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dr_mandarin
n00b
Joined: 12 May 2006
Posts: 5
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 Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 10:36 am Post subject: Dell XPS M1710 |
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I am currently awaiting delivery of my recently-ordered XPS M1710. In the meantime, I thought I would check the forums to see if anybody had encountered issues specific to this machine. I haven't found anything, so I thought I'd post the question explicitly.
Has anybody installed Gentoo (or any other distro) on this machine? Any caveats/pitfalls/issues to be aware of? |
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interim descriptor
n00b
Joined: 28 May 2006
Posts: 4
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 5:39 pm Post subject: |
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Very interested in hearing about your experiences with gentoo on the m1710.
I'm considering ordering one myself, so it'd be good to know if there are any shortcomings wrt gentoo. |
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interim descriptor
n00b
Joined: 28 May 2006
Posts: 4
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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I just heard back from dr_mandarin.
He's still waiting for his m1710 to arrive, and said he'll post a followup with his experiences.
Thanks, dr_mandarin! |
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interim descriptor
n00b
Joined: 28 May 2006
Posts: 4
Location: San Francisco
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interim descriptor
n00b
Joined: 28 May 2006
Posts: 4
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Oh, dr_mandarin, why have you forsaken us? |
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iplayfast
l33t
Joined: 08 Jul 2002
Posts: 642
Location: Cambridge On,CA
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| Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2006 3:12 pm Post subject: |
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well, I've just bought one, and installed gentoo on it. (or at least I'm in the process).
The installation went without a hitch (using x86 minimal). The only problem I had was with grub. (I couldn't figure out the sata drives for grub, and I normally use lilo).
Went back to lilo and all was well.
After I rebooted, found that the ethernet wasn't working. (no I'm not posting from it). It keeps complaining about a card manager not being found. I expect I'll have to do some exploring.
If anyone has some clues, I'm willing to explore together. |
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iplayfast
l33t
Joined: 08 Jul 2002
Posts: 642
Location: Cambridge On,CA
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| Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 1:30 am Post subject: |
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Well first things first. the (non-wireless) network card uses the NetXTreme hardware, which means using the tg3 driver.
It's not working yet for me, but at least it's a direction to go.
I get
cardmgr[6123]: no sockets found!
cardmgr failed to start. Make sure taht you have PCMCIA modules built or support compiled into the kernel.
I have pcmcia as a module, and it's loaded.
found some stuff. (will edit in more detail later).
eth0 is the wireless, eth1 is the wired. Whichever gets the route first stops the other from getting it.
the wireless driver is the tg3, the wired driver is the eth1394, (which must also have the ieee1934 module).
OK, making a bit of progress.
tg3 driver seems to work very easily. Just set up the /etc/conf.d/net, load the driver and it works (on eth0)
ipw3945 is the driver needed to run the wireless. It requires turning off ieee80211 support from the kernel. (it get's compiled outside)
dmesg shows
| Code: |
ipw3945: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
ipw3945: Radio Frequency Kill Switch is on:
Kill switch must be turned off for wireless netowrking to work.
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This computer can control the wireless with Fn+F2, however this seems to hang linux.
This forum has a possible solution: https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=458297 |
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dr_mandarin
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Joined: 12 May 2006
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 12:34 pm Post subject: |
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Well, the machine did finally arrive a while ago, but of course it's no good if you're not in the country where the machine is 
Anyway ... I managed to get started on the install yesterday, going fairly well so far. I will attempt to chronicle my installation here, for two reasons:
1. My own reference;
2. It might come in handy for anybody else doing the same.
Initial installation
============
Pretty standard, following the Gentoo handbook. As for partitioning, the following:
sd1: /boot, ext3
sd2: windows
sd3: swap
sd4: extended
sd5: dumpspace to transfer between linux and windows (I still don't trust the ntfs support in linux)
sd6: /, reiserfs
I saw a post regarding grub issues: Even though you're using SATA drives, the first hard drive will still be hd0. So in my case, the path to the kernel will start with (hd0,0) (because /boot is the first partition). Using the framebuffer for console, the text looks a tiny bit stretched, since the highest resolution supported by vesafb-tng is 1280x1024, which has to scale somewhat to fit onto a 1920x1200 display.
