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Sunday, April 13, 2008

Overview of Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron on the Dell 1501

Everything you need to get Ubuntu 8.04 running on your Dell Inspiron 1501.

Installation
Hardy installs with no problems. Whether you're using the LiveCD, Alternative Install or Wubi.

Wireless
Two Methods:
1. The Restricted Driver Manager can install the Broadcom B43 fireware.
Firmware cutter will not work when used through the Driver Manager. In order to install B43-fwcutter you need to use the terminal.
In a terminal Type:
sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter

2. Use NDISwrapper to install the driver. This guide will walk you through the setup.

ATI Proprietary Driver
Two Methods:
1. The Restricted Driver Manager can install the the driver for ATI graphics card in the Dell 1501. ATI's 2.1.7281 fglrx driver is automatically installed, configured and 3D enabled. The best part is that the new Ubuntu repository fglrx driver supports AIGLX, no more XGL.

2. You can install the newest ATI driver that uses AIGLX yourself. You can find that guide here (use method two) or use Envy to install the newest ATI driver for you.

Compiz-Fusion
Compiz-Fusion is enabled once you install the ATI Propiety Driver.
To get the most out of Compiz try installing the advanced configuration tool.
In a terminal:
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Media Codecs
Hardy Heron makes codec installation easy mp3, DVD, avi, aac, mpeg, wmv, asf, mov, flv, mp4, flash codecs are installed when you try to play them. If you like to add all the major codecs and make playback easy, check out my codec cheatsheet. The only thing not enabled in Ubuntu is reading encrypted DVDs. To add DVD playback and some other helpful media codecs to Ubuntu follow this guide.

Ethernet
Works out of the box. In order to do any of these guides you're going to need to plug in your Dell Inspiron 1501. Don't be cheap, go out and buy an Ethernet cable.

Brightness & Volume
Brightness (Fn Up/Down Arrow) and Volume (Fn Page Up/Page Dn) keyboard shortcuts both work with BIOS 1.70. Please leave a comment letting others know if your BIOS work.

Suspend & Hibernate
Both Suspend and Hibernate work with BIOS 1.70 and the Ubuntu repository ATI 2.1.7281 fglrx driver. Please leave a comment letting others know if your BIOS and/or ATI driver combination work. You can find a mini guide about BIOS flashing here.

Video Out
Works out of the box, Hardy's Screens and Resolutions (System>Administration>Screens and Resolutions) makes using multiple monitors a breeze. Configuration doesn't require editing your xorg.conf file.

Modem
The Conexant Modem driver is usually released by Dell once they switch their Linux machines over to the new version of Ubuntu. I'll update the site and this space when Dell releases the new driver.

Card Reader
Works out of the box.

Overall:
Hardy Heron is the Ubuntu release that Dell Inspiron 1501 owners have been waiting for. Everything works, you only need to install 3 drivers (ATI, wireless and modem). If you were hesitant about trying Ubuntu on your 1501, rest assured, it takes minimal skill and computer knowledge to setup.

83 comments:

The Outfield said...

With Dell bios 2.6.3, suspend does not work for me, but hibernate does.

Suspend comes back with a blank, sort of flickering, screen.

P.S. you have a great website, thank you!

rledge21 said...

I did the graphics install using Envy; The AIGLX works well, but I get little glitches in the graphics at random. Small little white bars on the screen at random. Any ideas?

Ovidiu said...

Are you sure suspend/hibernate works with the ATI proprietary driver? It certainly did not work under Ubuntu Gutsy. It would be great if it worked, as the alternative, the open source driver, does not provide any 3D acceleration. Therefore, no fancy 3D desktops.

redDEAD said...

rledge21

its happening to everyone, you get compiz fusion but have to put up with a few gliches. AIGLX with ATI is still new.

redDEAD said...

Ovidiu

suspend/hibernate work with the ATI proprietary driver installed and BIOS 1.70

Unknown said...

I use bios 2.6.3, sound with(Fn button) works but does'nt work since last xorg version (just before kernel 2.6.24-16).

Unknown said...

