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This guide is how to setup Fedore Core Linux on a Dell D810 Latitude Laptop. The laptop will be dual booting between Windows XP and Fedora. This guide assumes you understand the basics of installing Fedora Core and know how to edit basic files.
The following configuration is included on this Dell laptop:
For future reference or comparisons this what linux detects on the machine (output from lspci):
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03) 00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03) 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03) 00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03) 00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03) 00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03) 00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03) 00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03) 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d3) 00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03) 00:1e.3 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03) 00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) SATA Controller (rev 03) 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03) 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M22 [Radeon Mobility M300] 02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5751 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 01) 03:01.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI6515 Cardbus Controller 03:01.5 Communication controller: Texas Instruments PCI6515 SmartCard Controller 03:03.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG (rev 05)
The following hardware worked out by default with no extra setup required: SATA Disk Controller, Onboard Sound, Onboard Ethernet, Touchpad and PointStick.
The manufacturer configured the laptop to have 2 partitions. The first is some recovery partition for (possibly) resetting the machine. The second is for Windows XP.
/dev/sda1 FAT16 63 MB
/dev/sda2 NTFS 55.8 GB
free 16 MB
Off Topic I found the Dell De-Crapifier very useful for cleaning Windows. I highly recommend it.
Obtain GParted LiveCD before hand and burn it to a CD. The version used for this howto was: gparted-livecd-0.2.4-3 (2006-04-30 12:40).
Boot with the LiveCD and (to preserve windows) resize the NTFS (/dev/sda2). I created a 24GB space for linux.
Note: This change will require Windows XP to run a chkdsk scan upon bootup.
Creating partitions at this stage is not necessary however the default partition tool in Fedora Core 5 is limited.
After resizing I created the following partition scheme:
/dev/sda1 FAT16 63 MB /dev/sda2 NTFS 55.8 GB /dev/sda3 swap 1.5 GB /dev/sda4 Extended /dev/sda5 ext3 9.0 GB (for "/") /dev/sda6 ext3 9.0 GB (spare) /dev/sda7 ext3 4.5 GB (/home)
Some notes: Since I have 1GB of physical RAM I made a larger swap partition since S4 (Suspend to Disk) stores data in the swap partition. Additionally, I do not have listed above, but I kept 8-16MB free at the end of the Extended partition as well as outside. This is probably not necessary but past experiences for me have required this.
Installation was very similar to the steps provided in my Personal Fedora Core 5 Installation Guide. However there were some exceptions. The following were disabled: SELinux, firewall and NTP.
Note: The grub boot loader was installed on the first sector of the root (/) partition, NOT on the MBR. Although it will still work, this is recommended so as not to disturb Windows XP in anyway. (To do this make sure to select "Advanced" in the boot loader section.)
If grub was not installed to the MBR then after installation of Fedora, the computer will only boot to Windows. To enable booting of Linux through the NT Loader (NTLDR), the tool: Bootpart is useful.
To use this tool you will need the partition number of the "/" (or /boot) partition. The following example matches the above partitioning:
C:\DOWNLOADS\bootpa26> bootpart.exe Boot Partition 2.60 for WinNT/2K/XP (c)1995-2005 G. Vollant (info@winimage.com) WEB : http://www.winimage.com and http://www.winimage.com/bootpart.htm Add partition in the Windows NT/2000/XP Multi-boot loader Run "bootpart.exe /?" for more information Physical number of disk 0 : 41ab2316 0 : C: type=de , size= 64228 KB, Lba Pos=63 1 : C:* type=7 (HPFS/NTFS), size= 33375037 KB, Lba Pos=128520 2 : C: type=82 (Linux swap), size= 1510110 KB, Lba Pos=66878595 3 : C: type=5 (Extended), size= 23647680 KB, Lba Pos=69898815 4 : C: type=83 (Linux native), size= 9438156 KB, Lba Pos=69898878 5 : C: type=5 (Extended), size= 9438187 KB, Lba Pos=88775190 6 : C: type=83 (Linux native), size= 9438156 KB, Lba Pos=88775253 7 : C: type=5 (Extended), size= 4763272 KB, Lba Pos=107651565 8 : C: type=83 (Linux native), size= 4763241 KB, Lba Pos=107651628
The type=83 is a standard EXT linux partition. From the above example number #4 is the / partition. Next the boot sector must be extracted and made loadable to c:\boot.ini in Windows.
