From: ..................................... Ali Albayrak <albayrak@helsinki.fi> Laptop Make and Model: .................... Compaq Contura Aero 4/25 CPU.speed, type, upgradeable.to: .......... 25MHz, i486SX/SL, - Disk size, type, upgradeable.to: .......... 84 MB / 250 MB, IDE 2,5" slim RAM size, type, upgradeable.to: .......... 4 M, ?, 12 MB Screen size, type: ........................ 8" (mono LCD) VGA Max battery life while running linux: ..... < 4 h Weight with battery: ...................... 1,6 kg PCMCIA number of slot, type, bridge chip: . 1, Type II CSSI 2.01, - Mouse, Track Ball (location), etc.: ..... PS/2 type, trackball right-front Docking capability: ....................... yes, very cheap Power conservation: ....................... APM, works under Linux Misc neat stuff: .......................... - smaller than A4 sheet! ........................................... - floppy optional but recommended ........................................... - a bit noisy hard-disk ........................................... - excellent keyboard ........................................... - small power-adapter ........................................... - very Linux-compatible despite ........................................... PCMCIA-floppies and other ........................................... weird stuff Linux Version: ............................ 1.0 (Slackware 1.2.0) X386 (color, gray) monitor specs: ......... ? Networking (dlink/pcmcia modules): ........ ? From: Harald "T." Alvestrand <Harald.T.Alvestrand@uninett.no> Laptop Make and Model: Compaq Aero 4/33C CPU speed, type, upgradeable to: 33MHz, 486SX, no upgrade Disk size, type, upgradeable to: 250 MBytes, 170 MB possible RAM size, type, upgradeable to: 8 MBytes, 4M default Screen size, type, upgradeable to: 8" passive matrix color LCD, no upgrade Battery type (lithium-ion,NiMh,NiCd): NiMH Max battery life while running linux: Approx 2-3 hours Weight with battery: 1.9 kgs PCMCIA number of slot, type: 1, type II PCMCIA bridge chip (intel, cirrus, databook, etc.): intel Mouse, Track Ball (location), Pen, IBM thingy, etc.: Trackball lower RH corner Docking capability: No, expander does only ext. screen and so on Power conservation: APM BIOS support Misc neat stuff: Keyboard up against screen (Apple layout) Linux Version: 1.1.20 Networking (parallel/portable/pcmcia modules): Working on it - SLIP at the moment X386 (color, gray, chipset) monitor specs: X386 1.2.2 VGA_16 at 640x480Compaq corp. has put out a Web server; the info on the Aero, with lots of pictures, is here. As usual, the stuff you really want to know is missing...
If you don't want the pictures, look here.
Anyway, the official picture is here. More tech info, garnered from various sources:
To get it to work:
1. [Q] Why my floppy drive does not work after I have suspended the machine
and then waked it up?
[A] You have to enable option "Power ON in PCMCIA slot when
suspended" from the setup
(main menu):Power Management:More
Now drivers from the drive won't dissappear but however power
is consumed more while machine is suspended.
META A.A.: I have to check if details of this are correct
[Q] Why my trackball does not work properly when I run Selection
(the program that allows Cut&Paste in virtual consoles)?
[A] Aero's trackball is PS/2 compatible and in some versions of
Selection there has been bug in PS/2 support. Following patch
for version 1.5 is picked from sunsite.unc.edu and is written by
<hjl@nynexst.com>:
H.J.
