Wanting to install arch on a dell xps m1330n, need some help w/it

Ryan_Macy · 2008-08-04 08:08:07

If someone could please give me a step by step guide on a complete install of arch onto my dell xps 1330n I would be VERY grateful.

I want to use arch as my linux OS of choice because it just seems to fit my way of doing things, and that just feels like the best way to describe it.

Sadly im not Linux savvy enough to figure out how to install and configure it myself.

I think I've done about 3 installs, without much success.

I just need help to the point where I have xfce4 installed with a web browser and working wifi internet (I have the 3945abg chipset).

I have google searched around for how-to's etc, and even looked at the wiki but I seem to be in a rut, maybe im overlooking something?

Allan · 2008-08-04 08:18:59

Have you looked at the beginners guide on the wiki: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide

Other than that, you are really going to have to give us some details on what has gone wrong so far so we can try and help you.

Ryan_Macy · 2008-08-04 08:28:38

Allan wrote:

Have you looked at the beginners guide on the wiki: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide
Other than that, you are really going to have to give us some details on what has gone wrong so far so we can try and help you.

My initial post does seem pretty vague.

Well I just need help with the full blown installation process.

i.e The best partitions to make (in size, type 'ext2,fat,etc'), what packages I need to install, proper configuration and a little direction on how to install xfce4 (pacman -S xfce4 returned an error something along the lines of file not found.

I actually think I missed the beginners guide some how, im going to check it out and see if I can't save someone from carpal tunnel trying to help me out.

*EDIT: I also need some help getting my wireless setup

Last edited by Ryan_Macy (2008-08-04 08:30:50)

Zeist · 2008-08-04 08:39:27

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wireless_Setup

The wiki knows most useful things.

Last edited by Zeist (2008-08-04 08:39:46)

Allan · 2008-08-04 08:40:40

OK. the beginners guide should get you through most of this. I suggest you post specific queries once you have tried going through that.

Ryan_Macy · 2008-08-04 09:07:31

Thanks, should have read the wiki more.

