Tiny Core Linux
Tiny Core Base => TCB Q&A Forum => Topic started by: rodders on April 07, 2026, 07:22:04 AM
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Newbie here so be gentle.
I recently dug out an old laptop I've had for years and thought it would be nice to get linux up and running instead of the horrid Windows Me.
Its a Pentium MMX machine running at 166MHz with 64MB of RAM
TCL seemed to be the best candidate so I downloaded coreplus v17.0 and burned it to a CD with imgBurn.
The laptop can't natively boot from a CD so I also downloaded Plop which booted it just fine.
The problem is that whatever I select from the menu TCL fails to boot linux with "Kernel panic - not syncing: No working init found"
Could it be that the CD is corrupted (it verified OK) or is there something else going on?
Do I need to partition/format the HDD first?
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Hi rodders
Welcome to the forum.
... Do I need to partition/format the HDD first?
No, absolutely not.
... The problem is that whatever I select from the menu TCL fails to boot linux with "Kernel panic - not syncing: ...
It sounds like it's not finding the initrd (core.gz) which contains
the file system.
... No working init found" ...
There is a script called init in the root directory of the file system.
It's possible the CD is not visible as an actual device yet.
Try hitting Tab when the TCL menu comes up and adding:
waitusb=10to the line that contains the word quiet.
It's also possible Plop is not set up correctly. I've never used it but
I know some other members have. Maybe one of them will chime in.
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Thanks Rich,
It sounds like it's not finding the initrd (core.gz) which contains the file system.
Its finding core.gz ok and decompressing the kernel but it fails when trying to load vmlinuz
There is a script called init in the root directory of the file system.
It's possible the CD is not visible as an actual device yet.
I think you have hit the nail on the head, once it tries to load the kernel the CD indicator goes off so I'm guessing its lost the cdrom driver.
Try hitting Tab when the TCL menu comes up and adding:
waitusb=10to the line that contains the word quiet.
I did try that even though its not a USB CDROM drive (this machine is too old for USB) but it just delayed the inevitable.
It's also possible Plop is not set up correctly. I've never used it but
I know some other members have. Maybe one of them will chime in.
Plop is clearly enabling the cdrom drive to start with but its getting lost when trying to boot the kernel. I'll have a dig around and see if there is anything I can do to keep the cdrom driver loaded.
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Hi rodders
The kernel and core.gz are 2 separate things.
The kernel runs the show and gets loaded first. That's the vmlinuz file.
core.gz contains the file system (/bin, /dev, /etc, /home, /lib, ... ) and
gets unpacked by the kernel.
I wonder if you are running out of RAM. Try adding these boot codes:
base text nozswapand see if you get to a command prompt.
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I wonder if you are running out of RAM. Try adding these boot codes:
base text nozswapand see if you get to a command prompt.
If the kernel hasn't started init, then those boot codes won't have any effect yet. Using rootfs.gz without modules.gz instead of core.gz for the initramfs would reduce the required RAM, though I guess only core.gz is on the CD and you might need modules.gz to load extensions.
The cdrom driver shouldn't be needed to run init after the kernel is started, the rootfs containing init should have already been loaded in RAM along with the Linux kernel. Any errors or messages shown before "Kernel panic - not syncing: No working init found" after selecting from the CD boot menu might help narrow down the issue.
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Hi CNK
... If the kernel hasn't started init, then those boot codes won't have any effect yet. ...
You're right. Guess I didn't think that one through.
... Using rootfs.gz without modules.gz instead of core.gz for the initramfs would reduce the required RAM, ...
That's true. In that case I would definitely use:
base textso extensions don't get loaded.
... Any errors or messages shown before "Kernel panic - not syncing: No working init found" after selecting from the CD boot menu might help narrow down the issue.
He could do that by deleting quiet when the TCL menu comes up.
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I'll get a screen shot of the boot process. I don't think there is a quiet specified.
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Hi rodders
... I don't think there is a quiet specified.
When you boot, you should be presented with a screen that looks
similar (but not identical) to this:
(https://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=28093.0;attach=7233)
Using the up/down arrows, you can move the white bar to highlight
the version you want to boot.
Then, if you hit the Tab key, one of the editable lines displayed will
contain the word quiet.
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Sorry Rich but your image just come up as "Content not viewable in your region" but I know the screen you mean.
