I just wanted to try to install an old piece of harware I've got here: an
AGFA Snapscan 1212p. My ex-girlfriend gave it to me one year ago, and I never
tried it. Now, I just thought such an old crap would just work out of the box
with my Mandriva 2007. But no? It seems that the 1212p (parallel port version)
has no driver for linux, whereas the 1212u (USB version) has good support, as
seen on the SANE
project website.
It seems the struggle to have manufacturers open their specifications is far
from being over, even for outdated hardware..
This one is going to be freecycled..
Tag - recyclage
mardi 20 février 2007
AGFA Snapscan 1212p and Linux
Par liberforce le mardi 20 février 2007, 00:23 - Computers / Informatique
lundi 19 février 2007
Recycling an old machine for gcompris - part 2
Par liberforce le lundi 19 février 2007, 00:26 - Computers / Informatique
For those who don't know what I'm talking about, here is part
1.
Well, after numerous badblocks attempts, I've seem that badblocks was tricking
me. I first thought that some block of the hard disk were dead. But in fact, it
was only parts on the previous display that weren't deleted. The disk was ok
after all.
Then I tried to install Mandriva 2007 on the machine. Well, it finally was a
pain in the ass. Installation is sooooo much longer than expected. I wouldn't
have never thought a Celeron 366 was that slow, because my first Mandriva
install was Mandrake 9.1 on a Pentium II 350. My Celeron experience is
definitely more painful (but the distro is bigger, so the proc is not the only
one to blame).
I then have understood this fact: GNOME will be too heavy for this machine. So
I tried another install, in text mode, and installing only the base system,
without X. I then think of configuring my urpmi media to
install XFCE. It's a pitty Mandriva doesn't support this
environment out of the box (it's available in the contrib
media, not in main).
So I now need to connect that machine to my network to be able to install XFCE.
Maybe the best way to go at first was a net install... I don't know. But I hope
XFCE will be light enough for this old machine.
mercredi 10 janvier 2007
Recycling and the art of BadRAM...
Par liberforce le mercredi 10 janvier 2007, 02:56 - Computers / Informatique
I like to help protecting the environment. And I
just hate the overconsumption society. You know, the one that fills your
mailboxes (electronic and real) with ads, that fills the web with ads, that
fills the streets with ads. The one that wants to make you believe you
REALLY need something. The one that makes dumb people they are
poor if they don't own a DVD player and 2 TVs.
One of the ways I like to help is giving a second life to computers. While
helping some friends of my parents to buy a new computer, I asked them if I
could get the old one, if they didn't use it anymore. They immediately agreed,
who's gonna need a Pentium II 400 Mhz with 64MB of RAM ? A friend of mine
wanted a computer, but didn't have money to buy one. So I just did the
following:
1. I bought some RAM at a local fair, for 5€:
- 128MB SDRAM PC100
- 2x 32 MB SDRAM PC100
3. See that the 128MB module can't run at 100MHz, that one of the 32MB modules has one error, and that only one is really working.
4. Learn about the BadRAM kernel patch, that allows you to use deffective RAM modules; learn that the Mandriva kernel has been using this patch for a long time (since Mandrake 9.2 AFAIR).
5. Install Mandriva 2007 with the task-gnome-minimal package
6. Tune it to use the least memory I could (beware: net_applet seems to be is a memory hog)
Total cost: 5€
Seeing a Pentium II 400MHz running GNOME on 128MB of RAM, with a defective RAM module: priceless
Edit:
I found a picture of my memcheck experiments on 128MB module. There was so many errors that I wanted to make sure I had copied them all :-) . Memcheck has an option to give error in the form of BadRAM patterns. This is the one shown here. That's a comma separated list of address,mask couples. In this example, there was so many errors, that I couldn't use this module, as the kernel would not accept that many arguments at boot time. But I could underclock this 100MHz SDRAM, using it in a slower machine (one that was running 66MHz SDRAM). Memtest confirmed that it would work.
mardi 9 janvier 2007
Recycling an old machine for gcompris - part 1
Par liberforce le mardi 9 janvier 2007, 02:54 - Computers / Informatique
I'm currently trying to convert my sister's old computer to Linux (guess
what ? Mandriva 2007). That way my 8 years old niece will be able to have her
computer to play with gcompris.
Hardware specs of the beast:
- Celeron 366
- 160MB SDRAM (PC66 I presume)
- 4GB hard drive
To have it working, I'm doing the following.
Step 1: Recover existing personal data using the excellent Slax Popcorn Live CD, and copy it on my USB key.
Step 2: Send her the 60MB file backup file using the free (of charge) service Savefile.com to avoid blowing her mailbox
Step 3: Run badblocks -sw from the System Rescue CD. Note that these options will erase all the data on disk, as this is a destructive test.
Let's see tomorrow how this is doing. Badblocks is now running, even if painfully slow.