Excellent posting, I cant wait to use Hardy upon release. My only concern is the lack of suspend/hibernate available on the latest BIOS. I certaintly am not comfortable about downgrading my BIOS, if at all possible. I flashed it to the newest upon purchase. Suspend is pretty much mandatory for me as a student, I am mobile throughout the day. Anyone have any solution without a swap of BIOS version?

The Outfield said...

readdead - what are the advantages/disadvantages of bios 1.70?

Isn't it dangerous to downgrade?
I have 2.6.3 from dell.

redDEAD said...

CheesyBeef

Downgrading your BIOS is easy, I wrote a mini guide a while back. All you need is Windows, a exe file and to remember to keep your laptop PLUGGED IN the whole time.

mick said...

Is there a reason why you would use ndiswrapper instead of the broadcom driver?

ekonomikz said...

Reddead

I have bios 1.7 and hibernate works fine, but I get "error: pat entry 2 already configured". Do you have any idea what this is, and are you getting it?

tim b. said...

I using Mandriva 2008.1 Gnome with my 1501. Everything works here. Ndiswrapper, compiz-fusion, codecs (plf repos), brightness keys & volume keys, fglrx, and suspend/hibernate, all with 2.6.1 BIOS.

Unknown said...

to Tim:
Hi, I gave a try to "Mandriva one spring 2008".you are right , Fn functions work well. no problem at all. but it s not as fast as ubuntu ,consumes much more memory.
web browsing is a little slow and sometime sluggish. also Mandriva only detect 880 Mb of my memory :(.

anyways it was good experience. lets back to ubuntu :)

Unknown said...

To fix brightness, it's easy as just editing two script files. No bios change whatsoever.

sudo gedit /etc/acpi/video_brightnessup.sh

replace everything in the file with

#!/bin/bash

CURRENT=$(grep "current:" /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness |awk '{print $2}')


case "$CURRENT" in

100)
echo -n 100 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
87)
echo -n 100 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
75)
echo -n 87 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
62)
echo -n 75 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
50)
echo -n 62 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
37)
echo -n 50 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
25)
echo -n 37 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
12)
echo -n 25 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
*)
echo -n 100 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness ;
;;
esac



sudo gedit /etc/acpi/video_brightnessdown.sh

replace everything in the file with


#!/bin/bash

CURRENT=$(grep "current:" /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness |awk '{print $2}')


case "$CURRENT" in

12)
echo -n 12 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
25)
echo -n 12 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
37)
echo -n 25 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
50)
echo -n 37 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
62)
echo -n 50 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
75)
echo -n 62 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
87)
echo -n 75 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
100)
echo -n 87 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
*)
echo -n 50 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness ;
;;
esac

Brad said...

I know I can't get standby to work with bios 2.6.3, but does anybody have any idea how to shutdown safely after a failed standby? I had everything working perfectly yesterday, then decided to try standby just to see if it would work. When I came back from standby, it just got stuck, and when I powered off with the power button (nothing else would work), my filesystem was corrupted and I had to do a clean install. Did I have any other option?

Brad said...

btw, aaronmt's fix for the brightness hotkeys worked perfectly for me, thanks!

tom wright said...

hold down ctrl + alt + prnt scrn and type ruisub

Unknown said...

I have 7.10 ubuntu with latest dell bios on my laptop with 7.10 ubuntu.aaronmt's guide for the brightness keys worked well for me.

tnx

Unknown said...

I just tried to upgrade to Hardy Heron via the "update is available" link in the system update list. Interestingly, it actually downgraded to Feisty Fawn and is telling me that Gutsy Gibbon is now available. Any ideas?

Unknown said...

Doh just finished install and hoping someone can help...

When I tested from live CD before install I enabled wireless by using the driver manager I selected enable and it downloaded the firmware and wireless worked flawlessly, now 5 mins after installing I try the same thing and the driver manager doesn't do anything except change from "in use" to "restart required" but restarting just brings me back to the same thing. (Enabled is unchecked and there's a green check where it says "in use".

Also I noticed while in the driver manager that it has ATI Fire GL listed as enabled but not in use.

Any ideas would be awesome. :)

Unknown said...

