armanatz
February 3rd, 2011, 02:11 PM
Hey guys,
I am a first-time poster/linux-user and recently made the move to switch from Windows to Ubuntu Linux. Let me tell you, I have never been happier.
Well, a couple of days ago, I purchased a new laptop from Samsung (the RF510) and installed Linux on to it but to my dismay, the laptop had a lot of issues out-of-the-box. I will list the issues I faced in order:
Backlight settings did not work: My brightness control settings were completely out of whack. They did not work one bit and on the off chance that they did, they would completely disable the backlight rendering the screen unusable.
Keyboard "got stuck": If I ever used the Fn+Up, Fn+Down, Fn+Left or Fn+Right keys, the keyboard would go into an endless loop (apparently not releasing the keys properly) and render the panel bar and almost everything else on screen unclickable.
Hot keys were not properly set up: Pretty self-explanatory. The hotkeys on the function keys were not set up to do what they were supposed to.
Sleep/Suspend function: The laptop was unable to go into sleep/suspend mode when the laptop lid was closed or when the laptop was put to sleep through the power bar.
(Unsolved; kernel-related issue) Touchpad not recognized: The touchpad was not recognized properly as a touchpad but rather as a Logitech PS/2 Mouse. This is an issue at the kernel level which I don't have much expertise in and therefore could not solve. If anyone can take a whack at it then go ahead, be my guest. The touchpad is an ELANTech Smart-Pad and from what I can tell, this touchpad is still not supported in the Synaptics driver modules in Linux
Anyways, I scoured the internet and found a various array of solutions (most of which did not work for my laptop) and finally settled on the ones that worked. Here are the solutions for each problem.
Backlight Settings:
Start here:
Open Applications - Accessories - Terminal
Type this command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:voria/ppa
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install samsung-backlight
sudo apt-get install nvidia-bl-dkms Once everything is installed properly, stay in terminal and execute the following command:
sudo gedit /etc/modules Add the line "nvidia_bl" (without "") after the word "lp"
Save and exit.
Terminal command:
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf Insert this line, under the Option "NoLogo" line
Option "RegistryDwords" "EnableBrightnessControl=1"
Save and exit.
Next enter the command:
sudo gedit /etc/default/grub Change the line that says GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" to read GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet acpi_osi=Linux acpi_brightness=vendor splash" instead.
Save and then in terminal:
sudo update-grub2
sudo reboot That should get your backlight to work (at least it did for me).
Keyboard and Hotkey issues:
The keyboard issues were solved using Roadmaster's tip right here on the Ubuntu forums therefore, credit goes to him:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=10266620&postcount=6
Follow his tutorial to solve the keyboard issues and some of the hotkey issues.
For the rest of the hotkey setup, you will need to open up terminal and input:
sudo apt-get install samsung-tools Reboot and enjoy your hotkeys like they were meant to be!
Sleep/Suspend function:
The sleep function in Ubuntu apparently does not work well with some devices (especially those with USB 3.0). If you have USB 3.0 and your device can't be suspended, then this is definitely why.
Open up terminal and enter:
sudo gedit /etc/pm/config.d/unload_module *NOTE: This module is not on the system. We are actually creating this module.*
Add the line:
SUSPEND_MODULES="xhci-hcd"
Save and exit.
This should get your sleep/suspend function working properly again. Anyways, that should fix all but one issue. The touchpad I am afraid apparently has no fix out yet so here is to hoping that a kernel patch will come soon that would enable ELANTech Smart-Pads to be used in Linux natively.
I am sorry if most of these solutions are rudimentary and hacky but they were the only ways I could find that would fix these issues properly. I also apologize for the way the tutorial was written, I am a newbie at these things.
I thought that I would give back something to the community (however small it may be) as they have given on to me. That is how open-source works and I am glad to be a part of it.
Credits go to voRia from http://www.voria.org who set up the repository where all the Samsung related files are being hosted, Roadmaster for his tip on how to fix the keyboard and hotkey issues, and others from the Ubuntu and Voria forums who I may have missed out (forgive me)!
