Laptop Dell Latitude D610 Step-by-step

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Use http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/daily-builds/daily/arch-latest/i386/iso-cd/debian-testing-i386-netinst.iso
Be sure the laptop is connected to the network
Type "expert24" at Lilo prompt
When nothing is said below, always use the default choice
For country, choose Belgium (will be used for timezone)
Choose another hostname than the default "debian"
For Debian archive mirror, if you are a Leuven colleague, use our internal mirror :-)
- Enter information manually
- hera:9999
- debian version: testing
Partition disks
- Choose to erase entire disk (if you wanted to keep the Windows stuff, see LinuxInstall how to use ntfsresize from a Knoppix)
- Write the changes? Say YES
Kernel to choose: the newest 2.6, here it was linux-image-2.6.12-1-386
- Important: Keep default choice of initramfs-tools as yaird can be used only if we had booted already with a 2.6 kernel
Use non-free software: it's up to you...
If you are behind a proxy not yet configured because you used a local mirror, you will get a "Debian security" error, don't worry we'll fix that later
Video modes: doesn't matter, X will fail and we will install our own config later
I got frozen at 95% with "Installed Gnome" message displayed
- I killed the process /usr/bin/perl -w /usr/share/debconf/frontend ...
Reboot: Kernel Panic
- Don't panic :-) This is because 2.4 kernel emulated IDE over the SATA and referenced the root partition as /dev/hdaX
- Enter the Grub editor (e) and change on the kernel line (e) /dev/hdaX into /dev/sdaX, then boot (b)
X fails
- we'll login in text mode for now
Fix the /dev/hda -> /dev/sda issues (very important!)
- Edit /etc/fstab and change all /dev/hda to /dev/sda and /dev/hdc to /dev/sdc
- Edit /boot/menu.lst and change /dev/hdaX to /dev/sdaX on the line # kopt=root=/dev/hdaX ro
- Run update-grub
Edit /etc/apt/sources.list
- For Leuven colleagues:

 deb http://hera:9999/security/ etch/updates main non-free contrib
 deb http://hera:9999/debian/ etch main non-free contrib
 deb http://hera:9999/debian/ sid main non-free contrib
 # Only if you plan to recompile some packages (kernel compil does not require this)
 deb-src http://hera:9999/debian/ etch main non-free contrib
 deb-src http://hera:9999/debian/ sid main non-free contrib

If you added sid(unstable) but want to work mainly with etch(testing), edit/create /etc/apt/apt.conf with:

 # Use testing even if you said etch in the sources.list!!
 APT::Default-Release "testing";

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade (we should be already up-to-date except for some possible security updates)
Install a new kernel with atapi enabled for sata: (do the following in this order!)
- echo "options libata atapi_enabled=1" > /etc/modprobe.d/libata
- apt-get install linux-image-2.6.15-1-686
- Reboot and skip X server failure messages
Get X
- apt-get install xfree86-driver-synaptics (maybe it is already there)
- wget http://home.comcast.net/canez/d610/xorg.conf
  For Leuven: prepend the line with http_proxy=http://proxy:8080
- mv xorg.conf /etc/X11
- /etc/init.d/gdm restart
  Enjoy!
Avoid the screen remaining black when closed/opened:
- apt-get install acpi acpid vbetool
- Create /etc/acpi/events/backlight with the following content: (keep it as exactly 2 lines)

 event=button[ /]lid
 action=[[ "$(cat /proc/acpi/button/lid/LID/state)" == *open ]] && { vt=$(fgconsole);chvt 15;vbetool post;sleep 1;chvt $vt; }

If you want it to take effect before reboot, run: /etc/init.d/acpid reload
If you prefer, you can also run the proposed script backlight_install.sh from DebianLaptop, select "vbepost"

Misc

Next items are of less importance, still nice to have:

