20 October, 2007
Desktop
Mplayer
Adobe Reader
Compiz-Fusion Cube
Cairo-Dock
Kismet
GIMP
Installing Debian On A Dell D830 Laptop
Sections
How To Purchase Dell Computers
One of the most economical ways to purchase a Dell computer is online via the Dell Small and Medium Business Web site. Dell Small and Medium Business has a laptop section and a desktop section. Choose the model you want, customize the hardware and place your order.
You do not need a Dell Corporate account to make purchases at the Dell Small and Medium Business Web site. At checkout, you will be presented with the option "Guest Checkout". You will receive the same benefits and discounts as corporate customers.
Dell usually offers a monetary discount for certain hardware configurations. The Small and Medium Business site does not always display the most current discounts that are available, thus after the order is placed it's a good idea to call Systems Sales (1-800-757-8434) and ask what other discounts are available. I saved an additional $140.00 by placing such a call.
Dell also offers Open-Source notebooks and desktops. These computers come with the FreeDos operating system. Dell computers are also available with the Ubuntu Linux operating system.
Compare the prices of all available products. It may be cheaper to purchase a computer with Windows pre-installed, depending upon the customizations one selects.
Hardware
Latitude D830, Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, 2.00GHz, 800Mhz 4M L2 Cache, Dual Core
15.4 inch Wide Screen WXGA LCD
2.0GB, DDR2-667 SDRAM, 2 DIMM
256MB NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M
80GB Hard Drive 9.5MM 7200RPM
Sigmatel Audio STAC 92XX (hda-intel)
8X DVD+/-RW
Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5755M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express
Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini PCI-Express*
9-Cell/85 WHr Primary Battery
View full output of lshw or Specifications in the D830 User's Guide.
* Dell 1390 has a Broadcom chipset and works using bcm-fwcutter and the stock bcm43xx kernel driver. I replaced the Dell 1390 with a GIGABYTE WI01GT Atheros Mini PCI-Express card. See the Dell D830 Service Manual for instructions.
Installation
Installation was straight forward. I used the current Lenny businesscard net-install to install Debian Sid (unstable) with kernel version 2.6.22.2-686. The Debian-Installer detected and setup the Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5755M Gigabit Ethernet card using DHCP. At software selection I unchecked all selections using the spacebar. This resulted in ONLY the base system being installed. Rebooted, logged in as root and proceeded to setup my system, installing ONLY the software that I want.
Apt Sources
Immediately after login as root, open the apt sourses.list for editing.
editor /etc/apt/sources.list
Add sources for multimedia and compiz-fusion.
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ sid main non-free contrib
deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ sid main non-free contrib
# multimedia
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org/ sid main
# compiz-fusion
deb http://download.tuxfamily.org/shames/debian-sid/desktopfx/unstable/ ./
GPG Keys
Install GPG keys for new sources.
debian-multimedia.org
gpg --keyserver hkp://wwwkeys.eu.pgp.net --recv-keys 1F41B907
gpg --armor --export 1F41B907 | apt-key add -
tuxfamily.org
wget http://download.tuxfamily.org/shames/A42A6CF5.gpg -O- | apt-key add -
Update Sources
apt-get update
Build Packages
Install packages needed to compile, build and install software from source code.
apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r`
Gnome (and additional software)
The complete gnome-desktop-environment package has software that I don't use and that I don't want, such as Evolution and Gnome-Games. Install the gnome-core package, which has only the essential components of Gnome, and install some additional software.
- gdm - graphical login
- gdm-themes - themes for gdm
- xorg - X Window System
- alacarte - menu editor
- gconf-editor - edit system configuration
- gedit-plugins - plugins for gedit text editor
- gnome-audio - system sounds
- gnome-media - cd player, volume meter, sound recorder
- gnome-netstatus-applet - monitor network interfaces
- gnome-power-manager - power management
- gnome-system-monitor - graphical process/resourses mgmt.
- gnome-system-tools - manage users, time-date, network, etc.
- gnome-utils - search, screenshot,log viewer, floppy format, dictionary
- gnome-volume-manager - automount media, cameras, hot-plugged devices
- openssh-client - ssh support
- gftp-gtk - graphical ftp client
- acroread - Adobe Reader 8
- synaptic - graphical package manager
- iceweasel - Firefox browser
- icedove - Thunderbird email client
- lm-sensors - monitor hardware
- lshw - hardware lister utility
- openoffice.org-calc - spreadsheets
- openoffice.org-writer - word processor
- gimp - graphics editor
- gnomebaker - cd/dvd burner
- file-roller - archive manager (tar, zip, jar, etc.)
