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

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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 :-(