I've upgraded from Gutsy (where I was using the open-source, 2D graphics driver), and I've enables fglrx from the driver manager, and I can get it to start up just fine, but if I try to start compiz, it just gives up; fglrxinfo says I'm still using indirect rendering. Any ideas?

HumanTarget said...

I found a workaround!

Basically just went to synaptic and uninstalled fwcutter then went immediately to hardware drivers(or whatever it is that they call the restricted driver manager now:) and enabled it and and it redownloaded and executed and everything works perfectly now!

Unknown said...

Regarding bios 1.7.0 - I had my motherboard replaced due to overheating and had been given 2.6.2. I flashed the bios down to 1.7.0 (from windows) and it killed the motherboard. (And yes, I had the power plugged in etc.) This makes me suspect that Dell may have changed motherboards and that there may be an incompatability with the one that I received. Dell replaced the motherboard that I flashed with a new one running 2.6.3 and I will not be downgrading the bios again.

Unknown said...

Downgrading my bios to 1.7.0 from 2.6.2 killed my motherboard. (I flashed it from windows, power plugged in etc.) I had my motherboard replaced and it came with 2.6.3. I will not be downgrading my bios based on my previous experience.

Is there any work being done to fix the fn-brightness problem natively?

Vincent said...

for the wireless install I just went to Add/Remove and in System Tools I installed Windows Wireless Drivers then I went to the hardware drivers and broadcom was there I enabled it, followed the wizard and it worked. no command line at all. in the wizard just make sure to check the option on the first page.

Unknown said...

Dose anyone knows where is the "Share folder" option in system>administration?
It's just disappeared in Hardy Heron!!!

when i right click on a folder and try to use sharing option, it wants admin permission ( Ask your administrator to grant you permissions to create a share.)

what dose this mean?

Help pls :)

Ihor Olkhovskyi said...

2 navid
It means, that it Ubuntu wants to install samba/nfs support, if it's not

And few words about my little issues with 8.04
- With Catalyst 8.4 XV out in mplayer don't work
Solution - in xorg.conf in "device" section add
Option "TexturedVideo" "on"
- If Catalyst was installed manually, compiz will not run through "Look'n'feel ))" menu.
Solution - just use compiz --replace in terminal or so.
- Fn + F10 (CD open) still not works.
Solution - not found yet.
- Localsation. If you use non-english version (russian in my case), you will find that after installation system will be half-translated.
Solution - in Synaptic just download gnome-language-pack-xx and gnome-language-pack-xx-base
xx is your language mark.
That is all for now :)

Unknown said...

I keep on getting this error on hardy when i shut down the computer or run the command dmesg

atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e00d (> here)keycode>' to make it known.
atkbd.c: Unknown key released (translated set 2, code 0x8d on isa0060/serio0).

Help please! it makes the shutdown extremely long.

Joel said...

I have the same brightness problem in a Compaq Presario. But I solved the issue modifying the scripts provided by AaronMT with a little modifications:

/etc/acpi/video_brightnessup.sh

#!/bin/bash

CURRENT=$(grep "current:" /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness |awk '{print $2}')


case "$CURRENT" in

100)
echo -n 100 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
90)
echo -n 100 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
80)
echo -n 90 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
70)
echo -n 80 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
60)
echo -n 70 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
50)
echo -n 60 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
40)
echo -n 50 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
30)
echo -n 40 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
20)
echo -n 30 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
10)
echo -n 20 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
0)
echo -n 10 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
*)
echo -n 100 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
esac


/etc/acpi/video_brightnessdown.sh


#!/bin/bash

CURRENT=$(grep "current:" /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness |awk '{print $2}')


case "$CURRENT" in

0)
echo -n 0 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
10)
echo -n 0 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
20)
echo -n 10 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
30)
echo -n 20 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
40)
echo -n 30 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
50)
echo -n 40 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
60)
echo -n 50 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
70)
echo -n 60 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
80)
echo -n 70 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
90)
echo -n 80 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
100)
echo -n 90 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
*)
echo -n 0 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness;
;;
esac


Regards.

OOD team project said...

Thanks,the ATI driver guide works perfectly!

Sir Shattles said...

Hey folks.

I've been using Envy to get and conf my ATI driver, which worked fine in gutsy, but now I've upgraded to hardy I can't enable desktop effects. Any thoughts?

