Linux on a Compaq Contura 410

Technical Specifications

Type

Compaq Contura 410

Processor

486DX2 with 50 MHz

RAM

4 MB on System Board, 16 MB Expansion Module (non-Compaq)

Screen

9.5" Monochrome STN, 640*480

Disk

IBM Travelstar 6GN DBCA-206480, 6.4 GB
the original 250 MB died, and the FZ Jülich repair service installed this disk which is reported somehow different by:

Compaq Setup

Type 65, 1 cylinder, 15 heads, 63 sectors

Compaq Diagnostic

Type 65, 838 cylinder, 240 heads, 63 sectors

Linux 'cat /proc/ide/hda/geometry'

physical 13424/15/63
logical 839/240/63

but it works :-)

Network

3Com Etherlink III LAN PC Card (3C589D)

Linux Installation

Distribution

SuSE 6.3

Installation

via NFS (initial installation via FTP not possible, requires at least 32 MB RAM, once the system is installed FTP works too)

X server

XFree86 SVGA-server
NOTE: the WD90C24[A[2]] video chip must be chosen, otherwise the upper and the middle horizontal screen line are exchanged.
my XF86Config

Further Notes

• plan the disk partitioning carefully before doing anything, especially when setting up a dual boot system; the Compaq Diagnostic Partition is small, but it occupies one partition (out of only 4), and, it's not really needed, a floppy containing the diagnostic software does the job.
• choose the right video chip.
• for testing the memory, use an old memtest86 (e.g. 2.8) and set the upper address limit to 20M.