'Hardware Titbits' collects instructions on how to set up hardware devices which haven't been detected or configured by Mandrake Linux.
You are welcome to contribute a titbit, too!

SiS 620 - Setup

(contributed by Michael McGlothlin.)

Links:
SiS Drivers Page

required:
Patched SVGA X-Server

Extract the X server by typing:
gzip -d XF86_SVGA.gz

Next copy it to the proper location and get rid of the old SVGA server:

cp XF86_SVGA /usr/X11R6/bin/XF86_SiS
cd /usr/X11R6/bin
mv XF86_SVGA XF86_SVGA.old
ln -s XF86_SiS XF86_SVGA

Then setup your XF86Config file. The docs suggest using xf86config to do this but for me that wouldn't work so I prepared the file by hand. In Mandrake this file is located in /etc/X11. Mine should work for you with little or no modification if you have a monitor capable of 32 bit color and 1024x768 resolution. Note the device options that are added, you absolutely must have these. Here is what mine looks like:

---
# SiS 620 XServer
Section "Files"
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
EndSection
Section "Keyboard"
Protocol "Standard"
AutoRepeat 500 5
LeftAlt Meta
RightAlt ModeShift
XkbKeymap "xfree86(us)"
EndSection
Section "Pointer"
Protocol "PS/2"
Device "/dev/psaux"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Video"
VendorName "SiS"
BoardName "SiS 620"
Option "hw_cursor"
Option "noaccel"
Option "no_bitblt"
Option "linear"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor"
VendorName "Generic"
ModelName "Generic Monitor"
HorizSync 31.5-90
VertRefresh 40-150
Modeline "1024x768" 65 1024 1032 1176
1344 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Driver "svga"
Device "Video"
Monitor "Monitor"
Subsection "Display"
Depth 32
Modes "1024x768"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection
---

(NOTE: 'Modeline' is one line!)

Once you have prepared your XF86Config file 'startx' should be able to bring up XWindow. If you see any lines through your picture or similar flaws use CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE to kill XWindows and then edit your video settings. Usually reducing the color depth to 16 or 24 bits should fix it.

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CNet Pro120

(contributed by Chris Schwindt, edited)

If you have a CNet Pro120 Ethernet Card, do not despair, there is a module for it. The URL is:

http://www.cnet.com.tw/download/index-f100.html

Look for the item Pro-120 for linux. It is a Windows self-extracting exe (Yes, I know, I know! I couldn't believe it either!) but if you unzip it on a Wintel box, you get the source code for the tulip module, modified to include the pro-120's Macronix 98715/98725 chip.
[Tom: GNU/Linux 'zip' handles self-extracting .exe zip-archives, so you do not have to use Windows.]
I tried my Mandrake linux 2.2.9-19mdk version of the tulip module and it does not work, but compile this new module (compile options listed on last few lines of source code) and replace the old tulip module with the new one and you're off and surfing!

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Using IDE-Tape Drives

(contributed by Paul, edited)

First thing I did was

mt -f /dev/ht0 status

This reported some info about the drive [...]

I went on to play with tar to get that sorted out. Getting things to work with tar means to go through the MAN pages, and do a lot of trial and error. How it works with me:

tar --create --verbose -f /dev/ht0 [directory1] [directory2] [directory3]

This cleanly dumps all the directories that are listed on the tape. For now I have the --verbose option on. Since this is new for me, I want to be able to see what happens. To see what is on the tape, I found out that this works:

tar --list -f /dev/ht0

And to get something off the tape:

tar --extract -f /dev/ht0 [file]

I noted on this one, that [file] will be put back on disk, creating subdirectories at the spot on disk where you are.
So when I am in '/home/paul' and I do

tar --extract -f /dev/ht0 [dir/file]

that results in '/home/paul/[dir/file]'.

I am not yet clear on how to append data to an archive. Tar tells me that it expects -i, has something to do with blocks of zeroes that normally mean EOF).

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