- ntfs-3g - read/write ntfs partitions
apt-get install gnome-core gdm gdm-themes xorg alacarte gconf-editor gedit-plugins gnome-audio gnome-media gnome-netstatus-applet gnome-nettool gnome-power-manager gnome-system-monitor gnome-system-tools gnome-themes gnome-utils gnome-volume-manager gtk2-engines gtk2-engines-pixbuf dmz-cursor-theme openssh-client gftp-gtk acroread synaptic iceweasel flashplugin-nonfree icedove lm-sensors lshw openoffice.org-calc openoffice.org-writer gimp gimp-data-extras gnomebaker file-roller gdebi ntfs-3g
Use Synaptic to install additional desired Gnome packages and other software.
Nvidia Video
Install Nvidia drivers.
cd /usr/src
mkdir nvidia
cd /usr/src/nvidia
wget http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/100.14.19/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-100.14.19-pkg1.run
sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-100.14.19-pkg1.run
If using Debian Lenny (kernel 2.6.21.x) the Nvidia drivers won't work properly, a patched version of the Nvidia driver is needed.
NVIDIA-Linux-x86-100.14.11-pkg1-patched.run
Compiz-Fusion
Install compiz-fusion.
apt-get install ccsm compiz-bcop compiz-core compiz-fusion-gnome compiz-fusion-plugins-extra compiz-fusion-plugins-main compiz-fusion-plugins-unstable compiz-fusion-plugins-unsupported compiz-gnome compiz-plugins compizconfig-backend-gconf compizconfig-python emerald emerald-themes fusion-icon libcompizconfig0 libdecoration0 libemeraldengine0 libffi4 libfuse2 mesa-utils python-ctypes
Edit etc/X11/xorg.conf.
# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings: version 1.0 (buildmeister@builder3) Wed Jun 13 18:40:26 PDT 2007
# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 1.0 (buildmeister@builder3) Wed Jun 13 18:39:30 PDT 2007
# xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
Option "AIGLX" "on"
EndSection
Section "Files"
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "bitmap"
Load "dbe"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "vbe"
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
Option "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
HorizSync 28.0 - 60.0
VertRefresh 43.0 - 60.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "LPL"
HorizSync 30.0 - 75.0
VertRefresh 60.0
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Generic Video Card"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "nologo" "1"
Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
Option "RenderAccel" "true"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "Quadro NVS 140M"
Option "nologo" "1"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Generic Video Card"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals "true"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1200x800" "1152x864" "1152x768" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "0"
Option "metamodes" "1280x800 +0+0; 800x600 +0+0; 640x480 +0+0"
EndSection
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection
Cairo-Dock (MAC style dock)
Download the most recent cairo-dock/cairo-dock-plug-ins .deb files and install them using the gdebi package installler.Create a launcher in the main menu or for the panel.
Type: Application
Name: Cairo-Dock
Command: cairo-dock --no-glitx
Comment:
Audio - Sigmatel (hda-intel)
The current alsa-base (as of 2007-09-29) does not support the Sigmatel STAC 92XX (hda-intel) audio chipset in the Dell D830. One workaround is to install a newer version of alsa known to work.
cd /usr/src
wget http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/suse/projects/alsa/snapshot/driver/alsa-driver-hg20070922.tar.bz2
tar jxvf alsa-driver-hg20070922.tar.bz2
cd /usr/src/alsa-driver-hg20070922
./configure
make
make install
Install other needed packages.
apt-get install alsa-utils alsa-oss libesd-alsa0 esound esound-clients esound-common
Setup the soundcard.
alsaconf
Multimedia
apt-get install mplayer xmms xmms-skins xmms-wma xmms-flac w32codecs msttcorefonts liblame0 libdvdcss2 libdvdread3
To play shorten files (.shn) with xmms download the xmms-shn package. Extract it to /usr/src.
apt-get install xmms-dev
cd /usr/src/xmms-shn-2.4.1
./configure --prefix=/usr
make
make install
Use Synaptic to install additional desired multimedia software.
Wireless Drivers
Install madwifi-ng drivers with aircrack-ng patch.
apt-get install subversion wireless-tools wpasupplicant
cd /usr/src
svn checkout http://svn.madwifi.org/trunk/ madwifi-ng
wget http://patches.aircrack-ng.org/madwifi-ng-r2277.patch
cd madwifi-ng
patch -Np1 -i ../madwifi-ng-r2277.patch
./scripts/madwifi-unload
make
make install
depmod -ae
Wireless Setup
/etc/network/interfaces
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).
# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
# The primary network interface
allow-hotplug eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp
auto eth1
# open network w/ no security
iface ath0 inet dhcp
wireless-essid YOUR-ESSID-HERE
auto ath0
# WEP
iface ath0 inet dhcp
wireless-essid YOUR-ESSID-HERE
wireless-key YOUR-WEP-KEY-HERE
auto ath0
# WPA (MUST have wpasupplicant installed - apt-get install wpasupplicant)
iface ath0 inet dhcp
wpa-ssid YOUR-ESSID-HERE
wpa-key_mgmt WPA-PSK
wpa-proto WPA
wpa-pairwise TKIP
wpa-group TKIP
wpa-psk YOUR-PASSWORD-HERE
wpa-driver wext
auto ath0
Sometimes Kismet or other wireless software does not cleanly bring the wireless interface back up and the connection must be re-established. Save the below as wifi-restart.sh and make it executable. Create a custom launcher for it or just run the commands in a terminal.
#/bin/bash
wlanconfig ath0 destroy
wlanconfig ath0 create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode sta
ifconfig ath0 up
/etc/init.d/networking restart
Networking Utilities
apt-get install kismet aircrack-ng wireshark nmap
Kismet
Kismet interface sources.
/etc/kismet/kismet.conf
# YOU MUST CHANGE THIS TO BE THE SOURCE YOU WANT TO USE
source=madwifi_b,wifi0,madwifi
# OTHER SOURCES
#source=bcm43xx,ethX,bcm43xx
#source=acx100,wlanX,acx
#source=orinoco,ethX,hermes1
#source=rt8180,wlanX,Realtek
#source=prism54g,ethX,PrismGT
#source=hostap,wlanX,Prism2
#source=wlanng,wlanX,Prism2
#source=ipw2100,ethX,Centrino_b
#source=ipw2200,ethX,Centrino_g
#source=rt2500,raX,Ralink_g
#source=rt2500,rausbX,Ralink_ug
#source=kismet_drone,192.168.2.252:3501,kismet_drone
Kismet user interface.
/etc/kismet/kismet_ui.conf
# Colors (front, back) of text in the panel front. Valid colors are:
# black, red, yellow, green, blue, magenta, cyan, white
# optionally prefixed with "hi-" for bold/bright colors, ie
# hi-red, hi-yellow, hi-green, etc.
# Enable colors?
color=true
# Background
#backgroundcolor=
# Default text
textcolor=hi-black
# Window borders
bordercolor=black
# Titles
titlecolor=hi-black
# GPS and APM info
monitorcolor=hi-black
# WEP network color
wepcolor=hi-red
# Factory network color
factorycolor=hi-green
# Open color
opencolor=hi-blue
# Decloaked network color
cloakcolor=hi-magenta
Conky
Install needed development packages and pymetar for weather reports.
apt-get install pkg-config libiw-dev libx11-dev libxau-dev libxdmcp-dev libxext-dev x11proto-core-dev x11proto-input-dev x11proto-kb-dev x11proto-xext-dev xtrans-dev libglib2.0-dev libexpat1-dev libfontconfig1-dev libfreetype6-dev libxft-dev libxrender-dev x11proto-render-dev zlib1g-dev libxdamage-dev libxfixes-dev x11proto-damage-dev x11proto-fixes-dev python-pymetar
Download Conky 1.4.7 and extract to /usr/src.
Build and install, enabling support for Conky's new wireless variables.
cd /usr/src/conky-1.4.7
./configure --prefix=/usr --enable-wlan
make
make install
Put a .conky_rc file in your /home/~username directory.