Regarding the networking: You don't need to load the PCMCIA module to get networking to work. Just load the tg3 module, and the wired network interface should work. In fact, I don't know if the standard PCMCIA module will work, since the slot in the M1710 is technically an ExpressCard slot and does not support PC cards. I haven't looked into it yet, results if I find any. (todo 01)
I also don't load wireless support by default, since I don't have a wireless network available. In this setup, the wired NIC is eth0. (During the live CD install process, wireless is eth0 and wired eth1). I will look into the live CD setup at a later stage to determine which drivers are used to get the wireless card working. (todo 02)
Note: If you get driven insane by the console beeping, use the following to switch it off:
(that's a zero at the end).
So, post-installation, booting to Linux works, booting to Windows works. Next...
X installation
=========
I had initially set my make.conf file to contain MAKEOPTS="-j3"
However, I had compile failures at some stages, where emerge failed because it was "waiting for current process to finish". I changed MAKEOPTS to j2, and emerge was happier.
emerge xorg-x11 and emerge gnome xscreensaver were fine (barring above). I will probably also install kde, althought my primary choice is gnome because it feels more lightweight, I have read many posts all over the place about how much faster kde is. (todo 03). One minor issue that I encountered with the Gentoo GNOME Configuration HOWTO, is that it mentions mDNSResponder, where the daemon name is actually mdnsd.
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" doesn't work to enable the scroll wheel with PS/2 protocol (I have a Logitech G7). Changing to IMPS/2 works. I might investigate imwheel at some later stage (todo 04).
AFAIK, and please take this as opinion and not official advice, I don't think horizontal and vertical sync rates make much sense in the context of LCD panels. As such, I merely select the most conservative options for both, and X can still start up at a staggering resolution of 1920x1200.
nVidia drivers
==========
First real issue. The nvidia-glx drivers provided by vanilla emerge don't work. (version 6xxx). However, using ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86", you get version 8762 of the nVidia binary drivers, which gives an nvidia driver that loads. However, the installation doesn't create the /dev/nv* devices. There used to be a NVmakedevices script which could be run, however it seems no more. Also, purportedly if /dev/nv* aren't created by loading the module, they should be created by starting X when using the nvidia driver in xorg.conf. At this stage, it didn't happen. So I downloaded the binary install package manually, and ran it manually. This still resulted in a kernel-loadable nvidia module, which didn't create device nodes. However, starting X up now creates the device nodes and X starts.
ALSA
====
Straightforward, the M1710 use the hda_intel driver.
Now I just need to get the PC speaker to stop beeping while in X.
[update] It seems that can be accomplished by adding
to .xinitrc
So, what's left?
- Get power management working;
- Get lm_sensors working;
- Get bluetooth working (bluetooth module loads fine, that's a start);
- cedega/wine etc;
- DVD playing;
- DVD burning;
- wireless network.
I will update this as and when. All other Gentoo - XPS M1710 experience and questions welcome on this topic. |
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Jack of Spades
n00b
Joined: 16 Sep 2003
Posts: 9
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| Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:35 am Post subject: |
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Anxiously awaiting the conclusion... and the delivery of my own XPS M1710. If I have insights once it's in hand, I'll post them here as well.
_________________
[][] C. Lee Davis
[][] Fantasy Geographic Society |
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Jack of Spades
n00b
Joined: 16 Sep 2003
Posts: 9
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| Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2006 3:52 pm Post subject: |
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I'm posting this from the M1710. My experience pretty much matched dr_mandarin's; I should note that the new nvidia-drivers replacement for nvidia-kernel & nvidial-glx works fine.
I do have wireless support running; I had to disable IEEE80211in the kernel, then use the latest (~x86) ipw3945 and ipw3945d, but it was otherwise easy. ACPI is handling my battery management properly, but I did have to manually add ac and battery to /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6.
DVD playback was something of a problem. The DVD was initially detected as being IDE, but (since it's really SATA) I couldn't set DMA on. The solution was to add options ide hdc=noprobe to the kernel line in my grub.conf; the device now shows up as /dev/scd0 and plays DVDs fine. I haven't tested burning yet.
CPU throttling isn't working yet, and I'm unclear from online documentation whether it can yet be made to work on the Core Duo. The BIOS is handling dimming the screen for me to my satisfaction.
