Overview of Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron on the Dell 1501

Everything you need to get Ubuntu 8.04 running on your Dell Inspiron 1501.

Installation
Hardy installs with no problems. Whether you're using the LiveCD, Alternative Install or Wubi.

Wireless
Two Methods:
1. The Restricted Driver Manager can install the Broadcom B43 fireware.
Firmware cutter will not work when used through the Driver Manager. In order to install B43-fwcutter you need to use the terminal.
In a terminal Type:
sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter

2. Use NDISwrapper to install the driver. This guide will walk you through the setup.

ATI Proprietary Driver
Two Methods:
1. The Restricted Driver Manager can install the the driver for ATI graphics card in the Dell 1501. ATI's 2.1.7281 fglrx driver is automatically installed, configured and 3D enabled. The best part is that the new Ubuntu repository fglrx driver supports AIGLX, no more XGL.

2. You can install the newest ATI driver that uses AIGLX yourself. You can find that guide here (use method two) or use Envy to install the newest ATI driver for you.

Compiz-Fusion
Compiz-Fusion is enabled once you install the ATI Propiety Driver.
To get the most out of Compiz try installing the advanced configuration tool.
In a terminal:
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Media Codecs
Hardy Heron makes codec installation easy mp3, DVD, avi, aac, mpeg, wmv, asf, mov, flv, mp4, flash codecs are installed when you try to play them. If you like to add all the major codecs and make playback easy, check out my codec cheatsheet. The only thing not enabled in Ubuntu is reading encrypted DVDs. To add DVD playback and some other helpful media codecs to Ubuntu follow this guide.

Ethernet
Works out of the box. In order to do any of these guides you're going to need to plug in your Dell Inspiron 1501. Don't be cheap, go out and buy an Ethernet cable.

Brightness & Volume
Brightness (Fn Up/Down Arrow) and Volume (Fn Page Up/Page Dn) keyboard shortcuts both work with BIOS 1.70. Please leave a comment letting others know if your BIOS work.

Suspend & Hibernate
Both Suspend and Hibernate work with BIOS 1.70 and the Ubuntu repository ATI 2.1.7281 fglrx driver. Please leave a comment letting others know if your BIOS and/or ATI driver combination work. You can find a mini guide about BIOS flashing here.

Video Out
Works out of the box, Hardy's Screens and Resolutions (System>Administration>Screens and Resolutions) makes using multiple monitors a breeze. Configuration doesn't require editing your xorg.conf file.

Modem
The Conexant Modem driver is usually released by Dell once they switch their Linux machines over to the new version of Ubuntu. I'll update the site and this space when Dell releases the new driver.

Card Reader
Works out of the box.

Overall:
Hardy Heron is the Ubuntu release that Dell Inspiron 1501 owners have been waiting for. Everything works, you only need to install 3 drivers (ATI, wireless and modem). If you were hesitant about trying Ubuntu on your 1501, rest assured, it takes minimal skill and computer knowledge to setup.

Moved This Week

For those of you who have emailed, instant messaged and commented on articles, I'm sorry for not getting back to you. I moved last Sunday and don't have a internet connection at my condo yet. It getting installed on the 7th. See You Then.

Upgrade or Fresh Install?

People have been asking me whether or not they should upgrade their Feisty installs or do a completely new install for Gutsy. My answer is that you should install Gutsy fresh. There are 3 main reasons for doing this:

1. You don't have to worry about 3rd Party Repositories. If you have Wine, Skype, Opera, Mediabuntu or any other 3rd party repo installed you have to make sure they are ready for Gutsy and get updated as well. Some 3rd party repos might not be as easy to update as others.

2. If you have any Compiz-Fusion running on your Feisty install you'll have to completely uninstall it, remove the 3rd party repo you installed it from and reinstall Ubuntu-desktop and the Feisty version of Compiz. There is no way around this. If you don't do all these steps right, you are going to run into a lot of problems with Compiz-Fusion in Gutsy. All Compiz-Fusion guides for Feisty where hacky (including mine) and have potential to cause these conflicting install & dependency problems.

