Dell Inspiron 6000

[VinzC]

No it doesn't as the only difference is the packages that are on the CD. The Universal CD contains snapshots and stages, which the minimal version doesn't.

I tried booting with the Gentoo LiveCD.

At the prompt I did these steps:
-mounted my root at /mnt/gentoo/
-mounted my boot at /mnt/gentoo/boot/
-chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
-env-update && source /etc/profile

Then I ran "startx" and it complained about not finding a screen, so I tried "X" and it gave the same problem. How can I fix this?

This probably means there is no DRM support in LiveCD kernel. You might want to tune xorg.conf until it works (e.g. using vesa driver) or use the Knoppix way.

[RBJ1128]

This probably means there is no DRM support in LiveCD kernel. You might want to tune xorg.conf until it works (e.g. using vesa driver) or use the Knoppix way.

Do you think that it could have anything to do with me not mounting /proc? I just read through the manual again and realized that I forgot to do that.

[VinzC]

This probably means there is no DRM support in LiveCD kernel. You might want to tune xorg.conf until it works (e.g. using vesa driver) or use the Knoppix way.

Do you think that it could have anything to do with me not mounting /proc? I just read through the manual again and realized that I forgot to do that.

Don't know, you have to try . Yes, it does matter. For instance /proc/dri/... which is used by X to retrieve information on your video adapter.

[RBJ1128]

Don't know, you have to try . Yes, it does matter. For instance /proc/dri/... which is used by X to retrieve information on your video adapter.

When I boot with the Gentoo LiveCD, chroot, and startx I cannot open up a terminal. When I try to open it I get an error message complaining that a "child process cannot be created". Any idea on that?

[VinzC]

Don't know, you have to try . Yes, it does matter. For instance /proc/dri/... which is used by X to retrieve information on your video adapter.

When I boot with the Gentoo LiveCD, chroot, and startx I cannot open up a terminal. When I try to open it I get an error message complaining that a "child process cannot be created". Any idea on that?

Have you run env-update && . /etc/profile? Otherwise you could try to run plain X with Xterm instead of Gnome, KDE or any other Desktop Enironment: set XSESSION variable to "Xsession" in /etc/rc.conf. I hope you typed startx as a normal user, not as root?

[acidbrain]

I don't know why, but my LCD did not turn off by default.

But VinzC hint with vbetool was great, I altered /etc/acpi/default.sh

#!/bin/sh
# Default acpi script that takes an entry for all actions

set $*

group=${1/\/*/}
action=${1/*\//}

# Runlevel, wenn Strom angeschlossen ist.
RLVL_AC="default"
# Runlevel, wenn Batterie angeschlossen ist.
RLVL_BATTERY="battery"

# Datei, die Status der Stromquelle enth\uffff\ufffflt. Bitte an das eigene System anpassen.
AC_STATE="/proc/acpi/ac_adapter/AC/state"
# Diese Zeichenkette erscheint, wenn der Laptop am Stromnetz angeschlossen ist
AC_ON="on-line"
# L\uffff\uffffuft er von Batterie, wird folgende Zeichenkette in AC_STATE angezeigt
AC_OFF="off-line"

# File that contains status of lid
LID_STATE="/proc/acpi/button/lid/LID/state"
LID_OPEN="open"
LID_CLOSED="closed"

function SwitchRunlevel() {
if [[ "$(grep ${AC_OFF} ${AC_STATE})" != "" && "$(cat /var/lib/init.d/softlevel)" != "${RLVL_BATTERY}" ]]
then
logger "Switching to ${RLVL_BATTERY} runlevel"
/sbin/rc ${RLVL_BATTERY}
elif [[ "$(grep ${AC_ON} ${AC_STATE})" != "" && "$(cat /var/lib/init.d/softlevel)" != "${RLVL_AC}" ]]
then
logger "Switching to ${RLVL_AC} runlevel"
/sbin/rc ${RLVL_AC}
fi
}

function ToggleDisplay() {
if [[ "$(grep ${LID_OPEN} ${LID_STATE})" != "" ]]
then
logger "Switching on Display"
/usr/sbin/vbetool dpms on
elif [[ "$(grep ${LID_CLOSED} ${LID_STATE})" != "" ]]
then
logger "Switching off Display"
/usr/sbin/vbetool dpms off
fi
}

case "$group" in
battery)
case "$action" in
battery)
SwitchRunlevel
;;
*)
logger "ACPI group battery / action $action is not defined"
;;
esac
;;

ac_adapter)
case "$action" in
ac_adapter)
SwitchRunlevel
;;
*)
logger "ACPI group ac_adapter / action $action is not defined"
;;
esac
;;
button)
case "$action" in
power)
/sbin/init 0
;;
lid)
ToggleDisplay
;;
*)
logger "ACPI action $action is not defined"
;;
esac
;;

