This article is meant as a complement to Jeffrey's original guide now that new features can be enabled in the present kernel. It will also narrate my experience and perhaps serve as a guide in installing slackware linux on an Acer Travelmate 512DX laptop. I have been using Linux for only a short time, but i have already found it to be really great!
On with the installation.
First, partition your hard disk. Mine is set at 3.7G linux and 800M vfat. Place linux on the second partition, for various reasons. Set up about 100M for your swap partition. Then, select the packages you wish to install. You may uninstall them later with 'modpkg'. When you have made your choice, choose 'INSTALL'. The installation will now proceed smoothly. It should take less than an hour, unless you're doing something else with that laptop (e.g. playing tetris). When prompted, select PS/2 as your mouse. After doing this, it is now time to set up X. Manually set up yours or copy my XF86Config (in which case you should remember to set ln -s /usr/X11R6/bin/XF86_SVGA /var/X11R6/bin/X).
Second, download ltmodem-5.78e.tar.gz from www.linmodems.org. You will also have to download the latest versions of the following: util-linux, modutils, e2fsprogs, pcmcia-cs, pppd. Download these packages and install them. You might also want/need to get reiserfsprogs and isdn4k-utils. These packages are also needed by the next step.
Third, download linux-2.4 from here. You will have to reconfigure your kernel. At this point, read the Kernel-HOWTO, understand it, and apply it. If you are using make xconfig, go to General Setup, check Advanced Power Management BIOS support, check Ignore User Suspend, check Enable Cpu Idle calls when Idle, check Enable Console Blanking Using APM, and check Use Real mode APM BIOS calls to power off. Then go to Sound, choose ESS Technology Solo 1, as module or as part of the kernel. If you compiled esssolo1 as a module, do an echo "/sbin/modprobe esssolo1" >> /etc/rc.d/rc.local.
That's all. Compile the kernel, install it and then modify lilo.conf to include your brand spanking new lean mean kernel. Type /sbin/lilo and reboot. Now you're running linux on that laptop! ENJOY!
Aside from slackware, I have also installed Caldera, Red Hat, and Debian, others, but I used them for only a short period of time. Some of them will automagically do some things for you.
I hope this article helps you. If you have corrections, you may contact me. If you have questions, here is a good place full of friendly people. Thanks for reading!