I selected the last item "Boot Core without embedded extensions with waitusb=5" and the results are in the attachment.
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Hi rodders
The image should now be visible to you.
Did you try hitting Tab and deleting the word quiet?
If you do that, some more error message may show up.
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Ah, I was using Core Plus. Would that make a difference?
As you can see from my image, there is no quiet keyword.
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Hi rodders
I checked the ISOs and they do not include quiet. It seems
the quiet option gets added during an installation.
Sorry for the confusion.
Try changing:
loglevel=3to:
loglevel=8
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I selected the last item "Boot Core without embedded extensions with waitusb=5" and the results are in the attachment.
I tried booting TC17 on my Pentium 1 PC with 80MB of RAM, where I also use Plop Boot Manager from a floppy to boot the CD. The boot messages looked the same as yours before the kernel panic, but mine boots up fine.
Perhaps there's a hardware issue that's causing it to read invalid data for core.gz? You could run MEMTEST86 to check for faulty RAM, or maybe something's wrong with the CD drive?
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Hi rodders
I checked the ISOs and they do not include quiet. It seems
the quiet option gets added during an installation.
Sorry for the confusion.
Try changing:
loglevel=3to:
loglevel=8
I tried that and got a lot more diagnostics but the same outcome. I've also tried running gparted 0.16.1 and have similar results. The menu comes up but when it tries to boot it hangs at "unpacking initramfs". I'm guessing there is some hardware issue as I can see a message about address conflict with video rom.
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I selected the last item "Boot Core without embedded extensions with waitusb=5" and the results are in the attachment.
I tried booting TC17 on my Pentium 1 PC with 80MB of RAM, where I also use Plop Boot Manager from a floppy to boot the CD. The boot messages looked the same as yours before the kernel panic, but mine boots up fine.
Perhaps there's a hardware issue that's causing it to read invalid data for core.gz? You could run MEMTEST86 to check for faulty RAM, or maybe something's wrong with the CD drive?
I've run a ram test and it is fine. I also tried installing plop into the MBR but with the same results. I don't think the issue is with the CD drive as it loads up the menu just fine.
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Hi rodders
... I tried that and got a lot more diagnostics but the same outcome. ...
The point of that was for you to share some of that new information
leading up to the failure.
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I realise that but how do I capture it?
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Hi rodders
The simplest way would be to slow down the display.
The following boot code will insert a delay between each message:
boot_delay=400
The delay time is in milliseconds. So 400 equals 0.4 seconds.
Since only you can see the screen, I'll leave it to you to decide
an appropriate delay time.
Maybe you can get a few clear pictures that way.
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I didn't have much luck slowing things down but I have managed to grab a few screen shots.
One thing that occurred to me was that this machine has no USB ports so I added nousb.
It seemed to get a bit further but was complaining about tsb being unstable so I added notsb.
I've attached a screenshot of the final result of this which I don't understand but may give a clue.
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Hi rodders
I didn't have much luck slowing things down ,,,
Are you saying "it did not slow down enough" or "it did not slow down"?
If it did not slow it down enough, try 0.75 seconds:
boot_delay=750or 1 second:
boot_delay=1000Or whatever time you feel comfortable with.
If it did not slow down, make sure you insert it on the "loglevel=" line
and do not add a carriage return. It must be one continuous line.
If you enter enough items, it will wrap around on the screen. That is
normal, but it is not a carriage return.
... this machine has no USB ports so I added nousb. ...
That is no longer a valid boot code. It was changed in kernel 4.5 to:
usbcore.nousb
... It seemed to get a bit further but was complaining about tsb being unstable so I added notsb. ...
There is no tsb. Maybe you meant:
notsc
... I've attached a screenshot of the final result of this which I don't understand but may give a clue.
Based on those messages, here are a few more to try on the "loglevel=" line:
intel_pstate=disable nomce clocksource=pit dis_ucode_ldr
And remember:
Spelling counts.
Punctuation counts.
Capitalization counts.
Get any of those wrong, and the kernel assumes that code is for
some other process and simply ignores it.
[Edit]: Corrected spelling. Changed intel_ipstate to intel_pstate. Rich
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I've attached a screenshot of the final result of this which I don't understand but may give a clue.
This line looks important:
/initrd.image: incomplete write (-28 != 1395228)
Error 28 corresponds to "ENOSPC" or "No space left on device". This probably means the kernel ran out of RAM when decompressing core.gz.