Some wiki info for myself - to hopefully get a working arch install

Bluetooth
Install bluez-utils & bluez-libs from extra repository:
pacman -S bluez-utils bluez-libs
Edit /etc/conf.d/bluetooth:
DAEMON_ENABLE="true"
HIDD_ENABLE="true"
Restart bluetooth service:
/etc/rc.d/bluetooth restart
wireless_tools
These powerful userspace console tools work extremely well and allow complete, manual control from the shell. These examples assume your wireless device is wlan0. Replace wlan0 with the appropriate device name. Many cards require that the kernel interface be activated before you can use the wireless_tools:
ifconfig wlan0 up
See what access points are available:
iwlist wlan0 scan
Using the scan results, tell your wireless device which access point to use. For example:
iwconfig wlan0 essid linksys
Then, setup the network interface as usual. Simple examples are:
dhcpcd wlan0
for DHCP, or
ifconfig wlan0 192.168.0.2
route add default gw 192.168.0.1
for static IP.
ipw3945 and ipw4965
ipw3945 is the old driver. It uses device name ethX. It requires a regulatory daemon named ipw3945d, and firmware named ipw3945-ucode.
iwl3945 is the new driver. It uses device name wlan0. It has no regulatory daemon, and uses firmware iwl3945-ucode. The new driver will work for both the 3945 and 4965 chipsets and is conveniently included with kernel v2.6.24 and up. Since the iwl3945 driver is newer, it is recommended to try first. Simply use the firmware that corresponds to your chipset:
pacman -S iwlwifi-3945-ucode
or:
pacman -S iwlwifi-4965-ucode
If MOD_AUTOLOAD is set to yes in /etc/rc.conf (it is by default) that should be all that's required. Simply check for the presence of the drivers by running ifconfig from a terminal. There should be a listing for wlan0.
If you would like to manually load the driver at boot-up, add it your MODULES array:
nano /etc/rc.conf
in the MODULES=() array, add iwl3945 or iwl4965 to the list, depending on your chipset
CTRL + X, Y to close and save.
The drivers should now load after a reboot, and running 'ifconfig' from a terminal should report wlan0 as a new network interface.
Installation
You can install the synaptics modules via pacman from the extra repository:
# pacman -S synaptics
Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf as root and add InputDevice "Touchpad" "SendCoreEvents" to the ServerLayout:
Section "ServerLayout"
...
InputDevice "USB Mouse" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Touchpad" "SendCoreEvents"
EndSection
Add Load "synaptics" to the Module section, for example:
Section "Module"
...
Load "freetype"
Load "record"
Load "synaptics"
...
EndSection
Lastly, add a new InputDevice section for the touchpad itself:
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mouse0"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "LeftEdge" "1700"
Option "RightEdge" "5300"
Option "TopEdge" "1700"
Option "BottomEdge" "4200"
Option "FingerLow" "25"
Option "FingerHigh" "30"
Option "MaxTapTime" "180"
Option "MaxTapMove" "220"
Option "VertScrollDelta" "100"
Option "MinSpeed" "0.06"
Option "MaxSpeed" "0.12"
Option "AccelFactor" "0.0010"
Option "SHMConfig" "on"
EndSection
For ALPS touchpads: If the above configuration isn't working for you, try the following configuration instead:
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mouse0"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "LeftEdge" "130"
Option "RightEdge" "840"
Option "TopEdge" "130"
Option "BottomEdge" "640"
Option "FingerLow" "7"
Option "FingerHigh" "8"
Option "MaxTapTime" "180"
Option "MaxTapMove" "110"
Option "EmulateMidButtonTime" "75"
Option "VertScrollDelta" "20"
Option "HorizScrollDelta" "20"
Option "MinSpeed" "0.25"
Option "MaxSpeed" "0.50"
Option "AccelFactor" "0.010"
Option "EdgeMotionMinSpeed" "200"
Option "EdgeMotionMaxSpeed" "200"
Option "UpDownScrolling" "1"
Option "CircularScrolling" "1"
Option "CircScrollDelta" "0.1"
Option "CircScrollTrigger" "2"
Option "SHMConfig" "on"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "on"
EndSection
Save, exit and restart X. The touchpad should now have working scroll zones. You can further tweak the InputDevice settings if desired. See Advanced Configuration for more information.
Note that your newly modified Xorg config will automatically load the evdev and psmouse kernel modules required by synaptics, however if desired you may add them explicitly to the MODULES array in the /etc/rc.conf file:
MODULES=( ... evdev psmouse ... )
[edit] Configurations using GUI applications
[edit] Gsynaptics
Once the synaptics driver has been installed, GNOME users can also install the gsynaptics package to enable a GUI-based control panel:
# pacman -S gsynaptics
To save and load the settings from gsynaptics automatically, add gsynaptics-init to the list of Startup Programs found in System -> Preferences -> Sessions.
Note: Non-GNOME users can also use gsynaptics by instead adding gsynaptics-init to their .xinitrc or .xsession startup scripts.
[edit] Advanced Configuration
The synaptics driver offers a number of options that can be customized. The following list describes the InputDevice options we declared in the Xorg config:
Identifier is the name of this input device you've specified in the server layout section above.
Device defines where your synaptic device is located. See Troubleshooting to find your device handler if it isn't /dev/input/mouse0 for you.
LeftEdge, RightEdge, TopEdge and BottomEdge are integer values which indicate the dimensions of your touchpad as x or y coordinates.
FingerLow and FingerHigh are integer values which indicate the 'pressure value' at which the driver counts a touch (pressure value goes above FingerHigh) or a release (pressure value drops below FingerLow).
MaxTapTime is an integer value that defines the maximum time for detecting a tap (in milliseconds).
MaxTapMove is an integer value which defines the maximum movement of your finger for detecting a tap.
MinSpeed and MaxSpeed are set to determine the minimum and maximum speed factor. An floating point value is expected. VertScrollDelta
AccelFactor is the acceleration factor as well defined as a floating point value.
VertScrollDelta and HorizScrollDelta is an integer value defining scrolling speed. Smaller values result in faster scrolling.
SHMConfig is a boolean value (on/off) for activating or deactivating shared memory. This needs to be enabled if you want to monitor or configure your synaptics device with clients as synclient, which will be using in this article. Shared memory is also required if you want to use Udev rules to disable the touchpad automatically when external mouse is plugged in (see the relevant section below).
More options are explained in the synaptics' manpage, accessible with:
man 5 synaptics
[edit] Fine tuning with synclient
The synclient monitor can display pressure and placement on the touchpad in real-time, allowing further refinement of the default synaptics settings. In order for synclient to work properly, the SHMConfig option must be set to on or true.
You can start the synaptics monitor with the following command:
$ synclient -m 100
Where -m activates the monitor and the following number specifies the update interval in milliseconds.
This monitor provides information about the current state of your touchpad. For example, if you move the mouse with the touchpad, the x and y values in the monitor will change. Therewith you can easy figure out your touchpad's dimension which is defined in the LeftEdge-, RightEdge-, BottomEdge- and TopEdge-Options.
The abbreviations are explained as following:
time
Time in seconds since the logging was started.
x, y
The x/y coordinates of the finger on the touchpad. The origin is in the upper left corner.
z
The pressure value. It represents the pressure you are using to navigate on your touchpad.
f
Number of fingers currently touching the touchpad.
w
Value that represents the finger width.
l,r,u,d,m,multi
Those values represent the state of the left, right, up, down, middle and multi buttons pressed where zero means not pressed and one means pressed.
gl,gm,gr
For touchpads which have a guest device, this are the associated button states for guest left, guest middle and guest right pressed (1) and not pressed (0).
gdx, gdy
x/y coordinates of the guest device.
If a value constantly is zero, it means that this option is not supported by your device.
With this in mind you should be able to figure the proper values out for you.
[edit] Circular scrolling
Circular scrolling is a feature that synaptics offers which you probably know from the iPod. Instead of (or additional to) scrolling horizontally or vertically, you can scroll circularly. Some users find this faster and more precise. To enable circular scrolling, you have to add the following options to your input device section as defined above:
Section "InputDevice"
...
Option "CircularScrolling" "on"
Option "CircScrollTrigger" "0"
...
EndSection
As you've might guessed CircularScrolling enables or disables circular scrolling. The option CircScrollTrigger may be one of the following values, determining on which edge circular scrolling should start:
0 All Edges
1 Top Edge
2 Top Right Corner
3 Right Edge
4 Bottom Right Corner
5 Bottom Edge
6 Bottom Left Corner
7 Left Edge
8 Top Left Corner
Specifying something different from zero may be useful if you want to use circular scrolling in conjunction with horizontal and / or vertical scrolling. If you do so, the type of scrolling is determined by the edge you're starting.
To scroll fast, draw small circles in the center of your touchpad. To scroll slow and more precise, draw large circles.
[edit] Two Fingers scrolling
Recent synaptics touchpads support two fingers scrolling: instead of just scrolling on the side of your touchpad you can also scroll using two fingers togheter. You might have seen this on Macbooks which uses this approach as default on Mac OSX.
Given that your hardware support this feature (there is not an easy way to discover, just give it a try) you can enable it by inserting this two lines into your synaptic InputDevice section:
Option "VertTwoFingerScroll" "1"
Option "HorizTwoFingerScroll" "1"
You will get a two finger enabled touchpad which supports top-bottom and left-right scrolling as well as regular lateral scrolling (if you have started from the configuration proposed above in this page)
NOTE for Firefox Users: You might find the default behavior of Firefox pretty annoying relating to the horizontal scrolling. Just see Firefox and special touchpad events below to find out how to disable it.
[edit] Disabling touchpad on plugged in mouse
In assistance to udev, it is possible to automatically disable the touchpad if an external mouse has been plugged in.
To achieve this, you just have to add the following udev rule:
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="input", ID_CLASS="mouse", RUN+="/usr/bin/synclient TouchpadOff=1"
ACTION=="remove", SUBSYSTEM=="input", ID_CLASS="mouse", RUN+="/usr/bin/synclient TouchpadOff=0"
Place this into /etc/udev/rules.d/01-touchpad.rules and make sure SharedMemory has been enabled and you should be fine.

