now).

I suggest you keep the original Red Hat kernel into the Lilo of GRUB configuration I case the new kernel does not work for you.


Making the PCMCIA CD-ROM work


To make the Victor MP-CDX1 PCMCIA CD-ROM work we have to fiddle with the

PCMCIA-CS package. The package can be downloaded from http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net


I used version 3.2.0 which dates from 24 July 2002. Download the package and unpack it. You can configure it by starting ./Configure.

The CD-ROM won't run without some tweaking. The CD-ROM is made by a company called KME, which presumably is a Panasonic subsiadary.


If you look in the file config which can be found in the etc directory of the PCMCIA-CS source package you just unpacked. I you search for the string “KXLC005” you will find the entry we want.

card “KME KXLC005 CD-ROM”

#version “KME”, “KXLC005”

manfid 0x0032, 0x0704

bind “ide_cs”


Change it into:

card “KME KXLC005 CD-ROM”

version “KME”, “KXLC005”

bind “ide_cs”


The line with manfid (manufacturer ID) can be removed or just commented out. The reason we do this is because the Victor CD-ROM has a different manafacturer ID. By removing the manfid line we are now longer dependend on the various manufacturer ID out there.

But unfortunaly this is only part of the job. The driver which handles the CD-ROM, ide_cs, is hardcoded to only recognize KME KXLC005 CDROMs with manfid 0x0032, 0x0704. As we have manfid 0x0032, 0x2904 we need to modify the ide_cs driver.

The reason why the ide_cs driver specificly checks for the manafacturer ID is that it needs a special hack to work. There are various ways to make the ide_cs driver support the MP-CDX1 CD-ROM. The easiest way is to change the manfid from 0x0032, 0x0704 to 0x0032, 0x2904. Of course if I would put some effort into it I could make the drive to support both type at the same time. But that for another time.

I have already informed the maintainer of the ide_cs driver of this. He will probably include the necesarry changes into the driver in the next release of the PCMCIA-CS package. So one day you can just install Linux directly from CD.

Update 26 August 2002. There is a new release of the pcmcia-cs package, version 3.2.1. It now supports the MP-CDX1 CDROM out of the box! It's nice to see your voice is heard!


But for now just make it work by changing the following file. In the PCMCIA-CS package directory the is a file ciscode.h under include/pcmcia.


Change the line which says


#define PRODID_KME_KXLC005 0x0704

Into

#define PRODID_KME_KXLC005 0x2904

And save it. Now compile the package by issueing a make all followed by a make install.

Last but not least we have to change the file /etc/sysconfig/pcmcia. The original looks as follows:


PCMCIA=yes

PCIC=yenta_socket

PCIC_OPTS=

CORE_OPTS=


The PCMCIA controller in the Victor MP-XP7210 is compatible with the Intel i82365. Change the file /etc/sysconfig/pcmcia accordindly.


PCMCIA=yes

PCIC=i82365

PCIC_OPTS=

CORE_OPTS=


The cardmgr should now be able to start properly. Start it with:


/etc/rc.d/init.d/pcmcia start


Type dmesg to see if it really works. It should display something like:


Linux PCMCIA Card Services 3.2.0

kernel build: 2.4.19-xfs #1 Sun Aug 11 18:18:03 CEST 2002

options [pci] [cardbus] [apm]

Intel ISA/PCI/CardBus PCIC probe:

PCI: Found IRQ 11 for device 00:09.0

PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 00:09.1

PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 00:09.2

PCI: Found IRQ 11 for device 00:09.1

PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 00:09.0

PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 00:09.2

Ricoh RL5C476 rev 88 PCI-to-CardBus at slot 00:09, mem 0x0de00

....


Now you can insert the CD-ROM PCMCIA card...

Watching the kernel log with dmesgor a tail -f /var/log/messagesit should report something like:


socket 0: KME KXLC005 CDROM

executing: 'modprobe ide_cs'

cs: IO port probe 0x0100-0x04ff: excluding ....

cs: IO port probe 0x03e0-0x047f: clean.

...

hdc: UJDB130, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive

ide1 at 0x190-0x197, 0x396 on irq 3

ide_cs: hdc: Vcc = 5.0, Vpp = 0.0

..executing: './ide start hdc'

hdc: bad special flag: 0x03


Voila a working CD-ROM drive!