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TabletPC Triple-Booting and a Love-Triangle of Virtualized OSes


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I have discussed this project in detail at tabletpcreview.com, so here is the link to the full-length forum entry:

 

http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/showthread.php?t=7928

 

Here is the synopsis, consisting of the first and last posts:

 

First post:

 

I bought an M7 with Intel GMA950 on eBay pretty cheap because it was slightly damaged. ($800, although I missed out on one already with nVidia graphics for $860, but the unit was heavily used [not damaged ] and wouldn't use PayPal, although I wouldn't have paid tax)

 

Specs:

1.66 GHz Core Duo

512 MB 533 mHz RAM

No HD or HD bracket

DVD burner

Standard battery

 

Mods already made:

 

*2 GB RAM at 667 mHz added. [$80 on Newegg; G.Skill: cheap, stable, fast]

*60 GB 5400 RPM HD added. [$40 on eBay; used unit bought a while ago]

 

Mods to be made:

 

-Purchased:

*Intel WiFi to be swapped with IBM (Atheros of course ) 802.11n card (awaiting security torx driver from eBay to remove old card; needed for OS X WiFi and wireless-n) [$80 for card, $6 for torx set]

*Base replaced because original was cracked near battery slot [$20 on eBay]

*Hard drive bracket [$9 on eBay]

*Media buttons from the Satellite R20/ R25 [$30 on eBay, purchased with trackpad in case current one gets damaged or worn out; hopefully this will work despite possibly different mobos]

*2.00 GHz C2D to be swapped from my CX210X (currently my "production convertible tablet," and the "ideal" jump to 2.33 gHz is simply too expensive and don't even mention Santa Rosa ; besides, does anyone know of a multiple-battery docking-equipped discrete graphics 14" convertible with Santa Rosa? Didn't think so.)

 

-Soon to be purchased:

*New motherboard with nVidia NVS Quadro 110 (have serial number for such a unit from a guy on eBay so that Toshiba's parts distributors will let me order the part) [$450-$510, ouch]

*GPU heatsink and 2 necessary screws (also to be ordered this week) [$13-$30, unsure which part is really needed]

*Bluetooth module to be added after market [$99]

*Port replicator for DVI (woohoo) [$100 on eBay]

*Slice battery [$150: very expensive through Toshiba website; GROAN]

*WiFi and Bluetooth antennae [$? probably on eBay; I don't know if I will succeed, but I need one antenna for Bluetooth and one additional for wireless-n; is anyone willing to sell me theirs or tell me how to install? I'd also like to add the third wireless-n antenna to my CX210X]

*Seagate Momentus 7200 RPM 160 GB HD [$100 to $160, unsure; is it even available yet?]

 

 

*How I plan to proceed*

 

-WiFi swap is a piece of cake once I receive the torx set (I hope madwifi drivers will be available for Linux and my chipset if they aren't already)

 

-Ditto for the hard drive bracket

 

-For base and Media Buttons, hardware install is also simple because I have a SERVICE MANUAL bought online for $5. Toshiba will not release these for any price, and neither will their service centers. If you PM me, I will e-mail it to you for free. It is 5 MB and 430 pages in PDF, with about 130 detailed instructions referring to disassembly. I am not brave enough to disassemble my screen, so I don't know what it says about wireless/bluetooth antennae. I think finding appropriate drivers (hopefully for Vista from the Toshiba support website for the R25) will be most difficult. I know the BIOS is the same across both units, as is disassembly. I am especially glad to be making this mod as I slightly damaged the original button array under the cover while disassembling the unit. I now know how to do that safely.

 

-While the above is the only real "mod," swapping out the mobo to get a NVS 110 will be most difficult. Selecting the correct part is the first challenge. While the service manual (see above) proves the mobos are interchangeable, the part is expensive and I don't want to screw up. I also know they are interchangeable because the GMA950 board has holes and traces visible for the Quadro. (haha, there is even an insulator for the heatsink onboard for a chipset that can never be installed ) I also don't want to break connectors, strip screws, snap brackets, etc. I will definitely be needing every disassembly page in that manual. I will also be buying a heatsink and the necessary 2X bind screws. I can't find a separate part number for the bracket that holds it in place, so I hope it's included. Otherwise I may be buying a slew of cheap replacement parts redundant for my system because the PNs don't have good descriptions. I will be needing Arctic Silver thermal paste which I already have. Please, do wish me luck.

 

*The reasons I'm making this crazy mod*

 

I have a CX210X which I love, (see my other posts) but I can't get it working properly (to my satisfaction) with OS X, and the Finepoint digitizer kind of sucks. So does the low resolution.

 

I love operating systems. My goal is to triple-boot OS X, (see osx86project.org and Demonoid) a recent distro of Linux with Beryl and simultaneous 3D support, (Ubuntu looks like my best option assuming I don't have the same problem with 1440x900 support that I had with the GMA950 mobo) and Windows Vista. (I get Business for free here at Yale, but maybe I'll eventually swing for/obtain Ultimate)

 

I have succeeded last week with all three! Maybe once I get everything working to my satisfaction I will post a guide, bu the short of it is that I used Acronis Boot Selector (the latest versions support Vista) and the Uphuck 1.3 build of OS X 10.4.9 with 8.9.1 kernel. Vista worked flawlessly. (obviously; especially after I made the RAM upgrade) OpenSUSE also worked well, but here are my remaining problems:

 

-Wacom tablet is not enabled by default, and doing so breaks Sax's monitor adjustment windows

-Beryl is tough on OpenSUSE

-64-bit (for when I switch to C2D) is patchy

-I can't prevent more and more virtual keyboard from popping up every time I reboot