*)
logger "ACPI group $group / action $action is not defined"
;;
esac

Works great with the X300
Note: the config file also contains some stuff from the gentoo powermanagement guide, which switches to the runlevel battery, when the system runs from battery. Maybe this is useful for someone.

I also tried swsusp2 for suspend to disk, but it doesn't work with X.
It works flawless when started from console without X running.
But when X is running, it locks with a scrambled screen when it comes back from hibernation.
When I hibernate from console with X running on background, it comes back to console, but when I switch back to X, it locks with a scrambled screen.
The only things that helps is pressing the power button.
Any hints?


UPDATE:
Just got suspend 2 disk working.
I installed swsusp2 with the howto from the gentoo-wiki
I played around with /etc/hibernate/hibernate.conf and I had to comment out

Code: Select all

Load        "dri"

in xorg.conf

In /etc/acpi/default.sh I changed

Code: Select all

          power)
                /sbin/init 0

to

Code: Select all

          power)
                hibernate &

Now my system suspends when I push the power button.

[VinzC]

UPDATE:
Just got suspend 2 disk working.
I installed swsusp2 with the howto from the gentoo-wiki
I played around with /etc/hibernate/hibernate.conf and I had to comment out

Code: Select all

Load        "dri"

in xorg.conf

In /etc/acpi/default.sh I changed

Code: Select all

          power)
                /sbin/init 0

to

Code: Select all

          power)
                hibernate &

Now my system suspends when I push the power button.

Great! Could you post your (cleaned) hibernate.conf, please, for I just got a kernel panic instead .

EDIT: well, I recompiled my kernel with software suspend (v1) removed and it worked . Most of all I didn't have to disable DRI. No more panic. Yepeee!

EDIT: still don't want to start a new polemic (naaa, you don't believe me, do you? ) but I have 512 MB RAM and the hibernate/resume process is incredibly fast! The only reference I had was Windoze; the latter takes ages compared with Linux, I mean the disk is spinning and on and on and you have to wait almost as long as though you had rebooted... But my mind might be a bit biased as I hate Window$ so much now...

I also wonder if software suspend 2, laptop_mode tools and cpufreqd are compatible with each other. Have you installed any of these?

[VinzC]

Anyone succeeded in playing audio CDs with Audio CD Player? I get no sound but with xine. Xine converts audio tracks to audio files and plays them if I understood correctly for I have to tune PCM volume, not CD volume to have volume change.

[RBJ1128]

Don't know, you have to try . Yes, it does matter. For instance /proc/dri/... which is used by X to retrieve information on your video adapter.

When I boot with the Gentoo LiveCD, chroot, and startx I cannot open up a terminal. When I try to open it I get an error message complaining that a "child process cannot be created". Any idea on that?

Have you run env-update && . /etc/profile? Otherwise you could try to run plain X with Xterm instead of Gnome, KDE or any other Desktop Enironment: set XSESSION variable to "Xsession" in /etc/rc.conf. I hope you typed startx as a normal user, not as root?

Right now I am trying a fresh kernel configuration. In the kernel config there is an option to use the ATI drivers. Should I not use these drivers in my xorg.conf? Currently, X is using the generic vesa driver.

[VinzC]

Right now I am trying a fresh kernel configuration. In the kernel config there is an option to use the ATI drivers. Should I not use these drivers in my xorg.conf? Currently, X is using the generic vesa driver.

I don't know; the best is to check Gentoo Manual or this forum. If this is the same as nVidia, you should perhaps install ATI drivers instead and not enable DRI for ATI inside the kernel - mind opengl-update ati. But for test purposes this is not that important right now. Focus on something that works first to see if your system locks up or not.

[RBJ1128]

I don't know; the best is to check Gentoo Manual or this forum. If this is the same as nVidia, you should perhaps install ATI drivers instead and not enable DRI for ATI inside the kernel - mind opengl-update ati. But for test purposes this is not that important right now. Focus on something that works first to see if your system locks up or not.

