Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon" on a Dell Lattitude D830

I have installed Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon" on my brand new Dell Lattitude D830 laptop. These are my linux install notes. Anything out of the ordinary is discussed here, otherwise the standard Gutsy installation guides and FAQs all applied.

• Making Room for the Linux Installation
• Installing Ubuntu
• Software Sources
• Fixing the WiFi for the BCM4328
• Fixing Audio on the D830 in Gutsy Gibbon
• Ubuntu Hitachi Hard Drive Load/Unload Cycles Bug

Making Room for the Linux Installation

The first thing I did was turn on the laptop and complete the final steps for the XP installation. Next, I resized the 80GB NTFS partition on which Windows XP was installed to 20GB using the GParted Live CD as discussed here: Resize Your NTFS Partition Using GParted LiveCD Now I had 20GB partition with XP, and about 60GB unallocated space for Linux.

Installing Ubuntu

I was installing Ubuntu using the DVD. Booting up the DVD worked with no trouble, and then I started the install. The only thing that might be unconventional about what I did during the install process was I chose to manually create the partitions in which to install Ubuntu. I always do this. I created 4 partitions in the unallocated space. The first was a primary and the remaining were in a logical partition. I created a partition to mount '/' (15GB), one to mount '/boot' (250MB), one for SWAP (2GB), and the remaining space to mount '/home'. Once the installation was complete, I had to plug the laptop into my router directly through Ethernet (eth0). This worked out of the box. Now I had the internet connection needed to update and install some packages (WiFi won't work until later).

Software Sources

First, I changed the software sources. From 'System' > 'Administration' > 'Software Sources', under the 'Ubuntu' tab, I checked all 'Downloadable from the Internet' sources and Unchecked the Gutsy Gibbon Installation media under 'Installable from CDROM'. I also enabled the automatic updates on the 'Updates' tab. Then, updates were available from the orange icon in the notification area and I allowed them all to be installed.

Fixing the WiFi for the BCM4328

I got my D830 with the BCM4328 Wireless card. There are other options, so, to check if this section applies to your laptop, issue this command:

lspci

Now look for a line that reads:

Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4328 802.11a/b/g/n (rev 03)

This is the wireless card. If yours is the same, then these steps will likely apply to you. I installed ndiswrapper through aptitude:

sudo aptitude install ndiswrapper-utils-1.9

I took some Googling and some trial and error, but eventually I figured out how to install the windows drivers (based on [HOWTO] D630 - Gutsy).

wget http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R151517.EXE
mkdir driver
unzip -a R151517.EXE -d driver/
cd driver/DRIVER/
sudo ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf
sudo ndiswrapper -l
sudo ndiswrapper -m
sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

I now had WiFi access to my wireless network (which is an open network) and could view available networks from the applet in the notification area. However, when I went to a location where there was a WEP key protected network, I had to manually connect as discussed here: BCM4328 Wireless Card and WEP in Ubuntu 7.10

Fixing Audio on the D830 in Gutsy Gibbon

There is a bug (#131133) which prevents the audio from correctly playing in Ubuntu on several machines including the Dell D830. The fix is essentially to upgrade the ALSA drivers, however, there's a bit more too it than that. You can choose one of the solutions from this article: Gutsy Intel HD Audio Controller. I used method C for the time being. I'll later try something different later as I currently have issues with the output jack.

Ubuntu Hitachi Hard Drive Load/Unload Cycles Bug

Another possible issue you may have with your D830 is in regards to the Load/Unload cycles on the hard drive. Basically, your hard drive has a rating of Load/Unload cycles before it becomes "worn" and may break down mechanically. The number of these cycles used is dependent upon power management settings. On the one hand, you want to park the head when the computer is idle so as not to damage sectors from vibration (such as loading your laptop into a backpack while it's still on or moving it around on your bed) vs. the drive wearing out after just a year or two. Personally, I'm more concerned about the drive wearing out. For more discussion on this issue, read these articles:

1. Explanation of Ubuntu Hard Drive Wear and Tear
2. Ubuntu Hard Drive Explosions
3. Bug #104535

I went ahead and issued this command (I had 392 cycles within a few hours of use) before issuing this command.

sudo aptitude install smartmontools smart-notifier
sudo hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

The command installs smartmontools which is needed to apply the fix, and smart-notifier which will popup a message when a S.M.A.R.T. error is found on your drive.

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You may also want to read LaptopTestingTeam/DellLatitudeD830 from the Ubuntu Wiki.