How To Install Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy) on Dell Inspiron 1520

[ctpaterson]

Hey all,

I've seen bits and pieces about, but no thread that specifically talks about installing gutsy on an Inspiron 1520, so I thought I'd kick one off in the hopes it would help.

A few notes, I did this with the 32-bit final release. I could not get my 1520 to boot from the 64-bit CD. Corrections, additions, and comments are encouraged, especially since some people might have some different hardware than I.

Computer specs are:

• Intel Core 2 Duo T7300
• 2 GB RAM
• 1680x1050 display
• 256MB nVidial GeForce TM8600M GT video card
• High Definition audio 2.0
• Intel PRO/Wireless 3945abg
• Integrated webcam
• Dell wireless 355 bluetooth internal

What's working...

• Sound from speakers + speaker cutoff when headphones plugged in
• High-res screen, w/ Compiz effects
• Plug-in microphone
• Internal microphone
• Wireless
• Bluetooth scans and finds other devices (haven't successfully connected yet)
• Webcam (tested with Ekiga using V4L2, and tested in Skype 2.0 beta)
• NFS (working after "sudo apt-get install nfs-common")
• Suspend (sort of). It usually works...sometimes it doesn't.
• Memory card slot (tested with SD)

What's not working...

• Suspend (sort of). It usually works...sometimes it doesn't.
• Hibernate (got it to return once, but it took a while)
• Bluetooth connections (success has been reported by at least one user - not for me)

What I haven't tested.

• Modem (there are some reported issues)

The good news is that besides the audio, I've had to do very little in the way of post-installation system configuration. Much less painful than feisty. The bad news is that the audio was the main thing that was snarfed - the same problem is happening on several other models.

What I did...

1. Boot from live CD; install
2. Boot from hard drive
3. Enable restricted nVidia drivers
4. Install all Ubuntu updates
5. Perform audio fix (as suggested by "alexander.forster"
   
   • sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-generic
6. Reboot so all changes take effect; you should now have sound.
7. You might want to do the following if you find the volume too low (courtesy from alfredska)
   
   • Right click on speaker icon in system tray, and select "Open Volume Control"
   • Go to Edit: Preferences
   • Put a check next to Front. Hit OK
   • Turn Front volume all the way up.
   • Now the master volume control raises and lowers the volume between much greater extremes.
8. Amixer settings so the microphone plugging in to the side will work...
   
   • amixer set Capture 15 cap
   • amixer set Mux,0 3 cap
9. Settings so the digital mic will work
   
   • Run "alsamixer", scroll to the right with the arrow keys until you've selected "Digital".
   • If the Digital Input Source is "Analog Inputs", use the up/down arrows until it says "Digital Mic 1".
   • Hit "Escape" to exit.
   • (I believe switching the Digital back and forth from "Analog Inputs" to "Digital Mic 1" will cause a switch between the internal mic, and the mic plugged into the side -- but I have not tested this.)
   • amixer set Capture 15 cap
   • amixer set Digital 120

Bonus step: "sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager" to choose from even more effects.

Other Issues (mentioned, resolved and otherwise)

• Aggressive power management seems to be beating up on some laptop hard drives. My machine appears to be affected. More details about the issue here; https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...ort/+bug/59695, and there's an ubuntu discussion thread here; http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503. I have employed a fix that I've posted here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...05#post3778205. I'll say again here what I said there; do not blindly copy and paste my solution unless you're aware of, and accept the risks that come with giving a complete stranger control over how your hardware behaves. I strongly recommend you get familiar with the issue yourself and decide if the fix is right for you. I present what I have done without reassurances that it's safe, but for informational purposes only.
• alfredska has cracked the nut of 64-bit and is playing well with Vista and MediaDirect here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...4&postcount=81
• Or you can try working with XP and Media Direct: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...&postcount=153
• some people have complained about a lot of noise coming out of their headphones. A potential solution is here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=197809
• A possible solution for intermittent wireless connectivity issues: http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php..._Module_Issues
• A possible solution for suspend (haven't tried it myself): http://boulderjams.wordpress.com/200...l-suspend-fix/
• Some have complained of incorrect titlebar fonts: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...12&postcount=5

Thanks to many contributors throughout the thread for filling in a number of gaps and so forth. I particularly wanted to thank alfredska who has become a key resource for a lot of people.

[kirkquitar]

I have a Dell 1720, the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945abg wasn't working for me with the 64bit RC. It could see the networks, but not connect. Also modem doesn't work. I could not get the sound to work, but I messed around enough that I'm going to start fresh and try some of the other fixes, I'll have a detailed update for what works/doesn't and what I did to fix it this weekend. I'm going to be trying this on 32 bit, just in case 64 bit was contributing to the sound problem.