I am now using the fglrx driver in my xorg.conf. Everything seems to be the same as when I tried with the radeon driver.

As far as booting from a LiveCD and running X, I still cannot get it working right when chrooting from a Gentoo CD. How do I go about doing it from a knoppix CD?

@acidbrain - Let me just say thanks for that script. I have been trying to get my screen to shut off when I close the lid, now I have that working.

[BlueShark]

Hi,

has anybody got DMA working? I still have problems with it, although I tried several things I found on the web and in this thread.

This I have done:

in /usr/src/linux/include/linux/libata change #undef ATA_ENABLE_ATAPI to #define ATA_ENABLE_ATAPI

in /usr/src/linux/drivers/scsi/libata-core.c commend out _NEC DV5800A from ata_dma_blacklist


I have not patched my kernel. http://steffen.warteschlange.de/config-2.6.11-gentoo-r6


What can I do?

[VinzC]

As far as booting from a LiveCD and running X, I still cannot get it working right when chrooting from a Gentoo CD. How do I go about doing it from a knoppix CD?

Knoppix completes booting by default with the graphics environment. Pressing F2/F3 when prompted will show you the choices you have. It is as simple as burn and boot . You will then have to chroot inside a terminal window and run the compile process. This is what I have done when I installed Gentoo on my laptop - but not from X as I never succeeded to run it. However, it should be possible to do the same from an XTerm.

[seppelrockt]

Hardware-Question:

I bought my Dell 6000 with the DVD/CD-RW Combo but this was a bad idea, I need a DVD-RW drive for backups since the HD is so small. I do not realy understand whether teh DVD burner has to be SATA or PATA since the NEC 5600A which is used by Dell seems to be a normal PATA drive but we all mess around with this libata stuff. Can I buy a normal slimline NEC 5600A and install it in my Dell 6000?

[VinzC]

Hardware-Question:

I bought my Dell 6000 with the DVD/CD-RW Combo but this was a bad idea, I need a DVD-RW drive for backups since the HD is so small. I do not realy understand whether teh DVD burner has to be SATA or PATA since the NEC 5600A which is used by Dell seems to be a normal PATA drive but we all mess around with this libata stuff. Can I buy a normal slimline NEC 5600A and install it in my Dell 6000?

Why don't you ask Delll customer support?

[juniper]

well, i have been scrolling through this forum trying to solve my problem and the solution seems like it is here, but it is hard to patch it all together.

here are my issues.

i still have my windows partition. should i get the bios update? does it help?

more importantly, i can't for the life of me get sleep/hibernate to work. i have emerged hibernate-scripts. however, i don't really know how to edit the hibernate scripts. i just blindly ran /usr/sbin/hibernate and /usr/sbin/hibernate-ram and the hibernate did nothing and the hibernate-ram crashes the thing.

has anyone gotten sleep/suspend to disk working? if so, please post some clear instructions.

also, i have screen blanking working when the lid is closed, but the weird thing is that if i open the lid and have X going in order to unblank the screen i have to ctrl-alt-f1 and then the virtual term comes up and then ctrl-alt-f7 and then my xsession is there. i would like to just hit the mouse pad or a button.

thanks

j

[acidbrain]

i still have my windows partition. should i get the bios update? does it help?

You want to get rid of your windows partition? Well, fdisk should help

More on hibernate:
- Install swsusp2 with the howto from the gentoo-wiki
- Install the hibernate-script from portage
- alter /etc/hibernate/hibernate.conf so swsusp2 is used & specify your swap partition

Code: Select all

UseSwsusp2 yes
SuspendDevice swap:/dev/sda6 <-insert your value here
[...]
#UseSysfsPowerState disk
[...]
# UseACPISleep 4

- go to text mode, stop X and try it out
- if it works, try with X
- if it works with X, you're done, otherwise you have to play around with xorg.conf and the vbetool and xhacks sections in hibernate.conf

Hope that helps

If you use the Unmount option in hibernate.conf, you may wonder why it doesn't hibernate when you have a program running that accesses a partition that should be unnmounted.
I added -m to the fuser command in lines 30 and 44 in /usr/share/hibernate/scriptlets.d/filesystems, this should work.
Edit: you have to call hibernate with the -k flag if you want to kill processes.

