Aknowledgements:
1) Daniel Urban (urban.dani
gmail.com):
provided info about Ubuntu 7.04 installation.
Disclaimer
This is freely available
information which comes with absolutely no guarantees. Use at your
own risk.
The installation was almost flawless from the standard CD for Intel x86 architecture. After installation I had to install more packages from the Net.
The notebook is equipped with an Intel Core Duo T2250 CPU @1.75 GHz, 1 GB of RAM, 100 GB disk, DVD Writer (double layer), Ethernet, WiFi, Firewire port, integrated 56Kbps Modem, multi-standard memory card reader.
Installation:
I used Partition Magic 8.0 to shrink the space dedicated to Windows to 20
GB and free the remaining space for the Linux installation.
After that I simply bootstrapped from the kubuntu CD and, when I got the selection screen I launched the installation.
Notes: When asked about partitioning I selected: "install Linux on free space" and let the installation procedure to set up the disk.
The installation procedure went on without any problem whatsoever.
After the installation I modified the list of pakage repositories (as directed in http://www.ubuntuguide.org) to add more repositories, and installed the "synaptic" package (apt-get install synaptic); then I could do a full update and install more packages from a comfortable graphic interface.
Function Keys:
As usual the laptop has a few function keys to perform some adjustments.
Note: I've received feedback(1) about better support under Ubuntu 7.04: FnF3 and FnF5/FnF6 are working.
Wireless:
The notebook is equipped with an Intel Pro Wireless 3945ABG chipset of
the "centrino" family.
The integrated wireless support is recongnized by the installation procedure and
all you have to do is to configure it properly. I use wlassistant
to start the wireless network with no problems.
Sound:
The soundcard is detected and automatically configured. I've tested it by
playing the standard Ubuntu movie with mplayer.
Note 1: In noticed an instability in the functioning of the microphone (e.g.: with skype); after many tests I 've found a sequence of amixer commands which enable the microphone in a reliable way:
amixer cset iface=MIXER,name='Mic Playback Switch' off,off
amixer cset iface=MIXER,name='Input Source' 1 # select CD as input
amixer cset iface=MIXER,name='Capture Switch' on,on
amixer cset iface=MIXER,name='Input Source' 0 # reselect mike
In general you can see which controls are available with your soundcard with the command: amixer contents. The alsamixer utility may then be used to control volume.
Note 2: I've been told(*) that on some versions of the laptop, when plugging in the external speaker (or headphone), the integrated speaker doesn't mute. This never happens to me, but anyway here is the solution:
locate the modules configuration: in
options snd-hda-intel model=lenovo-nb0763
Graphics:
The graphic support is provided by an "Intel 9456M" video card.
The LCD screen has a resolution of 1280x800 pixels.
The graphic chipset was recognised and configured automatically, but the resolution was set
at 1024x768. In order to support the wide screen you have to install the extra package
915resolution. After that the LCD will be set to the proper resolution
and you'll be able to change resolution to 1024x768 (e.g.: to use an external display or
projector).
Because the <F4> key is not working, I've found a suggestion on how to modify the Xorg config file to have the external monitor output always enabled. Just add two option lines into Section "Device" of file /etc/X11/xorg.conf, as follows:
Section "Device"
Identifier "Intel Corporation Mobile Integrated Graphics Controller"
Driver "i810"
BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
Option "MonitorLayout" "CRT,LFP"
Option "Clone" "true"
EndSection
For your reference here is the xorg.conf file which works on the laptop.
Modem:
The laptop is equipped with a Motorola SM56 Data Fax modem.
In order to have it working(*) you need to
rebuild sl-modem-daemon, as the version in the feisty feeds was compiled without alsa support.
Here follows the commands needed to rebuild:
You also have to edit /etc/default/sl-modem-daemon and change the line SLMODEMD_DEVICE=auto to SLMODEMD_DEVICE=hw:0,6sudo apt-get -y build-dep sl-modem-daemon
sudo apt-get source sl-modem-daemon
cd sl-modem-2.9.10+2.9.9d+e-pre2
fakeroot debian/rules binary
cd ..
sudo dpkg -I sl-modem-daemon*.deb
Note on CD/DVD burning
I've never had any problems in burning CD's or DVD's by using k3b, but I've been
notified(*) that on some other Pi 1505 it is not possible to burn CD/DVD unless you add
the pktcdvd module,
either by issuing the command:
modprobe pktcdvd
or, to have it permanently loaded at boot time, adding a line pktcdvd into the file /etc/modules.
Remarks:
The Amilo Pi1505 looks remarkably well supported by current Linux.
It has been tested bot under Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy) and under Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty).
It has been reported(*) that lm_sensors wouldn't work with Ubuntu standard kernel. To have it working you must build a a custom kernel from Ubuntu sources to add the coretemp patch.
The multicard integrated reader reader works with SD cards with the regular Ubuntu kernel, it won't work with MS cards as the patch for it won't compile with Ubuntu's kernel.
Aknowledgements:
1)
Daniel Urban (urban.danigmail.com):
provided info about Ubuntu 7.04 installation.
2)
Ahmad Farghal (ahmad.farghalgmail.com) provided info about the internal speaker muting.
3) The suggestions for the support of the internal modem, lm_sensors and
the integrated memory
card reader have been kindly provided by José Bernardo de
Bandos Rodrigues da Silva (jose.rodrigues.silvacgd.pt).
4)
Jean-Louis Biasini (jlbiasinigooglemail.com) provided the suggestion
on the pktcdvd module.
Luca Fini (lfini
arcetri.astro.it) ---
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