Installation

First, install Ubuntu with the "alternate" CD-ROM (this is to say, in text mode, i wasn't able to boot with the "Desktop" version).

• Download the Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn Alternate installation CD-Rom
  

Attansic Technology Corp L1 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

This ethernet adapter has driver available in Linux kernel after 2.6.21. So i've backported the 2.6.22 linux kernel from Ubuntu Gusty Gibbon on Ubuntu Feisty Fawn. Get a USB stick (or a blank CD-Rom) and download the following Debian package :

• linux-image-2.6.22-10-generic_2.6.22-10.30_i386.deb
  

Put this file on the USB stick in order to transfer it on your laptop. Start the laptop in "recovery mode" (available by pressing the Esc key if it does not show at boot) in order to bypass the display bug due to the lack of support for your graphic controler. Plug your USB key and mount it :

mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt

Then, install the package :

dpkg -i /mnt/linux-image-2.6.22-10-generic_2.6.22-10.30_i386.deb

Then, you need to declare the atl1 module as a networking driver :

echo "alias eth0 atl1" > /etc/modutils/atl1

Restart and choose the new kernel (still using the "recovery mode") in order to gain network access. After the reboot, we need to configure the network. If you have a DHCP server on your network (witch is very likely), just run this command line (after plugging the network cable :D) :

dhclient eth0

We now add the repository for our backported kernel :

echo "# Linux 2.6.22 for Ubuntu Feisty Fawn
deb http://falcon.landure.fr feisty kernel
deb-src http://falcon.landure.fr feisty kernel" \
        > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/feisty-landure-kernel.list

We add the key signing this repository to the trusted ones :

wget http://falcon.landure.fr/9FA7DC39.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

and we update the available packages list :

sudo apt-get update

Nvidia GeForce 8600 video controller

Now that your network is working, we can install the packages needed to gain full support of our display device. We start by adding the part of my repositories containing Envy to our apt configuration :

echo "# Envy for Ubuntu Feisty Fawn
deb http://falcon.landure.fr feisty envy
deb-src http://falcon.landure.fr feisty envy" \
        > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/feisty-landure-envy.list

If needed, we add the key signing this repository to our configuration :

wget http://falcon.landure.fr/9FA7DC39.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Then, we update the list of available packages :

apt-get update

and we install the needed software :

apt-get install envy linux-headers-`uname -r` \
     linux-restricted-modules-`uname -r` linux-ubuntu-modules-`uname -r`

You need now to run Envy in order to compile the proprietary Nvidia drivers :

envy -t

and choose the option n° 1 (Install the NVIDIA driver). You can let Envy configure your X server.

Reboot your system to conclude the configuration.

Solve of restart and stop problems

It seems that the restart and stop of the system raise problems. A graphic bug show. It is probably not very good for our beautiful 17" screen. To solve this problem, we need to disable the splash screen. This is done by the following command line :

sudo sed -i -e 's/^# defoptions=\(.*\)[ ]*splash[ ]*\(.*\)/# defoptions=\1 \2/g' /boot/grub/menu.lst

You need then to run this command in order to take account of this modification :

sudo update-grub

You can now reboot your system in order to activate this option.

On-board sound controller

The on-board sound controller of this laptop is based on a Intel chipset that is known to have problems. In order to make it work, we install a backport of the Gutsy Gibbon Alsa. Start by adding the needed repository :

echo "# Alsa for Ubuntu Feisty Fawn
deb http://falcon.landure.fr feisty alsa
deb-src http://falcon.landure.fr feisty alsa" | \
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/feisty-landure-alsa.list

And we update :

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

We can now reboot our system.

After the reboot, your son should be working, but at a very low level. This is due to the fact that the headset volume and speaker volume are separate. You need to change the settings of the sound control applet. Right-click on the applet and choose "settings". In the menu that open, choose "Speaker" in the select list (as far as i know, it is the last item of the list).

Webcam D-Max Sonix 213 (unfinished)

After i discovered that the uvcvideo module was used to control the on-board webcam, i've done some search. I've discovered a way to make the webcam work. In first time, we get the last version of development drivers :

svn export svn://svn.berlios.de/linux-uvc/linux-uvc/trunk ~/linux-uvc

And we go in the resulting folder :

cd ~/linux-uvc

We compile the pilot :

make

And we install it by replacing the existing module :

sudo cp uvcvideo.ko /lib/modules/2.6.22-10-generic/ubuntu/media/usbvideo/uvcvideo.ko

TNT tuner LiteOn TVT-1060

This TNT Tuner seems to have no working linux driver at the time we speek.

Flash card reader Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro

Even if it has no full support, it is possible to make this card reader work. A free driver is developed at the time we speak :

sdricoh_cs - pcmcia driver for Ricoh Bay1Controllers

First, we install subversion :

sudo apt-get install subversion

Then we download the current version of this driver :

svn co https://sdricohcs.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/sdricohcs/sdricoh_cs sdricoh_cs

We go in the sources' folder :

cd sdricoh_cs

We compile :

make

and we install :

sudo make install

Then we insert the module in the kernel :

sudo modprobe sdricoh_cs

And we clean up :

cd ..
rm -rf sdricoh_cs

Now, your card reader should be working. For the module to be loaded at start-up, run this command line :

echo "sdricoh_cs" | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

Note : After some documentation reader (yep, always at the end :D), i've understood that only the SD card are readable. I've not been able to test this since i've no SD card.

Thanks

• Thanks to David Schwindenhammer for his post on the Ubuntu-fr forum that learned me the existance of driver for the Ricoh card reader.
• Thanks to the Envy developer.
• Thanks to Olive74 for his guide on the Dell XPS M1330.
• Thanks to the developers of uvcvideo.