(Version numbers are of the form YYMMDD. An optional serial number may be added “.1″, “.2″, “.3″ to differentiate multiple updates occurring on the same day.)
Changelog (in reverse chronological order; the topmost item is the most recent):
-
081031:
- Update for Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex.
- Removed all instructions about installing on Gutsy. Please use Hardy or Intrepid.
- Removed the “Long term considerations” section since it became obsolete from Hardy on.
- Removed the instructions for upgrading to BIOS 1.13
- Removed several broken links appearing in the old Changelog.
- Reinstated the usage of ricoh-r5c832-fix.
- Older changes can be found here.
TODO:
- Investigate faulken’s comment about how the modem can be made to work in Fedora.
I’m going to record here the caveats of installing Linux on a Compal IFL90 and on a Compal JFL92. My focus will be Ubuntu 8.10 aka Intrepid Ibex. I’ll try to provide useful information for those who want to use other distributions.
The machine I own is actually a Sager NP2090 which is a Compal IFL90 configured and sold by Sager. The Compal IFL90 is actually available under a variety of different names depending on where it is bought. I bought my machine from PowerNotebooks, a reseller with great customer service.
My wife owns a Sager NP2092 which is a Compal JFL92 configured and sold by Sager. It was also bought from PowerNotebooks. The JFL92 has the same set of peripheral controllers as the IFL90. The main difference between the two machines is the CPU they accept. For most purposes, the JFL92 can be considered to be a newer revision of the IFL90.
Unless I state otherwise, you can assume that everything I say here applies just as well to the JFL92 as to the IFL90. But keep the following in mind:
- The only version of Ubuntu I have installed on my wife’s JFL92 is Kubuntu 8.04. However, I eventually switched her from KDE to Gnome so in effect she is running Ubuntu 8.04. I have not yet upgraded her JFL92 to 8.10.
- The only BIOS I have experience with on the JFL92 is version 1.16.
Acknowledgments: many thanks to the guys in the forums at notebookreview.com for testing, helping, googling and so forth. Special thanks to El Profe for translating and to anyusr for seeking information on the web. Special thanks too to walkerk at the Ubuntu Forums for providing the method by which to install kernel 2.6.22 in Feisty and 2.6.24 in Gutsy.
I divide hardware functionality into four categories:
- hardware which works right out of the box.
- hardware which works after manual configuration: configuration files might need to be edited manually, or software might need to be compiled, etc.
- hardware which currently does not work.
- unknown.
Again, keep in mind that Intrepid is my guide to divide the hardware among those categories. Distributions which upgrade their packages more aggressively than Ubuntu could have more items in the “works right out of the box” category. I will only give details about the last three categories above plus items which will work right out of the box but for which there are some caveats.
Also note that I DO NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU BREAK ANYTHING ON YOUR SYSTEM. You have to evaluate how comfortable you are with installing Ubuntu packages, performing compilations and editing configuration files. (Then again, people who have never used Ubuntu might be wondering what the heck I’m talking about with “Hardy” and “Intrepid”. As usual, Google is your friend!)
At a glance
In the following table, “Y” means that it works, “N” means that it does not and “MC” means that it requires manual configuration to work. Columns marked “RB” mean that you should “Read Below” to know the full story. (Using the “find” facility of your browser is helpful to find the specific place.) For the “Linux in general” column, only “Y” “N” or “?” are possible since this is an abstract category. Items marked with (O) are optional when ordering the machine. Even for devices that show a “Y”, you should read the detailed information which follows to know about any potential issues. The Intrepid + Procedure column shows the results of applying the installation procedure described below to a stock Intrepid installation.
| Function | Linux in general | Intrepid | Intrepid + Procedure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Network Card | Y | Y | Y |
| Touchpad | Y | Y | Y |
| Wireless (O) | Y | Y | Y |
| Video Card | Y | Y | Y |
| Sound | Y | Y | Y |
| BlueTooth (O) | Y | Y | Y (should work on NP2092 but not tested) |
| Webcam | Y | Y | Y |
| Modem | Y | ? | ? |
| MMC Reader | Y | RB | Y |
| FP Reader | ? | ? | ? |
| Sleep | RB | RB | RB |
| Hibernation | RB | RB | RB |
| Firewire | Y | ? | ? |
| Express Card | Y | Y | Y |
| Infrared (O) | ? | ? | ? |
| Robson (O) | ? | ? | ? |
| TV Tuner (O) | ? | ? | ? |
| Intel VT | Y | Y | Y |
NOTE: I have all the optional devices in the table above except for Robson, the Infrared and the TV Tuner.
