Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex Starter Guide

If you decided to run Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex on your Dell Inspiron 1501 you came to the right place. This blog is a great starter guide for getting things to work.

Every piece of hardware on the Dell 1501 works in Ubuntu, wireless requires setup but it is much less work then a fresh install of Windows XP/Vista. It's not as hard as it looks and everything here is tested and confirmed to work.

Overview of Ubuntu 8.10 on the Dell Inspiron 1501

Using NDISwrapper for wireless
NDISwrapper uses a wireless devices' Windows driver in Linux.

Installing restricted media codecs
This guide will allowing you to play Flash, Java mp3, aac, DVDs ,mp4, avi, wmv and many more formats. It also installs the Microsoft true type fonts for better compatibility with Word documents.

Installing the Medibuntu repository
Medibuntu is a repository of packages that cannot be included into the Ubuntu distribution for legal reasons like copyright, license or patent restrictions. It also includes many popular .debs for ffmpeg encoding, w32codes, skype and google earth.

Installing Wine
Wine is a compatibility layer for running Windows applications on Linux.

Mandx that's the point, everyone should check out our new Blog about running Ubuntu on the Dell Inspiron Mini 9

NDISwrapper in Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex

NDISwrapper uses a wireless devices' Windows driver in Linux. If you are using the Broadcom STA wireless driver via the Driver Manager and it's working for all your day to day needs, I wouldn't recommend taking the time to change drivers. NDISwrapper used to work better then the Broadcom driver but in Intrepid Ibex, I haven't noticed a substantial difference.

If you have already enabled the Broadcom restricted driver, uninstall it before attempting this guide.

Step 1: Stop ssb From Loading Before NDISwrapper
Make a script for NDISwrapper's fix
In a terminal type:
sudo gedit /etc/init.d/wirelessfix.sh

Paste this into the file:
#!/bin/bash

modprobe -r b44
modprobe -r b43
modprobe -r ssb
modprobe -r ndiswrapper
modprobe ndiswrapper
modprobe b44

Point the terminal to your init.d file and make your script exectuable:
In a terminal type:
cd /etc/init.d/ && sudo chmod 755 wirelessfix.sh

Update and make it stick:
In a terminal type:
sudo update-rc.d wirelessfix.sh defaults

Then reboot
In a terminal type:
sudo reboot


Step 2: Get Needed Packages
To install ndiswrapper
In a terminal type:
sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-utils-1.9 ndiswrapper-common

or you can also try:
sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-utils-1.9* ndiswrapper-common

***If the terminal outputs an error message, telling you NDISwrapper could not be found, insert the Ubuntu disc you used to install Intrepid Ibex and manually search for the file.


Get the Windows driver for your Dell 1501.
This is for the Broadcom 1395 chipset. if yours is different you will need to find the correct windows driver for your chipset to make this guide work.
In a terminal type:
wget http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R140747.EXE


Step 3: Get Everything Ready
Now we will make a folder.
In a terminal type:
mkdir ~/.drivers

Now we will move R140747.EXE (the Dell driver), to the folder we just made.
In a terminal type:
mv ~/R140747.EXE ~/.drivers


STEP 4: Driver Setup
In order for us to unzip the R140747.EXE driver we need to point your terminal to the /.driver folder.
In a terminal type:
cd ~/.drivers

Unzip the R140747.EXE driver
In a terminal type:
unzip -a R140747.EXE

We need to point your terminal to the DRIVER folder we just unzipped
In a terminal type:
cd ~/.drivers/DRIVER


Step 5: Configure The Windows driver With NDISwrapper
Now install the Windows driver
In a terminal type:
sudo ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf

* bcmwl5.inf is for my chipset, if you are using another driver you will have to use a different .inf file.

Then:
sudo ndiswrapper -l (that is a lowercase L)

You should see a message that says driver present, hardware detected.

Now finish installing the driver
In a terminal type:
sudo ndiswrapper -m
Then:
sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

YOU MUST REBOOT NOW!
In a terminal type:
sudo reboot

STEP 6: TEST WIRELESS
Your wifi light on your laptop should be illuminated. If not, you can always turn it on and off with the Fn+F2 (Function & F2 Key) and you're all set! Try running this to see if your wireless card is functioning properly.)

In a terminal type:
sudo iwlist scanning

edited by pHreaksYcle

Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex on the Dell Inspiron 1501

Installation:
Intrepid installs without a problem.

Wireless:
Two Methods:
1. The Broadcom STA proprietary wireless driver can be installed via Intrepid's Hardware Drivers gui with two mouse clicks. I found the driver to be a vast improvement over Hardy's,
2. Using NDISWrapper.

ATI Open Source Driver
It took years of of praying, hoping and waiting but Dell 1501/ATI x1150 users finally have a working open source driver. It is installed by default in Ubuntu 8.10.

Compiz-Fusion
Compiz-Fusion runs and pretty well.
To get the most out of Compiz try installing the settings manager and launcher.
In a terminal:

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

sudo apt-get install fusion-icon

Media Codecs
Intrepid Ibex 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 this guide. 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.

Suspend & Hibernate
Both Suspend and Hibernate.


Video Out
Works out of the box, Intrepid's Screens and Resolutions (System>Administration>Screens and Resolutions) makes using an external multiple monitor a breeze. Configuration for dual monitors does 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. Right now there is no deb for the modem driver. I'll update the site and this space when Dell releases it.

Card Reader
Works out of the box.

edited by pHreaksYcle

Whats Planned For Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex

First off, an Ibex is just a wild mountain goat native to Eurasia, North Africa, and East Africa. I had to look it up when 8.10 was first announced back in April.

What's Planned For Intrepid
GNOME 2.23.91 Desktop Environment
Nautilus file manager finally gets tab support and eject icons for removable drives in Places sidebar. File Roller archive manager now supports ALZ, RZIP, CAB, TAR.7Z file types.

X.Org server 7.4
Much better support for hot-pluggable input devices such as tablets, keyboards, and mice.

Linux kernel 2.6.27
Lots of big improvements, head over to www.kernel.org for details.

Encrypted private directory
Keep you private data from prying eyes.

Guest Session
Creates a temporary guest account with a temporary home directory and some restricted privileges. Guests are not able to read any home directory or do any permanent changes to the system.

Network Manager 0.7
Comes with long-expected features, such as, system wide settings, management of 3G connections (GSM/CDMA), management of multiple active devices at once, management of PPP and PPPOE connections, management of devices with static IP configurations, and route management for devices.

Last Successful Boot Recovery Entry
A copy of your running kernel is made after every successful boot and made available from the boot loader as a "Last successful boot" option. This makes it possible for old kernel packages to be safely auto-removed by the package manager, instead of being kept indefinitely.

DKMS
Allows kernel drivers to be automatically rebuilt when new kernels are released. Making it possible for kernel package updates to be made available immediately without waiting for rebuilds of driver packages, and without third-party driver packages becoming out of date when installing these kernel updates.

Lots of great stuff to look forward to. Hardy was a great release for 1501 users lets hope the good times keep rolling.

redDEAD is Not Dead

I'm alive, still using Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 and waiting for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 to come out. You can find Intrepid's release schedule here.

Expect the site to really go live again around September 4th for the Alpha 5 release and full coverage leading to the full release.

I don't know how many people are still running Ubuntu on their 1501, but I know at least I'm going to be.