Ubuntu Intrepid on Dell XPS M1530
By default my Dell xps M1530 came with preinstalled windows vista, Media direct and all those fancy stuff, naturally it all had to go away. For some time I used it with dual boot, and installed Dell Media direct. Naturally I used anything else then Ubuntu so rarely it didn’t make sense in keeping those stuff around no more. I decided to reformat everything and dedicate every last byte of available resources on my laptop to Ubuntu. While doing so I will try to keep a track in this post of everything that I do/install on my system so it would work perfectly with all available features.
Please note that following this guide from beginning to the end will most certainly erase all your data. So if you aren’t ready to make a full clean install please skip few first steps.
Step 1. Preparing for fresh install
1.A backing up existing data.
If you already used Ubuntu on your laptop and you actually want to reinstall your system but remain all current functionality you should backup your data.
First thing you want to do is backup your existing home directory. Make sure you have enough disk space to archive your data on home partition.
To backup your home dir open gnome terminal and type in:
cd /home/ tar -czvf homedir.tar.gz *
it should take some time before archive is complete so go grab some cup of coffee, take your dog for a walk…
After it’s done copy your archive to some off site storage since your entire disk will be erased (yes no partition will remain intact).
You should also make a list of currently installed packages. List will be later used to repopulate your new system with currently used software.
To do so type in gnome terminal:
sudo dpkg --get-selections > package.selections
Now copy that file to off site storage to since we will need it after we are done reinstalling the system.
If you have some third-party software sources enabled backup your sources list file /etc/apt/sources.list
and files in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ folder
Note: this will not backup your internal mysql databases, websites and other software or data not managed trough packet manager or located beyond /home folder.
1.B removing all the content
Why so drastic measure? Simple, Dell uses hidden HPA partition used by Dell Media Direct button to boot up Media direct. Thing is.. if there is no media direct partition, that hidden partition and it’s boot up process will a) overwrite your current grub conf and b) rewrite your partition table in unforeseeable ways. Some like to call this button a Dell self-destruct button, since it renders your Linux installation useless if it can’t find what it’s looking for. For a better understanding of Dell’s Media Direct button functionality take a look here.
So how to render it ineffective? Simply do a low level format of you hard drive, it will rewrite HPA partition with zeros thus disabling self-destruct function from Media direct button.
Be aware this will erase all your data currently residing on laptop’s hard disk!!!
To format your drive, boot up with your installation cd, don’t select to install your Ubuntu just yet, use the option to try Ubuntu without modifying current system. After boot up open gnome terminal and write:
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda
Again, it will take some time.
Step 2 – Installation
Since installation is actually pretty straightforward there is no real need to guide you trough entire process. I will suggest though that you make your own custom partitioning. By default Ubuntu will make only one partition for system and data, and one swap partition. I suggests that you make at least one more on mount point /home. That way next time you have to reinstall the system you will only format the system partition, leave home partition intact and thus preserving all your configuration and personal data.
You will have to make root partition / swap partition (usualy 2x the amount of ram installed), and /home partition. I will leave the sizes allocation to your own discretion.
Step 3 – Post installation configuration
3.A – Touch pad
If you have already upgraded your bios first thing you will probably notice is touch pad not working properly. If you are without external mouse this can be pain in the ass so let’s fix that first.
Push
Now type in:
sudo pico /boot/grub/menu.lst
find:
## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the ## alternatives ## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5 # defoptions=quiet splash
and add to defoptions line i8042.nomux=1 so it looks like this:
## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the ## alternatives ## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5 # defoptions=quiet splash i8042.nomux=1
Save and close the file and type:
sudo update-grub
Reboot your system and your touch pad should work. Yes it works, but I found it to be a little rough to say at least.
Again open your terminal, type in:
sudo pico /etc/X11/xorg.conf
add the following:
Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Mouse0" Driver "synaptics" Option "SendCoreEvents" "true" Option "Device" "/dev/psaux" Option "Protocol" "auto-dev" Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" Option "Emulate3Buttons" "on" Option "SHMConfig" "on" Option "VertEdgeScroll" "on" Option "VertTwoFingerScroll" "on" Option "LeftEdge" "85" Option "RightEdge" "910" Option "TopEdge" "85" Option "BottomEdge" "715" Option "FingerLow" "25" Option "FingerHigh" "30" Option "MaxTapTime" "180" Option "MaxTapMove" "220" EndSection
Save & exit, restart your GDM with
ctrl+alt+backspace
3.B – Updates
Now that you have your touch pad operational, you should probably check for updates and install them.