Peripherals
I maintain separate pages for the peripherals I use with my IFL90:
Hardware which will run right out of the box
-
Network card: Broadcom BCM5787M
-
Wireless (OPTIONAL): Intel 4965agn
-
BlueTooth (OPTIONAL): Broadcom BCM2045 (Broadcom BCM92045MD)/Foxconn T60H928.06. It seems that Foxconn is manufacturing OEM hardware for Broadcom. [Bizcom] mentions the Foxconn device. However the device is properly a Broadcom BCM2045 (BCM92045MD). I don’t know why they use so many different model numbers.
-
Video Camera: Chicony CNF6212.
-
Sound: Realtek ALC268
-
Memory card reader, according to [Bizcom] is a Ricoh R5C833. However, here is what lspci shows me:
0e:06.1 Generic system peripheral [0805]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 22) 0e:06.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 12)Does this mean that the R5C833 is a combination of R5C822 and R5C592??? At any rate, it seems that the card reader is properly a R5C822.
The MMC is supported in Linux but it will not resume properly from suspend unless registry values are tweaked.
- Hardware virtualization (Intel VT): yes! I can use kvm which depends on VT to run.
Hardware which will run right out of the box (but with caveats)
- Touchpad: Elantech 810511-0911
-
Linux in general: should work as of kernel 2.6.22.6.
-
Intrepid: the touchpad will work but some of the more advanced configuration capabilities will not work right out of the box because it seems the kernel misidentifies the device. See:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.22/+bug/123775
-
-
Video Card: nVidia 8600GT
- Linux in general: supported both in open and closed source drivers. To take full advantage of the card, you need to use the closed source drivers. Notably you cannot play DVDs with the open-source drivers because they don’t support XVideo. I’ve tried it and wept.
-
Intrepid: use the restricted drivers manager to install the closed source drivers.
Hardware which will require manual configuration
- Both Sleep and Hibernation are not working in Hardy as of April 26th 2008. This is a regression bug because both were working in Gutsy!
- Sleep (Suspend-to-Ram): Definitely needs BIOS 1.13 or higher to work properly.
- Hibernation (Suspend-to-disk): See the note above about BIOS versions. I have had problem with fans after hibernation. It has happened twice that I resumed from hibernation and my fans were not working. It has been a long time since I had the fan problem so I consider it fixed. Also note that hibernation is likely to abort if you plug or unplug devices while the system is going into hibernation.
Hardware which does not work yet
-
Fingerprint reader: Upek TCS4BA.
-
Linux in general: the fprint project is probably where support is going to come from. Specifically see this bug report. There is discussion in that bug report of support being limited to the 32-bit version of Linux.
-
Intrepid: see the above but also see:
-
- Robson (OPTIONAL): Intel chipset. Does not seem supported.
Unknown
-
Modem: Motorola UbiSurf(tm) SM56 Software Modem ([Bizcom] lists a Foxconn chipset but it looks like Foxconn makes OEM hardware for Motorola. So for now I’m expecting an SM56 made by Foxconn.)
-
Linux in general: the drivers exist and are packaged by Motorola as RPMs:
http://www.motorola.com/softmodem/sm56_download.htm#linux
It is most likely however that most people will want to have fresher RPMs than those listed there which were released in 2002 or earlier! In fact, it seems that the drivers provided by Smart Link have taken over. These are often known as sl-modem in various distributions.
-
Intrepid: preliminary searches suggest that sl-modem-daemon is all that is required. If compilation is required, see the following:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DialupModemHowto/Smartlink
The original sources are kept in this site:
http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/packages/smartlink/
See also the note on how to recompile the sources:
http://www.arcetri.astro.it/~lfini/LinuxLaptops/Fujitsu.Amilo.Pi1505/
-
- Infrared (OPTIONAL): ENE chipset… exact model unknown for now. I do not have this device.
- TV Tuner (OPTIONAL): Lifeview LR535NTA. I don’t have a clue about this device because I have not ordered it.
About Hardy and the BIOS
Ok, this is a bit preliminary but I need to warn people. After my upgrade to Hardy, X started crashing almost 100% of the time after a resume from suspend-to-ram (aka: sleep). My machine was still at BIOS 1.13. After upgrading to BIOS 1.16, the crashes are still present. I am using BIOS 1.18 now which seems more stable and any previous BIOSes.
How to add my repository to your sources
-
The repository is signed with my private OpenPGP key. Execute:
$ sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.listAdd the two following lines at the end of the file:
deb http://lddubeau.com/downloads/ubuntu intrepid main deb-src http://lddubeau.com/downloads/ubuntu intrepid mainSave and exit. Execute:
$ sudo apt-get updateapt-get should execute normally except that it will complain that it does not have the GPG key for my repository. Execute the following commands to get my key:
# The next 3 commands import my public key to your # apt keyring. # (Note: if you don't have gpg installed already you should execute # "apt-get install gnupg" and continue after that is done.) $ gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys F70DFA47 $ gpg --export --armor F70DFA47 > /tmp/key.asc $ sudo apt-key add /tmp/key.asc # apt-get should not complain about a missing GPG key now. $ sudo apt-get update # This installs the required package $ sudo apt-get install alsa-source
Upgrade procedure from Hardy to Intrepid
NOTE: Please note that I’ve encountered some significant issues when I upgraded. You might want to take a look. None of those issues appear to be specific to the IFL90 or JFL92. You might want to hold off upgrading for now.
