Installing on the Dell Mini 12

[mocoloco]

... Anyone can point me to a clear set of instructions?
I'm not asking for something simple, just something clear.

Yes, here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1294173

Easy to follow and works perfectly. A few notes from me, I used the standard Ubuntu 9.10 (i386) disc rather than the lpia, and I didn't need to do the step to fix audio since mine already worked. I may still go back and reinstall with lpia however since it's built for this architecture.
The main piece I needed was step 5 for the Poulsbo graphics driver, and using the ppa method worked perfectly, (PPA says 9.04 but still works in 9.10).
Enabling compiz was neat but useless, since it freezes on resume with compiz enabled.
Use gconf-editor to set power-manager not to requre a password on resume from suspend, look in /apps/gnome-power-manager.
Last piece I was missing is brightness control, but a few replies above yours in this thread explains how to fix it.

That thread I linked to is now closed but there's a new one for feedback here http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1310907

[michael37]

Ok, I'm sorry guys and girls, these is going to seem crass, but is there a simple guide/post/wiki article/whatever I can follow to update a Dell Mini 12 from stock Dell "Belmont" Ubuntu hardy 8.04 to karmic 9.10?
I'd like to update, and not reinstall, but that sounds complicated. (You're not supposed to update straight from 8.04 to 9.10, and I'm not sure I can incrementally update since the only 8.10 image I've seen is a UNR for MIDs).

I've been scouting around for quite some time now, and I'm starting to wonder if it's even worth the hassle to update, as it is my Mum's computer and she's not adamant about getting a more up to date version (though a new version of Network Manager and Firefox would be good).

I'm sure it's in this thread somewhere, but I don't have the courage to read through it all.

Anyone can point me to a clear set of instructions?
I'm not asking for something simple, just something clear.

Thanks a lot everyone!

mocoloco replied with my clean install instructions, not an upgrade. It is possible to upgrade Dellbuntu-8.04 to Dellbuntu-9.04, but not 9.10 and it's a very difficult and very creative procedure. I would not recommend it. Just clean-install 9.10.

[mocoloco]

I pointed out that in the guide I linked to it recommends the lpia release. I used i386 and was thinking of reinstalling but not any more, for two reasons, based on the info in this article.

1. The benefits of the lpia build are minimal, for both speed and battery usage.
2. Moving forward lpia will no longer be officially supported. It's possible the community will support it but combined with #1 there's no real reason to chance it and not be able to upgrade later.

[folkie]

what is done (my own results) on Karmic:
- Brightness (can adjust (also with gnome applet) + dim when idle)
- Suspend \ Hibernate work very well
- WiFi / Bluetooth are working flawlessly
- Sound works good after fixing alsa-base.conf
- 2D Acceleration
- And other on-board devices working well

not working:
- 3D Acceleration (but it cat work if we broke up brightness) - system just freezes

not tested:
- Video
- HD Video
- Web camera
so I think this is same as Windows (where acceleration doesnt works too - 3fps (e.g. in Hedgewars) is NOT an acceleration). Soon I'll test videos.
if you have any questions Im ready to answer.

Could you please publish anywhere the instructions how to get all described features work well?
Because I still have problems with resuming from suspend mode and random sound dissapearing.

[sol1tude]

Could you please publish anywhere the instructions how to get all described features work well?
Because I still have problems with resuming from suspend mode and random sound dissapearing.

you can fix sound problems:

$ sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

and add to the end of file:

options snd-hda-intel model=dell

to fix suspend\resume problems you must edit your grub configuration:

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

find line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" and replace it with:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi_backlight=vendor acpi_skip_timer_override"

and after replacing:

$ sudo update-grub

and reboot your laptop.
I think all gma 500 users must just wait for new upcoming Intel driver

UPDATE 2: I've added some fix for boot and shutdown freezes. Bold settings is highly recommended.

[sol1tude]

Update: DO NOT USE nolapic KERNEL OPTION. It may cause 3D acceleration loss. Use only acpi_backlight=vendor to make your backlight keys working.

[michael37]

Update: DO NOT USE nolapic KERNEL OPTION. It may cause 3D acceleration loss. Use only acpi_backlight=vendor to make your backlight keys working.

Yep yep, please click on "edit" on your previous post and correct it.

[michael37]

Summary of posts 828 and 836/837.

I just discovered that the brightness can be set by FN keys.
all that you need to make FN+F9 and FN+F10 keys work on your mini 12 in Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10 is just edit your /etc/default/grub and make kernel line look like this:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi_backlight=vendor"

then you need

$ sudo update-grub

and reboot your system.
acpi_backlight=vendor allows to use your vendor's backlight system instead of default video.
I dont know why this settings are not default in Karmic. Hope you like your new FN-F9 & FN-F10 keys in 9.10

[sol1tude]

michael37, thank you.

Now who uses Ubuntu Karmic - please keep updated with new settings. All they are improve stability of your laptop.

[sol1tude]

Latest achievements:

what is done (my own results) on Ubuntu Karmic 9.10 (2.6.31-14-generic):
- Brightness (can adjust (also with gnome applet) + dim when idle)
- Suspend \ Hibernate
- WiFi / Bluetooth are working flawlessly
- Wireless Switcher (out of the box from embedded software)
- Sound works very good after fixing alsa-base.conf
- 2D/3D Acceleration (~280 FPS glxgeas & 29 sec gtkperf full test)
- Video & HD & FullHD Video
- Web Camera (out of the box. you can test it with cheese)
- 3D after S3 RESUME
- And other on-board devices working well


not working:
-

not tested:
-

other recommendations:
- In the latest video driver installation script firefox 3.5 scrolls much smoother than before. But for perfect scroll I recommend use Chromium (ppa). But for best results I also recommend disable compiz.
- Video (with totem or vlc) and compiz is not very good combination. Without compiz it works smoothly as it have to. HD Video works with mplayer only. The installation script below in this message installs mplayer & vaapi for HD video on Dell Mini 12. To watch this video you can use terminal: mplayer -fs -vo vaapi -va vaapi HDtest.mpg

interesting links:
- Ubuntu Poulsbo support wiki page
- Linux tipps

You set up video from this with script and my previous posts.
if you have any questions Im ready to answer. Again.