Linux on Latitude E6400

Hi All!

I haven't found any thread on Linux usage on the E6400, so I am starting this one here.
Received my E6400 yesterday. Most important detail of the configuration would be that I have the integrated Intel graphics card (4500MHD).
I started with a Kubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron disk, as this is the OS I am currently using. I was not even able to start from the Install disk (X would not come up). Using Ctrl-Alt-F1 I was able to go to the console. As I suspected the graphics adapter as the culprit, I switched to the vesa driver in xorg.conf. Then, I was able to start X, and finally to install Kubuntu 8.04. However, in this OS, neither the wireless (Intel 5300) nor the Ethernet were recognized. I figured this was pretty much due to the fact that this new chipset is not yet supported by the Kernel. So I figured using 8.10 / Intrepid Ibex - alpha 5 would be my best bet.
I downloaded the iso, burned it and booted. It boots nicely, and installation went smooth. I was able to connect Ethernet. Also the graphics is now supported in full resolution (1440x900 in my case) out of the box. I hate to use 8.10, as this forces me into KDE4, which has still many shortcomings IMHO. Anyway, here is a list of what works and does not work:

* Graphics adapter (4500MHD): YES
* Screen 1440x900: YES
* Touchpad: YES
* Nipple mouse (trackpoint): YES
* Sound output (speakers): YES
* Keyboard illumination: YES
* Screen brightness keys: YES
* Volume keys+mute: YES
* Built-in microphone: NO. --- EDIT: YES (see at the end of this post)
* Built-in webcam: YES (!!!)
* Hibernate: SOMETIMES
* Suspend: NO

I'll follow through with more details later.
--hasi


EDIT: Now, I got the built-in microphone to work! I had to start kmix and enable also the Digital inputs, and pull the sliders up. Excellent!

 

So, the touchpad does work very basically, however I am unable to adjust its properties using synclient. It reports
"Can't access shared memory area. SHMConfig disabled?"

When I do a "cat /proc/bus/input/devices", I get the following:

I: Bus=0017 Vendor=0001 Product=0001 Version=0100
N: Name="Macintosh mouse button emulation"
P: Phys=
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input0
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse0 event0
B: EV=7
B: KEY=70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=3

I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0001 Product=0001 Version=ab41
N: Name="AT Translated Set 2 keyboard"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio0/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input1
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event1
B: EV=120013
B: KEY=100f 2002000 380307a f800d001 feffffdf ffefffff ffffffff ffffffff
B: MSC=10
B: LED=7

I: Bus=0019 Vendor=0000 Product=0005 Version=0000
N: Name="Lid Switch"
P: Phys=PNP0C0D/button/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input2
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=event2
B: EV=21
B: SW=1

I: Bus=0019 Vendor=0000 Product=0001 Version=0000
N: Name="Power Button (CM)"
P: Phys=PNP0C0C/button/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input3
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event3
B: EV=3
B: KEY=100000 0 0 0

I: Bus=0019 Vendor=0000 Product=0003 Version=0000
N: Name="Sleep Button (CM)"
P: Phys=PNP0C0E/button/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input4
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event4
B: EV=3
B: KEY=4000 0 0 0 0

I: Bus=0019 Vendor=0000 Product=0006 Version=0000
N: Name="Video Bus"
P: Phys=/video/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input5
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event5
B: EV=3
B: KEY=3f000b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

I: Bus=0019 Vendor=0000 Product=0006 Version=0000
N: Name="Video Bus"
P: Phys=/video/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input6
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event6
B: EV=3
B: KEY=3f000b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

I: Bus=0019 Vendor=0000 Product=0006 Version=0000
N: Name="Video Bus"
P: Phys=/video/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input7
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event7
B: EV=3
B: KEY=3f000b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

I: Bus=0003 Vendor=0c45 Product=63f8 Version=8610
N: Name="Laptop_Integrated_Webcam_0.3M"
P: Phys=usb-0000:00:1a.7-6
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input8
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=event8
B: EV=3
B: KEY=1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0001 Version=0000
N: Name="PS/2 Generic Mouse"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio1/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input9
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse1 event9
B: EV=7
B: KEY=70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=3

This looks as if the touchpad is not even recognized.
On my previous DELLs, some synaptics device would show up after doing such a request.
This is bad, as the default settings on the pad are pretty unusable (sensitivity very low, low speed, low accel...).
Any ideas anybody?

--hasi

 

This was a real surprise!
My previous experience with Webcam and Skype on Linux was not very smooth (this is a huge understatement...).
I installed skype, and to my surprise, the Cam works out of the box! However, I do not get the microphone currently, so it is a video conference w/o sound. Anyway, positive surprise, here.