If you installed the boot files to the HDD from another PC you could try booting with just rootfs.gz or a remastered core.gz with some things removed. Alternatively you could do a HDD install (not officially supported) by unpacking the contents of core.gz to a partition on the HDD and booting to there with eg. "root=/dev/sda1" on the kernel command line.
That's all rather tricky though. Another option is to try booting a CD for an earlier Tiny Core Linux version, since core.gz gets slightly bigger for each release.
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Hi rodders
That reminds me, definitely add this one:
mem=nopentiumIt should help ease the memory requirements.
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Are you saying "it did not slow down enough" or "it did not slow down"?
It didn't seem to slow down at all, there were a couple of pauses but then it scrolled past just as quickly.
There is no tsb. Maybe you meant:
notsc
Indeed, slip of the finger...
Based on those messages, here are a few more to try on the "loglevel=" line:
intel_ipstate=disable nomce clocksource=pit dis_ucode_ldr
I tried all those but sadly, no joy :(
(I assumed you meant intel_pstate.)
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Hi rodders
That reminds me, definitely add this one:
mem=nopentiumIt should help ease the memory requirements.
Ah, I'll give that a go. Seems a bit un-intuitive since it is a Pentium machine.
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I've attached a screenshot of the final result of this which I don't understand but may give a clue.
This line looks important:
/initrd.image: incomplete write (-28 != 1395228)
Error 28 corresponds to "ENOSPC" or "No space left on device". This probably means the kernel ran out of RAM when decompressing core.gz.
If you installed the boot files to the HDD from another PC you could try booting with just rootfs.gz or a remastered core.gz with some things removed. Alternatively you could do a HDD install (not officially supported) by unpacking the contents of core.gz to a partition on the HDD and booting to there with eg. "root=/dev/sda1" on the kernel command line.
That's all rather tricky though. Another option is to try booting a CD for an earlier Tiny Core Linux version, since core.gz gets slightly bigger for each release.
Yes, I thought it sounded like it was running out of RAM.
An HDD install sounds tricky as you say but maybe a way forward, but an earlier release sounds sensible - any particular version you would recommend?
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Yes, I thought it sounded like it was running out of RAM.
An HDD install sounds tricky as you say but maybe a way forward, but an earlier release sounds sensible - any particular version you would recommend?
Not really, but core.gz in TC10 is significantly smaller, I expect it will work given that the current version works with 80MB RAM on my PC.
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Hi rodders
... (I assumed you meant intel_pstate.)
Touche. :) Look at that. I broke one of the rules I was trying to emphasize:
... Spelling counts. ...
Nice catch. Spelling has been corrected.
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Hi rodders
... Ah, I'll give that a go. Seems a bit un-intuitive since it is a Pentium machine.
mem=nopentium [BUGS=X86-32] Disable usage of 4MB pages for kernel memory.It forces the kernel to revert to 4KB pages instead.
You could also try telling the kernel how much RAM you
have in case it's not seeing all of it:
mem=64M
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Hi rodders
Give TC10 a try. See if it behaves any better.
Also, what is the make and model of the laptop?
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Give TC10 a try. See if it behaves any better.
The mem options didn't work so I burned a CD with TC10 and hooray, it manages to boot but only to a TC@BB prompt.
Digging around a bit I can see that the CDROM drive is not recognised - I can't mount it manually either.
I think this has been the root of the problem all along. Once it gets to booting the kernel it loses access to the CD with obvious consequences.
The CD drive isn't supported by the BIOS (SiS) which is why I'm using Plop. Clearly Plop can see the drive but TC isn't.
I'm a bit stumped as to where to go from here though, a command line is OK but I either need to get the CD working or a network connection (PCMCIA card) to load any more software.
Also, what is the make and model of the laptop?
Its a pretty generic 'Notebook', probably Kapok or Clevo, Model 8200AT
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Hi rodders
This is the information I found on the Kapok 8200:
https://macdat.net/laptops/kapok/8200.php
https://macdat.net/files/pdf/clevo/user_manuals/kapok_8200.pdf
and it doesn't seem to match your description.
The 8200 has a 486, 20MB RAM max, and no CD.
... I burned a CD with TC10 and hooray, it manages to boot but only to a TC@BB prompt. ...
Good, that's a start.