Go to System > Administration > Update manager
Check for updates, install them if any. You will probably need to reboot into new kernel.
3.C - installing proprietary drivers
If you wish your system to run 3D graphics, connect to wireless you should install additional hardware drivers. Go to: System > Administration > Hardware drivers
Select and install latest Nvidia 177 and Broadcom B43 wireless driver
You don’t really need to reboot after each installed driver, but it is advisable after you installed them both.
3.D – fingerprint reader
There is actually two options to get fingerprint reader to work, since Dell’s fingerprint reader isn’t an imaging reader at the time it seamed to be best to install Thinkfinger. You can also try to install fprint reader.
To install Thinkfinger you will have to add following lines to your sources.list
sudo pico /etc/apt/sources.list
add:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/jon-oberheide/ubuntu intrepid main deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/jon-oberheide/ubuntu intrepid main
then do
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install thinkfinger-tools libpam-thinkfinger
All we need to do now is test it:
sudo tf-tool --acquire
It will ask your fingerprint 3 times or more if there is failed scans. After you have done 3 successful scans, it will save your biometric readings in /home/user/.thinkfinger.bin
Verify your fingerprint will be recognized
sudo tf-tool --verify
If it’s ok it should look something like this:
Please swipe your finger (successful swipes 1/1, failed swipes: 0)... done. Result: Fingerprint does match.
To use it every day modify /etc/pam.d/common-auth
sudo pico /etc/pam.d/common-auth
add the following line before other auth lines:
auth sufficient pam_thinkfinger.so
it should look something like this:
... auth sufficient pam_thinkfinger.so # here are the per-package modules (the "Primary" block) auth [success=1 default=ignore] pam_unix.so nullok_secure ...
After rebooting you should be able to use either your password or your fingerprint to authorize yourself.
3.E – internal microphone
It’s pretty simple actually, all you have to do is:
1. Double-click the volume control icon in the top right of the screen.
2. Select Edit / Preferences.
3. Add “Digital” and “Digital Input Source” to the list of visible tracks.
4. On the Options tab, select “Digital Mic 1″ for “Digital Input Source”.
5. On the Recording tab, set the volume for the microphone.
You can test it out with Sound recorder: Applications > Sound & Video > Sound Recorder
3.F – webcam
By default webcam is working with skype, ekiga etc. except with cheese, there is bugreport at: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cheese/+bug/290506
It will however work with low resolutions like 352 x 288 and lower.
[edit@Jan 9, 2009]:
As of today there is an proposed update of cheese and kernel that addresses this previously mentioned bug. After fully upgrading your system cheese should work without any problems on all resolutions
[/edit]
From hardware point of view this is more or less everything you will need. Card reader will work automatically, mobile broadband with new network manager also. New Ubuntu Intrepid will even recognize multi purpose usb sticks like that Vodafones Huawei stick described in previous post.
3.G – power savings
I use laptop-mode to do my power-savings, right now I won’t get into tips and tricks of power savings for laptops running Linux, maybe in another post in near future. For now all you need to know is it’s now a great time to check out your hard disk and its current behavior of head parking and tweak it if necessary. Long story short, new laptop hard drives can park its head when not in use. By default they park it very often when on battery and less often when on AC. In general this is a good thing since if your laptop is to suffer some physical trauma while on battery if the hard disk head is parked it will minimize the possibility of data loss. On the other hand head parking ability is not unlimited, it’s usually a number of about 600 000 head parks. One may say it’s a high number, but with default settings it will give your hard disk lifespan for about 6 months.
A quick view on current status:
sudo apt-get install smartmontools date; sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda | egrep '(Load_Cycle_Count|Temperature)'
wait about 15 min on battery then issue the command above again:
date; sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda | egrep '(Load_Cycle_Count|Temperature)'
First line, last numberr will show Load Cycle count (head parks). If number is growing to fast consider doing steps as described in this post: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=795327 even if your disk or laptop model is not on the list.
Step 4 – restoring backed up data
If you did make steps for backing up the data in step 1.A now is a good time to restore them.
First you will need to reinstall all those custom packages. If you had custom third-party software sources in your /etc/apt/sources.list file or /etc/atp/sources.list.d/ directory restore them now and update the lines so they match new intrepid installation.
Copy yours package.selections file from remote storage to /home folder , and issue the following command:
sudo dpkg --set-selections < /home/package.selections && apt-get dselect-upgrade
This will take some time since apt will have to re-download and install all the additional software you used. When it's done copy your home folder backed up archive to /home and unpack it with:
tar -xzvf homedir.tar.gz
Now log out and log back in. Everything should be the way you remember it.
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