Last updated 15 January 2009. I no longer have this laptop, so this post will not be updated again.
Story
After using Xubuntu for awhile, I went back to DSL because it was quieter and lighter. I missed having suspend, however, b/c DSL is kernel 2.4.
In early January 2009, I stumbled onto Tiny Core Linux. Like DSL, it's small, but smaller and bare bones (10 MB download). TC runs completely from RAM, which is fast & silent. Works well for me.
The notes below are probably still useful, but I don't use my Evo N410c anymore. The hard drive crashed in early 2009, and I decided to invest in a new laptop instead of a new drive. I hope these notes will still be helpful.
Install to USB Stick w/o the CD
I wrote my results in the TC wiki. You can read it there.
Atheros-based PCMCIA Wireless
TC doesn't have madwifi support right out of the box, but I don't mind. The madwifi drivers do indeed work. I read a great forum thread about building the modules from source, and then summarized that in a short page at the TC wiki.
Suspend to RAM
As with other distros, I had to muck around to get suspend to work. Not a problem, though. For my hardware:
- Download suspend.tce and cpufreq.tcel. Put them where TC can find/load them at boot (/tce)
- Read about s2ram - Special thanks to Juanito for the advice.
- Pass
vga=0to the kernel using GRUB's menu.lst (disable framebuffer) - Suspend with:
sudo s2ram -f -p
The last step is the same as sudo s2ram --force --vbe_post.
July 2009 Note: eventually, I did manage to get hibernate & suspend working reliably. The time it takes to do either one is about the same as to reboot, though - very little advantage! Before I stopped using this laptop, I decided that it wasn't quick enough for me. I posted my results to the TC forum - you can search for them there.