3. I LOVE Ubuntu, but updating it from one version to another sucks and doesn't work. I'm sure people will argue this with me, but they're full of it. Upgrading is a real pain and posses too many problems and complications to ever be a realistic choice. If you want things to work like there supposed to install it fresh. Gutsy is totally worth the work. If one thing is broken during the update you run the risk of losing your ability to actually use Ubuntu. While in Linux everything is fixable, but if you aren't comfortable with the command line you run the risk of completely hosing your system and not being able to get your data back.


Tips for Installing Gutsy
1. Have your Home folder on a different partition.
2. Back up your Home folder.
3. Back up your Home folder. (Not a typo, its so important it needs to be said twice)

edited by pHreaksYcle

Niall's Question

Hello, redDEAD. I have a small problem and was wondering if you could help me, sorry I had to post it here, I couldn't find another way to contact you.

I think the problem is with my BIOS version(2.4.1), however I managed to get my ATI card to work on 2.1.0 so I'm not sure. Do you think you could help me solve the problem?

I think Niall is asking me to help him get the ATI driver installed on his Dell 1501 with the 2.4.1 BIOS. Niall, all you have to do is use Restricted Driver Manager found in System>Administration. It won't give you the most recent ATI driver but it will give you a solid ATI driver that really works. The BIOS shouldn't matter, in fact, if you are worried about your BIOS version you should be using BIOS 1.7 you can find it here

Cheers I hope that helps.
___________________________________________

A quick reminder to people, if you want my help you have to get me as much info as possible. Paint me a pretty picture and tell me exactly what your problem is. If you need to contact me you can always email me at redDEADresolve at that fancy google mail.com

Now since this post is kinda boring here is the greatest Marvel/DC TEAM UP EVER

edited by pHreaksYcle

A Microsoft Case Study

First a rant: it isn't Windoze or M$, it's simply Microsoft Windows. Windows isn't a horrible operating system, it works just as well as many Linux distros. Each operating system has it strengths and weaknesses, it's just Windows isn't for me. I do not like having to pay for software that I have no rights to. If I spend money on your product, please do not tell me I don't own it. I paid for it, it's in my house, how is this product not mine? Why can't I look at the code, or modify it? In the same vein I hate DRM. I paid for the song or movie, it's mine. If I want to put it on a backup CD for my car, put it on my iPod, or stream it across the net to buddy so he can hear how cool it is; don't tell me no or restrict my ability. In Ubuntu, I can customize everything, the desktop enviroment, package handler, themes, skins, code and etc. The most important reason I use Linux is that I love my FREEDOM. So don't say M$ Windoze sux, both Windows and Linux get the job done and have some really great programs. Tell people you love free, as in freedom.

Now that the rant is over, back to the story. All this stuff doesn't mean a thing to my kid sister. She wants to surf the web, use iTunes and do her work in Microsoft Office. She would trade her freedom for compatibility and usability and that's okay because it's her choice. So I setup Windows XP on her new Dell Inspiron 1501 this week. Wow, the difference between installing Ubuntu and Windows is night and day. Below is a picture of all the drivers I had to install to get her Dell 1501 to work.



The Ethernet, audio, smbus, ricoh card reader, touchpad, graphic and wireless drivers had to be installed. Basically nothing worked. During installation of the drivers I had to reboot 6 times. Then I still had to install flash, Microsoft Office and VLC to get the media codecs that Windows didn't come with.

In Ubuntu all you need is an Ethernet cable and a LiveCD. You don't even need to install the Ubuntu on your Dell 1501 to have a pretty functional computer. You can use the Ethernet connection and the LiveCD session to surf the net,listen to audio, use the card reader and touchpads advanced features.