NOTE: USE THIS PROCEDURE AT YOUR OWN PERIL.
NOTE: You must have used the procedure to install Hardy on a IFL90 described on this page. If you used any other procedure all bets are off.
- If you use EnvyNG, I recommend that you remove it and return to the restricted drivers provided by Ubuntu before you upgrade. EnvyNG is neat but if you file bugs which may be related to the nVidia driver installed by EnvyNG, the Ubuntu developers won’t be happy.
- Follow the normal upgrade instructions.
- Install the nVidia drivers as described below for Hardy..
-
If ricoh-r5c832-fix is already installed you do not need to do anything.
If you do not do this, the MMC will not resume working after resuming your laptop from suspend. If you’ve added my repository like suggested above in the section on adding sound support, then you just need to perform the following command:
$ sudo apt-get install ricoh-r5c832-fixOtherwise, you need to grab ricoh-r5c832-fix_1_i386.deb and install it with the following command:
$ sudo dpkg -i ricoh-r5c832-fix_1_i386.deb
Installation procedure for Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron)
NOTE: USE THIS PROCEDURE AT YOUR OWN PERIL.
NOTE: It is a good idea to read the steps ahead a little bit to make sure you won’t miss a step.
NOTE: lines that begin with $ are to be typed at the command line prompt. Lines that begin with # are comments.
NOTE: You should be connected to a network to perform the installation of Ubuntu. You’ll have to use a wired network for the initial steps.
NOTE: This is the procedure to use for installing from scratch. I have used this procedure to go from Gutsy to Hardy. I have also upgraded from Gutsy to Hardy as described below but later decided to install from scratch to make sure I did not mess things up.
Note about the JFL92: As of May 5th, 2008 the Kubutu alternate installation CD for amd64 displays a strange behavior during installation. See this bug report. It does not prevent installation nor does it cause any insurmountable problem later. After the system is fully installed and updated, the problem still manifests itself at boot: after entering the passphrase to open the encrypted filesystem, the boot process sometimes stops until a key (any key) is pressed. For most users this is an annoyance. It would be a problem for someone who wants unattended boots.
Update 080605: faulken reported a solution to this problem: disable AHCI in the BIOS.
This bug does not happen on my IFL90 but that may be because I have AHCI disabled anyway (because of XP).
Ok, here is the installation process:
-
It is a good idea to install Windows before installing Ubuntu. If you are new to Linux or if Windows is your primary OS you should certainly install Windows before Linux. It is possible to install Ubuntu first but the problem is that installing Windows later messes with the boot process and then you have to fix it yourself.
-
Do an installation of Hardy using either the Desktop or Alternate CD. (I think the Desktop CD should work but I have not tested it.) The following links contain useful information:
- the community documentation on installation may also be useful.
- this illustrated dual boot site also contains suggestions as to how to partition the hard disk for Ubuntu and Windows.
- The first time you log in, the system might tell you that there are updates to be performed. Do perform those updates before going further.
-
Install the nVidia drivers.
Log in and go into System->Administration->Hardware Drivers. There you will see a driver for your nVidia card. Turn it on and follow the instructions.
-
-
Execute the following:
$ sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-baseGo to the end of the file and add the following lines. The first line is just a reminder to yourself as to what the next line is about. Such reminders are useful when packages are upgraded. You might want to change “LDD” to your own initials.
# LDD: I added this line for supporting the ALC268 audio chipset. options snd-hda-intel model=toshibaPress Control-X to exit and save.
-
Now you should reboot. The advantage of rebooting instead of just trying to fiddle with modules is that by rebooting you can make sure that everything is going to work right after a reboot. If you just fiddle with the modules, you may be setting up something which will be undone next time you reboot. So rebooting is better to make sure to trap possible problems early.
-
Question: But I still have no sound! What is going on?!?
Answer: This is a Linux problem, not a IFL90 problem. Sound support in Linux is still a bit on the arcane side. Open the “Volume Control” application. (A right click on the volume applet will do it.) Go into “Edit -> Preferences” and make sure that all channels (called tracks by the application) are selected. That’s because multiple channels affect the volume. For instance, the sound that comes out of the headphones is controlled by the PCM and the Headphone channels. If either of them is muted, you get no sound. To summarize briefly:
- PCM: all sound output goes through that channel so changing the volume on this channel will affect all sound output.
- Front: this controls the volume of the internal speakers.
- Headphone: this controls the volume of the headphones.
I have not played enough with the other channels to give a good description. See this comment for an initial stab at explaining microphones.