Which TC10 ISO did you use? Core, CorePlus, or TinyCore?
Which menu entry did you select?
Since you have a command line, we can try to get more information
from the system. First we want Linux to recognize your floppy so you
can copy information instead of manually typing it.
See if it already detected the floppy:
grep '/dev/fd' /etc/fstabIf grep doesn't give a response, then do this:
sudo modprobe floppy
sudo rebuildfstab
grep '/dev/fd' /etc/fstabGrep should print something like this:
/dev/fd0 /mnt/fd0 auto noauto,users,exec,umask=000 0 0 # Added by TC
If that doesn't show up, try mounting the disk like this:
sudo mkdir /mnt/fd0
sudo mount -t auto /dev/fd0 /mnt/fd0
if it did show up, you can mount like this:
mount /mnt/fd0
Then run:
busybox lsmod | head -n 1 > lsmod.txt; busybox lsmod | tail -n +2 | sort >> lsmod.txt
dmesg > dmesg.txt
free -m > free.txt
for F in `ls /etc/sysconfig/`; do printf "$F = $(cat /etc/sysconfig/$F)\n" >> sysconfig.txt ;done 2>/dev/nullCopy lsmod.txt, dmesg.txt, free.txt, and sysconfig.txt to your floppy and attach
the files to your next post.
Don't forget to umount your floppy before removing it:
umount /mnt/fd0
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Hi Rich
This is the information I found on the Kapok 8200:
Doh! I have to stop relying on my memory, its a 6200AT!
Which TC10 ISO did you use? Core, CorePlus, or TinyCore?
Which menu entry did you select?
I used CorePlus and tried a few, including the base with no extensions
See if it already detected the floppy:
It didn't detect it, I'll try mounting it and get those files.
Do you think there is any mileage in the sbpcd option? The drive is a Teac CD-220E and I understand the SBP driver may support it.
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Hi rodders
6200 makes more sense:
https://www.macdat.net/laptops/kapok/6000.php
https://www.macdat.net/files/pdf/clevo/service_manuals/6200.pdf
https://www.macdat.net/files/pdf/clevo/service_manuals/6200a.pdf
... Do you think there is any mileage in the sbpcd option? The drive is a Teac CD-220E and I understand the SBP driver may support it.
That driver is for CDs connected to SoundBlaster cards.
Is your CD connected to a SoundBlaster card?
Personally, I hoping the dmesg.txt file will provide some useful
information on your hardware and required drivers.
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Hi Rich
... Do you think there is any mileage in the sbpcd option? The drive is a Teac CD-220E and I understand the SBP driver may support it.
That driver is for CDs connected to SoundBlaster cards.
Is your CD connected to a SoundBlaster card?
Hmm, I was grasping at straws to try to understand why the CD wasn't being recognised and found this: http://slackware.uk/slackware/slackware-3.6/docs/linux-2.0.35/cdrom/sbpcd which mentions Teac CD drives and that 'no-sound' cards are supported. I've since learned that my CD-220E is an IDE drive anyway, so its irrelevant.
Personally, I hoping the dmesg.txt file will provide some useful
information on your hardware and required drivers.
I've attached the files you asked for. Getting them was complicated by the fact I have a UK keyboard and with it set for US keymaps no keys will produce | or \ !
I've looked through the dmesg file and can't see anything glaringly obvious but I suspect there is something going on in the IDE section but it will need more experieiced eyes than mine.
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Hi rodders
I'd like you to change this part of the boot command:
loglevel=8 cdeto this:
loglevel=8 noacpi libata.dma=0 cde
If it still boots, run these commands and post the resulting files:
dmesg > dmesg.txt
ls -l /mnt > mnt.txt
I think your laptop has a Zoom Telephonics Inc. sound card.
... I have a UK keyboard and with it set for US keymaps no keys will produce | or \ ! ...
Thanks for pointing that out. If I need any commands with those keys
in the future, I will attach a script to run them for you.
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Hi rodders
I'd like you to change this part of the boot command:
loglevel=8 cdeto this:
loglevel=8 noacpi libata.dma=0 cde
If it still boots, run these commands and post the resulting files:
dmesg > dmesg.txt
ls -l /mnt > mnt.txt
I think your laptop has a Zoom Telephonics Inc. sound card.
... I have a UK keyboard and with it set for US keymaps no keys will produce | or \ ! ...
