Installation

First of all you should take a BIOS-Update into consideration. I recommend getting the latest version 1.07.

I decided to delete the pre-installed Win98SE, Word2000 and Works completely. Instead I installed the SuSE 7.1 FTP-version from the German mirror of ftp.suse.com. Due to the DSL-line and the network I was allowed to use, this way of installation was reasonable and took only about three hours.

Later I made an update to SuSE 7.3 from the same mirror as before.

But let us start with the step-by-step instruction (for beginners):

1. I started downloading the floppy-images from the above mirror. Write them to a formatted (fdformat /dev/fd0u1440) floppy by dd if=bootdisk of=/dev/fd0u1440.
2. Afterwards I booted the LIFEBOOK from the external floppy-drive coming with it (Options: manual mem=64M or more ...).

3. I loaded the Intel e100 module manually without any options.

4. Then I could start the installation via FTP (Enter ftp.gwdg.de as FTP-Server and /pub/linux/suse/ftp.suse.com/suse/i386/7.3/ as directory). Don't forget to choose ``expert's installation'' when you are asked which type of installation you want.

5. Later on, I set up the following partition-table:

   device	mount-point	partition-number	-type	size in cylinders
   /dev/hda1	/boot	83	Linux native	1-3
   /dev/hda2	none	82	Linux swap	4-17
   /dev/hda3	/	83	Linux native	18-747
   /dev/hda4	none, suspend to disk	a0	IBM Thinkpad Hibernation	748-776

   Don't forget, that these cylinder values are only valid for exactly the Fujitsu MHH 2064AT shipped with the LIFEBOOK. So if you are unsure what to enter, my values are a good start for a newcomer.

6. Then you should select the desired packages. It's mostly up to you what to choose, but don't miss out the following packages: apm, apmd, lphdisk. They are useful for the LIFEBOOK.

7. Now it's time to start the download of all packages. Meanwhile, you could (re-)read the rest of this and all the other related pages on the web (Linux on Laptops would be a great point to start). I also recommend reading the SuSE-book and the SuSE-SDB.