From: Peter Soderholm (helsod_at_algonet.se)
Date: Sat May 01 1999 - 15:51:00 EDT
Hi everybody !
I just wanted to say I finaly managed to install Solaris on my Thinkpad 760EL. I'd like to thank everybody who
helped me with different ideas around the problem of not being able to use the CD and FD at the same time.
The solution I used was a bit unorthodox. I managed to find an adapter for fitting the 2,5" drive in a desktop computer which had both CD and FD and installing it there. This was my old desktop at work which unfortunately wasnt terribly modern so it couldnt take my new 4G HD. I had to install the OS on a small 450 M HD left over from my old 755CD. After a lot of fiddeling with HD bios parameters as 32 bit access or not etc I managed to get the Solaris to install without crashing.
Then when I put it in the Thinkpad Solaris complained that the file system was all wrecked but it seems Solaris is quite happy to reinstall everything directly from the CD once you have gotten the boot image on the disk, so I did the installation all over again (it was only about the 5th time or so).
Solaris actually supports the Thinkpad 760EL (and ED and CD and a few other models), but there seem to be a bug in the graphics driver or something because x came up with vertical lines all over the screen which made it barely readable. I have heard that there are two different graphic chipsets for the EL, the Trident cyber 9385 and the 9320 (older version). It appears that mine have the 9385. MAybe the driver is for the other chip and thats why it doesn't work.
After a lot of trial and error I used the driver for the Thinkpad 365X which maybe is the same as for the EL. However it seems the striped screen thing does not happen if I am careful not to move the mouse pointer when x (CDE) is coming up.
The performanse of the 760EL seems surprisingly similar to my 40 MHz (!) Sparcstation 2. Maybe I will put them beside each other and let them race :-) (The Sparcstation has 64M and the EL only 32, memory seem to matter a lot with Solaris or the graphics at least).
Well, Solaris actually installs reasonably easy on the Thinkpad, but an external Floppy is needed ... almost, at least strongly recomended.
A little of the beauty with Solaris is lost though in my opinion from using Suns own hardware where installation is so much easier than with Linux for instance. The only thing easier to install than Solaris on a Sparc would be Win95 and I would say its a tie. The problem with the intel latform is mostly with to many drivers to write though....
best regards
Peter Soderholm
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