Ubuntu 6.06 on Dell Latitude D620

2006.04

Šarūnas Burdulis

Department of Mathematics
Dartmouth College

Updates:
2006.06.05 (install Ubuntu 6.06 release in place of beta)
2006.06.21 (correction for non-existent Firewire port)

Dell Latitude D620 (model no. PP18L)

Intel Core Duo CPU T2500 (2.0GHz, 667MHz FSB)
1GB RAM (DDR2 PC2-5300 SDRAM)
Intel 945GM graphics
14 inch Wide XGA+ (1440x900) LCD
80GB Serial ATA (Fujitsu MHV2080BH)
DVD+/-RW Drive
Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5752 Gigabit Ethernet
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG
Intel HDA (audio, BIOS reports Sigmatel 9200 audio)
USB, Infrared, 56K V.92 Modem

> lspci
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
0000:00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
0000:00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
0000:00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 01)
0000:00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 01)
0000:00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 01)
0000:00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 01)
0000:00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 01)
0000:00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 01)
0000:00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e1)
0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
0000:00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) Serial ATA Storage Controller IDE (rev 01)
0000:00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 01)
0000:03:01.0 CardBus bridge: O2 Micro, Inc. OZ601/6912/711E0 CardBus/SmartCardBus Controller (rev 40)
0000:09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5752 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
0000:0c:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)

What works out of the box...

Wired ethernet adapter (Intel PRO/1000)
Wi-Fi adapter (Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG)
USB
Sound
Suspend to RAM (using GDM menu option Suspend)
Suspend to disk (hibernation, invoked from Gnome menu)
Lid switch (LCD off when lid closed)
Volume control buttons (with OSD n Gnome)
Fn-screen brightness buttons
Hard disk laptop-mode (enable in /etc/default/acpi-support)
LCD brightness auto-adjusts depending on AC or battery operation

...and what doesn't

X server
Dual core processor
Processor frequency scaling
Fn-Esc key (Stand by or Suspend to RAM)
Fn-F1 key (Hibernate, works inconsistently)

Installation

Ubuntu 6.06 live/installer boots from internal DVD drive, but X will not work. X will only work using Safe Graphical Mode. Installer then is accessible (icon on desktop) and works without any problem.

Existing Windows partition becomes /dev/sda2, therefore, for Windows to start, boot.ini has to be modified from

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

NB: The above wasn't the case (i.e. there was no need to modify boot.ini) with another nearly identical D620, which, for some reason, happened to have Dell rescue partition as the first partition on disk.

Fixes

SMP kernel

Ubuntu 6.06 installs 2.6.15-...-386 kernel without SMP support. For SMP support -686 kernel and corresponding restricted-modules (provides Intel Wi-Fi ipw3945 driver) have to be installed:

  apt-get install linux-image-2.6.15-...-686
  apt-get install linux-restricted-modules-2.6.15-...-686

X server

Install 915resolution package. Set values in /etc/default/915resolution:

  XRESO=1440
  YRESO=900

Rerun 915resolution /etc/init.d/915resolution start, then dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg selecting 1440x900 video mode. X server restarts in correct mode, direct rendering works (check: glxinfo|grep render).

CPU frequency scaling

CPU stays at 1.0 GHz (50%) independently of load. Ubuntu 6.06 installs powernowd and uses userspace governor. Changing to ondemand governor (/sysfs/devices/cpu/cpu0,1/cpufreq/scaling_governor) and thus using kernel part for frequency scaling (modules speedstep_centrino and freq_table) fixes this. To keep the change between reboots, install sysfsutils package and add the following lines to /etc/sysfs.conf:

  
  devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor=ondemand
  devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_governor=ondemand

powernowd can then be disabled from auto-starting by rcconf. It can also be apt-get remove'd, but that also will remove ubuntu-desktop metapackage.

Not tested

PCMCIA slots
Infrared adapter
Modem