Thanks for pointing that out. If I need any commands with those keys
in the future, I will attach a script to run them for you.
Files attached. I'm afraid they are not going to help much, the diffs seem to be just timing and size differences.
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Hi rodders
I'm afraid it doesn't look good. I've done some searching
and I've only found 2 or 3 references with regard to installing
Linux on a Kapok 6200 or similar. The results were not promising.
... I'm afraid they are not going to help much, the diffs seem to be just timing and size differences.
You are correct. The new dmesg showed no change.
The fact that it detects neither the HDD or CD is a bad sign.
It's possible no kernel drivers exist for some of the hardware.
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Well its beginning to look like a lost cause.
Thanks for all your help Rich.
I am intrigued though how Plop manages to access the HDD and CD. Frustrating!
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Sorry for getting into your conversation, but what I see in the dmesg log it says that the there are dma collision and I also see that the pata driver fallsback to PIO mode.
pata_acpi 0000:00:01.1: BMDMA: BAR4 is zero, falling back to PIOI will suggest you to take a look at the BIOS setting, to see if you could change this behaviur.
I have seen some BIOS that you could reset the PNP settings, for like old days when you have to set jumpers for IO Base,IRQ, and DMA Address.
And for old computers that not having a working battery, some times you have to get into bios settings, just enter the bios settings and then save & exit, that will save a correct values in the nvram. Because the nvram has corrupt values.
Also do you have any pci cards more than the build in?
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Hi rodders
... I am intrigued though how Plop manages to access the HDD and CD. Frustrating!
Plop was designed to deal with booting older troublesome devices.
Linux does support a lot of hardware, but if your device didn't have
many people try to run Linux on it, support for your device might
not exist.
As patrikg suggested, you could look through the BIOS.
First of all, get a pad and pen to make notes of any changes in case
you need to undo any of them.
Look for entries dealing with CD, HDD, and sound card.
BIOSs used to let you select things like uDMA, DMA33, and PIO.
Select one of the simpler slower PIO modes.
If you see any specialized settings, like something that ties the CD
to a sound card, disable it.
Any settings designed to optimize performance, disable it.
One other setting I seem to remember. It referred to which
operating system you were using. If it's present, see if that
makes a difference.
And finally, take notes in case you need to undo any changes.
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If you boot a system information tool like AIDA16, such as from The Ultimate Boot CD (https://www.ultimatebootcd.com/), it might tell you the model of chipset for the PCI bus and the IDE controller. Then you could look them up (https://linux-hardware.org/?view=search) to see if Linux actually has a driver, or whether there might be a driver in earlier versions of Linux which has since been removed.
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As patrikg suggested, you could look through the BIOS.
Unfortunately the BIOS is very basic with no options to tweak the IDE settings, it doesn't even recognise the CDROM drive.
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If you boot a system information tool like AIDA16, such as from The Ultimate Boot CD (https://www.ultimatebootcd.com/), it might tell you the model of chipset for the PCI bus and the IDE controller. Then you could look them up (https://linux-hardware.org/?view=search) to see if Linux actually has a driver, or whether there might be a driver in earlier versions of Linux which has since been removed.
Its an SiS chipset and its the SiS 5103 that handles IDE. Not sure how to find out if that's supported with a driver.
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If you boot a system information tool like AIDA16, such as from The Ultimate Boot CD (https://www.ultimatebootcd.com/), it might tell you the model of chipset for the PCI bus and the IDE controller. Then you could look them up (https://linux-hardware.org/?view=search) to see if Linux actually has a driver, or whether there might be a driver in earlier versions of Linux which has since been removed.
Its an SiS chipset and its the SiS 5103 that handles IDE. Not sure how to find out if that's supported with a driver.
Looks like there is (https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/ata/pata_sis.c)/was (https://android.xilinx.googlesource.com/kernel/goldfish/+/refs/heads/mirror-aosp-deprecated-android-4.4-p/drivers/ide/sis5513.c) a driver for the SiS 5513 IDE controller, but no mention of it or anything else working for the SiS 5103. There probably aren't any drivers for Linux then, unfortunately.
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reviewed:
https://www.macdat.net/laptops/kapok/6000.php
and i seem to remember having trouble with machines utilizing "SiS" and "Trident" chips(don't remember the specifics as it was 10+ years ago, sorry)