Author: Michael Minn (see www.michaelminn.com for current contact info)
December 25, 2000
This page contains outdated information and is retained exclusively for historical purposes. My installation information page for the most recent Linux release is located HERE.
The following document describes how I set up a
Red Hat 7.0 system on a Toshiba Satellite 335CDS notebook computer. I am providing this
information to help others avoid the problems I encountered when installing Linux on a
335CDS or similar Toshiba notebooks.
I had been warned that Linux installation was not for the faint of heart and all the warnings proved justified. Nevertheless, after a long learning curve I am now under Linux able to do most of the things I did under Windows. I had only two major problems (dialup configuration and sound), and solutions for those problems are given below.
The following instructions assume some rudamentary knowledge of Linux and/or Unix-like systems, although installation on this particular machine is relatively simple. You will need to know how to edit a text file before you can dial-up the internet. You'll probably be able to get by with the KDE text editor.
The Toshiba 335CDS is a mid-range laptop built in late 1998 running an Intel 200Mhz Pentium II. It has a 4 Gig hard drive and built-in DVD/CD-ROM drive. It comes with the standard 32 Meg of RAM which I subsequently upgraded to 64 meg. Upgrades to the maximum of 160 Meg(?) are no longer commercially available.
I provide no guarantees for any procedures stated in this document.
You're more than welcome to e-mail me if you've got a problem, but I can't
guarantee a prompt or helpful reply. Like many things in the Linux
world...you're on your own. I would, however, appreciate any errata that you
can point out so I don't mislead anyone else.
The definitive source for Linux laptop information is the Linux on Laptops Page. The newsgroups at www.linux.corel.com may also be of help if you have any problems.
The Toshiba 335CDS came with Windows 98 preinstalled on a single partition. As such, FDISK can't be used to create a partition for Linux. However, Red Hat (and most other distributions) ship with FIPS (a DOS utility) that permits you to split your single partition into two partitions.
Since the hard drive on the 335CDS is only 4 Gig, you may want to consider making your system a Linux only system, as opposed to a dual-boot system that allows you to use Windoze or Linux. If you only want Linux, you can use the automatic disk partitioning program that is part of the Red Hat install program and you can skip to Section 3.
Make sure to perform a backup of any important files on your Windows system. Although this partitioning process should leave your Windows files intact, it's better to be safe than Republican. You should then delete any files you don't need and remove any programs you don't plan to use in the future.
Empty the recycle bin before starting the partitioning process.
The first trick is getting all of your windows files on the lower part of the partition so it can be split. Start your computer and allow it to boot into Windows.
Disable virtual memory from the Windows control panel. I believe the Windows swap file is kept on the high part of the partition and that's the section that's going to be moved to Linux
control panel->system properties->performance tab->virtual memory
Run the Windows defrag and scandisk utilities from an MS-DOS prompt (so you can use the command line options). This will move everything down to the lower part of the partition. When the defrag window comes up, click the SETTINGS button and uncheck the buttons so you DO NOT rearrange so programs start faster and DO NOT check drive for errors. Using these command line options speeds up the process: a full defrag normally takes a few hours, but this one only takes around ten minutes.
defrag /p /q scandisk
You now need to create a boot disk containing the FIPS utility. Insert a blank floppy and create a bootable CD from an MS-DOS prompt:
format a: sys a:
You can now insert your Red Hat distribution CD # 1. From the MS-DOS prompt or the Windows Explorer you can copy the following files from d:/dosutils/fips20/ to your floppy:
RESTORRB.EXE FIPS.EXE ERRORS.TXT
Remove the Red Hat distribution CD, but leave the FIPS floppy in the drive and restart your system. The computer will boot to a DOS prompt. Type FIPS to start the FIPS utility.
You will pass through a Welcome screen to a Partition screen. You will get a warning about physical start/end sector not matching logical start/end sector. This is okay, press any key to accept.
You will be told Partition table adapted to current drive geometry. Press any key to accept. This will take about five minutes.
At this point, the first time I ran FIPS, I got an Error...last cylinder not free message. After I turned off virtual memory and reran defrag, this problem was solved. Hopefully it won't happen to you. Obviously, if it does, FIPS stops here and doesn't split your partition. There is a help file in the d:/dosutils/fips20/ directory on the distribution disk that may be of help. There is also a program called "Partition Magic" that supposedly you can use to create disk partitions. But if FIPS works, you can save yourself $60.