Let me know if you have more questions.
--hasi.

 

oh, btw, basic configuration also means that scrolling does not work

 

^ My memory on the specifics is fuzzy, but I remember that a search using Synaptic will bring up one or two GTK interface programs that allow you to tweak Synaptic touchpads.

 

thanks very much Bog!
I remember having used those programs a while ago in Ubuntu. At this point I am not sure where the touchpad is recognized by the X at all. I tried an added "InputDevice" section in xorg.conf, similar to what I successfully used in older Dells (D620, D505). However, X gives me errors that synaptics devices are not found.
Since /proc/bus/input/devices does not give me good hints for the device address I had to guess (/dev/mouse0, /dev/psaux, /dev/event9, ...), but as I said, this did not work.
So if X does not see the touchpad, do you think such programs would work? Also, would they do anything different than actually using synclient?
--hasi

 

If X server cannot recognize the touchpad (I've never heard of this before), then these programs I'm referring to won't work as they are merely GUI-frontends for configuring X server.

 

Make sure that in your xorg.conf, under the synaptics InputDevice section, that you have the following entry;

Code:

Option "SHMConfig" "on"

or it's sometimes written as;

Code:

Optiion "SHMConfig" "true"

That should allow you to use synclient to adjust your trackpad settings. The Linux GUI synaptics touchpad settings management programs, (which basically do all the editing of the xorg.conf file for you), include, gsynaptics for Gnome, and ksynaptics for KDE, although reading there seems to indicate that the ksynaptics project is dead. If it's easier for you, you can try gsynaptics and see if you can adjust the trackpad settings to suit your needs better. You can read more about the relevant programs and options at the following URLs;

Synaptics TouchPad driver for XOrg/XFree86
Gentoo Wiki - HARDWARE Synaptics Touchpad
synaptics(5) - Linux man page
syndaemon(1) - Linux man page
synclient(1) - Linux man page

Good Luck..

 

Thanks very much, jag!

Actually, I had already tried both options, and none worked.

 

I am actually more than unhappy by having to use KDE4 with Intrepid Ibex.
Is there any decent (wide-spread) distro out there using a recent enough kernel (to support the Montevina chipset) that would still work nicely with KDE3?

Thanks for your feedback.
--hasi

 

You must have this bug then. Do you know what version of xorg server and synaptics driver you are running? (Sorry I don't use Ubuntu so don't know what version they've included in Intrepid Ibex. Maybe someone else knows this info too..)

 

You could try something with a bleeding-edge philosophy like Arch, which rolls the latest stable kernel within weeks of release. KDE 3 is still available through KDEmod legacy.

 

Sorry for the earlier response. I looked into this further because I'm having a similar problem with my Linux install on my EeePC 1000H. The kernel I have loaded sees the trackpad incorrectly as a Logitech Mouse and won't load the synaptics driver for it. The trackpad works, but I can't configure anything with gsynaptics, and get the same error message you have.

The problem of a mis-recognized synaptics touchpad is all over the web, and it looks like it's USB related somehow. This post suggests that the problem lies with a Plug and Play PS/2 detection routine in the driver module, i8042.c from the kernel tree. What that means to the ordinary user is that it may get addressed in a newer version of the kernel. I'm running 2.6.26-r1, so something north of that, I would guess. The synaptics driver troubleshooting document suggest trying several things, only one of which is reasonably easy;

So you can look in your BIOS and see if there's a setting for USB Mouse support, or USB Legacy support, and try turning it off and see if that fixes this. When I looked in my EeePC's BIOS, I had no such settings so I need to keep looking for another answer, perhaps in a kernel update.

Good Luck..

 

There is already a linux thread for the E6400, here's the link: Guide/Experiences: Ubuntu Linux @ Latitude E series (highly experimental!) But there was no action for several days except from my questions. Maybe you can have a look there (and also consider answering some of them ).
Neafujn seems to use Ubuntu instead of Kubuntu and didn't report any problems with the touchpad. Maybe it's Kubuntu specific, Kubuntu is often not as polished as Ubuntu.

 

According to this review, the touchpad is made by Alps, not Synaptics. It should work with the synaptics driver as well, but I'd guess it needs different settings and some Synaptics-specific tweaks would not work.

 

hi jas!
thanks very much for your input.
I played with the BIOS settings. One is called BIOS Emulation, the other one is to decide whether the touchpad is still active when an external mouse (serial/PS-2) is connected. I changed both settings, but still no recognition of touchpad.
So now I have to look into some of the touchpad "mis-recognition" issues. I am already running 2.6.27-3. What are the odds that the final version of 8.10 is getting a significantly newer kernel?