Unknown said...

I've just found this blog and am keen to try to get my wireless working with the windows driver and ndiswrapper, but before that, can I ask a couple of questions?

1. I'm in Australia. The CPU that came with my computer's not the one I gather that came with it in the US. There may also be other differences. Will that matter for present purposes?

2. In order to get the computer to boot up, I found instructions to add some kernel parameters: all_generic_ide, floppy=off and irqpoll. When I do that, I do get to the desktop (though I didn't without them), but not without two error messages: MP-BIOS bug: 8254 timer not connected to IO-APIC; and PCI: BIOS BUG #81 [49435000] found. Will they stop me from getting wireless going?

Unknown said...

My inspiron overheated last night when using ubuntu. I updated the bios today (from v2.6.1 to 2.6.3). Is this likely to fix it? I don't really want to risk any permanent damage happening to it

redDEAD said...

is your fan working? call dell, i wouldnt know what your problem is from one sentence.

Brad said...

Thank you for your blog! I have found this helpful. I too have an Inspiron 1501. I am new to Linux and Ubuntu (just installed this past weekend). I can't believe how easy it has been!

I have a question though...Does Ubuntu recognize the HyperMemory on the ATI Xpress 1150 card? All the information that I can find seems to be giving my card 128MB and not the 256MB that Windows recognized.

I just want to know if I am missing something or what.

Thanks,
Brad

Unknown said...

Okay, i'll expand the point. I've never had any issues under XP. I've left it running complex programs (ie 50% on one core and another one on another) and i've never had any issues. I've asked a few computer savvy friends who said something about Power Now, but nothing in the BIOS is iffy (well as far as I can see). The fan is going at the moment and it goes on overdrive under XP. The ubuntu version i am running was using about 10% CPU maximum for the previous hour. Umm, i'm not sure what else to say, but i don't think its the fan. Is there any processor drivers that can be installed?

Unknown said...

Please, notify when modem driver is available!!! I have to use win to surf :(

Very good blog. #1 reference (ubuntu + inspiron1501)

Unknown said...

Anyone has tried KVM? I need virtualize windows (Office2007) and I can get it work at good speed...

Unknown said...

At least!!! Dell has released a modem driver, in fact, the reorganized the directory tree (drivers for gutsy, drivers for hardy)

Unknown said...

Sorry, that driver didn't work, maybe dell folks have to tweak it.

It doesn't seems to work, and completely disables sound (during install, it replaces sound driver modules)

redDEAD said...

SOUND works, no problem with the driver.

Steven said...

Although sound works, has anyone gotten the microphone jack to work on a 1501? Any audio recording program that I try hangs when I ask it to record. Skype simply fails to respond to the mic, though at least doesn't hang.

Despite the claims, this is one hardware component that doesn't work out of the box. We never got the mic to work with Feisty or Gutsy either, though it works just fine in Windows.

Steven said...

Timing is everything. After doing an update this morning, the mic problem that I commented on last night has suddenly gone away. Our mic now works. The audio recorder program can record a clip and play it back happily and Skype now works. It's not completely clean, however as I did hear some clicking, but at least it's functional.

Vincent said...

I got it to work on skype quite easily...you have to go in the sound control then you need to go in preferences to show the mic options and unmute it.

SigmaBeta said...

I get similar errors to the one caleb mentioned above, with a phantom key being pressed and released thousands of times per second. Shows up all over dmesg.

Anyone else familiar with this problem?

Unknown said...

Compiz doesn't work for me with the proprietary driver. I get an error "Composite extension is not available." Is anyone else getting this error?

Steven said...

We solved the phantom key-press by updating our BIOS to the 2.6.3 version available from Dell. Check their website. It requires Windows to install.

The phantom keypresses also happen in Windows and were preventing the screensaver from kicking in.

Unknown said...

Ok, modem finally working. But I've to install the alsa-driver from linuxant (and install patch, otherwise you get compiling errors), then install the driver in the Dell site. I've to reinstall Hardy, but it worked.