Things I haven't tested:
- CD/DVD burning
- Bluetooth (I don't have any Bluetooth devices)
- Firewire (ditto, no firewire devices)
- SD reader
_________________
[][] C. Lee Davis
[][] Fantasy Geographic Society |
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thespongeoflove
n00b
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 7:50 am Post subject: XGL on my m1710 |
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I got my XPS a few months ago 
Very Happy. I absolutely love this computer. This is the perfect desktop replacement. Because I am very busy with my sys admin job these days I did not bother to do my usual routine with my laptops, take them apart and install Linux on them, instead I play games when I have free time. Well I decided to get started with Linux on my laptop this weekend because I noticed that my favorite sub-gentoo-disto RR4 had changed their name with a new release of their flavor of Gentoo, Sabayon Linux. Check them out: http://www.lxnaydesign.net/ If you did not know RR4 was a Gentoo based live cd environment that had tons of software loaded, excelent hardware detection, and beautiful XGL to impress anyone who looks at your screen. So I downloaded the distro booted up with default boot command with no parameters the live cd detected all the hardware on my computer, GeForce 7900gs, Intel T2600, Sata drives, DVD drive, and bluetooth. Unfortunately it was not able to configure my network cards correctly. But on the up side XGL 
Shocked works off the DVD!
This 10 minute experience has given me the motivation I needed to get started with my linux.
Anybody had any luck with Cedega or the media controls on the front?
Are you guys willing to share some of your config files so we can collaborate? |
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Suer7reus
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Posts: 106
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| Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 9:41 pm Post subject: |
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Although it looks like you guys have things well under control, I'm posting from a very similar M170 with an almost-perfect Gentoo and would be happy to share configurations if they're relevant.
The only two things which do not work as desired on my box are:
If I try to get a framebuffer console at a resolution higher than 1400x1050, my display is corrupted badly, so I use 1400x1050,
and my Ricoh SD card reader (sdhci, linux-2.6.17) is unable to write (although I think it reads ok).
Note that you all have a different wireless card than I, so I can't help that, although I would highly recommend some udev rules (I'll post mine as soon as I dig them up) to [re]name the plethora of network interfaces (tg3, ipw####, 1394, BT) consistently across reboots.[/b] |
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BillyBoy
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Posts: 101
Location: USA
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| Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 12:41 am Post subject: |
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My experience after one week of tweaks:
First hour
0 - Plug it in
1 - Get ready to press F12
2 - Turn it on
3 - Press F12 and boot off the Gentoo CD
(I could have sworn I hit it fast enough, but I still got the Dell EULA mumbo jumbo then it started to boot Windows. I just held down the power button.... )
4 - Lots of hardware unrecognized by the 2006.0 LiveCD, BTW
5 - My laptop with Bluetooth, 1394, GigEthernet yields eth1 for wired network. DHCP that interface.
6 - Backup the partitions
| Code: | for a in 1 2 3
do
mount /dev/sda${a} /mnt/gentoo
cd /mnt/gentoo
tar zcf - --ignore-failed-read . | ssh mylogin@repositorybox "cat - > /some/big/filesys/sda${a}.tgz"
cd ..
umount /mnt/gentoo
done |
7 - fdisk /dev/sda - have your way with the disk
8 - make your file systems
9 - mount /mnt/gentoo et. al.
10 - finish Gentoo install blah, blah, blah
I found the CPU to be pretty dang fast so I put localhost/3 in my distcc/hosts file:
| Code: | | localhost/3 server1/4 server2/4 server3/2 remoteserver/2,lzo |
It was able to keep green compile bars streaming across distccmon-gui most of the time.
My make.conf, YFMV: | Code: | CFLAGS="-O2 -march=prescott -mfpmath=sse -pipe"
CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"
CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
VIDEO_CARDS="vga vesa svga nvidia nv v4l fbdev"
INPUT_DEVICES="evdev keyboard mouse synaptics"
USE="-pam acpi nptl nptlonly mmx mmxext sse2 sse xv svga opengl nvidia -ati X directfb dga fbcon -xinerama apache2 bluetooth wifi xscreensaver kde gnome gd gif ieee1394 mp3 ssl truetype alsa -oss -ogg -vorbis -oggvorbis firefox nsplugin unicode utf8 localepurge lm_sensors"
# Log the individual emerge sessions
PORT_LOGDIR=/var/log/portlog
# Internal mirrors
SYNC="rsync://localserver/gentoo-portage"
http_proxy="http://localserver:9090"
FEATURES="parallel-fetch distcc"
MAKEOPTS="-j16 -s"
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Tools
Here are the tools I emerged, kinda in order:
portage
core-utils
distcc
gentoo-sources
system -e
vim
genkernel
lilo
xorg-x11
nvidia-drivers ~x86
app-admin/sudo
world -e
windowmaker
freefonts
sharefonts
ipw3945
wireless-tools
kde
slocate
openoffice-bin
ntp
nmap
wireshark
bind-tools
tcptraceroute
tcpdump
ipcalc
syslog-ng
gentoolkit
portage-utils
kdebluetooth
vmware-workstation
bibletime
xpdf
apache
subversion
php
xephem
stellarium
mplayer
rdesktop
alsa-utils
alsa-tools
acpitool
psutils
mirrorselect
sash
audacity
tightvnc
Power
I had an okay time setting up power mgmt. Here's what I emerged which seem, so far, to give me plenty of usefulness under KDE's klaptop applet.
cpufrequtils
cpufreqd
powermgmt-base
Once I got acpid running, I could shut down by pressing the power button.