Provided you don't have the last cylinder problem, you will be asked to make backup of root & boot sector. Type 'Y' to accept. Also type 'Y' when asked if you have a bootable floppy in the drive.
You will then be asked to enter start cylinder. You can use the left and right arrow keys to move the partition split around. I chose to basically split the partition in half:
old: 1956.9 MB, cylinder 497, new 1953.0 MB
FIPS will gives you new partition table. Type 'c' to continue.
Ready to write new partition scheme to disk: Do you want to proceed:. Type 'y'.
As befits a DOS application, FIPS will crash with a memory allocation error. You can ignore it.
Remove the FIPS boot floppy and press ctrl-alt-delete to reboot. Run scandisk (from DOS or the program launcher) and turn your virtual memory back on.
You now have two partitons on your disk and you can start the installation of Linux.
References:
Please be sure to backup any files on the system prior to Linux installation. The installation described below erases ALL data on the hard drive.
Immediately after powering on, while the red TOSHIBA BIOS welcome screen is showing, hold down ESC key. Press F1 when prompted and the SYSTEM SETUP utility will start.
Change the Boot Priority section (TAB over to it and press the space bar to change entries) so that CD-ROM comes before HDD in the list.
You can now insert the Red Hat Linux installation CD in the CD-ROM drive. When you're done just press END and the computer should reboot from the CD-ROM drive and bring up the installer program. Hit return to chose the graphical installer (the default).
The graphical installer will start afte a minute or two. The installer will come up using ugly VGA fonts smeared over an SVGA screen, but that's fine for now.
Choose English installation language (next)
Accept default keyboard configuration options (next)
Accept default generic 3-button mouse (next)
Choose workstation installation (next)
At this point, if you are doing a Linux-only installation (no Windows), you can choose automatically partition and skip over the Linux partitioning process to time zone configuration. If you're doing a dual-boot system, we need to setup disk partitions. Chose to "Manually partition with Disk Druid" and click (next).
You will get a list of "Current Disk Partitions". The Windows partition is hda1. Edit it and make the mount point "/mnt/windows"
Delete the new partition you created with FIPS (hda2 - 2894.5mb). You should then add the following new new partitions. The "hdax" may come up as different numbers, but the size and configurations should be the same.
/boot (23 meg) - becomes hda2 Linux Swap (196 meg) - becomes hda5 / (root - 1 meg - press space bar in Grow to fill disk - becomes 1732M hda6)
Click (next). When asked to "Choose partitions to format," OK the defaults of hda2 & hda6.
When asked about "LILO configuration" OK the defaults (use linear mode and no special kernel boot options).
When asked "Where do you want to install the boot loader", choose /dev/hda, the Master Boot Record (MBR).
LILO config: boot manager...permits configuration of the names used to for booting the two different operating systems. OK the defaults.
You will be asked for a hostname. This is a name used to identify your computer and is not terribly significant on a single-user workstation. This is not a user name...those come later. This name is up to you although shorter (and less vulger) is probably better.
You will be asked for a "Default mouse". Chose "Generic - 3 Button Mouse". This will work with the accu-point device or any external mouse that you connect later.
Choose correct time zone (next)
Having been away from the Unix world for awhile (and never having been a system administrator), there were a number of things I wanted to be able to do from the console (rather than through a desktop utility). These are here as a reminder to me, but if they're helpful to you, great.
When you first boot Linux, you will be presented with a text login prompt (in VGA mode). When you log in you will get a text prompt. Type "startx" at the prompt to start X Windows and the graphical desktop.
Find available disk space $ df Find a file in a directory $ find [directory] -name "[file name (with wildcards)]" Format a floppy $ /sbin/mkdosfs /dev/fd0 Create a soft link (i.e. have /home/user/windows directory point to /windows/user) $ ln -s To Kill X Windows if it gets locked up <ctrl><alt><backspace>
The Toshiba Satellite 335CDS shipped with a Xircom CreditCard Modem CM-56T, a 56K PCMCIA modem that is no longer manufactured or supported by Xircom. Linux automatically detects the modem, although you may have a problem with it being linked to /dev/modem. In your KPPP setup, you should use /dev/ttyS3 (described below).
Even though the modem will work with no further configuration, it will perform extremely slowly. Dave Looney has some experience with the CM-56T and sent me the following tip to configure the modem port to a higher speed. As SUPERUSER execute the following console commands.
$ setserial /dev/ttyS3 spd_vhi
You should also edit the /etc/rc.local file (as SUPERUSER) and add this command to the bottom of the file.