Everything OK.

buzz said...

on bios 2.6.3, brightness controls dont work but volume controls work...

it also seems like the cpu fan doesnt work... but havent verified that properly.... because in windows, the cpu fan does not run continually (only when it needs to)...

buzz said...

the suspend works on bios 2.6.3 (32bit wubi ubuntu 8.04)... but resuming from suspend by pressing the power button gives a flashing screen with stripes before a successful resume...

have not tried hibernate yet as wubi does not support hibernation...

buzz said...

using bios 2.6.1 , the cpu fan seems to be running continually...

the display brightness controls still dont work... but the volume controls work...

great work with the blog!

have been using ur blog ever since you made your first post about ndiswrapper... since edgy.... when i decided to get back on ubuntu after leaving it for a while... after breezy badger...

buzz said...

bios 2.6.1

brightness controls: dont work
volume controls: work

cpu fan spins seems to be spinning continually...

buzz said...

downgraded to dell bios 1.7.0 and brightness controls work! ... will check out the remaining BIOS versions and let you know which ones work well....

Unknown said...

Well I have to say, I am finally happy with Hardy. I did a distro upgrade from Gutsy. It was mostly a smooth upgrade but it clobbered my Compiz and ATI proprietary drivers.

Now I finally have everything working again in Hardy... AIGLX, Compiz Fusion, ATI proprietary driver, backlight hotkeys, and suspend/hibernate.

Very, very nice!

Haness said...

hi for first i want to tell you thank you for your good work. I have a dell inspiron 1501 with amd turion 64 x2 and I have a problem with compiz, everything working fine but when I want to rotate cube or rolling in firefox, or draging window >>> this bug
http://mobiletuning.kx.cz/DSC00356.JPG
when I shut down compiz everything work well. I installed ubuntu 8.04 HH version amd64 maybe that is the problem? I installed the restricted driver from manager

Abo said...

Asanyone else noticed that after hibernation sound doesn't work anymore??

Anonymous said...

Fix provided by aaronmt fixed brightness hotkeys.

About fan, looks like it works fine, I mean working only when necessary.

Just like buzz, after Hibernate or Suspend, I get flashy screen then everything is back properly.

Rodrigo said...

Great! AaronMT's scripts works very well on .inspiron 1501.. you don't need to change the bios version of your laptop!

Thanks to all!

carkis said...

TO IGOR (AND EVERYONDE ELSE WITH Fn+F10 not working):

The solution to this "issue" (but for me it was 'cause i use that combo a lot) is in EXTREME simple.

Simply go to System > Preferences > Keyboard Shorcuts

(Sistema > Preferencias > Combinación de Teclas)

And under "Sound", the last option is 'Eject . Just click it and press Fn+F10.

Ready!!! Simply as that.

Great page redDead it' helped me a lot.

Thnx to you I kept in linux world.

Viva México!!!

Nathaniel said...

Mongojungo said the modem was working for them. Can anyone help me on getting the modem working in 8.04? I have a 1501 and I am probably going to install Ubuntu 8.04 tomorrow.

redDEAD said...

look for the modem driver on Dell's website

Unknown said...

http://linux.dell.com/files/ubuntu/hardy/modem-drivers/hsf/hsfmodem_7.68.00.09oem_i386.deb

But I had to go to linuxant.com and download alsa-driver-linuxant, install, compile, etc.

Brad said...

Suspend works now with the most recent BIOS (2.6.3) and kernel (2.6.24-18). Hibernate just logs me out to a terminal, where I have to restart X. Almost there...

Unknown said...

Does anyone knows how to setup a bridged network for using it with a virtual machine in virtualbox?

AlvinTheNerd said...

In Bios, you need to disable wireless hotkey for everything to work with either B43 or ndiswrapper. Otherwise, fatal DMA errors occur and wireless shuts off randomly.

Med said...

When i active compiz, videos in window mode do not work, all i see is a black screen. I see nobody complaining about that! is it me the only one who have this problème? and what's the solution?

Thank you

Tedmund said...

hi. I'm getting so many problems trying to make the brightness and ati card work. Envy doesn't install it. and there isn't a lot of info on Ubuntu-wiki. Can anyone please post something else? Thanks!

Tedmund said...

does anyone get a white screen when they run compiz. I do and I don't know how to get rid of it. Please help me :P!