[VinzC]

...
More on hibernate:
- Install swsusp2 with the howto from the gentoo-wiki
- Install the hibernate-script from portage
- alter /etc/hibernate/hibernate.conf so swsusp2 is used & specify your swap partition

Code: Select all

UseSwsusp2 yes
SuspendDevice swap:/dev/sda6 <-insert your value here
[...]
#UseSysfsPowerState disk
[...]
# UseACPISleep 4

- go to text mode, stop X and try it out
- if it works, try with X
- if it works with X, you're done, otherwise you have to play around with xorg.conf and the vbetool and xhacks sections in hibernate.conf
...

I suspended while GDM showed the logon screen. Resuming was Ok. However when I resumed after suspending while logged in Gnome, the screen turned black as I switched from console to X. The computer didn't lockup since I could do a proper shutdown with the power button. I couldn't see anything on the screen however.

I'm using bootsplash. Resuming to a text console seems Ok. Problems arise only with the following conditions are both true:
- suspend while logged in Gnome
- resume then switch to X (VT5 on my laptop).
Then the screen turns black and remains black whatever VT I switch to.

Is there a fix/hack for this? I've tried the VbeToolPost in hibernate.conf but I'm not sure it has an effect.

[Sejam]

I’ve had quite a few people ask me how I’m doing my system, since it has been a while since I published my configuration files and instructions on how to get it up. I really don’t have time to write a new updated instructions (graduating in less than week), but I have uploaded my latest xorg and conf files. Just to note that I am using Xorg version 6.8.2. I know I lot of people are using the cvs version, but I have found on all my computers when I try this that it eats up over 384 megs of RAM so I’ve decided not to go that direction. I am also using the dri modules from dri.sourceforge.net. The version I'm using is from mid-april because I found that versions later caused some major X lockups and wierdness. This is also for people that have the i915 video card and not the ATI or NVIDIA as those configurations will be different.

I also change the source code of the linux code before I compile it also so that my cdrom uses the SATA drivers. In /usr/src/linux/include/linux/libata.h change:
#undef ATA_ENABLE_ATAPI /* define to enable ATAPI support */
to
#define ATA_ENABLE_ATAPI /* define to enable ATAPI support */

config-2.6.11-gentoo-r8
xorg-20050602.conf

If you have comments about these particular settins for the i915 that you think I should update, please let me know on my site and on these forums.

[juniper]

i still have my windows partition. should i get the bios update? does it help?

You want to get rid of your windows partition? Well, fdisk should help

well, i don't won't to get rid of the windows partition yet. somethings on the linux side don't work, like sleep. i think that i am going to keep the windows as a diadnostic tool until everything works under linux

More on hibernate:
- Install swsusp2 with the howto from the gentoo-wiki
- Install the hibernate-script from portage
- alter /etc/hibernate/hibernate.conf so swsusp2 is used & specify your swap partition

Code: Select all

UseSwsusp2 yes
SuspendDevice swap:/dev/sda6 <-insert your value here
[...]
#UseSysfsPowerState disk
[...]
# UseACPISleep 4

- go to text mode, stop X and try it out
- if it works, try with X
- if it works with X, you're done, otherwise you have to play around with xorg.conf and the vbetool and xhacks sections in hibernate.conf

Hope that helps

If you use the Unmount option in hibernate.conf, you may wonder why it doesn't hibernate when you have a program running that accesses a partition that should be unnmounted.
I added -m to the fuser command in lines 30 and 44 in /usr/share/hibernate/scriptlets.d/filesystems, this should work.
Edit: you have to call hibernate with the -k flag if you want to kill processes.

i looked at the swsusp2 how to, and it says to patch the kernel. should i do this for modern kernels (i have 2.6.11-gentoo-r9). i assume so since none of the swsusp2 options are there when i "make menuconfig"

ok, i will give a try.

j

[VinzC]

Juniper,

There are two ways to install software suspend 2; the first is to copy the ebuild file. When you emerge suspend-v2-sources, you will get a completely new kernel tree with all the necessary patches (for swsuspend2). It is a vanilla-based kernel with swsuspend2, fbsplash and vesa-tng. If you have additional patches, like libata.h and inotify, apply them manually against the new kernel source. The second way is to manually patch an existing kernel tree with swsuspend2.

