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Installing Caldera OpenLinux eDesktop 2.4
on IBM ThinkPad A21m-2628-E2U

Latest

Last Updated on: 19th September 2001

Introduction

This page contains information on installing Caldera OpenLinux eDesktop 2.4 on IBM ThinkPad A21m-2628-E2U.

Background

My Toshiba Satellite 4005 CDS Laptop running MS-Windows'98 started acting up recently after 3 years of loyal service. The computer would freeze suddenly forcing me to go through the painful process of reboot and running Scandisk every so often. I guess, the problem has more to do with the hard-disk than with the OS. Therefore, I decided to go for a new hardware. I decided on IBM ThinkPad since I have recommended it to many of my colleagues based on magazine reports and they are happy with its design, looks, lightness and robustness. I decided to load 2 Operating Systems on it - MS-Windows2000 Professional and Linux, the former to enable me to support my colleagues who use it and often ask me for help and the latter to keep myself in tune with the Linux wave that is sweeping across the world and trying to establish Linux as a dominant OS in the enterprise desktop market.

Hardware

I selected the following hardware from IBM:
Model Name: ThinkPad A21m-2628-E2U
Processor: Mobile Pentium III / 700 MHz
Memory: 64/512 SDRAM
Hard Disk: 10 GB
DVD: 8X max - 2X min
Display: 14.1" 1024x768 TFT - active matrix
Travel Weight: 6.2 lbs.
Modem: Lucent WinModem V.90 (internal)
Pointing Device: Track Point
Other ports:
- PS/2
- USB
- Serial
- Parallel
- Infra Red
- PCMCIA (2 type I or II / 1 type III)
- VGA
- Microphone
- Speaker
- Line-In
- Expansion

I added the following:
64MB RAM to make it a total of 128 MB
External USB mouse
LinkSys 10/100 MB Ethernet Card

Why this particular model of ThinkPad?
Simply because it met most of my requirements. Also it was in-stock as opposed to many IBM ThinkPads which are on back orders and would take several weeks to ship. IBM also has an A20m model, that they ship pre-installed with Caldera OpenLinux eDesktop 2.4 along with MS-WindowsNT, but I wanted Linux and MS-Windows2000 Professional. Hence, I settled for A21m.

Operating System

As mentioned earlier, I wanted MS-Windows2000 Professional and Linux. MS-Windows2000 Professional came pre-installed. For Linux, I had the choice between Red Hat, Slackware, Turbo Linux, Caldera, Mandrake, etc. I thought of Red Hat and Slackware because I have installed these 2 distributions on PC-based servers before. Then I thought of Turbo Linux because I got it as a free-bie when I bought LinkSys Ethernet card. I also thought of Mandrake because an IBM Tech Support person told me that he recently installed it on his own ThinkPad A21m. Finally, I decided on Caldera OpenLinux since IBM does install it on A20m and there are a lot of goodies that you get along with the basic OS. I ended up buying Caldera's OpenLinux eDesktop 2.4.

Installation

Important: I did not backup anything since this was a brand new machine with just MS-Windows2000 Professional installed on it. However, it is a good idea to backup the system and data before you install Linux.

Caldera OpenLinux eDesktop 2.4 came with the following:

I had 2 installation options: I started with the first option, but it bombed out because
- Windows and Commercial Packages CD-ROM could not install Caldera's version of PartitionMagic on MS-Windows2000 Professional.
- When I started the install without partitioning, it said "loadln can not run from your OS". Then I started with the second option - booting up directly from CD-ROM. This worked fine, but I had to do destructive partitioning. 

The partition sizes used by me are as follows:
Device    Start  End   Size System      Bootable MountPoint  Id
/dev/hda      1 1299 9590MB                                 
/dev/hda1     1  649 4791MB WIN95 FAT32    *     /mnt/hda1   b
/dev/hda4   650 1299 4798MB WIN95 Ext'd (LBA) <-- extended   f
/dev/hda5   650  652   22MB Linux          *     /boot       83
/dev/hda6   653  670  132MB Swap                             82
/dev/hda7   671  799  952MB Linux                /           83
/dev/hda8   800 1299 3691MB Linux                /var        83

After this, Linux did get installed without any problems. I could bring Linux up and work with it. I then moved /home to /var/home and linked /var/home to /home.

Now if I booted MS-Winodws2000 Professional, the computer would reboot without throwing me a login window. This was possibly due to the destructive partitioning that I had done earlier. I had to do a fresh install of MS-Windows2000 Professional using IBM's Recover CD-ROM. This involves destructive cleaning and re-install, but it did not destroy the Linux partitions.

At the time of re-install, I got a message that a partition is extending beyond cylinder 1024 and is not marked as ExtendedX partition. I let that program go ahead and fix it, but I really don't know the implications.

Installing MS-Windows2000 Professional required me to reboot the computer 4 times, but in the end it got installed and started working just fine.

After installation, I could access the Windows partition from Linux.
For accessing Linux partitions from Windows, try:
http://www.sonylloyd.com/Computer/Software/OS/Unix/Linux/Windows/Ltools/

Interfaces Tested So far

Problems Faced So far

Caldera OpenLinux eDesktop 2.4:

Caldera OpenLinux eDesktop 2.4 Features

Conclusion

After toiling for over 6 hours, I now have the satisfaction of having a Dual-boot system with both Linux and Windows co-existing happily on my laptop. I think the 2 systems have resolved their border differences amicably after initial skirmishes during the process of settling down on my brand new exquisite laptop.

Further Reading

Linux on Laptops
LinuxCare Certification Report

Disclaimer
This information is provided "as is" without any warranty, condition, or representation of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to, any warranty respecting non-infringement, and the implied warranties of conditions of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Use this information at your own risk.

Copyrights and Trademarks
All products, services, companies, events and publications are trademarks, registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Author: Suresh B.
Created on: 12th November 2000

This webpage is hosted by JMD Diplomatic Travel & Tours
For discounted airfare quotes, submit this form.

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