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Slackware Linux on a Dell Inspiron 630m

Escrito por Álvaro el Martes, 14 de febrero de 2006 - 18:22

Dell Inspiron 630m

This entry is about getting a Dell Inspiron 630m to run Slackware Linux 10.2. You can skip it if you neither have this laptop nor you are interested in installing Linux into it. It is not written in Spanish in order to bright up my English (sorry for the mistakes).

First of all...

... some useful links:

Linux on Laptops: The biggest index about running Linux on Laptops. A must see.
Slackware Linux: The distribution I've chosen.
Gentoo on Inspiron 630m: The same as this article, but about running Gentoo Linux instead of Slackware Linux.
Ubuntu Breezy on a Dell Inspiron 630m: Again, the same thing but with a different distro.

Introduction

I do not know everything about this computer. I've written this document, but that doesn't mean that I know how to solve every problem with every distro, I'll try to help, of course. The configuration tips I've written here worked for me, that doesn't mean that will work for you.

I've done this on my own risk, if you follow my steps, do it at your own risk. I will not responsible of what happens to your computer.

Overall

I was looking for a laptop:

not too big (<=14''), not too heavy, not too noisy,
with a good battery endurance and
not too powerful, as I don't want it to play with.

This Dell laptop is 14.1'', weights circa 2.4Kg, and it is really quiet. I bought the 9-cell battery, and it's performance is great! Also, I'm carrying it almost every day, and there are no scratches in it's silver & white surface. The only bad thing I've found is that there is an air intake on the left bottom of the computer, so it is very easy to block it, increasing the temperature of the computer, nothing serious. I think I bought the ideal laptop for my needs.

Why Linux?

Just because I like it and because it is the SO I've been using exclusively for more than 5 years.

Hardware

Stuff working/not working:

Component	Status
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 735A (1.70GHz, 2MB L2 Cache)	Works
14.1" WXGA (1280x800) TFT	Works
Intel i915GM with GMA900 graphics	Works
2 x 512MB SODIMM DDR2 in dual channel mode	Works
Samsung MP0603H 60GB 5400RPM	Works
Broadcom 10/100 ethernet	Works
Intel Pro Wireless 2200 802.11 b/g MiniPCI card with integrated dual-band (2.4/5.7GHz) antenna	Works
80 WattHour 9-cell "smart" Li-Ion battery	Works
FireWire	Works
Synaptics touchpad	Works
Sigmatel STAC9750 HD audio codec / Intel ICH6 HD Audio	Works
ExpressCard slot	Don't Know
5-in-1 card reader	Works
Conexant HDA D110 MDC V.92 Modem	Don't Know
Multimedia Keys	Works
ACPI	Works

I've detailed some of the steps I needed to do.

Installation

Dell's laptop comes with three partitions on it's hard drive (you can get more info about those partitions here. I followed the instructions on the brochure that Dell included with the laptop, in order to have an installation CD (you don't know if yo have to cross to the Dark Side), then, I've deleted all of the partitions.

After that, the installation comes as usually.

Kernel config

I decided to recompile my kernel and not to use the ones packed with Slackware. Now I'm using ~~2.6.15.4~~ 2.6.18, and almost everything runs smoothly (you can fetch my .config).

X.org

In order to use DRI acceleration for your i915GM, you need to install the latest snapshot of the drivers:

Go to http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/Download and scroll down until you reach the section "Binaries".
Download the "common" and "i915" snapshots of the drivers.
Follow the instructions and upgrade your X.org server.
Install the "common" and "i915" packages.
Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf, find the section of your graphics card and change the driver from vesa to i810.
Restart X and it should work.

1200x800 Resolution

Get 915resolution from here, install it and then add /usr/local/bin/915resolution 38 1280 800 24 (change /usr/local/bin with your instalation path). Then add the resolution to the X.org config file.

Synaptics Touchpad

The touchpad should work out of the box, but you can install this driver which has a lot of more capabilities. Follow the instructions on the INSTALL file.

Lid

If you close the lid and then you open it, the screen will not turn on again. You can solve this installing dmps and then add it to the ACPI actions to be executed when the lid is open. Create a file called /etc/acpi/events/video with the following:

event=video
action=/usr/local/sbin/dpms on

Now it should work.

Sound

Speakers/Headphones doesn't work properly. With ALSA compiled from the Kernel, the speakers aren't muted when you plug the headphones. If you disable the ALSA support from the kernel, get the drivers from The ALSA Project and compile it, you'll get sound from the headphones, but not from the speakers (which is good for me).

~~Harry Sheppard has a patch for the kernel sources, that makes speakers/headphones work properly. Go to his webpage and fetch it. The bad news are that the microphone doesn't work :(~~

With the drivers compiled as a module, just add the next line to your /etc/modules.conf:

options snd-hda-intel model=ref

Unfortunately I can't remember where did I found that (I think it was in an Ubuntu Forum).

