Linux on the M11x

Nope, installed 10.04 yesterday to a 40GB Intel SSD from a usb drive. The default drivers, if there are any, don't seem to be working. Wireless is turned on, but the O/S doesn't see it.

 

You can try to connect it to the internet using the ethernet.
Then go to
System-> Administration -> Hardware Drivers
and if it finds the drivers for the wireless card you can select to install them and be able to use the wifi

 

Yea, thats what I'm going to do. Theres a reason I need to quite working at 1am. My brain cells quite functioning. plus it'll be easier today since my roommate is going to be heading out on leave.

 

Broadcom.com - 802.11 Linux STA driver is the wireless driver for the m11x on linux, your distro will probably have a broadcom-wl driver.

 

I was able to get it working, just plugged in the ethernet cable and updated that way.

 

One question, I can boot with the GPU set to discreet using the nvdia GPU, but when I boot on the Intel GPU (set to switchable) I just get a blank screen. I ran the updates yesterday. Using Ubuntu 10.04. Any suggestions?

 

I'm not 100% sure what kernel yr running, but I will guess it probably has something to do with intel KMS (kernel mode setting) if it's a recent one...
I am not an expert on ubuntu by any means, ( this thread may be a good place to pose your question, unless another ubuntu user pipes up here) but I'd say you might want to play around with setting or disabling intel KMS at boot time.

in grub you can set option i915.modeset=0 to the "kernel" line to disable intel KMS:

Code:

kernel          /vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=0e7... ro quiet splash i915.modeset=0

or set it to i915.modeset=1 to enable KMS.

I am using the following in my /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf

Code:

options i915 modeset=1

do be aware though, I am running arch linux x86_64 which is different. best of luck!

ps: found 2 links that may be of use, here and/or here

 

Thanks, definately appreciate all the help! +1

 

small update here: I tried 2.6.34-rc6 with the m11x and vgaswitcheroo, and am sad to say GPU switching on-the-fly still isn't working in linux yet.

upon booting a newly compiled custom kernel 2.6.34-rc6 with CONFIG_VGA_SWITCHEROO=y, I'm getting to this point where it peters out ::

Code:

# mount -t debugfs none /sys/kernel/debug
# cd /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo

there is no vgaswitcheroo directory
I'm 100% certain I enabled all the right flags in the kernel recompile...
I'll continue to play around with this, as I'm sure others will too as newer releases come out.

 

Installed Ubuntu 10.04. Everything is working great on the M11x. Have it setup with dual 28" monitors it is amazing w/ twin view and compiz effects enabled.

 

Hey, cool the threads been resurected.

DR650SE,

Do you have the nvidia drivers installed? If so, ubuntu will try to use those when it really should be using the intel drivers..causing the black screen.

fnord,

Have you had any issues with the clock changing in arch? Also are you dualbooting with win7? Every time I reboot my machine the clock changes..kind of annoying. (It's usually 6 hours behind..it does it even when I reboot from Linux to Linux and not from Linux to Window)

 

I recently installed Ubuntu 10.04 via Wubi and I can't seem to get the darn nvidia driver to work. It downloads and updates fine but upon reboot it loses the display. I am guessing it is because both the intel and nvidia cards are on? I can recover the original graphic settings and then it shows the nvida driver but if I try to restart the nvida xserver and reboot it still black screens. Any help would be appreciated...

 

If you want to use nvidia then you'll need to turn the graphics mode in bios to discrete. When it's on switchable it'll just use the intel.

 

my video here: YouTube - Alienware M11x Ubuntu 10.04 Twinview w/ Compiz 3d Desktop effects w/ ssd

 

yes I dual boot arch and win7 x64. and to tell ya the truth, I think I did have an issue with time quite a while back, but then I followed this HOWTO and everything has been gravy since.

so currently I'm using the following ::

Code:

> grep ^HARDWARECLOCK /etc/rc.conf
HARDWARECLOCK="localtime"

> grep ^TIMEZONE /etc/rc.conf
TIMEZONE="America/Los_Angeles"

and if ya really wanna get nerdy, setup NTP
hope this helps, best of luck.

anand00x, looking pretty slick - good job

 

I have windows 7 x64 installed on my C partition and I have a separate partition that was unformatted. I installed Ubuntu 10.04 on this partition and put no bootloader on advanced options during installation. This is the third time I am installing Ubuntu. I keep having trouble with Grub it will work sometimes and then once in a while after my bios screen my computer will be stuck in an infinite loop it wont load into grub for me to choose my OS and I have to reinstall everything. Really gets annoying. So this time I just installed W7 x64 on my C drive and left my other partition unformatted without a drive letter. I installed Ubuntu 10.04 on the largest free space available without bootloader. I figured when I loaded into windows I could use Easy BCD to install a linux boot option into the Easy BCD menu. I did this and nothing works. I even tried this method from LIMNEOS:
Windows 7 after a clean install, it creates a small 200MB hidden partition to store the BCD store database. (similar files to boot.ini). This is where the bootloader is stored.
This partition is currently invisible to you, so even if you added a linux boot entry in EasyBCD, easybcd thinks that it has written the files to the partition where the bootloader is, but it actually can't write there cause it's hidden (no drive letter given). To fix that, open Disk Management, assign a drive letter to your hidden small partition (200MB of size must be), and then add a linux boot entry from EASYBCD again. This time it should work and you should be able to dual boot.
Still does not work. I can load into windows from the EASY BCD boot menu but I cant load into Ubuntu. It is installed but I can’t access it. Any tips?

 

What's wrong with create 3 partitions, 1 by Windows 7 (100 or 200 MB) for the boot loader, then the Windows 7 partitions, then Ubuntu partitions? Next install Windows 7, then Ubuntu, and install Grub on that 100/200MB partition? That doesn't work?