My ISP under Windows was AOL, but at the time of my conversion to Linux, they were not supporting Linux. I e-mailed customer support and they sent a form reply about having it in R&D. I needed to get away from monopolies, but because I travel frequently, I needed a national ISP. I decided to go with an ISP that a friend of mine recommended...Earthlink.
I dislike giving my credit card numbers on the phone, so I dialed 1-800-EARTHLINK and the registration process was quick and painless. After registration, I was told to call tech support (1-800-890-5128) for setup information. I initially setup my account on Windows and the tech support guy walked me through the setup under Windows. I don't know what they'll do for Linux, although I guess they will just give you the raw information and let you figure out the setup given below.
KPPP is a dialup utility for Linux. It can be accessed from the application starter->Applications->Network->Dialup.
I initially tried to put a KPPP icon on the panel, but couldn't find a way to do it. It is possible to put it on the desktop by copying the link from the Application starter to your desktop (from the console). The "[user]" is the user name you are logged in as (not superuser).
$ cp /usr/share/applnk/Internet/Kppp.kdelnk /home/[user]/Desktop
Once it's on your desktop, if you want to put it on the panel (the application starter bar at the bottom of the screen, you can simply drag it from the desktop down to the panel bar.
Once you've started KPPP, you will be given a sign-in screen. Choose "Setup" and "New account." The setup information I used is given below. Yours will change accordingly.
Dial tab Connection name: ELN/[user name] Phone # [access phone number] Authentication PAP Click off "store password" DNS Tab DNS Domain Name: ELN/[user name] Add DNS IP Address: [xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx - provided by ISP] Add DNS IP Address: [xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx - provided by ISP] Device Tab (THIS IS IMPORTANT) Modem Device: /dev/ttyS3
After setting the modem device, when I tried to test it under the MODEM tab, I got the message "Modem Busy". I removed the PCMCIA modem and reinserted it (PCMCIA services gave me beeps to let me know it was detecting my actions). This apparently solved the problem. You also may need to reexecute the setserial commands given above, or you will connect at 19KBaud (slow).
When you have changed the setup setting as given above, click OK. This will return you to the main KPPP screen where you can log in as follows. Note that hitting ENTER will not automatically connect. You must click the CONNECT button. connect to: ELN/[user name] Login ID: ELN/[user name] Password: [your password]
You can use Netscape Messenger for your e-mail, but I much prefer the KDE mail program, KMAIL. You can put a new "nickname" on your desktop by right clicking on the desktop and selecting New->Nickname. The Nickname should be "kmail" and the target is "kmail".
When you first start Kmail, you will be given a configuration screen. The following is the information I used, where [user] is your ISP user name, not your Linux user name (unless, of course, they're the same).
Identity Tab Your Name: [Your real name] e-mail address: [user name]@earthlink.net Network Tab Sending Mail Click SMTP Server: mail.earthlink.net Port: 25 (the default) Incoming mail Add an account When asked for account type: POP3 There will be an existing server named POP...edit it Name: [user name] Login: [user name] Host: mail.earthlink.net Composer Tab Click off "Automatically append signature" Leave everything else as is and OK
On my initial setup I had no problem receiving mail but Kmail have me an error message about being unable to open /etc/exim.conf (the sendmail configuration file). That's because I forgot to click SMTP as the way to send mail.
The default font sizes in Netscape look awful, so I changed them under Edit->Preferences->Appearance->Fonts. I changed them to:
Variable Width Font: Helvetica size 14 Fixed Width Font: Clean (Schumacher) size 14
If you're still not happy, you can edit the /home/[user]/.Xdefaults file and add these lines:
Netscape*DocumentFonts.sizeIncrement: 10
Netscape*documentFonts.xResolution*iso-8859-1: 90
Netscape*documentFonts.yResolution*iso-8859-1: 90
You can play with these ratios to get better appearance.
Reference:
http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/FDU/apps.html#AEN423
Linux is notorious for it's ugly fonts. One of the things Microsoft actually has done well (and there are a few things) is true type fonts. Linux includes support for true type fonts in the font server XFS. However, true-type font files are proprietary so they can't be distributed with the Linux CDs. Since you are making a system configuration change, you must be SUPERUSER to perform these commands.
You can get True Type fonts from websites (including Microsoft) and/or from the /Windows/Fonts directory of a machine running Windoze. You should first create a directory for your fonts. While this directory name can be pretty much anything you choose, the one given below is appropriate for the standard LINUX file structure:
$ mkdir /usr/share/fonts/truetype
Transfer them (with a floppy) to this new directory. Note that there are different font files for the italic, bold, bold italic and regular versions of the fonts. Some of the True Type files can be very large so you may need to use multiple floppys and repeat the following steps to copy all the files you need.