-
-
Execute the following:
$ sudo nano /etc/default/acpi-supportAnd change SAVE_VBE_STATE and POST_VIDEO from true to false.
-
TODO: Install modem support.
Upgrade procedure from Gutsy to Hardy
NOTE: USE THIS PROCEDURE AT YOUR OWN PERIL.
NOTE: You must have used the procedure to install Gutsy on a IFL90 described on this page. If you used any other procedure all bets are off.
- Follow the normal upgrade instructions.
-
Your machine will reboot. When I rebooted my X resolution was screwed. I fixed it by doing the following. This assumes you are using the NVIDIA PROPRIETARY DRIVERS. If not, skip the second command. Run:
$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg $ sudo nvidia-xconfig $ sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restartUpon my first try, I ran the dpkg-reconfigure command above with -phigh but that created a xorg.conf file which did not enable emulation of the middle button on the touchpad.
- Now, X should start. Log into your account. After logging in, Hardy reported to me numerous crashes of applications but they were spurious because I was not running those applications at that time.
- Install the nVidia drivers as described above.
- Install sound support as described above.
-
If ricoh-r5c832-fix is already installed you do not need to do anything.
If you do not do this, the MMC will not resume working after resuming your laptop from suspend. If you’ve added my repository like suggested above in the section on adding sound support, then you just need to perform the following command:
$ sudo apt-get install ricoh-r5c832-fixOtherwise, you need to grab ricoh-r5c832-fix_1_i386.deb and install it with the following command:
$ sudo dpkg -i ricoh-r5c832-fix_1_i386.deb
Quirks and Solutions
I am listing here some quirks and their solutions:
- Using the video camera:
- I never got ekiga-gtkonly to work.
- I was able to use ekiga. However, it needs to have the package libpt-1.11.2-plugins-v4l2 installed! This package may be missing from your installation so make sure it is installed before reporting problems with the video camera.
- For future reference, my preferences under the “Video Devices” tab are set to “Video plugin: V4L2″, “Input Device: USB 2.0 Camera”, “Format: Auto”, “Channel: 0″, “Image: None”.
- Incorrect panel position and size in Gnome: although the X Window resolution can be set to 1680×1050 (the native resolution of my laptop), it seems that upon subsequent logins Gnome forgets the resolution and returns to 1024×768. This is a problem that will happen for people who used to run Gnome at a different resolution previously, like I did. Fix: Start gnome-display-properties from a terminal, switch to 1024×768, click “Apply” and then click “Return to previous resolution”. At this point, the panel should be the right size and position. If it is, then run gnome-session-save from the terminal. A different and faster method is to execute “killall gnome-panel”. This will kill the panel and it will automatically be restarted by Gnome. Then you save the session with gnome-session-save. The trick is to start a terminal if you panel does not show the “Applications” menu. Right clicking on the background should show a menu that has an item named “Open Terminal”. Use that if needed.
Upgrading to a newer BIOS
NOTE: The instructions here are for BIOS version 1.16 but I’ve also used them for version 1.18 without any problem. Adapt as needed.
NOTE: You are following this procedure at your own risk. If things break, I’m not responsible.
NOTE: BIOS upgrades should always be performed with a full battery or preferably while on AC. If the process is interrupted before it is complete, you are likely to turn your laptop into an expensive and fancy brick.
This guide is based on this page about how to boot from a USB drive. I’ve boiled down the instructions to what worked for me. You may want to look at that guide if your situation is different than mine.
Here is the procedure:
-
Install the necessary tools:
$ sudo apt-get install dosemu mbr dosfstools -
Get the BIOS from the official channels and unzip it somewhere.
- Now you need to format your USB drive as a hard-disk. There are basically two ways your USB drive can be treated: superfloppy or hard-disk. I know the hard-disk method works. I have not tried superfloppy. To do the following steps you need to know which device your USB drive appears as. With the hardware I have in my machine, it appeared as /dev/sdb.
- Your drive needs to have one partition on it. Mine was already set up that way because when I insert it, the filesystem is mounted from /dev/sdb1. If yours is not set up with one partition, you need to use cfdisk, fdisk, gparted or whatever you want to create one single partition on the device.
-
Next, you want to set the MBR properly so that the device can boot:
$ sudo install-mbr -p1 [your device]The -p1 argument tells install-mbr that you want to automatically boot from the first partition. Replace “[your device]” with the actual name of the block device, not the partition! It would be /dev/sdb for me. (NOT /dev/sdb1).
-
Then you want to create a file system. I did not have to do that because I already had a filesystem on my disk. You may also skip this if you already have a file system, otherwise:
$ sudo mkdosfs -I [your partition]Replace “[your partition]” with the partition on your device, not the block device itself! It would be /dev/sdb1 for me.
