Dell Inspiron 6400/E1505 Laptop Guide [Wiki]

mridc · 2007-08-09 08:21:19

Excellent guide there

One thing though... I've found the IPW drivers for the 3945ABG module to be more of a hassle than they're worth, now that the mac80211 stack is included in the 2.6.22 kernel. The Intellinux iwlwifi drivers are available through pacman, and apart from the LED not working they do just fine. Using the IPW drivers I always had to get a specific version, patch here patch there, to get them running.

On a sidenote... do the media buttons fully work for you? I've set the keyboard model to "Inspiron" in the KDE panel and the volume up/down and mute sound buttons work alright. But I'm having problems with the Play, Previous and Next buttons. I can set them as global shortcuts in either Amarok or JuK, and they work as long as Amarok or JuK are focussed. But if I minimize my player or switch to another window, they're not working anymore.
I've tried to map them to DCOP calls (e.g. dcop amarok player playPause), but then they're not doing anything at all (despite the dcop call doing exactly what it's supposed to do when run via konsole), not even when Amarok's in focus.

Will try setting the layout to pc105 when I get home from work and see if that works for me

turing · 2007-08-09 20:32:28

Nice Wiki.

The Firewire port works without any problems here. Modules are loaded well and the external disc is recognized in KDE.

thayer · 2007-08-12 09:39:20

@ macros78: Yes, both CPU's appear to work fine after a suspending to ram and/or disk. I didn't have to do anything special aside from what's listed on the wiki.

@ mridc: Thanks! I've read up on the iwlwifi drivers and although they are scheduled to replace the ipw3945 driver eventually, some folks are still having issues with connectivity and stability, so I'm hesitant to make any changes just yet. What I would like to see though, is a definitive wiki on the new WICD network tool, as well as the new network scripts underway by the Arch developers. I'm running Openbox nowadays instead of GNOME or KDE, so I would love have a robust management tool that didn't require as many DE-specific dependencies.

With respect to the multimedia keys, I wish I had an answer for you... but as I said, I don't use DE's any longer. When I used Kubuntu, I think I had to set the layout to something like "Dell 105 Keyboard". That's another area of the wiki I plan to work on soon... a DE-independent method of getting all of the hotkeys working.

Last edited by thayer.w (2007-08-12 09:41:18)

mridc · 2007-08-13 07:48:54

thayer.w wrote:

With respect to the multimedia keys, I wish I had an answer for you... but as I said, I don't use DE's any longer. When I used Kubuntu, I think I had to set the layout to something like "Dell 105 Keyboard". That's another area of the wiki I plan to work on soon... a DE-independent method of getting all of the hotkeys working.

I've tried setting them via /etc/xprofile and they do actually work now. I think the keys used to work with Gnome using the "Inspiron" layout, so I guess it's a KDE bug.

Many thanks to you guys, that was one of my major gripes

As to the network drivers... yeah, they're not even near being stable. Just thought I might add that there's another option, since I was having a lot of trouble installing /patching the IPW3945 ones so my card would connect to my AP.

jubstuff · 2007-11-24 23:50:41

I suggest you to edit the wiki, because amd renamed fglrx to catalyst

thayer · 2007-11-25 18:10:32

Thanks jubstuff... done

Drakx · 2008-01-28 17:03:24

zeus wrote:

Dellfand in community can be used for fan regulation. It solve possible problems with overheating.
When you close your notebook lid, monitor still on or monitor does't turn on when you open lid - add this code /etc/acpi/actions/lm_lid.sh
#!/bin/bash
if [ ! "$(cat /proc/acpi/button/lid/LID/state | grep open)" = "" ];
  then vbetool dpms on
  else vbetool dpms off
fi

Thanks this worked a treat on my toshiba laptop

thayer · 2008-10-08 02:07:27

seiya5 wrote:

i was struggling with arch and was about to give it up, and go running back
to ubuntu :S
But bc of this i f-ing love you. Thanks for the help and great efforts

Glad it helped!

Arch Linux

#26 2007-08-09 08:21:19

Re: Dell Inspiron 6400/E1505 Laptop Guide [Wiki]

#27 2007-08-09 20:32:28

Re: Dell Inspiron 6400/E1505 Laptop Guide [Wiki]

#28 2007-08-12 09:39:20

Re: Dell Inspiron 6400/E1505 Laptop Guide [Wiki]

#29 2007-08-13 07:48:54

Re: Dell Inspiron 6400/E1505 Laptop Guide [Wiki]

#30 2007-11-24 23:50:41

Re: Dell Inspiron 6400/E1505 Laptop Guide [Wiki]

#31 2007-11-25 18:10:32

Re: Dell Inspiron 6400/E1505 Laptop Guide [Wiki]

#32 2008-01-28 17:03:24

Re: Dell Inspiron 6400/E1505 Laptop Guide [Wiki]

#33 2008-10-08 02:07:27

Re: Dell Inspiron 6400/E1505 Laptop Guide [Wiki]

Board footer