# set to yes if you want Conky to be forked in the background
background yes
# Use Xft?
use_xft yes
# Xft font when Xft is enabled
xftfont trebuc:size=9
# Text alpha when using Xft
xftalpha 0.9
# Update interval in seconds
update_interval 1.0
# This is the number of times Conky will update before quitting.
# Set to zero to run forever.
total_run_times 0
# Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus)
own_window yes
# If own_window is yes, you may use type normal, desktop or override
own_window_type normal
# Use pseudo transparency with own_window?
own_window_transparent yes
# If own_window is yes, these window manager hints may be used
own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager
# Use double buffering (reduces flicker, may not work for everyone)
double_buffer yes
# Minimum size of text area
minimum_size 240 5
# Maximum width
maximum_width 240
# Draw shades?
draw_shades no
# Draw outlines?
draw_outline no
# Draw borders around text
draw_borders no
# Draw borders around graphs
draw_graph_borders no
# Stippled borders?
stippled_borders 2
# Default colors and also border colors
default_color ffffff
# Text alignment, other possible values are commented
alignment top_right
#alignment top_left
#alignment bottom_left
#alignment bottom_right
#alignment none
# Gap between borders of screen and text
# same thing as passing -x at command line
gap_x 12
gap_y 12
# Subtract file system buffers from used memory?
no_buffers yes
# set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase
uppercase no
# number of cpu samples to average
# set to 1 to disable averaging
cpu_avg_samples 2
# Force UTF8? note that UTF8 support required XFT
override_utf8_locale yes
# stuff after 'TEXT' will be formatted on screen
TEXT
$sysname$alignr$kernel
Hostname:$alignr$nodename
Uptime:$alignr$uptime
${time %A}$alignr${time %EY-%m-%d}
$stippled_hr
WAN:$alignr${execi 7200 wget -q -O - checkip.dyndns.org|sed -e 's/.*Current IP Address: //' -e 's/<.*$//'}
LAN:$alignr${execi 7200 ifconfig | grep 'inet addr:'| grep -v '127.0.0.1' | cut -d: -f2 | awk '{ print $1}'}
SSID:$alignr${wireless_essid ath0}
Quality: ${wireless_bitrate ath0} ${wireless_link_qual_perc ath0} ${color c8c4c2}${wireless_link_bar ath0}$color
$stippled_hr
CPU0 ${cpu cpu1}% ${color c8c4c2}${cpubar cpu1}$color
CPU1 ${cpu cpu2}% ${color c8c4c2}${cpubar cpu2}$color
${execi 300 sensors | grep Core}
$stippled_hr
HD Temp:$alignr${execi 300 hddtemp /dev/sda | grep /dev/sda |cut -b23-26}
sda3: ${fs_used_perc /}% ${color lightgray}${fs_bar /}$color
sda2: ${fs_used_perc /media/FILES}% ${color lightgray}${fs_bar /media/FILES}$color
$stippled_hr
RAM: $mem/$memmax ${color c8c4c2}$membar$color
Processes: $processes ${alignr}Running: $running_processes
$stippled_hr
AC Power:$alignr$acpiacadapter
Battery:$alignr$battery
$stippled_hr
DC/Reagan:
${execi 60 /usr/bin/pymetar KDCA}
Database of metar weather stations that can be used in Conky.
Load Conky at boot.
Menu > System > Preferences > Sessions > Startup Programs tab >Add button
Name: Conky
Command: /usr/bin/conky
Comment: Conky system monitor
HP Printer
Install packages and dependencies; build and install HPLIP from source.
apt-get install foomatic-db foomatic-db-engine python-dev libsnmp5-dev libcupsys2-dev python-qt3 sane-dev libusb-dev libjpeg62-dev cupsys cupsys-client cupsys-bsd libsane libsane-dev python-imaging
cd /usr/src/
wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/hplip/hplip-2.7.9.tar.gz
tar xvfz hplip-2.7.9.tar.gz
cd cd hplip-2.7.9
./configure --prefix=/usr --disable-xml-install --enable-foomatic-ppd-install --with-hpppddir=/usr/share/ppd/hpijs/HP
make
make install
Setup printer using CUPS web interface per this HP documentation.*
* Command to restart CUPS: /etc/init.d/cupsys restart
System Time
The bios clock on the Dell D830 is set to local time. During the Debian installation, even if you answer "No" to "Does bios use UTC", the correct time will not set for the system. The time will be off by several hours, depending on what time zone you live in. To correct this, edit the following file.
/etc/init.d/hwclock.sh
# Set this to any options you might need to give to hwclock, such
# as machine hardware clock type for Alphas.
HWCLOCKPARS="--directisa"
Shutdown
When using kernel 2.6.22.2 you may get a warning message during restart or shutdown similar to "disk may not be spun down properly, update your shutdown utility".
To get rid of this message and allow for proper spin down of the SATA disk, edit this file.
/etc/init.d/halt (remove the -h and leave empty quotes)
CHANGE THIS:
# Don't shut down drives if we're using RAID.
hddown="-h"
TO THIS:
# Don't shut down drives if we're using RAID.
hddown=""
Untested
Bluetooth
Smart Card Reader
Internal Modem
Xpress Card Reader