Here's what my /etc/modules.autoload.d/ looks like:
| Code: |
# NIC
tg3
# acpi thingies
ac
battery
thermal
button
fan
i2c_dev
i2c_i801
# Sound
snd-hda-intel
# for power
# Nope. This gives me an error
# acpi-cpufreq
cpufreq-ondemand
cpufreq-powersave
cpufreq-conservative
cpufreq-stats
cpufreq-userspace
speedstep-centrino
# for vmware and other time-sensitive stuff
rtc-proc
rtc-sysfs
rtc-dev
# for wifi
ipw3945
firmware_class
# bluetooth?
# other stuff
hw_random
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Now I can just tweak the power levels in klaptop and the CPU does its thing.
Even with these devices loaded, I still cannot get lm_sensors to show me anything other than CPU thermal zone info.
WiFi
The wifi won't come up with the gentoo packages for some reason. I downloaded the tarball from the Intel ipw3945 site and I use their load script. It comes up fine using that but it's kind of flaky. You need to tweak the kernel to remove 802.11 stuff (but not ALL of it!) in order to emerge ipw3945, though.
Bluetooth
I emerged obexftp hoping it would give me some service for file transfers but my TMo MDA phone only sees a serial port. The kdebluetooth shows me nearby devices and I can browse them but I still haven't figured out how to let my phone grab files off the laptop.
When the system comes up, sdpd and rfcomm both give me errors. Maybe I don't have them configured properly yet.
X
I added an input device section to my xorg.conf to use the synaptics pad. Then a load and an InputDevice for it. Add these lines to the indicated sections:
To the Section "ServerLayout" add:
| Code: | | InputDevice "touchpad" "CorePointer" |
To the Section "Module" add:
Then add this whole section:
| Code: | Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
Option "SHMConfig" "on"
EndSection |
I also made these option changes in the nvidia driver's Section "Device"
| Code: |
Option "RenderAccel" "true"
Option "CursorShadow" "true"
Option "NoPowerConnectorCheck" "true"
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Summary
All is quite acceptable. VMWare works like a charm so I can administer my AD and group policies with glee. It's certainly speedy enough, I only wish I had gone with 2GB RAM since a few VMs slow it down a bit.
When the CPU is on low speed (1GHz) the console is abysmally slow. I have it running at 1024x768 and text drips slower than a 9600 baud vt100.
The multicolored lights are okay, even though my daughter thinks they are the cat's meow. The wireless is definitely weird but that might just be due to my crappy AP at home - dhcpcd kinda makes it but doesn't. I can get traffic if I hand-craft the ip/netmask/broadcast/gateway etc. My wifi at work comes up fine (Cisco B/G APs) and nice and speedy.
I'm bummed I can't use any of my old PCCards but d2x works! Woo hoo! And stellarium at 1920x1200 is breathtaking.
Update
I noticed that cpufreq-info shows different governors (and speeds!) when klaptop controls the power. It seems to only set one CPU's settings (after klaptop told to use "conservative"):
| Code: | $ cpufreq-info
cpufrequtils 001: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2006
Report errors and bugs to linux@brodo.de, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
driver: centrino
CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 0
hardware limits: 1000 MHz - 2.33 GHz
available frequency steps: 2.33 GHz, 2.00 GHz, 1.67 GHz, 1.33 GHz, 1000 MHz
available cpufreq governors: conservative, powersave, ondemand, userspace
current policy: frequency should be within 1000 MHz and 2.33 GHz.
The governor "conservative" may decide which speed to use
within this range.
current CPU frequency is 1000 MHz.
analyzing CPU 1:
driver: centrino
CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 1
hardware limits: 1000 MHz - 2.33 GHz
available frequency steps: 2.33 GHz, 2.00 GHz, 1.67 GHz, 1.33 GHz, 1000 MHz
available cpufreq governors: conservative, powersave, ondemand, userspace
current policy: frequency should be within 1000 MHz and 2.33 GHz.
