As soon as i logged in i saw over 500 updates but loosing 2 operating systems was not enough Checking Sabayon website i found a new version, 4.2.
I decided to download the ISO before starting to update 500 packages because i was almost sure something will go wrong.

And it went!

As usual, the graphic card didn’t work and wireless was down with no chance to download ATI driver for the 2.6.29 kernel. Open source driver didn’t work either so, i was in front of a “dead” laptop.

After half an hour, Sabayon 4.2 was installed.

What did work?
Graphics.
Now, when i use Compiz, MPlayer is not flickering anymore and also, other OpenGL apps are working too.

Sound didn’t work but the fix from this post worked.
CPU wasn’t set to “ondemand” so i had to apply the fix from this post.
Microphone didn’t work either … still muted by default so, i had to use aslamixer to switch to “Front Mic” and raise the sliders.

After a friend gave me an UTP cable, i was able to fix the touchscreen and fix the wireless by installing the latest broadcom-sta driver. Unfortunately at work every minute i was disconnected from AP.

I installed wicd and … nothing. It was a problem with DHCP because wicd was stuck in “Obtaining IP address…”

After checking wicd website i found a new version of wicd, not available in Sabayon repository. I had nothing to loose so, i decided to install it:

maya ~ # /etc/init.d/wicd stop
maya ~ # killall wicd-client
maya ~ # equo remove wicd
maya ~ # equo install bzr
maya ~ # bzr branch lp:wicd
maya ~ # cd wicd
maya ~ # python setup.py configure
maya ~ # python setup.py install
maya ~ # /etc/init.d/wicd start
maya ~ # rc-update add wicd default

Reboot is not necessary. As user just start wicd-client and connect.
Everything worked after. At home & work.

Other thing that didn’t work was suspend. Unfortunately, the fix from this post didn’t work so, after digging on Internet i found the fix on Ubuntu forums. Just add “i8042.nomux i8042.reset” at the end of the line starting with “kernel” in your /boot/grub/menu.lst

title Sabayon Linux (kernel-genkernel-x86_64-2.6.29-sabayon)
	root (hd0,5)
	kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86_64-2.6.29-sabayon
root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk=8192
real_root=UUID=f77ff3dc-6212-4294-a148-c39d4b87aab2
dolvm init=/linuxrc splash=silent,theme:sabayon vga=791
CONSOLE=/dev/tty1 quiet resume=swap:/dev/sda5
real_resume=swap:/dev/sda5
i8042.nomux i8042.reset
	initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86_64-2.6.29-sabayon
	savedefault

Suspend is working with compiz activated too.

Soon Sabayon 5 will be out and i’ll have to start all over again as ~1000 packages to be upgraded will most likely break something

By the way, SSH FS is really awesome

Not a good idea. In fact, when i play with distro’s like Sabayon which include the latest packages i always expect something to go wrong after a big update. This time wasn’t different.

Next step, Wacom driver (tutorial will come soon). Super, working from first attempt.

After the first reboot (i wanted to see if everything works fine), my wireless stopped working. Somehow strange. I couldn’t connect to my wireless router but i was able to connect to other routers.

I decided to reinstall the wireless driver (using wired connection):

equo remove broadcom-sta
equo install broadcom-sta

Bingo!!! I asked for a new driver not a new kernel but as i like new things, i take the kernel too. Download, install, everything went fine.

Reboot… noo, not again!!!
Complete hang up this time.

Reboot in safe mode, check the logs, X didn’t start because of the ati driver was missing (of course, new kernel).

equo install ati-driver

Recompile && install Wacom driver, reboot … super, i have X now!

Wireless? I’m not that lucky.
The same problem like before.

Digging on forums i (finally) found the problem: some NetworkManager bugs.
Solution?

Wicd.

equo install wicd
equo remove nm-applet
rc-update del NetworkManager default
rc-update add wicd default
reboot

After reboot, wicd-client did a great job.
I have wireless now but not enough time to write the Wacom (touchscreen stylus and eraser) tutorial. For this one you will have to come back in a few days.

What worked out of the box?

1. Wired network (RTL8111/8168B)
2. Accelerated graphics (ATI Radeon HD 3200)
3. CPU Scaling (AMD Turion X2 64, RM-70)

What didn’t? Long list!!!

1. Suspend/Hibernate
2. Digitizer (Wacom Penabled – touchscreen and pen)
3. Sound (ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia – Intel HDA)
4. Microphone
5. Wireless (Broadcom BCM4322 rev 01)
6. Screen rotation
7. Remote control
8. All the keys around the screen (multimedia, DVD, Q)
9. … and, probably many more things i coudn’t find in one day.

I started to dig on internet and Ubuntu forums are a gold mine.
I found fast the fix for Audio and Wireless.

Audio

Modify

/etc/modprobe.d/alsa

and add the following lines:

options snd-cmipci mpu_port=0x330 fm_port=0x3888
options snd-hda-intel index=0 model=toshiba position_fix=1

After run this command:

update-modules

and reboot or you can wait and reboot after you fix wireless.

Wireless

Ndiswrapper didn’t work, opensource driver didn’t work, b43-fwcutter didn’t work.
Lucky, Broadcom released some time ago a proprietary driver for my chipset so, here we are. Posting using wireless.

Install proprietary driver:

equo install broadcom-sta

Modify/create /etc/conf.d/local.start and add:

/sbin/modprobe wl 

and make local.start executable with chmod +x /etc/conf.d/local.start

Reboot after.

With wireless network working i will search for other fixes. Most important, the microphone followed by the touchscreen. Until then the first step is Desktop customization: a better conky script, AWN, a new theme or at least a new background.

A few screenshots.

Fresh Sabayon install with a few customizations and already a bug: conky doesn’t recognize all variables. Anyway i have to modify the script so, hopefully i will find a fix.

CPU Scaling applet and conky running

Fresh install

51 updates, 820Mb to download one week after release

51 updates, 820Mb download