Original Solo (P3C) - found a way to boot from CD-ROM!

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

Yes! Using "Smart Boot Manager", available from Sourceforge.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/btmgr/

I copied the sbminst file to a bootable DOS floppy and
started the machine from it. When I tried to install, SBM
complained about needing DPMI libraries so I found csdpmi5b.zip
via Google, decompressed to the floppy, and proceeded. Smart
Boot Manager installs to the first track of the hard drive and
does not require modification of any existing partitions. It
will allow you to boot from the Solo's CD! My Solo is even
now installing Slackware Linux 9.1 from CD-ROM.

While I was at it, I found the latest BIOS on Gateway's site:
the file name is 7501483.exe. I think the link will break
but here it is:

http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers/getFile.asp?now=1&id=13532&uid=45521265

An interesting note about the BIOS update on this machine is that
there seem to be two parts to it: BROM112.exe, which updates
flash ROM, and BIOS112.exe, which writes to the hard drive.
I successfully flashed the ROM and installed
a 6-gigabyte hard drive to replace the original 1.2.

Now begins a new era for the Solo ... dual boot of Slackware and
Windows 98. Now, if I can just get this 3Com Airconnect card
configured under Slack ...

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

To follow up: well, I got lost in Slackware trying
to get PCMCIA to work. So I ended up installing Mandrake
9.2 with the Blackbox window manager, and it works ALMOST
perfectly. The sole exception ... the ESS1688 sound system
in the laptop. I won't miss it, really, but it bugs me.
I'll dig into it further. Oddly enough, it was a snap
getting sound to work under Slackware and Vector (a Slack-
based small & fast distro).

For anyone who might be interested in trying this, X runs
well at 800x600 with the generic VESA driver, 16-bit color.
Blackbox is quite speedy, as is the Dillo browser, and my
3Com AirConnect is happy with the orinoco driver. The
video chipset is a CT65548 with 1 meg of video RAM, and
the PCMCIA chipset is a Cirrus CL-PD672x.

It dual boots just fine.