C:\DOWNLOADS\bootpa26> bootpart.exe 4 c:\linux.bin "Fedora Core Linux" C:\DOWNLOADS\bootpa26> attrib +rh c:\linux.bin
The above process can be repeated if there are multiple linux distributions installed. However, the filenames MUST BE DIFFERENT.
The contents of c:\boot.ini may be similar to the following:
C:\> type c:\boot.ini [boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect C:\linux.bin="Fedora Core Linux"
Parameters for the boot.ini can be found at microsoft's website for Windows XP or for Windows 2000.
Note the file is read-only and critical, if you edit the file improperly you will prevent Windows from booting.
There is an additional added advantage of using this method. Windows will not interfere with Linux and the MBR (Master Boot Record) will be untouched. Upgrading Linux or re-installing linux will NOT REQUIRE the above process to be repeated so long as grub is installed on the SAME partition.
If bootpart does not properly identify the partitions, the same effect can be achieved from the following sources: NT OS Loader + Linux mini-HOWTO and Grub Win2K Howto.
Before performing any additional drivers the Fedora Kernel MUST BE updated due to a critical bug when it was released. Users with high speed internet connections (and spare time) may wish to update the entire system. Use caution if modifications to yum repositories were made.
To forcefully update everything installed in Fedora:
# yum -y update
For the purpose of this guide only the kernel was updated.
# yum update kernel
At the date this was performed the following kernel was available:
# uname -rm 2.6.16-1.2111_FC5 i686
Users without yum should manually install from FC5 Updates.
# rpm -ivh kernel-2.6.16-1.2111_FC5.i686.rpm
A reboot is required to continue.
Prior to installing the ATI driver the kernel must be updated. The livna repository supports the ATI driver. The following is a modification of the Guide to Installing the NVidia binary driver.
Upon first boot of Fedora the video monitor settings should be properly configured. Optionally run: system-config-display. For Monitor, select Generic LCD Display > LCD Panel 1920 x 1200.
Setup Livna Repository [root@winnie ~]# rpm -ivh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-5.rpm [root@winnie ~]# rpm --import http://rpm.livna.org/RPM-LIVNA-GPG-KEY Note Other than for drivers there can be some problems with the Livna repository, hence I disable it by default: [root@winnie ~]# cd /etc/yum.repos.d/ [root@winnie yum.repos.d]# mv livna.repo livna.repo.bkp [root@winnie yum.repos.d]# sed 's/enabled=1/enabled=0/' livna.repo.bkp > livna.repo Install the ATI driver through Livna: [root@winnie ~]# yum --enablerepo livna install kmod-fglrx Then simply log out completely of Gnome or KDE and the ATI driver should load. Test by running: '/usr/bin/glxgears' (included in the glx-utils RPM package). Note on Livna There are many possibilities that Livna will not work for you. Especially if your kernel is modified, not from Fedora Updates, or much older. Users without YUM Download the GPG Key and run: [root@winnie ~]# rpm --import RPM-LIVNA-GPG-KEY Navigate to http://rpm.livna.org/fedora/5/ and select your architecture: i386, x86_64 or ppc. This laptop uses: i386 You will need 2 components: xorg driver and ATI kernel module: For xorg driver, select the latest available (v 8.24.8 works for this hardware) ex: xorg-x11-drv-fglrx-8.24.8-1.lvn5.i386.rpm For ATI kernel driver you MUST MATCH YOUR KERNEL Use the uname command for the proper match. For example: [root@winnie ~]# uname -rm 2.6.16-1.2111_FC5 i686 Selected: kmod-fglrx-8.24.8-2.2.6.16_1.2111_FC5.i686.rpm Install both files at the same time: [root@winnie fc5]# rpm -ivh kmod-fglrx-8.24.8-2.2.6.16_1.2111_FC5.i686.rpm \ xorg-x11-drv-fglrx-8.24.8-1.lvn5.i386.rpm SELinux users This machine has SELinux disabled, however if the driver functions similarly to the NVidia binary driver, then the following changes are probably(?) required: [root@winnie fc5]# setsebool -P allow_execstack=1 [root@winnie fc5]# setsebool -P allow_execmod=1
Similarly to the ATI driver, the ATrpms repository provides a working driver for the Intel PRO 2200BG Wireless device.