Wireless card

You just need to install the Intel® 2200BG driver and it should work. Follow the instructions on the INSTALL file (basically, you'll need to install three packages: ieee80211, ipw2200 and ipw2200's firmware. It is well explained on the documentation).

WPA Supplicant

You need to install wpa_supplicant to get wpa support. Fetch it from its website and install it.

In order to get the wpa_supplicant daemon up, you should create an script called rc.wpa_supplicant in /etc/rc.d/ like this:

#!/bin/sh
# Start/stop the wlan_supplicant daemon.

WPA_BIN=/usr/local/bin/wpa_supplicant
WPACLI_BIN=/usr/local/bin/wpa_cli

test -f $WPA_BIN || exit 0

#LSBNAMES='-l'  # Uncomment for LSB name support in /etc/cron.d/


case "$1" in
start)  echo "Starting wpa_supplicant..."
        $WPA_BIN -w -D wext -ieth0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -B
        ;;
stop)   echo "Stopping wpa_supplicant..."
        $WPACLI_BIN terminate
        ;;
restart)
        $0 stop
        $0 start
        ;;
*)      echo "Usage: /etc/rc.d/rc.wpa_supplicant start|stop|restart"
        exit 1
        ;;
esac
exit 0

Then you can add it to rc.inet1 in order to get it up. Add /etc/rc.d/rc.wpa_supplicant start and /etc/rc.d/rc.wpa_supplicant stop to the start() and stop() functions on that file.

Ifplugd

You can install (with ./configure --with-initdir=/etc/rc.d; make; make install) this script, which auto-configures the network interfaces when a link beat is detected (i.e.: if you plug or unplug the lan cable). You'll need to edit your /usr/local/etc/ifplug.action because it uses some scripts not present on Slackware. Here is mine:

set -e

if [ -z "$1" ] || [ -z "$2" ] ; then
        echo "Wrong arguments" > /dev/stderr
        exit 1
fi

if [ "$1" = "eth0" ] && [ "$2" = "up" ] ; then
        # Buy wpa_supplicant some time to authenticate before bringing the
        # interface back up... but we don't wait forever:
        # You can increase this value if your card takes longer to associate:
        WPAWAIT=20
        wi=0
        while [ $wi -lt $WPAWAIT ]; do
          if (grep -q "^ctrl_interface=" ${WPACONF}); then
            if (LC_ALL=C ${SUPPATH}/wpa_cli -i$INTERFACE status|grep -q "^wpa_state=COMPLETED"); then
                break
            fi
          else
            if (LC_ALL=C ${IWCOMMAND}|grep -Eq "Encryption key:....-"); then break; fi
          fi
          wi=$(($wi+1)); sleep 1
        done
        exec /sbin/dhcpcd -d -t 40 eth0
fi
[ "$1" = "eth1" ] && [ "$2" = "up" ] && exec /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 "$1"_up

[ "$2" = "down" ] && exec /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 "$1"_down

exit 1

Then you need to rename /etc/rc.d/ifplugd into /etc/rc.d/rc.ifplugd and add a line containing /etc/rc.d/rc.ifplugd start to any rc file so it is loaded (for example to rc.local).

Please note that if you use ifplugd, you should comment out the following lines from /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1:

#      if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless ]; then
#       . /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless ${1} start # Initialize any wireless parameters
#      fi

Gnome

As Slackware doesn't ship with Gnome, I've installed it using Freerock Gnome.

If you are using Gnome, here are some applets I use:

CPU Frequency Scaling Monitor: Very useful applet to control the frequency scaling (and governors) of the CPU. Works great!
Laptop Temperature Monitor: Get it from it's webpage. An applet that shows the temperature of your laptop, using ACPI Thermal Zone.
Gnome Power Manager: Control (without painful scripts) the power settings of the laptop from this applet. Grab it here

That's all for now (13th Nov 2006). Hope it helps.

Dime algo y participa

Lasnait

(el Martes, 14 de febrero de 2006 - 21:06)

perseverantia.com

Slackware Linux on a Dell Inspiron 630m

Escrito por Álvaro el Martes, 14 de febrero de 2006 - 18:22

First of all...

Introduction

Overall

Why Linux?

Hardware

Installation

Kernel config

X.org

1200x800 Resolution

Synaptics Touchpad

Lid

Sound

Wireless card

WPA Supplicant

Ifplugd

Gnome

Dime algo y participa

Lorenzo

Lorenzo

E.

fidel

Santiago

Santiago

Lorenzo

Jorge Ramírez Jiménez

niluge

A&#234;nimo

Samuel

Weblog

Autor

perseverantia.com

Comunidad P

Fotografías

Sindicación

Aênimo