An Ubuntu install isn't perfect, but it's still much easier than Windows. The only drivers you need to install are the wireless and graphic card. Wireless card issue is being worked on and future kernel updates should have support built in and Ubuntu's Restricted Driver Manager helps you install the ATI driver with 3 clicks. An office suite comes installed and media codecs and flash also take three clicks of a mouse button.

Overall I find the Ubuntu install to take half the time and half the headaches.

edited by pHreaksYcle

Full Circle Magazine

Every once and a while I'll think about posting a news story, but my blog isn't really about news. If I start writing about current Linux development, I would have to actually update my blog on a semi-regular basis and would make it more of a job then an actual hobby. That why I'm excited about Full Circle Magazine. It is an independent magazine for the Ubuntu community. It covers all the Ubuntu flavors and has great articles and information that are useful for every Linux user. It covers Ubuntu news that I would love to blog about if I wasn't too lazy. If the first two issues are indicative of where this project is going, then I'm an excited Full Circle reader.

In case you missed them: Issue one covered - a MythTV and Scribus tutorial, a guide to the Linux directories and an interview with the Deluge BitTorrent client developer (which I am a fan of). Issue two covered - installing Kubuntu, Virtual Private Networking, an overview of great software for Ubuntu and a guide on installing Ubuntu on the Mac Mini.

Check out the magazine, let me know what you think, and maybe help contribute. Download Issues & Wallpaper Here
and yes I know this post would be considered a news story.

edited by pHreaksYcle

Medibuntu & How to Install DVD codecs

Please read this post before installing anything. You are responsible for not violating copyright law, not me. I do not endorse theft.

Medibuntu (Multimedia, Entertainment & Distractions In Ubuntu) is a repository of packages that cannot be included into the Ubuntu distribution for legal reasons; copyright, license, patent, etc. But, if you want to play restricted formats like the w32codecs, quicktime videos or encrypted DVDs you'll need to intstall the Medibuntu repository. First have to make sure your allowed to download these packages because Legal Notice Patent and copyright laws operate differently depending on which country you are in. Please obtain legal advice if you are unsure whether a particular patent or restriction applies to a media format you wish to use in your country.

To add the repo:
sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/feisty.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

Then add the key that authenticates the repo:
wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

The reload the your sources to add Medibuntu:
sudo apt-get update

Then in order to play encrypted DVDs download this package:
sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2

There are many other things in this repo that you may find useful besides codecs. Skype, Opera, Java, Realplayer & GoogleEarth. While they might not be free and open source, they are FREE to use. For a list of packages in the Medibuntu look here.

edited by pHreaksYcle

Screen Capture - recordMyDesktop & Xvidcap

Recently I read this article on digg.com about screen capturing on Linux. recordMyDesktop produces files using only open formats; theora for video & vorbis for audio using the ogg container. Which is great, open source formats rock and we should all support them. To get recordMyDesktop, fire up a terminal and enter:

sudo apt-get install recordmydesktop gtk-recordmydesktop

Problem is if you want to upload your video to YouTube you can't use recordMyDekstop open source formats. This is my main problem with YouTube but if you can get a ton of people to see your video you gotta play with the devil.

This is why I choose to use Xvidcap it does the same thing that record my desktop does while offering a better menu layout and GUI. It uses the FFmpeg libavcodec and libavformat to encode video in MPEG 4 format.



You can download the deb here on sourceforge.com

edited by pHreaksYcle

Installing Java Runtime Environment 6 in Feisty

This works for anyone running Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn, not just for Dell Inspiron 1501 users.

If you want to use the newest Java applications, you need to get Java 6. If you have Java 5 installed and running Azureus from fesity repos be warned that it doesn't play nice with Java 6. But the reason I moved to Java 6 is to install newest version on Azureus, the one in the repos bugs me and the newer one has added functionality and stability.