[edit] Other features
By default, Synaptics touchpads are able to detect the number of fingers on the touchpad, ALPS touchpads are not. If the touchpad is tapped with two fingers, it will emulate a middle click. If the touchpad is typed with three fingers, a right click will be emulated.
[edit] Troubleshooting
[edit] My touchpad device isn't located at /dev/input/mouse0
If that's the case, you can use this command to display information about your all input devices:
cat /proc/bus/input/devices
Search for an input device which has the name "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad". The Handler in this section will tell you which Device you have to specify in your xorg.conf.
Example output:
I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0007 Version=0000
N: Name="SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio4/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input1
H: Handlers=mouse0 event1
B: EV=b
B: KEY=6420 0 7000f 0
As your Handlers are mouse0 and event1, you use /dev/input/mouse0.
[edit] Stopping the mouse from clicking while typing
This is a neat little trick incorporated with the synaptics driver, you can actually make sure that the touchpad is disabled while typing. It is a very simple procedure, so here is how it is done.
Just add the following line to your .xinitrc before you run your window manager:
syndaemon -i 2 &
The -i 2 switch sets the idle time to 2 seconds. The idle time specifies how many seconds to wait after the last key press before enabling the touchpad again.
Additionally you can add the -t switch that tells the daemon not to disable mouse movement when typing and only disable tapping and scrolling:
syndaemon -t -i 2 &
As usual you may find further information in the manpage:
$ man syndaemon
[edit] Firefox and special touchpad events
Even though this problem isn't concerning the synaptics drivers, you will probably look up here for a solution anyway. By default firefox is set up to do special events on tapping or scrolling certain parts of your touchpad. You can edit the settings of those actions by typing about:config in your firefox adress bar. Editing takes place by double clicking on those lines, true changes to false and vise versa, a numerical value you'll have to change manually.
To prevent firefox from scrolling (back and forward) through the history and make it scroll the site, you have to edit the following settings:
mousewheel.horizscroll.withnokey.action = 1
mousewheel.horizscroll.withnokey.sysnumlines = true
To prevent firefox from redirecting you to urls formed out of your clipboard content, on tapping the upper-rigt corner of your touchpad (or middle mouse button), you have to set the following line to false:
middlemouse.contentLoadURL = false
[edit] Opera misinterprets horizontal scrolling
Same as above. To fix it, go to Tools -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Shortcuts. There you edit the mouse preferences: Delete the entries with "Button 5" and "Button 6".