 

probably he got the same issue as I. after installing ubuntu, uninstall grub 2 an install grub as described here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1298932

 

Well, if you want to experiment, go ahead. Somebody has to do it. But if you want it to work, I suggest just install grub 1. I know Lucid Lynx default to grub 1.

If you want to experiment, just remember, a few years back, grub 1 was like this too. A lot of mess. At the time lilo was the choice when people talk about boot manager. Now grub is very mature. I don't know what's wrong with grub 1 that people create grub 2, but it seems like if you want things to just work, especially if you're trying out linux, I suggest you try grub 1.

 

Fixed the issue:

 

How did you fix it?

EDIT:
Sorry, it seems as if the pics were blocked in the company...my question is obsolete so far...

 

Guys what's the news on having switch between intel and nvidia on m11x?

 

What is the minimum amount of space recommended for an umbuntu 10.04 partition? I have 14GB left on my SSD windows 7 partition. I can shrink my drive what is the minimum amount of space I can sacrifice while still leaving some space on my windows 7 partition? I was also going to dedicate 1GB to the SWAP partition. Thanks

 

http://translate.google.ru/translate...&sl=auto&tl=en - your own link haha

 

That was my link on ubuntu forum

 

cheers have you done the switchable graphics yet?

 

Nope, i've just posted article, and now waiting for proper manual Don't wanna mess with this stuff

 

5GB of space is enough. I still have 1GB free with everything I want installed and I can access my music and videos from my w7 partition so I am good to go.

 

just gave a go at linux kernel 2.6. 34 (stable) on the m11x using arch linux... this go around, I can read /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch

Code:

[root@spaceface ~]# mount -t debugfs none /sys/kernel/debug
[root@spaceface ~]# cd /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo
[root@spaceface vgaswitcheroo]# cat switch
0: :Pwr:0000:01:00.0
1:+:Pwr:0000:00:02.0

but we still are unable to switch from intergrated => discrete, nor does the capability to turn-off the discrete card work while using the integrated. looks like vgaswitcheroo still has a ways to go for it to work on m11x. one can issue the command to tell it to switch to discrete but the system will not do anything (even after a full logout/login), upon issuing further commands I get random responses of it continuing to do nothing, full on system locks, or a kernel dump. =(

 

Guys,

Do you have any idea how to let the speakers work?

I was able to let Alsa Mixer to enable my headphones jacks and lead them to work, but not the speakers.

Please let me know ASAP and thanks in advance.

 

What distro?

 

ubuntu 10.04.

 

I mean the sound works fine in my headphones, but can't hear a thing in my speakers. I tried the solution in the first post, but without any luck.

 

I know this is off topic, but I can't see where I can edit my profile signature!

 

From Ubuntu Wiki:

Now open GNOME ALSA Mixer from Applications -> Sound & Video -> GNOME ALSA Mixer

Choose the tab: “SigmaTel…”

Turn on “Audigy Analog/Digital Output Jack”

That’s it now your sound should work as normal

Try that first.

 

I have only Realtek ID 655 and Nvidia ID d

I remember having SigmaTel, but not any more.

Thanks

 

probably because I installed the RealTek driver from their website? This is why I think I got the wrong driver. I got it from here.

 

I'm out of ideas myself. Did you try Ubuntu forum?

 

if you have the problem not to have sound out of the speaker (but one of the headphones), check
the Realtek ALC665 Linux drivers here Realtek Driver . Extract files and run install-file as administrator (sudo). Reboot and enjoy sound

That's the way I made it and it works fine.

 

Guys and how to control brightness in ubuntu? I see some option on AC tab abut nothing on Battery tab. Also even on AC its not working.

 

F4ding, Thanks for your help.
moe67er, I'm working on that as I speak. hope it works.

vorob, you have to switch to discrete graphics from the BIOS in order to adjust the brightness in ubuntu.

 

moe67er, you're the best. It worked. I did that in the past, but I forgot to make install as root. Thanks again.

 

vorob, what score did you get on your laptop's HHD from windows 7?

 

@m2b999 fine...took me also long time searching for it some weeks ago. but i'm happy that it works now

 

moe67er, You know what's really weird. I just did an update and all of the sudden the audio got missed up. BUT of course, with your method I got it up and running within few seconds.

 

Resurrecting this thread -
I just received my R2 and have installed Win7 Ult / Ubuntu/ BackTrack 4

For those who get a black screen after installing Nvidia driver in Ubuntu (even recovery!) press E at the grub and delete quiet splash and add nomodeset. This allowed me to boot, but now I'm having trouble with compiz.

Has anyone installed BackTrack4 and gotten ethernet/wireless to work? When i try to enable the ethernet card it spams an error in console. I haven't tried compiling/installing the broadcom drivers for it yet, but will after work.

 

Also, some posts in this thread comment regarding the GPU preference in the BIOS. I was unable to find this option in the BIOS. The R2 bios update on Dell is A1. Is the option not available in this build?

 

@ PortendingEnnui

you have to start the network in backtrack manually by ./sh networking start
this is documented somewhere in the backtrack forum

I hope, i remember the command correctly...if not, have a look in the forum.

I don't have the R2, so I can't say anything to the BIOS settings there. why did you install the nvidia linux driver? i'm fine with the standard drivers. are there any advantages?

greets

 

ethernet is usable via atl1c module, recompile yr kernel if needed (I just did when upgrading to 2.6.34) in back|track 4 final. I have m11x R1. sounds like R2 doesn't have the capability to set BIOS to only use discrete/nvidia card, as R2 version uses optimus. vgaswitcheroo is still non-functional on R1 as far as Im aware for R1 still. let us know how you get along with linux on the R2, please

 

Correct, the option to change GPUs isn't available in the BIOS. R2 users are SOL for now.