View source for Dell Laptop (B120) Details

[[Category:Unix]]
==Info==
Got a new laptop from Dell, they had a wacky special where you can get a '''Dell B120''' for '''$499''' after $100 mail in rebate. ''1280x800 widescreen, 40GB HDD, CD Burner/DVD Reader, 512MB''. Decent for a budget laptop.
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Naturally it had to be reinstalled to offload all of the crap manufacturers put on there, so I put on XP Media Center for fun, and dual boot to Debian Unstable. Here's some details on getting things to work in Debian (documenting for me as much as anything!)


==Xorg to work in a widescreen resolution==
I found A thread that works great explaining this. Details:

* http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?t=388410#post1981085

Here's the details I used in '''xorg.conf''' using i810 driver (Yes, this is weird to have Modes commented, but it works!): 

 Section "Device"
    Identifier "Intel i915GM"
    Driver "i810"
    VideoRam 131070
    BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
 EndSection
 
 # 1280x800 @ 60.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 49.68 kHz; pclk: 83.46 MHz
 Modeline "1280x800_60.00" 83.46 1280 1344 1480 1680 800 801 804 828 -HSync +Vsync
 
 Subsection "Display"
    Depth 24
    #Modes "1024x768"
    Virtual 1280 800
 EndSubsection


Initially I had this working a different way using a utility called '''915resolution'''. This worked using the '''vesa''' driver, but when switching to '''i810''', which is faster, it would only show 1024x stretched. The above will work regardless of if you're using '''915resolution'''.



==Changing runlevels so KDE/KDM won't load by default==
Debian uses runlevels 2 and 3 the same, while other distros designates one of these as X11, the other as a standard terminal. If you install KDM, you'll boot into X natively, which you may not want. I made a few simple changes to designate 3 as standard, 2 as X:

In '''/etc/inittab''', change 2 to 3 (for text):
 #id:2:initdefault:
 id:3:initdefault:


And then change it so that <b>kdm</b> doesn't load in runlevel 3:
 cd /etc/rc3.d
 mv S99kdm k01kdm


That's it! if you wish to change back, edit '''/etc/inittab''' back to 2.


==WLAN setup using ndiswrapper==
Someone already wrote a wiki about this:

* http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/InstallDebian

Here's the quick steps i did:

 apt-get install ndiswrapper-source 
 apt-get install module-assistant
 module-assistant auto-install ndiswrapper


Assuming all of that went well, now tell ndiswrapper about your driver, and make it know about it at boot time:

 ndiswrapper -i /pathto/your/drivers/file.inf
 ndiswrapper -l
 modprobe ndiswrapper
 ndiswrapper -m


The '''ndiswrapper -m''' portion installs it into '''/etc/modprobe.d'''. I also had to add a single line to '''/etc/modules''':

 echo "ndiswrapper" >> /etc/modules


Lastly, if you want this interface to come up on boot, add something like this to '''/etc/network/interfaces''':

 auto wlan0
 iface wlan0 inet dhcp
    wireless-essid somename
    wireless-key s:badpassword
    wireless-channel 11


Just '''man iwconfig''' to find out other options you can send to '''wlan0'''. Note that it's debian specific to prefix "'''wireless-'''" to each one.


==Stupid Preinstalled Software==
This thing came with a CD with a huge red WARNING on it because It doesn't come with Virus protection. Yet, they installed some placeholder app to pop up the first time Winders runs to give you the same warning. Thanks, dell.

[[Image:B120-warning.jpg]]