-
Edit your ~/.dosemurc so that you can access your USB drive. Mine reads:
$_hdimage = "drives/* /tmp /dev/sdb1"This means that the drives under ~/.dosemu/drives/ are going to be mapped to C and D. The directory /tmp is mapped to E. This is a placeholder really because E should normally be a CD-ROM drive. And /dev/sdb1 is mapped to F.
- If your USB drive was mounted, please unmount it.
- There is a bug currently in dosemu or Linux or something. To work around it, execute:
echo 0 | sudo tee /proc/sys/vm/mmap_min_addr -
Start dosemu in a terminal. It will start and display the usual messages. Now the default dosemu installation does some drive remapping in autoexec.bat so by the time you get the dos prompt the drive mappings are:
- C: what you booted from.
- D: this maps to your home directory in Linux.
- E: this maps to /tmp.
- F: this maps to your USB drive.
- Z: this is where FreeDOS is actually installed.
- Now you need to install FreeDOS on the drive so run the following:
$ z: $ sys f: - Then you need to copy the files from the BIOS archive you downloaded. Go onto d: and cd to where the files are. Then copy them to f:.
- Exit dosemu by running exitemu.
- You are done in Linux so you can close everything you need to close and reboot.
- Press F12 to get the boot device list, select the USB drive.
- It should boot automatically but if you get a prompt of the form “MBR FA:”, hit A. Then you will get a prompt of the form “MBR 1234F:” hit 1.
- FreeDOS will ask for the time and date. Just hit enter.
- When you get to the DOS prompt, execute the batch file JFT02116.BAT by typing “JFT02116″ at the prompt and hitting return. (This is the file for BIOS 1.16. If you are upgrading to another BIOS find the appropriate batch file and execute that.)
- The flashing process will start. It takes a bit to go through the whole process.
REFERENCES
- [Bizcom]http://www.bizcom-us.com/support/IFL9091/Drivers/Intel/Vista32_64/FL9xVista3264DriversonJun28th.pdf
Old Changelog
Entries are in reverse chronological order. (The topmost item is the most recent.)
-
080605:
- Added a solution to the momentary freeze problem during install or bootup.
080526:
- Update regarding an Ubuntu bug on the JFL92.
- According to Revan (search comments), the Express Card works.
- Spell checking… eek!
-
080521:
- Added information regarding the JFL92.
- Added information about making ekiga work properly.
-
080512:
- Updated the information regarding the fingerprint reader
- Cosmetic fixes.
-
080430:
- Proper support for sound needs modifications to alsa-base otherwise the sound does not recover from sleep or hibernate. I’ve updated the installation procedure accordingly.
-
080426:
- General cleanup of the procedures and what is supported and not.
-
080423:
-
080418:
- ricoh-r5c832-fix is no longer needed in Hardy.
- Removed -phigh from the xserver reconfiguration command.
-
080416:
- Instructions for upgrading to Hardy Beta.
- Instructions for installing Hardy.
- Removed instructions for installing a Hardy kernel in Gutsy.
-
080104.2:
- Fan problem after hibernating occurs in 2.6.24-2.
- I’ve downgraded sleep and hibernate status from “Y” to “RB” (i.e. “Read Below”) because I think there are still issues.
-
080104.1:
- Updated instructions on how to use a Hardy kernel in Gutsy.
-
080103:
- Added instructions on how to use a Hardy kernel in Gutsy.
- Began forecasting support in Hardy.
- Added a warning about possible fan problems after hibernating.
-
080101:
- Removed the instruction to install debconf-support when installing audio since it does not seem to exist anymore.
- Added a bit of information about sound channels.
-
071217:
- Added links to new pages I created about how to configure in Unbutu peripherals I use with my IFL90.
-
071216:
- Help to upgrade to BIOS 1.13
- Suspend and hibernate work fine.
- Posted a warning about kvm.
- Spellchecked the page again. Yuck! Corrected many typos.
-
071019:
- Removed all instructions for Feisty. I do not support Feisty anymore and will not answer any questions about Feisty on an IFL90. Use Gutsy.
-
071005:
- Moved to Ubuntu 7.10 beta, aka Gutsy Gibbon Beta. The entire installation procedure is much easier than it was with Feisty Fawn in August. Kudos to the Ubuntu developers.
- There are two procedures: one for installation from scratch and one for upgrading from Feisty to Gutsy.
- Moved to alsa 1.0.15rc3 for sound support. This fixes the muting problem and adds support for microphones. I found that the recording obtained from the mikes is very noisy but have not investigated.
- The new procedures for Gutsy can be used but I’m not finished testing everything. For instance, it is possible that suspend/resume now works fine. I’ll have to check when I have time.
-
070920:
- Added instructions to upgrade the nVidia drivers from 100.14.11 to 100.14.19.
- Updated my observations about sleeping and hibernating. Upgrading the nVidia driver and the kernel upgrades have improved the stability of the system but we’re not quite out of the woods yet.
