Diggs808
August 21st, 2008, 12:27 AM
I consider myself very lucky that Ubuntu on my Dell “Just Works” right out of the box. However, there are some tweaks and additions on my system to better manage the way it runs. Dell has made these available for all Dell Ubuntu users. However, there is a little more involved in getting it to work than simply pointing and clicking. The main tweak I have been able to find is flashing the system BIOS from within Linux. However, I have found that Ubuntu doesn't do such a great job at running the fans on a Dell system. I think that has to do more with the way the BIOS interacts with the Kernel rather than Ubuntu itself.
Temperatures and Fan Control.
I personally use i8k from the repos for this because I have the ability to set the fan thresholds using a GUI tool (which my dyslexia and ADD addled brain understands better than CLI stuff any day).
Go to System>Administration>Synaptic Package Manager
Search for “i8k” (without the parentheses of course)
Click to install: i8kutils and gkrellm-i8k
Note: there is a dependancy to install gkrellm which is a system monitor for Linux.
Click apply to install the programs
We now need i8k to be loaded into the kernel so we can configure everyting without having to reboot our system. So type: sudo modprobe i8k force=1
Then we need to make a small edit in our modules file to make certain that this loads every time. Type in a terminal: sudo gedit /etc/modules
Add this line to the end of the file: i8k force=1
Click save and close out the Gedit window.
Note: Adapted from ( http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=396018 ) to include the GUI method of installing.
Use Gkrellm to Set default Temperatures
Alt+F2 to open a run application dialog
type gkrellm
When gkrellm starts, press the F1 key to open the configuration dialog for Gkrellm.
Under Plugins, click the check box to enable the Dell I8K plugin
Expand the menu to open up the settings for Dell I8K Plugin
Click on the Temps tab to set specific temperatures for your system.
Under the Built-ins expandable menu I have disabled everything (Since I use Conky) but the Dell I8K plugin. Click on each option and uncheck the enable box for each sensor.
I use Gkrellm simply because it gives me the option to not only have a GUI to set the temperatures (I really dont like trying to do that in a command line), but it also gives me the ability to change the speed of the fans manually (great for things like games that make your system run hot).
The other option (and from what I can tell, it does not depend on a 32 bit kernel) is Dellfand
(Going to quote here since I havent ever actually USED this method)
Quoting: http://www.ubuntu-forums.com/showthread.php?p=5381557
http://dellfand.dinglisch.net/
you might need to install build-essential from the repos (just to ensure a compiler and libc etc, however, I am fairly confident everything you need to compile this is included by default). if not:
sudo apt-get install make build-essential
Flashing the Bios using Dell's Software Repositories automatically.
There are a couple of different ways to achieve this. Thankfully neither one of them require extradonary steps to achieve. These are all taken from Dell's site and supplimented by information from Ubuntu Forums
To do this you will need to first allow your system to pull from the Universe Repository.
1. Go to System>Administration>Software Sources . On the Ubuntu Software tab click on the option that says “Community-Maintained open source software (Universe)”
2. Open a terminal and run the following commands:
sudo wget -q -O - http://linux.dell.com/repo/firmware/bootstrap.cgi | bash
sudo apt-get install firmware-tools
sudo aptitude install firmware-addon-dell
sudo aptitude install $(bootstrap_firmware -a)
sudo update_firmware
3. The system will need to reboot to flash the bios. Once that is done you have successfully flashed your bios on your Dell. If you would like your system to automatically update your firmware: In a terminal type: perl -p -i -e 's/^#rpm_mode=.*/rpm_mode=auto/' /etc/firmware/firmware.conf
Flashing your Bios Manually This seems to be a cleaner (IMHO) way to flash the bios on a Dell system.
Install from Synaptic: libsmsbios-bin
In Terminal type: sudo getSystemId
Make a note of your System ID It should look similar to (0x01BD)
Go to http://linux.dell.com/repo/software/bios-hdrs/ and download bios.hdr from the matching folder.
In terminal type: sudo modprobe dell_rbu
In terminal, navigate to the folder that you saved the bios.hdr file to. If you saved the file to your home folder you do not need to navigate to the folder.
In terminal type: sudo dellBiosUpdate -u -f ./bios.hdr
This will install the bios.hdr file
Reboot. During the reboot the screen will flash white, flash the bios and then continue to boot up.
