Installing Linux (Gentoo) on a Dell Inspiron 1300

Last updated: May 5, 2006

The kernel config file is now my current (2.6.16.11) version.

Intro

This page will document the installation process on my new Dell Inspiron 1300. I hope you find something helpful here!

I installed Gentoo, but most of the tricky stuff I had to figure out wasn't really distribution specific. If you've got similar hardware (see the lspci output below), you may find something helpful here.

lspci output

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d3)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) IDE Controller (rev 03)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)
02:03.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation Dell Wireless 1470 DualBand WLAN (rev 02)

Kernel

I'm running 2.6.16.11, non gentoo sources. Most configuration options should be specified below, but you're free to skim through my (now current) kernel config file.

Sound

Sound now works great. I upgraded to kernel version 2.6.16.11 and the alsa driver/utils/tools 1.0.11. They are in portage, so you probably just need to sync (emerge --sync) and then emerge alsa-utils, alsa-driver. The headphone jack works just fine now, and the sound may even be a bit clearer.

Graphics and Xorg Configuration

First thing: note that your BIOS is probably configured (at least, mine was) to enlarge the display to fill the screen when it isn't naturally filling it. This confused me for a bit (I was wondering why my display was so darn blurry). I recommend you turn it off in the BIOS, at least until you get the display working in X the way you like.

This was the trickiest bit. Google "915resolution" and you'll be on your way. I did upgrade my Xorg install to version 6.9.0, but I think in hindsight that I'd have been fine with 6.8.2. I'm running fullscreen (filling the LCD) at 1280x800 for now. Works fine.

Wireless card, Broadcom's Wireless 1470 DualBand WLAN

I'm using ndiswrapper and loading an XP driver. Google ndiswrapper and grab the driver they link.

I'm using open WEP encryption on my Wireless B router, so get connected with something like...

modprobe ndiswrapper
iwconfig wlan0 key open 1234abcd56
iwconfig wlan0 essid my_essid_name
dhcpcd wlan0

Make sure the card is enabled in the BIOS. I had a scare yesterday because, after I got the thing working with wireless-tools, I must have hit the laptops wireless-off function key. Sure enough, that turned the card off but all my software didn't seem to notice. For example, "ndiswrapper -l" still listed the card as present. A call to "iwlist scan" just reported nothing could be found.

Minor update: I'm using wpa_supplicant now, which works great.

Internal Modem

I haven't tried the internal modem myself, but a friendly reader sent in this tip: "the internal dial-up modem is a Conexant HSF and drivers are available here."

Power management (e.g., ACPI)

First off, read the Gentoo power management guide. That will tell you most of what you need, and the following are small other things I may have figured out.

CPU Frequency scaling is working but I haven't configured cpufreqd satisfactorally yet.

ACPI stuff is working great. Follow Gentoo's power management guide, setting up the battery and ac adapter run levels. Then I added similar events for the "lid" event and the event "standby" which happens if you hit Fn-Esc.

Hibernating to disk works except, after playing with 915resolution, my kde session crashes.. In my hibernate.conf file, I had to tell the hibernate code to rerun 915resolution when it resumes. Here's the line: 

OnResume 86 915resolution 49 1280 800
Hibernating to ram hasn't been a problem at all. I catch "lid" events and hibernate to ram with ACPI.

Internal Network Adapter

This worked fine once I compiled the Broadcom driver into the kernel. Look for the one that, if compiled as a module, is called b44 (or, of course, compile the module). It worked from the install boot too.

Unresolved Problems

Nothing! :)

Email me if you can't get any of this to work: olsson at math dawt umd dot edu. Good luck!