- Split the changelog in two. Old entries are now at the end of the page.
- Reinstated the TODO list…
- I’ve got feedback that Linux does not recognize Robson at all. Absent evidence to the contrary, I consider Robson to be unsupported in all versions of Linux.
- Added a “Gutsy + Procedure” column to my table even though I don’t have a procedure for Gutsy yet. I’m forecasting what we can expect.
- Cosmetic changes.
-
070916:
- There is now a solution for making the MMC chipset work. People who have already used the installation procedure I propose here should jump to the section about Installing MMC support and follow the instructions there.
-
070910:
- Added the procedure to upgrade from 2.6.22-10 to 2.6.22-11. This kernel has support for the video camera “out of the box”. This means that Gutsy will have “out of the box” support for the video camera!
- Updated the initial installation procedure to work with 2.6.22-11.
- Fixed the chmod commands to have the “+x” argument! (Argh!)
- Deprecated some old procedures.
-
070822.2:
- The repositories are now fine. You may use the new installation procedure which installs a 2.6.22-10 kernel and the upgrade procedure to go from 2.6.22-9 to 2.6.22-10.
- Added a note that my actual machine is a Sager NP2090.
-
070822.1:
- A word of caution: Ubuntu is in the process of refreshing its repositories but at the moment the repositories are inconsistent. Do not try to perform the processes indicated here until further notice. Nothing tremendously bad will happen if you do but it will make things a bit more complicated. Things will probably stabilize tomorrow.
- I have deprecated the procedure that upgrades to 2.6.22-9.
-
070821:
- Spellchecked the whole page. Found many typos!
- Started creating an initial installation procedure based on Ubuntu kernel release 2.6.22-10.
- Started creating an upgrade procedure to go from 2.6.22-9 to 2.6.22-10.
- Please do not use these two new procedures yet. You can still use the one based on 2.6.22-9.
070816:
- I’ve created a real repository for the packages I created for the installation procedure and added instructions to add those repositories. I urge people to use the repository rather than install my packages using dpkg.
- Reworded 2 passages that were way too obscure.
-
070814:
- Changed vi to nano in one of the commands I ask people to perform in the installation procedure. Both vi and nano are text editors but nano is more user friendly, in my opinion. I use vi personally, hence the mistake.
- Removed the TODO, which I think was confusing some people.
-
070813:
- Added a step to enable the universe repositories (and optionally multiverse).
- Added an issue with movie playback.
-
070812:
- Removed the separate version number at the top of the page. From now on, to know the version number of the document just look at the top entry in the changelog.
- Added new unresolved issues with sensors and audio.
-
070809:
- Added entries for Firewire and Express Card in the table. I have not yet investigated the chipsets.
- Added some information about the inability to get the machine to sleep.
-
070807:
- Found a solution to the resolution problem.
- Added a temporary solution to the problem of recognizing the DVD drive.
- Added instructions to get the webcam working.
- Contrary to reports, the IFL90 does not come with a TPM module. If somebody knows something different, let me know.
399 Responses to “Linux on a Compal IFL90 and JFL92”
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Pages: « 20 19 18 [17] 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 … 1 » Show All
May 13th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
I’ve moved to the amd64 distribution and tested sound after sleep/resume. If I do not modify the alsa-base file as per my instructions, then sound is not working after I resume. That’s true whether I use the x86 version or the amd64 version.
There is actually another workaround but this one is a pain in the ass to use. After resuming, if I turn off all applications that use sound and unload and reload the snd-hda-intel module, then sound works again.
May 12th, 2008 at 7:39 am
Sager Owner: Sorry to be a bit slow to respond. As usual my advice for things which are not specific to the IFL90 is to ask at ubuntuforums because you are more likely to get a fast answer there than here. You did just that, which is great!
I see that the last solution posted in that thread got a note of thanks. Does this mean your problem is solved?
yousef: There are only two overheating problems I’ve had on an IFL90:
1. The one I mentioned before: sometimes the fans would not resume operation after hibernation. This happened to me only in Linux but then again I don’t usually hibernate in XP so I do not know whether the problem is Linux-specific or not.
2. I recently experienced another kind of overheating problem. That was while gaming in XP. I would start Half-Life 2 and the game would run for maybe 15 minutes before the whole machine would shut down. I installed rivatuner in XP to have an eye on temps while playing and found that the problem was overheating. I fixed that problem by blowing compressed air into the vents at the back of the laptop. I used a can of compressed air made specifically to clean electronics. That took care of my problem. If you want to try this, make sure you get a can of compressed air for electronics. Also, you do this at your own risk.
Before you try it however, you might want to check your GPU and CPU temps while you are using the computer. To check GPU temps, you need to install nvidia-settings, start it and click on the “thermal monitor” line on the left side of the window. You’ll be able to see the GPU temp.