If you guys have any issues, feel free to ask! I will glad to help.
I am a first-time poster/linux-user and recently made the move to switch from Windows to Ubuntu Linux. Let me tell you, I have never been happier.
Well, a couple of days ago, I purchased a new laptop from Samsung (the RF510) and installed Linux on to it but to my dismay, the laptop had a lot of issues out-of-the-box. I will list the issues I faced in order:
Backlight settings did not work: My brightness control settings were completely out of whack. They did not work one bit and on the off chance that they did, they would completely disable the backlight rendering the screen unusable.
Keyboard "got stuck": If I ever used the Fn+Up, Fn+Down, Fn+Left or Fn+Right keys, the keyboard would go into an endless loop (apparently not releasing the keys properly) and render the panel bar and almost everything else on screen unclickable.
Hot keys were not properly set up: Pretty self-explanatory. The hotkeys on the function keys were not set up to do what they were supposed to.
Sleep/Suspend function: The laptop was unable to go into sleep/suspend mode when the laptop lid was closed or when the laptop was put to sleep through the power bar.
(Unsolved; kernel-related issue) Touchpad not recognized: The touchpad was not recognized properly as a touchpad but rather as a Logitech PS/2 Mouse. This is an issue at the kernel level which I don't have much expertise in and therefore could not solve. If anyone can take a whack at it then go ahead, be my guest. The touchpad is an ELANTech Smart-Pad and from what I can tell, this touchpad is still not supported in the Synaptics driver modules in Linux
Anyways, I scoured the internet and found a various array of solutions (most of which did not work for my laptop) and finally settled on the ones that worked. Here are the solutions for each problem.
Backlight Settings:
Start here:
Open Applications - Accessories - Terminal
Type this command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:voria/ppa
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install samsung-backlight
sudo apt-get install nvidia-bl-dkms Once everything is installed properly, stay in terminal and execute the following command:
sudo gedit /etc/modules Add the line "nvidia_bl" (without "") after the word "lp"
Save and exit.
Terminal command:
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf Insert this line, under the Option "NoLogo" line
Option "RegistryDwords" "EnableBrightnessControl=1"
Save and exit.
Next enter the command:
sudo gedit /etc/default/grub Change the line that says GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" to read GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet acpi_osi=Linux acpi_brightness=vendor splash" instead.
Save and then in terminal:
sudo update-grub2
sudo reboot That should get your backlight to work (at least it did for me).
Keyboard and Hotkey issues:
The keyboard issues were solved using Roadmaster's tip right here on the Ubuntu forums therefore, credit goes to him:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=10266620&postcount=6
Follow his tutorial to solve the keyboard issues and some of the hotkey issues.
For the rest of the hotkey setup, you will need to open up terminal and input:
sudo apt-get install samsung-tools Reboot and enjoy your hotkeys like they were meant to be!
Sleep/Suspend function:
The sleep function in Ubuntu apparently does not work well with some devices (especially those with USB 3.0). If you have USB 3.0 and your device can't be suspended, then this is definitely why.
Open up terminal and enter:
sudo gedit /etc/pm/config.d/unload_module *NOTE: This module is not on the system. We are actually creating this module.*
Add the line:
SUSPEND_MODULES="xhci-hcd"
Save and exit.
This should get your sleep/suspend function working properly again. Anyways, that should fix all but one issue. The touchpad I am afraid apparently has no fix out yet so here is to hoping that a kernel patch will come soon that would enable ELANTech Smart-Pads to be used in Linux natively.
I am sorry if most of these solutions are rudimentary and hacky but they were the only ways I could find that would fix these issues properly. I also apologize for the way the tutorial was written, I am a newbie at these things.
I thought that I would give back something to the community (however small it may be) as they have given on to me. That is how open-source works and I am glad to be a part of it.
Credits go to voRia from http://www.voria.org who set up the repository where all the Samsung related files are being hosted, Roadmaster for his tip on how to fix the keyboard and hotkey issues, and others from the Ubuntu and Voria forums who I may have missed out (forgive me)!
If you guys have any issues, feel free to ask! I will glad to help.