My laptop and Mandriva 2006

I've installed Mandriva 2006 on a laptop and I had a few problems but I'm going to report them here and I hope it going to help someone.

Identification of my laptop

My laptop is a HP Pavilion ZD8185ea (zd8000 series). Here's the output of lspcidrake -v (shorter than lspci -v)

$ lspcidrake -v
intel-agp       : Intel Corp.|Memory Controller Hub [BRIDGE_HOST] (vendor:8086 device:2580 subv:103c subd:3082)
unknown         : Intel Corp.|Memory Controller Hub PCI Express Port [BRIDGE_PCI] (vendor:8086 device:2581)
unknown         : Intel Corp.|I/O Controller Hub PCI Express Port 0 [BRIDGE_PCI] (vendor:8086 device:2660)
usb-uhci        : Intel Corp.|I/O Controller Hub USB [SERIAL_USB] (vendor:8086 device:2658 subv:103c subd:3082)
usb-uhci        : Intel Corp.|I/O Controller Hub USB [SERIAL_USB] (vendor:8086 device:2659 subv:103c subd:3082)
usb-uhci        : Intel Corp.|I/O Controller Hub USB [SERIAL_USB] (vendor:8086 device:265a subv:103c subd:3082)
usb-uhci        : Intel Corp.|I/O Controller Hub USB [SERIAL_USB] (vendor:8086 device:265b subv:103c subd:3082)
ehci-hcd        : Intel Corp.|I/O Controller Hub USB2 [SERIAL_USB] (vendor:8086 device:265c subv:103c subd:3082)
hw_random       : Intel Corp.|82820 815e (Camino 2) Chipset PCI [BRIDGE_PCI] (vendor:8086 device:244e)
snd-intel8x0    : Intel Corp.|82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller [MULTIMEDIA_AUDIO] (vendor:8086 device:266e subv:103c subd:3082)
snd-intel8x0m   : Intel Corp.|I/O Controller Hub Modem [COMMUNICATION_MODEM] (vendor:8086 device:266d subv:103c subd:3082)
i810-tco        : Intel Corp.|I/O Controller Hub LPC [BRIDGE_ISA] (vendor:8086 device:2640 subv:103c subd:3082)
piix            : Intel Corp.|I/O Controller Hub PATA [STORAGE_IDE] (vendor:8086 device:266f subv:103c subd:3082)
i2c-i801        : Intel Corp.|I/O Controller Hub SMBus [SERIAL_SMBUS] (vendor:8086 device:266a subv:103c subd:3082)
Card:ATI Radeon : ATI Technologies Inc|M24 1P [Radeon Mobility X600] [DISPLAY_VGA] (vendor:1002 device:3150 subv:103c subd:3082)
yenta_socket    : Texas Instruments|Texas Instruments PCIxx21/x515 Cardbus Controller [BRIDGE_CARDBUS] (vendor:104c device:8031 subv:5400 subd:0000)
ohci1394        : Texas Instruments|Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller [SERIAL_FIREWIRE] (vendor:104c device:8032 subv:103c subd:3082)
unknown         : Texas Instruments|Texas Instruments PCIxx21 Integrated FlashMedia Controller [STORAGE_OTHER] (vendor:104c device:8033 subv:103c subd:3082)
unknown         : Texas Instruments|Texas Instruments PCI6411, PCI6421, PCI6611, PCI6621, PCI7411, PCI7421, PCI7611, PCI7621 Secure Digital (SD) Controller (vendor:104c device:8034 subv:103c subd:3082)
8139too         : Realtek|RTL-8139 [NETWORK_ETHERNET] (vendor:10ec device:8139 subv:103c subd:3082)
unknown         : Broadcom Corp.|BCM94306 802.11g NIC [NETWORK_OTHER] (vendor:14e4 device:4320 subv:103c subd:12fa)
hub             : Linux 2.6.12-12mdk ehci_hcd|EHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused] (vendor:0000 device:0000)
hub             : Linux 2.6.12-12mdk uhci_hcd|UHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused] (vendor:0000 device:0000)
hub             : Linux 2.6.12-12mdk uhci_hcd|UHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused] (vendor:0000 device:0000)
hub             : Linux 2.6.12-12mdk uhci_hcd|UHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused] (vendor:0000 device:0000)
hub             : Linux 2.6.12-12mdk uhci_hcd|UHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused] (vendor:0000 device:0000)
hci_usb         : Broadcom|HP integrated Bluetooth module [Wireless|Radio Frequency|Bluetooth] (vendor:03f0 device:011d)

SMP and Wifi

As mentioned in the errata, the ndiswrapper driver (used for Wifi) isn't available with the SMP kernel. This is the kernel Mandriva installed on my laptop. SMP means "Symetric Multi Processor" and is a particular version of the Linux kernel for computers having several CPUs. Why did I get this kernel on my mono-processor laptop ? Because my laptop is able to perform hyperthreading (it is Intel P4HT based) and thus, to have a processeur which splits in two separate ones.