-Volume control doesn't work, in software or hardware

-Haven't tried rotation yet

-Changing brightness crashes Xorg when using i810 drivers

 

I tried Ubuntu, but here is my one horrible problem:

 

-Despite hours of effort and i915resolution packages and xorg.conf editing, I can't get 1440x900 resolution

-Haven't tried rotation or brightness changing yet

 

I also got OS X 10.4.9 (8.9.1 kernel and latest security updates) running properly with digitizer support using a .plist edit and TabletMagic on SourceForge. Yes, it works with Ink too. I have C2D support, resolution changing and graphics acceleration, battery support, support for the Atheros card I will soon install, Parallels and VMWare Fusion sort of work but Boot Selector throws them off, support for SpeedStep, and the general beauty of a lovely OS X system. Here are my remaining problems:

 

-No standby/hibernate suppport

-Can't boot installer CD without disabling second core in BIOS

-Kernel panics 50% of the time at startup (unless second core is disabled)

-No brightness-changing settings

-Unsure of how effective power management is in OS X

-Unsure of best BIOS settings to mimic Mac hardware (basically a MacBook or to some extent a MacBook Pro)

 

*Additional Info*

 

Please let me know if you guys want a walkthrough. Maybe you guys want photos/screenshots too. I will probably write one anyway. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know! I'm pretty tech-savvy, but we all make mistakes.

 

I plan to get Fusion and Parallels working with Vista and Linux (for the hell of it) by putting Boot Selector on its own partition. I can then select individual partitions in both apps. (I'm still working on how to do it in Fusion, but I'm sure it's possible) I may also create a storage partition in FAT32 accessible to all 3 OSes. Maybe I'd use ext3/NTFS/HFS+ (higher single-file capacity) if I could verify ext3 editing in Windows, NTFS editing in Linux, or HFS+ editing in Linux.

 

I hope you guys think this project is cool. (if expensive) I know I sure as hell do. I dread getting this all to work with OS X 10.5 again when it finally comes out in the fall. I know I'm missing rotate support in OS X, but frankly I really don't care. I'm also missing fingerprint and hard-drive shock support in OS X and Linux, but largely I don't care. I may investigate once I get everything else working.

 

*My ethos*

 

I don't really care about the Mac vs. Windows vs. Linux debate. I like all three for very different reasons. I enjoy using all three, and discovering how well and how poorly they interact with one another. I can tell you it was very cool using VNC from Linux to access Mac, OS X, and Windows installs on a desktop via wireless. I also accessed Windows, MacOS, and Linux via VNC from a Windows install. I also accessed Windows, MacOS, and Linux via VNC on a MacOS install. I Intend to be able to run three OSes simultaneously (hopefully with virtualization support and accelerated graphics) through Fusion/Parallels at some point. I can run various forms of MS Office on all three. I can run graphics-accelerated Google Earth on all three. I can run Firefox and the Mozilla Suite on all three. I can run VNC on all three. I can run Adobe CS3 on Mac and Windows, both with pressure sensitivity. I can't tell you how cool it is to be navigating your iTunes collection with a pen in OS X for a shared library located on your desktop in another city via Hamachi and iTunes running on two different OSes. Technology rocks. (when it works) Let's be honest: how crazy are the possibilities? How much time can I possibly waste (tongue in cheek) pursuing the "perfect" tablet given what the market has available to begin with?

 

Last Post:

 

So I'm really not going to get any sleep tonight, but whatever. I did it. I ran Vista and SuSE simultaneously both off independent partitions in Mac OS X 10.4.9 on a Toshiba TabletPC. There are many caveats and problems one can run into.

 

Vista handles changing resolutions and video cards between reboots fairly well, but Linux does not. Also, Parallels will only boot from active partitions, so you have to use fdisk to activate one, boot that OS, then activate the other, and then boot that one. The same goes for shutting down: otherwise your guest OS will lock up.

 

I was able to get my Intel GMA950 working properly again in Linux since I switched to VESA. However, I hosed my internet connection in OS X. This is more likely due to my messing around with the WIFI card. Also, VMWare Fusion refuses to work right now as well. I didn't set up the custom config properties, and the Boot Camp option gives some error about how I modified the disk. Funny, that's what happens in a Boot Camp setup....

 

I hope y'all like. I'm now trying to figure out why I did all this. Maybe I can get some overlapping 3D acceleration next if/when I do get that nVidia motherboard. Or fix sound. Hopefully the new Uphuck DVD release this week will fix some of my OS X problems. Maybe I'll boot OS X and Linux off of physical partitions in Vista, but that seems to easy. I guess I could do the same from Linux. That would be one nasty love triangle, but I think OS X would hate switching video drivers worst of all the OSes. Maybe someone else has expertise in this field.

 

Photos are at tabletpcreview.com!

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A refreshing statement. You're not alone.

 

I really have to poke fun at the fact that you're still using Win2000 though. Any reasons? I'm no Vista/XP fanboy, but each new OS does seem to be very slightly better than the last.

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I do have and use WinXP/Vista somewhere else. Vista was even on this machine to test a fix for the previous build of Acronis OS Selector (to force it to recognize Vista).

But for my personal needs, on this particular machine, I still find Win2k to be sufficient to the task, no less than WinXP.

Of course, support for Win2k is now minimal, and will be eventually nonexistent. I'll tough it as long as is possible on that machine.

 

I'll eventually end up with Vista (or another future OS, possibly a legit OSXI or OSXII if available on a generic pc :P ) and dump Win2k, for lack of proper drivers, or for some serious security issues (without fixes from MS).

 

It's just my minimalist way... :)

 

(fyi, I didn't hesitate one bit to jump from win98se to win2k: no contest there!)

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