To install Java 6 and the browser plugin for mozilla:
sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin

Replace old version of Java with new:
sudo update-java-alternatives -s java-6-sun

Tell your system to use Java 6:
sudo gedit /etc/jvm

Then type this into the top of the file:
/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun
save file and close it

File should look similar to this:
# This file defines the default system JVM search order. Each
# JVM should list their JAVA_HOME compatible directory in this file.
# The default system JVM is the first one available from top to
# bottom.

/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun
/usr/lib/jvm/java-gcj
/usr/lib/jvm/ia32-java-1.5.0-sun
/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun
/usr

Now test to make sure everything is running right:
java -version

You should see this:
java version “1.6.0″ Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0-b105) Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.6.0-b105, mixed mode, sharing)

Now your running the latest version of Java and able to run the newest version of Azureus.

edited by pHreaksYcle

Can't Get Feisty to Install?

Readers with 2.1 or 2.4 BIOS have been reporting that they are unable to get Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04 to install on their 1501s. The simple solution is to downgrade your BIOS back to 1.7. When you start up your PC there is a giant Dell splash screen. Right under it you can find your bios version. Get older BIOS from Dell's support website HERE

I will caution that if you are not comfortable with possibly ruining your laptop and turning it into a useless brick do not attempt to flash your BIOS.

REMEMBER YOU HAVE TO HAVE YOUR LAPTOP PLUGGED IN WHEN FLASHING.

edited by pHreaksYcle

Your Dell 1501 is Ready

UPDATED!
The Dell Inspiron 1501 is ready for Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04. Today the last remaining bugs were squashed. I highly recommend you count the days till Feisty is released or hop on the beta and start enjoying the ride.

Installation
It's a simple matter of placing the Feisty disk into your DVD drive and installing. Takes all of 30 minutes and doesn't need pci=nomsi to install.

Wi-Fi
The broadcom card shipped with the Dell 1501 still doesn't work out of box with Feisty. But ndiswrapper works and runs the card very fast. Installation is extremely easy, the guide can be found here. Feisty's avahi network manager is amazing, best I have ever used on any operating system. It's a must have for any mobile users.

Ethernet
Works out of the box, just plug the cable in.

Modem
Reported that it works with a little tweaking. Everyone who wants to run Feisty but is stuck in 1996 can breath easily.

Card Reader
There was a bug in the 2.60 Linux kernel that caused the Ricoh card Readers the Dell 1501 shipped with to not work although they worked in Edgy. This has been fixed, card reader works great and now it asks if you'd like to empty the trash upon dismounting. Very convenient and works out of box.

ATI Driver
ATI's 8.34.8 driver is working really well for me. Installation is a snap too. The restricted Driver Manager does all the work for you. You can install the driver with four mouse button clicks.

Media Codecs
Feisty makes codecs easy, no more Automatix or struggling with adding a repo. MP3, DVD, avi, mpeg, wmv, asf, mov, flv, flash codecs are installed with four mouse clicks. The only thing not enabled is reading encrypted DVDs. Some programs can do it for you but if you'd like to do it in Totem use this guide. Word is you can buy it from Linspire's CNR which is being introduced in Feisty. Remember kids, Linux is free as in Freedom not money. If you have to pay to play DVD, bite the bullet. You saved hundreds on the OS.

Beryl
It works and works pretty damn well. The trick is that you have to force bery-core to use 0.2.0~0beryl1 because later versions don't work with Xgl. It's not that hard of a hack. My guide can be found here.

Key Bindings
Work out of box, volume control, brightness, mute any function+commands. I have my keyboard set to Generic 101-key PC. After installing Xgl & Beryl I kept my key binding to Gnome's Settings.

Hibernation
Works out of box, never used hibernation before but I just tried it and think I like it.

edited by pHreaksYcle

Cleaned Up The Site

Did a little spring cleaning on the site. Edited some guides, switched ATI Drivers from 8.28.8 to 8.34.8, reversed my stance on Beryl. For any new readers, here's how to get your Dell Inspiron setup running Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft.