-----
*** mouse.c.orig Thu Jun 17 19:11:04 1993
--- mouse.c Fri Feb 11 20:56:26 1994
***************
*** 154,160 ****
{ 0xe0, 0x80, 0x80, 0x00, 3 }, /* MMSeries */
{ 0xe0, 0x80, 0x80, 0x00, 3 }, /* Logitech */
{ 0xf8, 0x80, 0x00, 0x00, 5 }, /* BusMouse */
! { 0xcc, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 3 } /* PS/2 */
};
static void
--- 154,160 ----
{ 0xe0, 0x80, 0x80, 0x00, 3 }, /* MMSeries */
{ 0xe0, 0x80, 0x80, 0x00, 3 }, /* Logitech */
{ 0xf8, 0x80, 0x00, 0x00, 5 }, /* BusMouse */
! { 0xc0, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 3 } /* PS/2 */
};
static void
***************
*** 209,216 ****
return -1;
}
! if (mtype != P_BM && mtype != P_PS2)
{
ms_setspeed(9600, mbaud, cflag[mtype]);
ms_setspeed(4800, mbaud, cflag[mtype]);
ms_setspeed(2400, mbaud, cflag[mtype]);
--- 209,224 ----
return -1;
}
! switch (mtype)
{
+ case P_BM:
+ break;
+
+ case P_PS2:
+ write (mfd, "\364", 1);
+ break;
+
+ default:
ms_setspeed(9600, mbaud, cflag[mtype]);
ms_setspeed(4800, mbaud, cflag[mtype]);
ms_setspeed(2400, mbaud, cflag[mtype]);
***End-of-patch***
******************
If you have got LILO installed into your master boot record you must uninstall it from hard disk, add setup partition to LILO or boot with diagnostics diskette of Aero.
other = /dev/hda3
label = setup
table = /dev/hda
then give command 'lilo' as a root in your shell. Now
you can access your setup by booting your machine and
hitting Alt, Cntr or Shift key when text LILO appears
and writing 'setup' to LILO's prompt.
META A.A.: Someone should upload the image of diagnostics diskette somewhere in Net (I would also need it ...))
4. [Q] Why my PCMCIA floppy-drive doesn't boot?
[A] To be able to boot your machine from floppy-drive your BIOS
must be dated 7. March 1994 or later. Contact your Compaq
dealer for upgrade.
5. [Q] How long you can operate with one charge (NiCa battery)
[A] If you don't use any Advanced Power Management options
less than 2 hours. With suitable APM options on up to
4 hours.
I downloaded all the PAQs to an UNIX box and checked them out:
NOTE: I (HTA) haven't tried actually installing any of these, since
According to kikutani@ams.co.jp (Kikutani Makoto), the Aero refused to suspend with sp1124.exe on APM-BIOS 0.5 and 1.2.8 until he undefined the APM_IGNORE_USER_SUSPEND in drivers/char/apm_bios.c
The PCMCIA controller is a VLSI clone of the Intel 82365 chip.
David Hinds' PCMCIA drivers work great with this chip; I (HTA) use version 2.5.6 currently (Nov 28 1994); the latest and greatest is available from cb-iris.stanford.edu
The following cards are known to work in the Aero with Hinds' PCMCIA package:
For more general PCMCIA information, look here; there isn't much, really.
Contributions for the mono machine and for Xfree86 3.1 appreciated!
# Standard stuff - modify to taste
RGBPath "/usr/X386/lib/X11/rgb"
FontPath "/usr/X386/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/X386/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/X386/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
FontPath "/usr/X386/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/X386/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
# Also standard
Keyboard
AutoRepeat 500 5
ServerNumLock
# This is important - remember to make /dev/mouse be a link to ps2aux,
# or have major 10, minor 1
ps/2 "/dev/mouse"
Emulate3Buttons
# This is the important part. The "virtual" size is my personal taste;
# having both fvwm and the X server do "virtual" large screen confused the
# hell out of me!
VGA16
Virtual 640 480
Viewport 0 0
Modes "640x480"
# This might work on a mono - I don't know, I don't have one
VGA2
Virtual 800 600
ViewPort 0 0
Modes "640x480"
# The clock (28.322) is the important part.
ModeDB
"640x480" 28.322 640 680 720 864 480 488 491 521
The current version is 0.5 according to Stephen's home page. Note that for kernels after 1.1.83, and for recent PCMCIA versions, you need the 0.5 version.
Now the machine will detect the resume event, and reset the clock from CMOS.
The lines I tried were:
The list is archived on the same site - here to be exact.
The list is not dedicated to Linux.
As observed by kikutani@ams.co.jp (Makoto Kikutani), the rating for the Aero 4/33C is:
When you press Suspend and Resume, the BogoMips rating goes up to around 16 again! (test with the BogoMips program).
Conclusion: The CPU starts in "slowed" mode to conserve power.
Patching the init routine to call do_busy does NOT help.