The governor "userspace" may decide which speed to use
within this range.
current CPU frequency is 2.33 GHz. |
I also noticed that ipw3945 really whacks out the kernel's 802.11 settings. I would advise making a kernel for wifi usage and emerge with that kernel:
| Code: | | KERNEL_DIR=/usr/src/wifikernel emerge -av ipw3945 |
because after I emerged ipw3945, I couldn't rebuild kernels without unmerging ipw3945. I booted with a Mepis DVD and the wireless came up fine. Weird things with Gentoo's version?
Splashy boot screens came up fine after emerging the splash themes. Don't use splash_manager to update your lilo.conf file if you use genkernel. It's a bit braindead. Just use the usual splash line and don't let it munge up your initrd line:
| Code: | image = /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.17-gentoo-r8
label = Gen2.6.17.r8
append="real_root=/dev/sda3 video=vesafb:1280x1024-32@60 splash=verbose,fadein,theme:emergence console=tty1"
#initrd = /boot/splash/initrd-spl-emergence-all
initrd=/boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.17-gentoo-r8
read-only |
Does anyone know how to get rid of Larry after I use the Gentoo theme? I really don't want to see him, as cute as he is, whilst I type around his face. I really don't want a console splash, just a boot splash. |
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thespongeoflove
n00b
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 9:52 am Post subject: Made the switch |
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It has been a while since i checked in here. It looks like everybody is doing well with their computers?
I mad the switch last night. I installed the gentoo based distro, sabayon linux. Yes i know this is the lazy way, but i am really just to short on time these days. Since my install i have upgraded the kernel, and reconfigured it with only the hardware i needed. I then copied all my data from windows. I replaced the thunderbird and firefox profiles with profiles from windows.
Then i went to work the next day. I had my windows hard drive just in case i needed to do something in windows that i really could not, or didn't know how to do with linux. I was able to go the entire day without booting windows.
I still have some hardware testing to do, but so far i am very impressed with this distro and how easy it is to modify and maintain with portage. I'll post a formal list of everything later.
Has anybody been able to assign the media buttons in the front of the computer to their proper controls?
Oh yeah, I have XGL running. All windows and mac users gaze in awe at my screen now. |
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thespongeoflove
n00b
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 12:41 am Post subject: |
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I noticed something odd while i was listening to music today. It seems like my sound is only playing through the two main speakers, and not using the nice little sub.
Has anybody noticed this problem? is there a simple fix? Should i re-configure my sound from the ground up? |
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iplayfast
l33t
Joined: 08 Jul 2002
Posts: 642
Location: Cambridge On,CA
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| Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 10:13 pm Post subject: |
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as per your request privately here is my alsa config. As I mentioned, for me it worked as is, but I'm not sure the bass is actually working. I heard sound and didn't think anything more about it.
| Code: |
# Alsa kernel modules' configuration file.
# ALSA portion
alias char-major-116 snd
# OSS/Free portion
alias char-major-14 soundcore
##
## IMPORTANT:
## You need to customise this section for your specific sound card(s)
## and then run `modules-update' command.
## Read alsa-driver's INSTALL file in /usr/share/doc for more info.
##
## ALSA portion
## alias snd-card-0 snd-interwave
## alias snd-card-1 snd-ens1371
## OSS/Free portion
## alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0
## alias sound-slot-1 snd-card-1
##
# OSS/Free portion - card #1
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss
## OSS/Free portion - card #2
## alias sound-service-1-0 snd-mixer-oss
## alias sound-service-1-3 snd-pcm-oss
## alias sound-service-1-12 snd-pcm-oss
alias /dev/mixer snd-mixer-oss
alias /dev/dsp snd-pcm-oss
alias /dev/midi snd-seq-oss
# Set this to the correct number of cards.
options snd cards_limit=1
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thespongeoflove
n00b
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 10:53 pm Post subject: Sound Issu |
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| Thanks iplayfast. My config looks the same. I spoke with iplayfast about setting up the multimedia keys on the front of the computer, and the subject of sound config came up. He has a slightly older laptop with very similar hardware configuration. In his mixer he has Master, PCM, and mono. I only have Master and PCM. The mono control is the sub woofer. Does anybody with an XPS M1710 have all three speakers working? |
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BillyBoy
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Posts: 101
Location: USA
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| Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 12:57 am Post subject: Media key keycodes |
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Using "showkey" I see the media buttons on the front (from L to R) giving me these keycodes:
| Code: | Kill audio - 113
Decrease volume - 114
Increase volume - 115
Play/pause - 164
Rewind - 165
Fast Forward - 163 (go figure....)