 

(see my edit of my first post in this thread)

 

thanks very much, ezTol. I didn't know about this thread. Very useful --thx

 

I had several pretty annoying issues with the keyboard and touchpad: the keyboard input is getting very, very slow after some time; mouse pointer does not move when Ctrl is pressed, all key combinations with modifier keys such as Ctrl/Alt/Win only get executed when modifier is released.
Now I switched over to Ubuntu, and that's a much smoother ride at this point! All these keyboard problems do not exit here.
--hasi

 

I had previously reported that the Live CD does not start, and the wifi, ethernet, and the 4500MHD graphics card are not correctly recognized by (k)ubuntu 8.04. This is why I had to move on to 8.10-alpha5.

To my surprise I just found out that the 8.04.1 live CD works and correctly recognizes the 4500MHD and the ethernet! So I am currently using mostly this version of the OS, as this allows me to keep using my beloved (and customized) KDE3! Unfortunately, the WiFi (Intell 5300) is not working. Even worse, the touchpad has the same issues as in 8.10-alpha5 (not recognized by X at all). So far no solution yet.

What would it take to get the touchpad working? A BIOS upgrade? A newer kernel? Any chance for future 8.04 backports of newer kernels?

Surprisingly, I also found out that the touchpad is recognized using tpconfig.

Any suggestion how to proceed from here highly welcome.
--hasi

 

I just filed a bug on the touchpad issue:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/129477

 

Ooops...

I just realized that I posted the wrong link in my previous post. Sorry! The correct bug number is 270643: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/270643.

The bug linked in my previous post is a similar one in an older Dell model. It may be a systematic problem, that every time they add new ALPS touchpads to a DELL system, it is not recognized by the kernel.

By the way, I am not the only one with this problem:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5805477#post5805477

--hasi

 

I now got my Intel 5300 wireless card working on Gutsy, following the description here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=879134&page=2

Since KDE3 is my favorite DE, I am now using Hardy as my default OS (2.6.24-21 Kernel). Sound does not work as smoothly as in Intrepid, but the OS works very reliably.

 

[intrepid] 2.6.27 e1000e kernel places Intel gigE chipsets at risk

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/263555

So, using Intrepid can damage your network card. It is not really specific for the E6400, but I think it is worth metionning, because owners of this laptop are anyway concerned.
I am personnally using this kernel (I've just learned about it), and until now everything works OK.

 

For the touchpad, you need to have this patch applied to your kernel:
http://lkml.org/lkml/2008/9/7/133

Mandriva 2009.0 includes this patch by default.

 

erm...I hate to play the n00b on here, but what is one supposed to do with the information on that kernel patch page?

 

After a long odyssey trying to get Linux run smoothly on my E6400, I finally ended up trying Mandriva 2009.0. I was thrilled how nicely everything works here! Before, I tried (k)ubuntu hardy and intrepid beta, as well as openSUSE 11.1 beta. My main motivation for trying Mandriva was that it is now one of the few distributions that still offers KDE3 (to which I am totally addicted).
In kubuntu hardy with its 2.6.24 kernel (where KDE 3.5.10 is available), the hardware support was not good enough (webcam, touchpad, ...).
In openSUSE 11.1 (2.6.27 kernel) with KDE3, the webcam worked, however, I had several other issues: some of the fonts looked bad (like AA was disabled in some apps). The biggest problem was that the general performance and speed of the desktop was really slow. (In some cases, I could watch how the windows were assembled out of their individual parts.)
Then, I tried Mandriva 2009.0 (2.6.27 kernel). Unfortunately, the live CD crashes on the E6400 due to an outdated intel driver. However, there is a workaround (I described the details here: http://artipc10.vub.ac.be/serendipity/index.php?url=archives/71-Mandriva-Linux-2009.0-on-a-Dell-Latitude-E6400.html&serendipity[csuccess]=moderate#feedback), and ever since things work really nicely! The desktop is extremely snappy, and I am also very happy with the offers in the repositories. The touchpad works out of the box including all the advanced synaptics settings. So does the webcam and the Intel 5300 wireless.
It ROCKS!

 

I just ordered an E6400 and will be putting Ubuntu Intrepid on after it gets here. Hopefully smooth sailing. Based on the original report, chances look good for just about everything working out of box.

 

Has anybody succeeded in configuring an external monitor on the VGA port with a resolution higher than 640x480 with the Intel graphics card? If yes, which version of the Intel driver do you use? Here xrandr does not let me use anything other than 640x480 on the VGA port.