If you chose the first way you may optionally use an existing configuration from a previous kernel with make oldconfig. Copy the .config file you want to the new kernel source base directory and run make oldconfig && make menuconfig.

[RBJ1128]

Right now I am trying a fresh kernel configuration. In the kernel config there is an option to use the ATI drivers. Should I not use these drivers in my xorg.conf? Currently, X is using the generic vesa driver.

I don't know; the best is to check Gentoo Manual or this forum. If this is the same as nVidia, you should perhaps install ATI drivers instead and not enable DRI for ATI inside the kernel - mind opengl-update ati. But for test purposes this is not that important right now. Focus on something that works first to see if your system locks up or not.

Alright, now it is time for an update. I searched some other forums and I read that there was a memory allocation issue with glibc++, and the forum suggested that I run "emerge -eND blackdown-jdk". I tried that, but I was still running into the freezing issue. I have since then tried a clean install of Fedora Core 3 and Ubuntu. For the install on both of those I had to disable framebuffering to get it to even begin. After running in each of those for a few days without any problems that told me that I had an issue with my config, not my hardware, and that was causing the freezing. I then did a stage 3 install, emerged just xorg-x11, gnome, mozilla-firefox, and mozilla-thunderbird. I have been running now for a few days without any freezing - WOO HOO!! I am running "emerge -uND world" and it is crapping out on libglade-java. Another forum that I found told me to emerge the "~x86" version as that one actually compiles correctly. That said and done, it still crapps out on libglade-java. I have added ">=dev-java/libglade-java-2.8.3.1 ~x86" to both my package.unmask and my package.keywords files, but I get this error message on an update:

emerge -uDN world
--- Invalid atom in /etc/portage/package.unmask: >=dev-java/libglade-java-2.8.3.1 ~x86
Calculating world dependencies |
!!! All ebuilds that could satisfy ">=dev-java/libgnome-java-2.8.3.1" have been masked.
!!! One of the following masked packages is required to complete your request:
- dev-java/libgnome-java-2.8.3.1 (masked by: ~x86 keyword)
- dev-java/libgnome-java-2.10.1 (masked by: ~x86 keyword)

For more information, see MASKED PACKAGES section in the emerge man page or
section 2.2 "Software Availability" in the Gentoo Handbook.
!!! (dependency required by "dev-java/libglade-java-2.8.3.1" [ebuild])


!!! Problem with ebuild dev-java/java-gnome-2.8.3
!!! Possibly a DEPEND/*DEPEND problem.

!!! Depgraph creation failed.


I am at a loss right now as to what to do, and I am open to suggestions. Also, a VERY minor point - when I am physically at my I6k, runing Gnome, and open a terminal my prompt is "[bash...]", whereas when I connect in via SSH my prompt is "rbjohns@laptoprbjohns rbjohns $". If I run "source /etc/profile" the prompt changes to the nice and pretty "rbjohns@laptoprbjohns rbjohns $". How can I change it so that it looks right?

Thanks for the help.

[VinzC]

emerge -uDN world
--- Invalid atom in /etc/portage/package.unmask: >=dev-java/libglade-java-2.8.3.1 ~x86
Calculating world dependencies |

You must correct what you put in /etc/portage/package.unmask:

Code: Select all

>=dev-java/libglade-java-2.8.3.1

instead of

Code: Select all

>=dev-java/libglade-java-2.8.3.1 ~x86

EDIT: Second, if portage tells you a package is masked by ~x86 keyword you should use /etc/portage/package.keyword, example:

Code: Select all

dev-java/libgnome-java ~x86

or

Code: Select all

=dev-java/libgnome-java-2.8.3.1 ~x86

[seppelrockt]

Does anybody know how I can get the number pad on laptops to work via fn + "U" > "4" ; "I" > "5" and so on? Freeciv uses the number pad to navigate units an it's a pain to do this with the regular 1-9 keys.

[VinzC]

Does anybody know how I can get the number pad on laptops to work via fn + "U" > "4" ; "I" > "5" and so on? Freeciv uses the number pad to navigate units an it's a pain to do this with the regular 1-9 keys.

Doesn't the Numlock key do what you want? Under Windoze pressing FN+U, I... outputs only letters. When Numlock is active pressing FN+U, I... outputs numbers. Pressing U, I... outputs the corresponding letters. You could then have Numlock active forever.