$ mount /mnt/floppy $ cp /mnt/floppy/*.ttf /usr/share/fonts/truetype $ umount /mnt/floppy
Paths to XFS font files are specified in the configuration file, /etc/X11/fs/config. However, unlike Red Hat 6.2, there is no default True Type font directory and you will need to modify the "catalogue" section of this file to point to your new directory. Your modified "catalogue" section should look something like this. The only change to the file should be the last line and the comma separator on the next-to-last line.
catalogue = /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled, /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled, /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc, /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1, /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo, /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi, /usr/share/fonts/default/Type1, /usr/share/fonts/truetype
Run the TTMKFDIR & MKFONTDIR utilities to build the fonts.dir and fonts.scale files used by XFS:
$ cd /usr/share/fonts/truetype $ ttmkfdir > fonts.scale $ mkfontdir
I tried just restarting xfs and/or X and X gave an error message when restarting. So, as with all things involving Microsoft products, you will now need to reboot to restart xfs. When you get back into X, the True Type fonts should be available.
I initially installed three fonts that are widely used on web pages: Times New Roman, Arial, and Verdana. You can add more fonts later with basically the same procedure. Copy the font files (.ttf) to /usr/share/fonts/truetype, run ttmkfdir, run mkfontdir and reboot.
There is also supposedly a way to convert True Type fonts to Type 1 fonts (http://quadrant.netspace.net.au/ttf2pt1), but since the True Type fonts work, why mess with a good thing.
References:
http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Font-HOWTO.html
http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Font-HOWTO-4.html
http://www.redhat.com/mirrors/LDP/LDP/lame/LAME/linux-admin-made-easy/x613.html
http://www.frii.com/~meldroc/Font-Deuglification.html.
http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/FDU/index.html
Before you can use applications with sound (such as the CD player) you will need to setup sound with the sndconfig program:
$ /usr/sbin/sndconfig
The program will try to autodetect but will be unable to find the sound card. It will then give you a list of sound cards. Choose:
OPL3-SA2/3/x sound chip
After you select OK you will be asked for sound card settings. Accept all defaults except "DMA 1", which should be set to 1 - the default is 0.
I/O PORT: 0x530 IRQ: 5 DMA 1: 1 DMA 2: 0 MPU I/O: 0x330 CONTROL I/O: 0x370
After the sound tests (which you should be able to hear) the program will exit.
The CD player and the sound mixer should now work.
The KMID midi player (midi/karaoke player) will also work, but you first need to select "Yamaha OPL3 FM" (not the external MPU401 port, which is not connected to anything) in options->midi setup. As you're probably aware, the FM synth sounds like a toy, but if you're desperate for MIDI, it's there.
If you have an external Roland Sound Canvas or Yamaha MU-x series MIDI sound module, you can use the RS-232 serial port to connect to the module's serial interface. See my NOTEMIDI page for more information.
A Real Player 7 is available for Linux. You have to register to get it, and you download a RPM file that can be installed with RPM. Note that you have to use the --force option because the Real Player will take over as the default application for WAV files and there is a conflict in MIME types.
$ rpm -i --force rp7_linux20_libc6.i386.cs1.rpm
The following is a list of my experiences with some applications. It is, of course, not intended to be exhaustive.
Since KDE 2.0 was in beta at the time RH 7.0 was being assembled, KDE 1.1.2 was shipped instead. KDE 2.0 incorporates a number of non-essential enhancements, including the beginnings of a GPL office suite (KOffice) and an almost-full-featured browser called Konqueror.
KDE 2.0.1 is available via free download. Since this is around 30 MB, this will take a few hours over a 56K modem. And since there are a separate groups of files to be downloaded, you will have to pay some attention to the download.
Setting up KDE 2.0.1 is a non-trivial task. Future releases of Red Hat will undoubtedly contain KDE 2. If you are simply interested in an office suite, I would recommend spending the $40 to get StarOffice, which is a mature full-featured product.
The download site I used was Rutgers University, since I'm on the American east coast. Other download sites are listed on the KDE Homepage. If you have any problem with these instructions, you may want to consult the installation instructions in the downloads section of the KDE site. Please be aware that the installation instructions are not specific to Red Hat and are therefore do not accurately describe a Red Hat installation.