For CPU temps, things are a little more complicated. It has been a while since I’ve done it so I may not remember properly but basically you need to:
1. install sensord
2. run sensors-detect (as root, i.e. with sudo) to detect the sensors and update the /etc/modules file
3. manually load the new module that sensors-detect recommends (otherwise you won’t get sensor readings until the next boot)
4. install an applet, widget, whatever which will display the temperature reading onto your screen. (For Gnome, you would want the sensors-applet package.)
Another thing is that there’s actually a way to tell sensord to record temperatures periodically. It is documented in the man page for sensord.
Note that there may be better ways to get temps. I’m reporting what I used.
Ze Pedro: Thanks for the report regarding libfprint. I’ll have to update the pages.
Regarding the BIOS. I don’t think I’ve ever had anything earlier than 1.12 installed on this machine. I’m not sure… Anyway, the first BIOS version I had installed was breaking sleep and hibernate so I upgraded to 1.13. By my reckoning people should upgrade to 1.13 or higher. I cannot say anything specific about 1.10 since I’ve never used it.
People who wonder about the JFL92: My wife bought a JFL92 (Sager NP2092) yesterday. Once it gets here, I’ll be able to install Ubuntu on it and report what I find.
May 7th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Hello all!
It seems there will be a fingerprint reader driver from UPEK available this month, you can check http://projects.reactivated.net/fprint/bugs/index.php?do=details&task_id=9&project=1&status%5B0%5D= for further info.
However, the driver will only be initially available on 32bit versions.
So, anyone wanting to use the fingerprint reader should not use the AMD64 version of Ubuntu!
Also, does anyone here use Ubuntu with BIOS version 1.10? If so, what’s your feedback? I’m in the process of installing Ubuntu here and, as much as I would like to be able to suspend the computer, I don’t really want to flash the BIOS…
Thanks everyone!
Ze
May 7th, 2008 at 7:39 am
Sorry for taking so long to respond. I do not know if Windows is having the same issue, I don’t usually use it and if I do its not for very long. I am using windows right now after an abrupt shutdown in ubuntu again. I do think that it is a Linux specific error though as I haven’t had a shutdown with windows yet. Also I’ve never had this issue with either Gutsy Gibbon or Vista, this whole issue started when I installed Hardy Heron on my laptop. In regards to hibernation, I have never hibernated my laptop so I’m pretty sure that’s not the issue. Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Yousef
May 6th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
So I got the purple fuzz thing fixed and the gnome-panel applets fixed as well. The last problem that I am having, and I can’t seem to find an answer for, is that my “main menu” option is missing from the System > Preferences menu. I have this thread open on it, but so far, not much help.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=780987
I have a feeling that it has to do with the reinstall of gnome-applets. I really appreciate your help.
May 6th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Varghese: You can be sure that I’ll be updating my site with information about whatever laptop I or my wife end up buying. The JFL92 is a likely candidate and I think it would be trivial to update this page to cover both the IFL90 and JFL92.
Jori: Thanks for the reply. I’ve searched a bit after my last post. There are actually things which do not work as easily on amd64 as they do on the 32bit version of the OS (e.g. the flash plugin in Firefox) but simple workarounds exist for those. So I may just move to the amd64 version soon. Here’s a page with information about the issues with the amd64 version:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AMD64
May 5th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Anything 32-bit can be compiled under the amd64 version. I haven’t run into any issues yet. Even 32-bit windows programs work without a hitch with Wine.
May 4th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Louis,
Thanks a lot for the info. That is very reassuring. Finger print reader not working is ok I guess.
I’m planning to buy sometime around august ‘08, want to use it in grad school.
If you do happen to buy it and try linux on it, please post a response comment.. I’ll keep checking comments on this page.
/varghese
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Jori: You are correct that maybe the difference is that you are using the 64bit version. I’ve been running on 32bits because I read a while ago that there were some compatibility issues with 64bits but I may just switch to 64bits if I continue to have issues with the 32bit version. Is there anything you know that works on 32bits but does not work on 64?
yousef: The only issue I’ve ever had with overheating was some months ago: the fans would not turn back on after hibernating in Linux. Does your problem also happen in Vista or only in Linux?
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:59 pm
By the way, I’m using the amd64 version of Hardy. Perhaps that is why my sleep/resume is working perfectly, besides the white screen.
May 2nd, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Hi,
I have had a big problem with Hardy Heron(which never occured in 7.04 or 7.10).
I should mention that this is a clean install of Hardy Heron that I am dual booting with Vista.
I have noticed several times when my laptop shuts down abruptly and I believe its due to overheating. I believe its an issue with the GPU as of right now its at 79 degrees Celsius.
What can I do in order to fix this?