Setup ATrpms Repository [root@winnie ~]# touch atrpms.repo [root@winnie ~]# echo [atrpms] >> atrpms.repo [root@winnie ~]# echo name=Fedora Core \$releasever - \$basearch - ATrpms >> atrpms.repo [root@winnie ~]# echo baseurl=http://dl.atrpms.net/fc\$releasever-\$basearch/atrpms/stable >> atrpms.repo [root@winnie ~]# echo enabled=0 >> atrpms.repo [root@winnie ~]# mv atrpms.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/ [root@winnie ~]# cat /etc/yum.repos.d/atrpms.repo [atrpms] name=Fedora Core $releasever - $basearch - ATrpms baseurl=http://dl.atrpms.net/fc$releasever-$basearch/atrpms/stable enabled=0 Install the ipw2200 driver through ATrpms: [root@winnie ~]# yum --enablerepo atrpms install ipw2200 ipw2200-firmware Once done proceed to configuring wireless. Users without YUM Download the GPG Key and run: [root@winnie ~]# rpm --import RPM-GPG-KEY.atrpms Navigate to http://dl.atrpms.net/fc5-i386/atrpms/RPMS.stable/. You will need 4 components: ipw2200 package, ipw2200 firmware and 2 kernel modules: ipw2200, ieee80211 For the ipw2200 package select: ipw2200-1.1.0-40.rhfc5.at.i386.rpm For the ipw2200 firmware the Intel ipw2200 page says to use: driver versions v1.0.7 and newer, (includes stable v1.1.0): firmware v2.4 Select: ipw2200-firmware-2.4-7.at.noarch.rpm For the kernel modules you MUST MATCH YOUR KERNEL Use the uname command for the proper match. For example: [root@winnie ~]# uname -rm 2.6.16-1.2111_FC5 i686 Select: ieee80211-kmdl-2.6.16-1.2111_FC5-1.1.13-10.rhfc5.at.i686.rpm ipw2200-kmdl-2.6.16-1.2111_FC5-1.1.0-40.rhfc5.at.i686.rpm Install all files at the same time: [root@winnie fc5]# rpm -ivh ipw2200-1.1.0-40.rhfc5.at.i386.rpm \ ipw2200-firmware-2.4-7.at.noarch.rpm \ ieee80211-kmdl-2.6.16-1.2111_FC5-1.1.13-10.rhfc5.at.i686.rpm \ ipw2200-kmdl-2.6.16-1.2111_FC5-1.1.0-40.rhfc5.at.i686.rpm SELinux users This machine has SELinux disabled, however if the driver functions similarly to the NVidia binary driver, then the following changes are probably(?) required: [root@winnie fc5]# setsebool -P allow_execstack=1 [root@winnie fc5]# setsebool -P allow_execmod=1
Note: The wireless Enable Switch does not properly work in Fedora. Make sure the wireless is enabled before booting into Fedora. (It works in Windows)
Wireless connection was achieved on this laptop with the above kernel and drivers. All configuration was done using the GUI tools.
Run system-config-network.
Select New > Wireless connection > ipw2200
Use the "Configure Wireless Connection" options to enable your wireless. What worked for me: Managed, SSID Specified, Hex Key - 128bit WEP Encryption
Once saved, the device will be eth1. Deactivate eth0 (wired ethernet) and then Activate eth1 (wireless).
I was unable to connect at first but after a reboot I had no problems. The NetworkManager tool seemed to cause the wireless to disconnect. Your results may vary.
Note: The following is only a preliminary analysis.
Power management using ACPI worked by default with Fedora Core 5.
ACPI Events
Hardware monitors and other services were not tested at this time.
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Copyright © 2003-2013 by Mauriat Miranda (mjmwired.net).