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07/09/2002 Entry: "Howto install linux on a SS40G"
Linux on the SS40G
Someone beat me to it. Note I found the same issues with Redhat 7.3 that Viahardware reported. Debian installed without a hitch.
Howto install linux on a SS40G
Well this page is definitely not a howto page but contains a few tips and tricks
for installing linux on the Shuttle SS40G.. First of
all I will let OdiN from
Viahardware introduce you the computer, then have a look a bit more in
details on the specifications and on
the motherboard manual. As you
can see the most tricky part of the computer is probably the SiS 740 chipset. The two new elements of this chipset are
first the integrated 3D-engine SiS315 and the dedicated hi-speed
bus MuTIOL. Both of them may cause you some problems.
Viahardware SS40G Linux Install
I'm mirroring the page in the extended entry for convenience.
Check Jérôme KIEFFER's Howto install linux on a SS40G for current info.
Howto install linux on a SS40G
Well this page is definitely not a howto page but contains a few tips and tricks
for installing linux on the Shuttle SS40G.. First of
all I will let target="_blank">OdiN from
Viahardware introduce you the computer, then have a look a bit more in
details on the specifications and on
the motherboard manual. As you
can see the most tricky part of the computer is probably the target="_blank">SiS 740 chipset. The two new elements of this chipset are
first the integrated 3D-engine SiS315 and the dedicated hi-speed
bus MuTIOL. Both of them may cause you some problems.
1) Getting started
I did not encounter any problem installing debian-potato on the SS40 but most
people encounter a problem during the installation of much more recent
distribution (Mandrake 8.2, Redhat 7.2, Suse 7.1) due to the fact that common
2.4 kernel do not initialize correctly the PCI bus (probably connected to the
MuTIOL).
I upgraded the debian-woody (aka stable) to debian sid (aka unstable 06/2002).
Most kernels 2.2 are working good ; debian kernel or mine. But if you upgrade the
kernel to the 2.4 serie (2.4.18-k7 from debian for exemple) you will get this
error in the dmesg :
PCI: PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xfb360, last bus=1
PCI: System does not support PCI
No PCI bus means no /proc/pci, ans also no hardware on the PCI bus will work
(USB, network, sound, ...). I found that the latest experimental kernels
(2.5.18 for ex.) are working and initialize the PCI bus correctly but they are
not very stable. Thanks to Barchord from Viahardware who discovered that the
kernel options :
pci=bios,biosirq
allows most kernels 2.4 to boot and initialize the PCI bus. So if you do not
manage to install linux, or if the installation crashes, try this option,
regardless to the distribution.
Here is the sumary of my PCI bus (lspci):
jerome@taz:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]: Unknown device 0740 (rev01)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5591/5592 AGP
00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 85C503/5513
00:02.2 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 7001 (rev 07)
00:02.3 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 7001 (rev 07)
00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE] (rev d0)
00:0a.0 Multimedia audio controller: C-Media Electronics Inc CM8738 (rev
10)
00:0b.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 02)
00:0b.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev02)
00:0c.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB (rev 50)
00:0c.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB (rev 50)
00:0c.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 51)
00:0f.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C (rev 10)
00:10.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Lucent Microelectronics FW323 (rev 04)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]: Unknown
device 6325
Added on 2002/07/03 : A small patch has been integrated to kernel 2.4.19-pre6 to make it compatible
with the SiS740 ; nevertheless, with kernel 2.4.19-pre10-ac2, the boot options pci=bios,biosirq is still necessary.
2) Installing the Video
XFree86 version 4.1 (and more recent) works on the SiS740 as on most other SiS
chipsets due to the (great) work of href="http://www.winischhofer.net/linuxsis630.shtml" target="_blank">Thomas Winischhofer
Up to now (18/06/2002) the video works under X11 with 2D acceleration and Xv on
the first CRT monitor but has not yet been reported on the second head
(TV-out).
There is no 3D-acceleration because the DRI for the SiS315 is still lacking
in the current kernel (2.4.18).
As this computer has been designed for multimedia and home-cinema, Xv is more
important than DRM/DRI. On my system (Thunderbird 900), reading a DivX in
full screen (1280x1024)
loads the system less that 40%
Update from 25/06/2002 : I tested the TV-out in 800x600 and 1024x768 at
16 bpp :
both works with Thomas' drivers. As there is only one video Overlay ; Xv can
work either on the CRT or on the TV but not both. Xinerama works also (one
desktop on 2 screens) but disables Xv. Without Xv ; watching a DivX on my
Tbird900 is possible but there are a few frames lost (0.5%). In the bios I set up : 32M Video Ram and "CRT1+A-V PAL OTV"
(there are so many modes, I did not test all of them).
Add option "DPMS" in the Monitor section to enable the monitor to
go off after a while (this option is not needed with the mga driver for ex.).
Update from 03/07/2002 : To use a PCI graffic card, you need at least
to upgrade (flash) your bios to the number 025. The bios can be found here href="ftp://islay.dyndns.org/pub/bios/ss40/FS40S025.zip">FS40S025.zip. I
tested with succes 2 old cards : a Matrox Millenium2 and a ATI Rage-pro. I used
glxgears to test the 3D perfs : both obtained 128FPS wheras the
integrated SiS315 (without any 3D acceleration) is at 200FPS.
3) Review of all the integreted stuff
With the kernel 2.4.19-pre10-ac2-preemp (well, a bit patched) I'm getting
almost all the hardware supplied with the SS40G to work ; including the USB2
card. Here is the configuration of the kernel. Here are the main integated feature and how they work :bordercolor="#000000" align="center">
Features |
Modules |
Notes |
IDE UDMA 100
SiS 5513 |
Should be
hard-compiled |
hdparm -t /dev/hda => 40MB/s
Not bad for the IBM 60GXP |
USB 1.1
SiS 7001 |
usbcore.o
usb-ohci.o |
4 integrated ports
Need device-specific driver : usbmouse for ex. |
Sound
C-Media Electronics Inc CM8738 |
cmpci.o |
I did not yet test the 4,5 and 6 way out
stereo works well |
Ethernet controller
Realtek Semiconductor RTL-8139C |
8139too.o
mii.o |
Works great : 14 Mbytes/s
Do NOT use 8139cp.o |
FireWire (IEEE 1394)
Lucent Microelectronics FW323 |
ohci1394.o
ieee1394.o |
Not yet tested |
VGA compatible controller
SiS 6325 |
agpgart.o
sis.o sisfb.o |
ONLY USEFULL WHEN THE DRI/DRM COMES OUT |
USB 2.0
VIA Technologies |
ehci-hcd.o
usb-uhci.o |
Only tested with USB 1.1 devices |
WinTV
Bt878 |
bttv.o
msp3400.o |
Not included in the SS40
Currently some problems to make the IR reciever work |
Sensors |
it87.o temp_type=0x38
i2c-isa.o |
Disables the auto-fan-speed |
4) Tuning the BIOS for linux
- APIC Mode : disable in the bios but enable in the kernel ; seems to be
necessary.
- MPS Version control for OS : 1.1 ; so that all IRQ's are between 0 and 15.
Linux does not handle well IRQ's above 16.
- Suspend mode : Disable ; if not, will turn off all devices except
the CPU after some times, including ALL the fans. I found once my CPU at 100°C
because of this f*cking option.
Rest comming as soon as I have some time.
Completly written with Vim by Jérôme KIEFFER ; any comment can be sent at href="mailto:Jerome.KIEFFER@CRANS.org?subject=SS40G+linux">Jerome.KIEFFER@CRANSorg
Last update on : 20020625
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