The KDE sites get pretty busy and you will probably want to use a mirror site (like the Rutgers site listed above) for downloads.
Download the following precompiled binary RPM packages:
qt-2.2.2-2.i386.rpm kdeadmin-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm kdebase-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm kdegraphics-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm kdelibs-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm kdelibs-sound-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm kdemultimedia-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm kdenetwork-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm kdesupport-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm kdeutils-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm koffice-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm libmng-0.9.2-1.i386.rpm
You should perform this installation from the VGA console (not an X windows console). If you try to install while running the old KDE, you will lock your system. Install them AS SUPERUSER with the following commands IN THE FOLLOWING ORDER:
rpm -ivh libmng-0.9.2-1.i386.rpm rpm -ivh --force qt-2.2.2-2.i386.rpm rpm -ivh --force kdesupport-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm rpm -ivh --force kdelibs-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm rpm -ivh --force kdelibs-sound-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm rpm -ivh --force kdeadmin-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm rpm -ivh --force kdebase-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm rpm -ivh --force kdegraphics-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm rpm -ivh --force kdemultimedia-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm rpm -ivh --force kdenetwork-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm rpm -ivh --force kdeutils-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm rpm -ivh --force koffice-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm
Finally, you will need to edit /etc/profile.d/qt.csh and /etc/profile.d/qt.sh and change the definition of QTLIBS from /usr/lib/qt-2.2.0 to qt-2.2.2.
You should now be able to run KDE 2 simply by starting X (the startx command).
Potential Problems
libmng provides support for MNG files - i.e. animated PNG files. It can also be downloaded from rmpfind.net. If you have a problem downloading from this site, you may want to go to the rpmfind.net libmng page for a list of other download sites. More information on libmng is available from www.libmng.com.
If you try to install kdelibs without installing libmng, you will get the message:
libmng.so.0 needed by kdelibs-2.0.1-1
If you try to install kdebase without installing kdelibs-sound, you will get the message:
libkmid.so.0 needed by is needed by kdebase-2.0.1-1
The version of QT that ships with Red Hat 7.0 is 2.2.0, but KDE 2 needs 2.2.2. When I initially tried to start KDE without loading a new version of QT I received the following error message.
There was some error setting up inter-process communications for KDE. The message returned by the system was: Could not read network connection list Please check that the "dcopserver" program is running
This error was mentioned on the KDE bug list, but with the configuration from the good people at Rutgers that includes the QT 2.2.2, everything ran flawlessly.
StarOffice is an extremely powerful (and somewhat bloated) office suite. I had some serious problems with StarOffice on a Red Hat 6.2 system, althought those problems were probably related more to problems with my system configuration than to kernel or program bugs.
StarOffice is configured to have a complete binary installation for each user. There is a network installation option, but I had serious problems with it on earlier installations. I prefer not to have large binaries cluttering up my /home/[user] directory (to facilitate periodic backups), so I created a directory under /usr/local and set it up to be owned by my non-superuser username.
$ su (this makes you superuser - you will be prompted for the superuser password) $ cd /usr/local $ mkdir office52 $ chown [your user name] office52 $ chgrp [your user name] office52 $ chmod 0777 office52 $ exit
Insert the StarOffice installation disk and run the install program:
$ mount /mnt/cdrom $ /mnt/cdrom/linux/office52/setup
When prompted, fill in the appropriate user information when. When asked for an installation directory, enter the /usr/local/office52 directory that you created earlier.
OK to start installation. You will be notified that "No Java Runtime Environment was found." Click OK (Java and JavaScript not supported - the default). The installation takes around seven minutes on this particular machine.
After the main office program finishes installing and you OK everything, the Adabase installation program will start running. I didn't need this, so I just hit CANCEL.
StarOffice is located under "Personal" on the KDE application starter. It takes awhile to boot, especially the first time. You can an icon to the desktop by copying the link file in the console:
$ cp /home/[user]/.kde/share/applnk/staroffice_52/StarOffice.kdelnk /home/[user]/Desktop
You'll need to restart X. Because it's a user specific installation, you'll find it in the "personal" category on the KDE application launcher. One of the first things you'll probably want to do is change the home documents directory to your /home/[user] directory...otherwise everything will default to a directory withing the Office52 file structure:
Tools->Options->General->Paths->My Documents
If you need to uninstall StarOffice (see the problem list below), I think all you need to do is delete /usr/local/office52 and the .office52 directory in your home directory.