[ctpaterson]

I have a Dell 1720, the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945abg wasn't working for me with the 64bit RC. It could see the networks, but not connect. Also modem doesn't work. I could not get the sound to work, but I messed around enough that I'm going to start fresh and try some of the other fixes, I'll have a detailed update for what works/doesn't and what I did to fix it this weekend. I'm going to be trying this on 32 bit, just in case 64 bit was contributing to the sound problem.

The procedure I've used to fix the audio was originally recommended for a 1720 - so I would think it should work for your machine. If it's a difference between a 32 and 64 bit release - that would be an interesting thing to note.

Cheers.

[linux23dragon]

Alsa-1.0.15 has lots of Intel HDA driver and codec fixes. You might even have more PCM devices too

I have written a howto if you want to check the new drivers out. Just skip down to the "Installing the Alsa Sound System" section. I'll be supporting Gusty LL kernels soon.

Enjoy

[alexander.forster]

hey so i tried this method and it said this:



alexander@lappie-tron:~$ wget ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/drive....15rc1.tar.bz2
--12:55:48-- ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/drive....15rc1.tar.bz2
=> `drive....15rc1.tar.bz2'
Resolving ftp.alsa-project.org... 160.217.9.25
Connecting to ftp.alsa-project.org|160.217.9.25|:21... connected.
Logging in as anonymous ... Logged in!
==> SYST ... done. ==> PWD ... done.
==> TYPE I ... done. ==> CWD /pub ... done.
==> PASV ... done. ==> RETR drive....15rc1.tar.bz2 ...
No such file `drive....15rc1.tar.bz2'.

any help would be greatly appreciated.
oh btw i am on a dell 1521 so i imagine the soundcard is the same. but it just seem to be having a problem getting the file...
thank you very much

[alexander.forster]

oh and when i click the link on the howto that you wrote, it d/l the file :S but i dont know what to do with it.

oh and sorry, but im a complete beginner

[ctpaterson]

hey so i tried this method and it said this:



alexander@lappie-tron:~$ wget ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/drive....15rc1.tar.bz2
--12:55:48-- ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/drive....15rc1.tar.bz2
=> `drive....15rc1.tar.bz2'
Resolving ftp.alsa-project.org... 160.217.9.25
Connecting to ftp.alsa-project.org|160.217.9.25|:21... connected.
Logging in as anonymous ... Logged in!
==> SYST ... done. ==> PWD ... done.
==> TYPE I ... done. ==> CWD /pub ... done.
==> PASV ... done. ==> RETR drive....15rc1.tar.bz2 ...
No such file `drive....15rc1.tar.bz2'.

any help would be greatly appreciated.
oh btw i am on a dell 1521 so i imagine the soundcard is the same. but it just seem to be having a problem getting the file...
thank you very much

Sorry - you got screwed because the rendering shrunk the link (notice the ellipses in the middle of the URL). Of course, clicking on it works. ;>

If you can find the file, just move it into your home directory, cd to your home directory, and proceed down the steps. Otherwise, go over them again. I've changed the line so it doesn't resolve to a URL anymore, but I had to add a space between "ftp://" and "pub/". You'll need to take it out after copying.

A suggestion, if you're feeling brave; the instructions use 1.0.15rc1 of the alsa drivers, but 1.0.15 is out. If you felt like wgetting the 1.0.15 version instead of 1.0.15rc1 for us, and confirming all is still well - I'd appreciate it.

You can confirm that you have the same card as I by executing the commands at the "$" prompt - and seeing if you have the same results:

paterson@bilbo:~$ lspci | grep -i audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)
paterson@bilbo:~$ lspci -n | grep 1b
00:1b.0 0403: 8086:284b (rev 02)

1521 has the AMD processor and ATI graphics card, I believe. You should be okay, but ignore the references to the nVidia.

Good luck

[lefthand]

I had some trouble with the audio fix as well. It wanted me to install binutils-dev instead of libc5-dev and './configure --with-cards=hda-intel,emu10k1' didn't work.

But I found these instructions which did the trick for me...

sudo apt-get install module-assistant
sudo m-a update
sudo m-a prepare
sudo m-a a-i alsa

I found that here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=569082

[alexander.forster]

first off thanks to ctpaterson for the quick resposnse and i used this to get it working

sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-generic

well im pretty darn sure thats the one i used. it works because it has alsa 1.0.15 built in or something :S

sorry im a total linux/ubuntu beginner so... but anyway, that method is nice and clean, and after a quick reboot i had sound

[ctpaterson]

Thanks for the feedback on alternative audio solutions, guys. I'll update the procedures to mention them up front, and when I get a chance to do some tests with the final release (the servers are a tad busy now, and I figured I'll leave the bandwidth for more needy users), I'll pick the simplest/easiest to recommend.