[edit] Scrolling and multiple actions with synaptics on LG Laptops
These problems seems to be occuring on several models of LG laptops. Symptoms are that when pressing Mouse Button 1 synaptics interpretes it as ScrollUP and a regular button 1 click, same goes for button 2.
The scrolling can be solved by entering in xorg.conf:
Option "UpDownScrolling" "0"
This however will make synaptics interprete one button push as three. There is a patch written by Oskar Sandberg, found at http://www.math.chalmers.se/~ossa/linux … press.html , that removes these clicks.
However when trying to compile this with the latest version of synaptics it fails. The solution to this is using the GIT repository for synaptics. It can be found at http://web.telia.com/~u89404340/touchpad/synaptics/.git .
There is also a package build file in the archlinux user repository to automate this, http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=15983.
Instructions on how to build this package, after downloading the tarball and unpacking it:
cd synaptics-git
makepkg
If you want it to be automatically installed after it has build just add '-i' after makepkg.
[edit] Still can't get your USB (external) mouse working?
First, make sure your section describing the external mouse contains this line (or that the line looks like this):
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
If the "Device" line is different, change it to the above, and try to restart X. If this doesn't solve your problem, make your touchpad the CorePointer in the "Server Layout" section:
InputDevice "Touchpad" "CorePointer"
and make your external device "SendCoreEvents":
InputDevice "USB Mouse" "SendCoreEvents"
finally add this to your external device's section:
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
If all of the above doesn't work for you, please check relevant bug trackers for possible bugs, or go through the forums to see if anyone has found a better solution.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-08-04 08:08:07

Wanting to install arch on a dell xps m1330n, need some help w/it

#2 2008-08-04 08:18:59

Re: Wanting to install arch on a dell xps m1330n, need some help w/it

#3 2008-08-04 08:28:38

Re: Wanting to install arch on a dell xps m1330n, need some help w/it

#4 2008-08-04 08:39:27

Re: Wanting to install arch on a dell xps m1330n, need some help w/it

#5 2008-08-04 08:40:40

Re: Wanting to install arch on a dell xps m1330n, need some help w/it

#6 2008-08-04 09:07:31

Re: Wanting to install arch on a dell xps m1330n, need some help w/it

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