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
- Add to the kernel lines the argument idle=halt in /boot/grub/menu.lst:
- 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 :-(