May 1st, 2008 at 11:58 am
I’m using Hardy and without any configuration changes, I’m able to suspend and resume. The weird thing is that when I resume, I get a white screen. I have it set up to lock the screen on screensaver. I can still type in my password and get back to my desktop, but the white screen thing is odd.
April 30th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Max: I don’t use the 64 bit version of the OS so I don’t know if that has any impact. I certainly never had any issues with fans running at full blast when they should not have. Hmm… did you boot into Windows and see how the fans behave there? If they spin like mad while you are running Windows, the problem is likely to be with the BIOS/motherboard or some other piece of hardware. In this case, you should ask the dealer you bought the computer from for support.
Varghese Mathew: I talked with Donald at PowerNotebooks.com. (Full disclosure: he’s the one who sold me my Sager NP2090.) Based on the information he gave me, the NP2092 has the same chipsets as the NP2090 so whatever I information I have here about the NP2090 would work with the NP2092. This being said, the only way to know 100% whether this is the case would be to have the machine in hand and try it.
My wife wants a laptop and she wants to run Ubuntu. She likes my NP2090 so it is likely we’ll buy a NP2092 for her. We have not bought one yet because I want to wait and see whether I should buy something else for myself and give her my NP2090.
The only thing in the list of items you wrote that I think would not work is the fingerprint reader. There does not seem to be support for it yet.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Any ideas about the Sager NP 2092 ?
Is it fully linux compatible? Video (1680×1050), Webcam (need this badly), sound, bluetooth, wireless (the 4965 a/g/n card), fingerprint reader etc.
I’m planning to buy a No-OS version from powernotebooks.com and install OpenSUSE 11.0 on it..
Before that I’d really like to know linux compatibility..
Please help if you can
/varghese
April 27th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Hi all. I just installed hardy 8.04 lts for 86_64 architecture on my 2090, and i’m having problems with the fans. they are working way too hard. i war running kubuntu gutsy before, but after i did a clean install of hardy, this problem showed up. any ideas? this kills my battery too. thanks!
April 26th, 2008 at 11:41 am
To those who are running Hardy. It would be good if you could tell me whether or not you are able to put your laptop to sleep and resume properly in Hardy. If you could tell me the following:
1. Which driver are you using to drive your nVidia card?
2. Which version of the BIOS are you using?
3. Can your laptop go to sleep and resume without problem?
Rather than fill the comments with answers. If you could email to my email address, which is ldd and then the @, and then the server on which this blog is hosted: lddubeau.com. (Sorry for the convoluted way to put my email down: I’m trying to avoid harvesters.)
April 26th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Krystian: I’m sorry you are running into that problem but as far as I can tell it is not a problem specific to running Ubuntu on the IFL90. I’m trying to concentrate on problems which are really machine-specific rather than general issues. Also, I’ve never used virt-manager so I don’t know how to fix problems that arise from using it. I’ve always used kvm and qemu directly.
Please note: I do think your question deserves an answer. It’s just a “division of labor” thing which prevents me from investigating. I would suggest bringing your problem to the attention of the people on the Ubuntu forums or perhaps forums that are specifically dedicated to virtualization. And as usual, Google is your friend.
April 26th, 2008 at 10:03 am
This is the error I get:
garar@ikuko:~$ virt-manager –no-fork
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/usr/share/virt-manager/virtManager/create.py”, line 295, in forward
if(self.validate(notebook.get_current_page()) != True):
File “/usr/share/virt-manager/virtManager/create.py”, line 915, in validate
self._disk.virtio = self._guest.get_virtio_blk()
File “/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/virtinst/FullVirtGuest.py”, line 206, in get_virtio_blk
return FullVirtGuest.OS_TYPES[self.os_type]["virtio_blk"]
KeyError: ‘virtio_blk’
I use virt-manger wizard to create new virtual machine. I choose fully virtualized with hardaware acceleration. I choose instalation iso, and choose partition and when i click next after choosing partition or selecting simple file, it throws this error. If I don’t use hardware acceleration it works fine but slow.
I hope it would help you a little bit.
ps. I use virt-manger 0.5.3 from ubuntu repos.
April 25th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
co0lingFir3: You’re welcome. Work on the mic will have to wait a bit I’m afraid. The stupid suspend problem is my first priority. I’ve lost a good deal of time on it already and it is still not fixed. As for 2.6.25, I don’t know what the status is. A quick check showed nothing about 2.6.25 in Launchpad right now.
Krystian: Can you give me the exact error message you are getting when you try to run kvm?
April 25th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Hey!
I’ve just upgraded to ubuntu 8.04. It’s warking fine. I like your page. I’m writing to ask you about the instructions to kvm. I’ve used this page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KvmVirtManagerEtc
But i can’t use kvm, vt is not working. I have loaded kvm_intel module to kernel. No problems. lsmod shows it is loaded. But I can’t use kvm, qemu works fine. Can you post some instructions on using kvm?
Thank you in advance, Krystian