Installing Ubuntu Edgy Eft 6.10

Getting the Wi-Fi Working

Installing the Proprietary ATI Linux Driver

Enabling Media Codecs

Getting the wired Xbox360 Controller working in Ubuntu

What is and How To Bittorrent

Setting Up Compiz

Installing Beryl 2.0 with Compiz's gtk window manager.

Enjoy the site! If you are in need of help, just ask.

*Note if you used my old guide for installing the ATI Linux Driver you need to check that post out again and update.

edited by pHreaksYcle

Installing Ubuntu on Your Dell 1501

Ubuntu does not install on the Dell 1501 without a little work. But with a little work it can be done. The fix is adding the command pci=nomsi to grubs boot param. Follow this guide and you’ll be using Ubuntu in no time.

Getting Ubuntu Installed:

1. Changing the boot order in the BIOS.

This allows your Dell 1501 to first look to boot from the DVD drive. This is an essential step.

Place the Ubuntu Disc into your DVD drive

Reboot or turn on you 1501. When you see this screen, hit the F2 button.

This takes you to your BIOS screen.

2. You want to use the right arrow key to select Boot. Then use the down arrow key to access you DVD drive, I own the DVD-Burner and its name is ATAPI CD-ROM: HL-DT-ST DVD+/-RW-(PM) but common sense is your guiding light. I will say DVD and the 1501 only has one DVD slot.

3. Once you have your DVD drive selected, use the shift key and the +/=, right next to the backspace key (highlighted red) to change the priority order. Make sure your DVD drive is on the top. If you goof, the -/_ highlighted blue will lower a selection in the boot order.

Once done hit the F10 key to save and exit.

The computer will now boot from the DVD drive first. Restart your computer.

4. At the Ubuntu options menu (above screen) hit the F6 key to add to Ubuntu boot param. This will bring up a command line in the lower right hand part of your screen.

This is where the magic happens. Ubuntu will not be able to find your SATA hard disk without adding

pci=nomsi to the very end of this command line.

Yours should look just like the above picture. It will say …rw quiet splash – pci=nomsi. Hit the ENTER key and Ubuntu will begin to boot up. It will initially take a few minutes, be patient!

5. You will now see this screen. You can try Ubuntu out or go straight to the good stuff and install it.

Click the install icon on the upper left hand portion of the screen and follow the menus in order to setup your install.

After enter your time zone, keyboard, login name and password it will ask you if where you’d like to install Ubuntu you can choose to:
1. Erase the entire disk – (install Ubuntu on the Hard Drive and deletes everything else)
2. Manually edit the partition table – (allow you to separate the hard drive and have two or more operating systems on your computer)

Now Ubuntu should be installing. Sit back and relax it shouldn’t take more than 25 minutes. Once Ubuntu has been installed you will have to restart and repeat the steps of adding pci=nomsi to your boot param. This is the last time though, it will be permanent next time you load up Ubuntu.

6. Once Ubuntu loads you will want to make pci=nomsi permanent so go to the terminal. It’s located in ApplicationsàAccessoriesàTerminal

Enter in the code:

Sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst (that’s a lower case L at the end)

Enter your password and a text file will appear.

This file is your GRUB boot file. Be careful you can screw your system up if you delete or alter the wrong item.

Look at the bottom of the file for the lines

kernel /boot/vmlinux-2.16.17.10-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet splash

Or a very similar variation. Look at the picture below if you are unsure but USE COMMON SENSE.

Add pci-nomsi to the end of the kernel boot line. It should look like this:

kernel /boot/vmlinux-2.16.17.10-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet splash pci=nomsi

7. Save and you are done. Your computer will boot into Ubuntu every time and Installation is complete.

Next Up: WiFi, you wanna wait till I get the guide up before you try to set it up. But if you want to jump the gun use this guide.

edited by pHreaksYcle