Problems:
To port their office suite, Corel took the easy way out (given their financial situation, they probably couldn't afford the programming time) and used WINE, a MS Windows emulator, which slows things down and gives the program a Windows appearance. There also is some occasional bizzare window behavior (particularly on maximizing).
Installation is extremely easy and takes around ten minutes. Simply insert the installation CD in the drive and start the setup.exe program from the Corel File Manager (which will automount the CD).
The first invocation of Workperfect took around 2 minutes. I guess there was some first time initialization, because subsequent startups were much quicker.
GIMP (the Graphics Image Manipulation Program) is an excellent image editor (like Photoshop) that comes free with most (all?) Linux distributions.
GIMP is invoked by typing "gimp" on a console or using "gimp" as the target of a new nickname. On your initial startup of GIMP (as each different user) you will be prompted for an install which lasts only fifteen seconds or so.
My one major issue with GIMP is the absence of a decent native vector graphics facility. Having used Fireworks under Windows, I got used to having seamless integration between vector design and bitmap effects and in the absence of a high-end vector facility to integrate with GIMP, I was forced to spend $200 on Corel Draw (which I have not loaded on the Toshiba 335CDS described in this document).
Unfortunately, there is no decent WYSIWYG HTML editor (like Dreamweaver) for Linux as of this writing.
Although I do not recommend it, there is one commercially available, WebSphere Homepage Builder v4.0 for Linux, available from IBM. Unfortunately, it is extremely slow and doesn't handle embedded tables correctly, so I was unable to use it.
One of the problems is that it was ported from Windows using WINE (a Windows emulator program. In order to use the downloaded version, you need to download WINE for Homepage first: http://distribute.soi.wide.ad.jp/wine/
I tried using WINE with Dreamweaver on my dual-boot system, but I could not even get it to start.
Netscape 4.7 has been a very important program in the Linux movement. However, it is buggy and has a nasty tendency to crash and hang at inopportune moments.
Netscape 6 is a significant improvement. It is available via an inexpensive CD, but I prefer not to use my credit card numbers over the phone, so I chose to download it.
You will need to download the installation program from netscape.com. The installation program is apparently an FTP client for downloading since you can't download over a program that's already running.
If you used Netscape to download the installation program, you need to exit Netscape. Otherwise, the installation will fail. It will say it completed successfully, but will issue error messages during the installation (Error [-621]: An installer module (.xpi) failed to install). Invoking Netscape will then bring up 4.7, not 6.0.
Decompress the installation program it and run it:
$ tar -zxvf netscape-i686-pc-linux-gnu-installer.tar.gz $ cd netscape-installer $ ./netscape-installer
The installation program may freeze when you first start it. Just type <CTRL>-C to kill the program and start over. The installation download takes about 90 minutes.
When the installation is complete, you will be given a registration box. DO NOT use your ISP login and password...this is for Netscape's marketing. You might be able to just hit cancel, but I didn't want to waste my long download time and I registered.
The new Netscape 6 is installed over the old Netscape 4.7. To start, just type "netscape" from a console or use any existing Netscape desktop or taskbar icons.
If for some reason you want to return your Toshiba 335CDS to Windows 98, you can use the recovery CD that shipped with the computer.
When trying to restore my 335CDS from recovery CD, Windows 98 asked me for an authenticity certification number. Having long ago pitched my Microsoft manuals, I didn't have it. Microsoft now requires a label on the OEM computer with that number. I discovered, much to my delight that I could use the certification number from my new computer to certify the recovered Windows on my old machine.
CD-ROM: TEAC CD-220EA FLOPPY: Generic NEC Floppy Disk Hard Drive: Generic IDE Disk Type 01 (Acculogic IDE Controller) Display: Chips and Tech. 65555 PCI (Toshiba) Modem: Xircom CreditCard Modem CM-56T PCMCIA: Toshiba ToPIC97 CardBus Controller USB: NEC PCI to USB Open Host Controller: IRQ 11, Memory Range FCFFF000-FCFFFFFF Video Capture: Nogatech-Nogavision Sound: Yamaha OPL3-SAx Sound System I/O Ranges: 0220-022F, 0539-0537, 0388-038F, 0330-0331, 0370-0371 IRQ 05 DMA 01, 00 COM1: I/O=03F8-03FF, IRQ 04 LPT1 (printer): I/O 0378-037A, IRQ 07 Partitions: 64M Swap, 16M /boot, 1000M /(root - grow to disk) Monitor: Generic LCD Panel X Configuration: Chips & Technologies CT65555