Making Linux Recognize Vaio Docking Stations?

dknight asks: "I've recently moved my Sony Vaio SuperSlim R505TE Laptop to Slackware Linux. Let me tell you, it was quite an adventure. I'm still having one major problem though. The docking station connects to the laptop via a firewire connection, so it doesnt recognize the CD Rom. I've installed Firewire support in the kernel, but I'm still having a hard time getting this going. Has anyone else attempted this feat?"

same here

[gr3g]

I' have a similar problem with an external Cd-rom on my dell inspiron running slack. I think I need to set the IRQ and Port settings for the parallel port at the boot or using paride. I'm feeling lazy right now so I haven't done that.

Check with the developers

[BroadbandBradley]

taken from http://linux1394.sourceforge.net

updated 2001-11-06

Linux Kernels 2.4.12+
A fair number of users are reporting good results using the more recent kernel subsystems and CVS updates beginning with the Linux kernel 2.4.12 release. We cautiously suggest that the latest versions of the subsystem are stable once again. The term "stable" needs qualification. Please keep in mind that the Linux IEEE-1394 subsystem is considered, in general, an experimental and unstable subsystem of the Linux kernel. In this section, when we mention "stable" we mean mostly usable with known applications without breaking functionality or crashing the machine.

it gets deep read and hack, that's the trick. May the source be with you.

Sort of a hack with Slack, modules, and others...

[strredwolf]

I've gotten a similar item, too. I have a Compaq LTE Lite 4/33C. This nice laptop doesn't have PCMCIA ports (DAMMIT!) but there's a base I also have too. I've installed an ISA NIC and a sound card. On the road I carry a Paraell port NIC (a DE-620, very reliable). I've installed Slack 8 on it (and took a hint at Linux-From-Scratch and strip --strip-debug every non-kernel binary I could find to save space).

The hack is sort of like what Slack's setup does. In rc.netdevice, I run modprobe on two modules (hp-plus and de620). If any loads, I know where I'm am, and I record the module's name into /etc/nic.card. If not, "none" is put in there.

Once I know, I can say "hp-plus? OOO!!! I'm docked! Config the adapter. Load sshd, sync the on-board /usr/src with the base's intended /usr/src (makefile hack), fscheck and mount /usr/src and /alt." Or I can say "de620? Ok, just config the adapter." Or I can say "Nothing? Well, just do nothing, we can't do anything else..." It's all bash scripting.

funny

[Mudhiker]

if anyone didn't noticed, this is a bit of a joke. the Compaq LTE Lite 4/33C is a 33mhz 486 laptop with 4mb of ram and an 8.5" screen. it is sized like a "thin & lite". There's one on Ebay right now for about $10.

Kudos to strredwolf for booting Slack on that lil hummer...
*

Re:funny

[strredwolf]

What's even funnier is that I could upgrade it a bit to 20mb ram and a half-gig HD, but still can't get XFree 4 to run on it (damn Compaq AVGA, someone port the driver yet from 3.3.6?).

Now dare me to play MP3's on it, and I'll play Internet Radio (but not full quality, unfortunately).

so I'm guessing that's a no

[dknight]

Alright well, I'm guessing the lack of really any serious replies save one means that no, noone else has given this little adventure a shot. While I'm thinking about it though, I'll ask another question. What about wireless network cards? Say the D-Link DWL650 in particular... Anyone have any luck getting one of those configured?