Ihor Olkhovskyi said...

Has anyone got MMC cards to work in cardreader?

varepsilon said...

Thanks to AaronMT. His brightness guide works very well.

Mr. Stone Himself said...

I'm using bios 2.3.0 (seems weird that no one else is mentioning this one). Also have ATI proprietary installed. I can suspend and hibernate, but in both cases the system "appears" to freeze when resuming/restoring. Resume is really bad graphically, but given enough time will return to a clean unlock screen.

Unknown said...

thank you so much for the first one. our house is basically dependent on wifi (laptops, ds, psp, wii, everything except the 360 at the moment), and my mum had no patience with vista. she loves her new toy...and i had to have wifi working by the time she got home from work.

ubuntu has another fan!
(i use osx out of personal preference and ease of use but the customization that ubuntu allows me has made me a fan, and when get a mac mini as a media centre that is what is going to be on a partition so i can stop using my mums laptop for it!).

Aaron said...

I am running linux mint, which is based off ubuntu. I am loving everything about it. My hibernate doesnt work, but I dont really care about that. I have one issue though, sometimes my touchpad kind of freaks out. It jumps all over the place, and I had to disable the touchpad click because it would just click all over when it was jumping around. I was wondering if anyone else had this issue or if maybe it was a hardware problem?

Unknown said...

I am totally new to linux, like 15 minutes new, and I cant get my internet to work, even following your guide. I have a 1501 and I cannot find ndiswrapper and when i try the step that tells me to go to dell, i cant. I dont want to go b ack to windows, but I am gonna have to, this is just too damn discouraging.

redDEAD said...

dd,

if you are new to linux why are you making things hard for yourself. open up a terminal and input

sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter

your wireless will work no problem. If you really messed things up trying the ndiswrapper guide you might have to reinstall the OS again, but if you want to make an omlet you have to bust a couple of eggs.

Nate Parsons said...

Everything I've tried works fine so far, except the multiple monitor support isn't what you said it would be. I do not have the (System>Administration>Screens and Resolutions) menu. Instead, I have (System>Preferences>Screen Resolution), which has no concept of multiple monitors. Is Screens and Resolutions still an option, but buried somewhere?

emorris said...

Hi, on the Ubuntu Hardy updates, another wireless driver, simply named "wl" has come on to Drivers Manager.

I spoke to some people on IRC, and they said that whereas the "Broadcom B43" driver was a reverse engineered driver, "wl" is the officially released one from the manufacturer, therefore is expected to work better.

On mine, both drivers were still selected, but you should be able to deselect the "Broadcom B43" driver and enable wl in order to use it.

emorris said...

Hmm, tried it but it didn't work for me. If this is the case, go back into Driver manager, then re-enable Broadcom B43. I've got a feeling that wl only replaces the firmware, ie. Broadcom B43 is the driver and wl is the firmware.

Anonymous said...

Brightness & Volume
Brightness (Fn Up/Down Arrow) and Volume (Fn Page Up/Page Dn) keyboard shortcuts both dont work with BIOS 2.6.1
I use XUbuntu Hardy Heron 8.04
now i try to downgrade my bios version

Thanks!

Pure.mind.slave said...

Brightness keys work out of the box on Intrepid RC, but I have the newest BIOS installed before.

alecs said...

Hi!
very usefull this site. what i would ask you is when could you post a cool and easy tutorial about making a dual monitor system ... i mean the something like here
thanks

redDEAD said...

qndythejack asked...

would really appreciate if someone could help iv'e got a dell inspiron 1501 and am having great difficulty burning photo media to dvd disc i've tried dvd-r,dvd+r and dvd+rw discs does anybody know if my computer is able to write to disc or do i need an external dvd driver to do this.

andythejack,
Look on the the side on your 1501's DVD drive. It will tell you what kind of media drive it is. If it only says DVD, then it is just a DVD drive. If it says DVD-RW it burns DVDs.

Danny King said...

Does anyone know if I can get the screen to rotate 90 degrees on my Inspiron 1501? The Ubuntu preferences (screen resolution) don't allow it for the graphics card by default - anything else I can do?