Avoid whissling sound
- Add to the kernel lines the argument idle=halt in /boot/grub/menu.lst:
  # kopt=root=/dev/sdaX idle=halt ro
- Run update-grub
Use a CPU governor to reduce average CPU speed when idle:
- apt-get install sysfsutils cpufrequtils
- Add to /etc/sysfs.conf
  devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor=ondemand
- If you want it to take effect before reboot:
  /etc/init.d/loadcpufreq start
Use laptop_mode to reduce HD load
- apt-get install laptop-mode-tools hdparm (this requires also acpid which we installed before)
- If you want it to take effect before reboot: /etc/init.d/acpid reload
To get wireless card working:
- Go to http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/firmware.php and download the latest firmware
- Unpack and move the ipw-* files to /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware
- If you want it to take effect before reboot:
  modprobe -r ipw2200
  modprobe ipw2200
- To use the card, pay attention there is a "hardware" switch with the Fn+F1 combination, iwconfig displays "radio off" when the radio is deactivated
To avoid the surprise to boot one day with eth0 being the wireless and eth1 the wired:
- apt-get install ifrename
- Create /etc/iftab with for example
  ETH* driver tg3
  WLAN* driver ipw2200
- (You could choose whatever other names for the interfaces except eth0/eth1 as you cannot rename eth0 into eth1 while eth1 exists already...)
- Edit /etc/network/interfaces and replace all eth0 by ETH0
- Now wired is ETH0 and wireless is WLAN0
  To rename the wi-fi each time you load manually the module (if you plan to do so), create /etc/modprobe.d/ipw2200 with the following line (one line):
  install ipw2200 /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install ipw2200; ifrename
- If you want it to take effect before reboot:
  ifdown eth0
  ifrename
  ifup ETH0
To enable DHCP only when a cable is plugged and avoid DHCP timeout when booting unplugged:
- apt-get install ifplugd
- dpkg-reconfigure ifplugd
  Static interfaces: ETH0
- Edit /etc/network/interfaces and comment or remove the stanza "auto ETH0" as now ifplugd will take care of it.
- You can try unplugging your cable, after 10s you'll lose your IP, plug again and you will get it back quickly.
To enable WPA on the wireless card:
- apt-get install wpasupplicant
- Edit /etc/wpa_supplicant and add a section for your network, cf /usr/share/doc/wpasupplicant/examples
- Edit /etc/default/wpasupplicant
  ENABLED=1
  OPTIONS="-w -i WLAN0 -D wext -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf"
- Edit /etc/default/ifplugd
  INTERFACES="ETH0 WLAN0"
- Edit /etc/network/interfaces
  iface WLAN0 inet dhcp
To be able to use the volume keys:
- apt-get install hotkey-setup
- gnome-keybindings-properties (launched as normal user!)
  Associate the 3 volume keys with the appropriate actions
To hear something when the volume is up :-) -> ALSA
- apt-get install alsa-base alsa-utils alsa-oss gnome-alsamixer
- alsaconf (if gnome volume dies, leave it like that till the end of alsaconf then reload it)
- You can try with e.g. aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav
- Create the file /etc/asound.conf as shown in DebianAlsa
- apt-get install esound-clients libesd-alsa0 (this will replace libesd0, don't worry about warnings)
- Edit /etc/esound/esd.conf and set auto_spawn=1
- gnome-sound-properties (as normal user): be sure "Enable sound server startup" is UNchecked, we don't want it as with auto_spawn it will be launched automatically
To have suspend-to-ram working
- You need to patch and recompile your own kernel
- see Laptop Dell Latitude D610

Attempt to directly boot with a 2.6 kernel

DOES NOT WORK YET with 19-01-2006 snapshot (tg3 module fails):

Type "expert" at Lilo prompt
When nothing is said below, always use the default choice
If at first try, the cdrom is not recognised (this is visible also form the console: dmesg|grep ata2 shows "ATAPI is disabled"), then reboot and follow this first step:
- At first screen ("Choose language"), go to the console: <alt-F2> then <enter>
- modprobe -r ahci ata_piix libata
- modprobe libata atapi_enabled=1
- <alt-F1>
- When prompted to detect cdroms, unselect all but the last 4 modules (ide-* and isofs) and say no to PCMCIA detection
When prompted to detect network, unselect all the modules (I had a freeze with one of them and we don't need them at this point)
modprobe tg3 does not work :-(

Laptop Dell Latitude D610 Step-by-step

Misc

Attempt to directly boot with a 2.6 kernel

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