Bios information adapted from: http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Repository/firmware
All you Dell users (who did NOT buy a system with Ubuntu Pre-loaded) out there, I know that this is just a start. I want to make this as comprehensive as possible. If I missed something or there is a tweak for your Dell (specifically for a Dell) please PM me / comment with some instructions or a location I can get information from and I will add it here.
Temperatures and Fan Control.
I personally use i8k from the repos for this because I have the ability to set the fan thresholds using a GUI tool (which my dyslexia and ADD addled brain understands better than CLI stuff any day).
Go to System>Administration>Synaptic Package Manager
Search for “i8k” (without the parentheses of course)
Click to install: i8kutils and gkrellm-i8k
Note: there is a dependancy to install gkrellm which is a system monitor for Linux.
Click apply to install the programs
We now need i8k to be loaded into the kernel so we can configure everyting without having to reboot our system. So type: sudo modprobe i8k force=1
Then we need to make a small edit in our modules file to make certain that this loads every time. Type in a terminal: sudo gedit /etc/modules
Add this line to the end of the file: i8k force=1
Click save and close out the Gedit window.
Note: Adapted from ( http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=396018 ) to include the GUI method of installing.
Use Gkrellm to Set default Temperatures
Alt+F2 to open a run application dialog
type gkrellm
When gkrellm starts, press the F1 key to open the configuration dialog for Gkrellm.
Under Plugins, click the check box to enable the Dell I8K plugin
Expand the menu to open up the settings for Dell I8K Plugin
Click on the Temps tab to set specific temperatures for your system.
Under the Built-ins expandable menu I have disabled everything (Since I use Conky) but the Dell I8K plugin. Click on each option and uncheck the enable box for each sensor.
I use Gkrellm simply because it gives me the option to not only have a GUI to set the temperatures (I really dont like trying to do that in a command line), but it also gives me the ability to change the speed of the fans manually (great for things like games that make your system run hot).
The other option (and from what I can tell, it does not depend on a 32 bit kernel) is Dellfand
(Going to quote here since I havent ever actually USED this method)
Quoting: http://www.ubuntu-forums.com/showthread.php?p=5381557
http://dellfand.dinglisch.net/
you might need to install build-essential from the repos (just to ensure a compiler and libc etc, however, I am fairly confident everything you need to compile this is included by default). if not:
sudo apt-get install make build-essential
Flashing the Bios using Dell's Software Repositories automatically.
There are a couple of different ways to achieve this. Thankfully neither one of them require extradonary steps to achieve. These are all taken from Dell's site and supplimented by information from Ubuntu Forums
To do this you will need to first allow your system to pull from the Universe Repository.
1. Go to System>Administration>Software Sources . On the Ubuntu Software tab click on the option that says “Community-Maintained open source software (Universe)”
2. Open a terminal and run the following commands:
sudo wget -q -O - http://linux.dell.com/repo/firmware/bootstrap.cgi | bash
sudo apt-get install firmware-tools
sudo aptitude install firmware-addon-dell
sudo aptitude install $(bootstrap_firmware -a)
sudo update_firmware
3. The system will need to reboot to flash the bios. Once that is done you have successfully flashed your bios on your Dell. If you would like your system to automatically update your firmware: In a terminal type: perl -p -i -e 's/^#rpm_mode=.*/rpm_mode=auto/' /etc/firmware/firmware.conf
Flashing your Bios Manually This seems to be a cleaner (IMHO) way to flash the bios on a Dell system.
Install from Synaptic: libsmsbios-bin
In Terminal type: sudo getSystemId
Make a note of your System ID It should look similar to (0x01BD)
Go to http://linux.dell.com/repo/software/bios-hdrs/ and download bios.hdr from the matching folder.
In terminal type: sudo modprobe dell_rbu
In terminal, navigate to the folder that you saved the bios.hdr file to. If you saved the file to your home folder you do not need to navigate to the folder.
In terminal type: sudo dellBiosUpdate -u -f ./bios.hdr
This will install the bios.hdr file
Reboot. During the reboot the screen will flash white, flash the bios and then continue to boot up.
Bios information adapted from: http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Repository/firmware
All you Dell users (who did NOT buy a system with Ubuntu Pre-loaded) out there, I know that this is just a start. I want to make this as comprehensive as possible. If I missed something or there is a tweak for your Dell (specifically for a Dell) please PM me / comment with some instructions or a location I can get information from and I will add it here.