Stop - 166 |
I don't know how you'd map them. Anyone? |
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thespongeoflove
n00b
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 5:14 am Post subject: Re: Media key keycodes |
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| BillyBoy wrote: | Using "showkey" I see the media buttons on the front (from L to R) giving me these keycodes:
| Code: | Kill audio - 113
Decrease volume - 114
Increase volume - 115
Play/pause - 164
Rewind - 165
Fast Forward - 163 (go figure....)
Stop - 166 |
I don't know how you'd map them. Anyone? |
Suer7reus was kind enough to give me some advice. For his M170 he used xbindkeys.
xbindkeys is the program you want if KDE's keybindings panel doesn't
do it for you. It allows any keyboard key to be bound to a command,
which will be run when the key (or combo) is pressed. The media
buttons on your notebook appear as keyboard buttons, so that's great.
xbindkeys is configured via an rcfile in ~/ called .xbindkeysrc. The
format of this file is as follows, and a default can be found either
by running `xbindkeys -d` or here -
http://hocwp.free.fr/xbindkeys/xbindkeysrc_d:
# Comments anywhere after #'s
# The first line in ""'s is the program to run - absolute paths are
recommended (by me).
# The second line specifies the key to trap. Most keys can be
specified more logically, but funky keys with no canonical name are
only specifiable [reliably] with low-level codes like these.
"xterm"
c:41 + m:0x4
Below are instructions to script changing all your volumes at once -
you can also have xbindkeys run something like the old command line
interfaces to xmms to play/pause, stop, etc your playlist upon hitting
the appropriate buttons. xmms is outdated now, but most players
should still be controllable (at least with a plugin or external
program) from the command line.
You can find the proper keycodes for your buttons by running
`xbindkeys -k` (one key at a time) or `xbindkeys -mk` (many), pressing
your buttons, and seeing what comes out. Set up a pair of lines in
.xbindkeysrc for each button you want to bind, and you'll be good to
go.
Make yourself some scripts for changing multiple mixer channels at
once using amixer. Read `man amixer` and know that you're probably
shooting for something like the following in a single file that's
called by xbindkeys for the volume down button:
#!/bin/bash
amixer -c 0 sset Master 4%-
amixer -c 0 sset Mono 4%-
amixer -c 0 sset Headphone 4%-
Read `man amixer` and `amixer -c 0 info` to learn more and find out
exact names for your mixer controls, etc. Muting can be done with
mute or unmute specified instead of the 4%- (decrement volume by 4%).
You can either have the mute button toggle mute as in Windows, which
would be a little trickier to script (you'd have to determine the
state to know whether to mute or unmute), or you can have the mute
button always set the channels muted and have any changes to the
volume levels with the other buttons unmute the mixer controls (4%-
unmute). |
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thespongeoflove
n00b
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 5:16 am Post subject: |
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| I am still having problems with sound. Nothing through the sub on my laptop. Any ideas? |
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Tekel
n00b
Joined: 16 Dec 2005
Posts: 72
Location: Philadelphia PA
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| Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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Has anyone tried to use this laptop wit the docking station
I am trying to set up the docking station with dual monitors, however X won't seem to power the DVI output
The nvidia drivers recongiszes all three monitors (DFP-0 DFP-1 CRT) however it will only display on DFP-0 and/or CRT |
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BillyBoy
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Posts: 101
Location: USA
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| Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:39 pm Post subject: |
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I have not tried the docking station. I do, however, have one of the old Dell Laptop bags and the XPS fits in it perfectly!
BTW, does anyone have strange issues with the ipw3945 driver spinning the CPU if the device isn't running? I have recently seen this and it's really annoying to have to make sure the little blue light is blazing when I boot. Otherwise, I get no choice but to kill the machine and do it all over again, making sure the little bluey is shining this time. |
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Tekel
n00b
Joined: 16 Dec 2005
Posts: 72
Location: Philadelphia PA
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| Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 1:53 pm Post subject: |
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| I haven't had a problem with the ipw driver. I am using it with NetworkManager though so I don't think it does anything untill after logon |
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thespongeoflove
n00b
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 5:15 am Post subject: |
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| I have no problems with my wifi card. Actually i notice that i get a stronger signal now then i did when i was running windows. |
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grantonstar
n00b
Joined: 07 Feb 2007
Posts: 16
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| Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 12:11 pm Post subject: |
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Has anybody managed to get the XD card reader to work?
grantonstar |
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Kernel & Hardware
