[NTLUG:Discuss] Laptop install help

[Wayne Dahl]

Douglas Scott wrote:
> On Wednesday 28 November 2007 10:28 am, Wayne Dahl wrote:
>   
>> David Simmons wrote:
>>     
>>>> the video
>>>> again came up in 800x600 resolution mode.  I figured it was a matter of
>>>> just adding the desired screen resolution (Vista had it come up natively
>>>> in 1440x900 mode), I edited /etc/X11/xorg.conf to add the desired screen
>>>> resolution,
>>>>         
>
>   
>>>> rebooted (I'm a little fuzzy on the process of stopping and
>>>> starting the X server) and I now had the maximum screen resolution this
>>>> laptop will produce.  The screen is capable of 720p HD screen
>>>> resolution, low end HD, to be sure, but it beats standard screen
>>>> resolutions.
>>>>         
>>> So, is video working like you want it to
>>> work?  Are you able to enable the 3D modes?
>>>       
>> Yes, I neglected to mention that, since it was running Vista Aero Glass
>> out-of-the-box, I knew it had the horsepower
>> to run Compiz/Fusion.  So yes, the first thing I did after getting the
>> desired screen resolution out of it was to install
>> Compiz/Fusion.  It works......sort of.  It was really flaky, doing
>>     
>
> As it happens I just bought this same model laptop.  To refresh everyone's 
> memory here are the specs, copied from Wayne's original post
>
> HP Pavilion Entertainment PC, model DV9260US
> AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual Core Mobile Technology TL-58
> 2 120 Gig SATA 5400 rpm HD's
> 2 Gigs DDR2 2 Dimm RAM
> nVidia MCP67M gpu, 256 Mb of dedicated video memory, capable of using
> 559 Mb of RAM total.  (Vista listed the GPU as nVidia MCP67M, HP in
> their specs says it's an nVidia GeForce Go 7150M (UMA), which is, I'm
> sure, the same thing).
> HP Pavilion Webcam with Integrated Mic
> Broadcom 802.11 b/g wireless NIC
>
> I've been trying out different distributions and running into the same issues 
> as Wayne, plus a few he missed.  
>
> It works fine in Vista naturally.  But all the Ubuntu variants have issues 
> with the video, unless you use the safe graphics mode.  Open SuSe is able to 
> work with 1024x768 out of the box, but I don't think it has sound.  I also 
> noticed that when booting a Knoppix live CD (5.1.1) it failed to recognize 
> the 2nd SATA drive.  I checked with dmesg and found that it was having some 
> initialization error with sata_nv driver.  I have a suspicion that there 
> might have been a bug either in the driver or kernel used by that version.  
> But I was able to read both partitions on the 1st drive just fine.
>
> In any case I wanted to make sure that you were eventually able to get the 
> resolution on the system fixed.  I would hate to be stuck with 800x600.
>   

Yes, I was able to fix it so I'm getting 1440x900.  What you'll have to 
do to get full screen resolution is to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf using 
your favorite editor (gedit, kate, I use vi at the command line) and add 
your desired screen resolution to the section labelled "Screen" under 
Mode.  You can add other screen resolutions there if you want, although 
I just added the 1440x900...as "1440x900 at 61" which is the screen 
resolution at 61hz Vista showed the screen resolution at.

I'm running Kubuntu 7.10 32 bit (for now) on this laptop, so if you're 
running another distro, your xorg.conf file may be in another place.
> Also where do you stand with the built-in wireless?  I haven't been able to 
> get past the other problems to work on that yet.  I did do a little checking 
> on the web and I think that may be fixable with a little work.
>
>   
I think the problem I'm having with the wireless may be more related to 
my desire to use WPA encryption.  I have yet to find a resolution for 
it.  I hesitate to change my router to  WEP  encryption  just to  test  
it, because whenever I make any change, my wifes XP computer really 
doesn't want to connect again.  I always have to mess with it for hours 
to get it working again.  My laptop would probably connect ok if I used 
WEP encryption.  For now, I've resigned myself to using a Sprint Novatel 
Ovation wireless USB modem on their wireless broadband network, which we 
got for both our laptops.  Let me know if you figure out a fix for the 
wireless issues with the builtin wireless.

I was unable to get Ekiga to work with the built-in webcam, but Cheese 
works fine for it.  With Cheese installed, I'm able to send an invite to 
the webcam from Kopete using the Yahoo protocol and my wife is able to 
see it just fine on her Weenderz Yahoo IM client.

Let me  know if there's anything else I can maybe help you with.  I need 
to turn this laptop into the Linux Laptop Compatibility list since it's 
not currently listed there.

Wayne