Resolution is simple : install the "normal" kernel without SMP. Then, Wifi worked like a charm (by using ndiswrapper and the broadcom driver you can find on the HP website : extract the .exe using "cabextract" available in "contrib").

Update : there's now a package called "dkms" supplied by Buchan Milne, a Mandriva contributor. It will allow you to use the SMP kernel which will transform your laptop into a bi-processor computer and use Wifi at the same time !

To install it, just type the following commands :

urpmi.addmedia bgmilne_ndiswrapper http://mirrors.telkomsa.net/~bgmilne/mandriva/2006.0
urpmi dkms-ndiswrapper

3D acceleration

I own an ATI Radeon Mobility X600 video card, but had less problems than most of the ATI users… At least, X worked under any circumstance.

Actually, I still haven't really understood today whata are the exact role of these packages :

• ati-kernel
• dkms-ati
• ati

That's it : 3D ok. I attach what gives dkms status and version of packages I have installed. I don't really know why 3D didn't work at first time...

Update : I now use the dkms-ati driver supplied by the plf (go to easyurpmi website to install this source). It is not compatible with the one supplied by the club and you have to uninstall the club one. But the plf one always worked with my configuration and seems to be more up-to-date than the club driver. This non-compatibility may sometimes appear when you launch "XFdrake" to reconfigure your display : it will try to install the club package but will fail because of the conflict : it's totally harmless.

Virtual resolution

So I had 3D but part of my desktop was "hidden" outside the screen ; in other words, I was in a virtual resolution different from the actual resolution. X falls back to virtual resolution when resolution asked isn't valid for its screen. I tried many resolutions (one can click on "other" in the Mandriva Control Center for resolutions) and none gave me a "real" resolution.

So I took the bull by the horns and built a desktop background (attached) which allowed me to know which actual resolution I was using. With multiple tries, I found out resolution 1280x800 was a good one for me (I own a widescreen). Then, I chose this resolution in the Mandriva Control Center and had a look at my /etc/X11/xorg.conf modified by this tool : I immediatly see some lines like :

Virtual 1280 800

Modes "1280x800"

Update : the driver supplied by plf (see above) gives me a complete satisfaction and this operation isn't even necessary anymore.

Numlock

Most laptops doesn't own a numeric keypad and Mandriva doesn't install the little service which is turning on "numlock" at startup. My laptop owns a numeric keypad. To activate it at startup, I just had to install the "numlock" package and that was it.

Touchpad

It has been detected at first time as a synaptics touchpad and worked perfectly. I just had a little preference to change : I didn't want the lower, upper and left areas to activate windows sliders.

So I installed qsynaptics which allowed me to configure this by choosing the right edge of my touchpad as active. And that's it : this change is effective everytime I log in.

Suspend to disk (or hibernation)

It is possible that many laptops which had suspension working with 2005 don(t have it with 2006 anymore. I don't really know the exact reason. Suspend to memory is bloated and suspend to disk is working when I use kernel-multimedia (available in contrib), but this one has problems with my touchpad so I don't use it.

Update : suspend to disk or RAM still doesn't work in 2006 but does under "Cooker" : it means it will work in the future Mandriva 2007… :)

Multimedia and special keys setup

I chose to use Gnome on my laptop because it's an environment I didn't knew much and I wanted to get familiar with it. To setup special keys with Gnome, it's rather easy : go to preferences, then "keyboard shortcuts". You will quickly see some special keys doesn't work at all. I still don't succeed to have them work. I think it would require a special driver to support them (if Mr HP is in this room...), but volume control keys and multimedia control keys (play, pause...) are working fine.

Update : actually, to support multimedia keys, you nedd to have a look at /var/log/syslog when you press a key which isn't supported. Then, you can map those symbols to the keys using "setkeycodes". But unfortunately, I gave up because I only have 6 keys which doesn't work and I don't need them.

Update2 : I've now switched back to my favorite environment : KDE… The multimedia keys setup is done using the kmilo module which is normally installed with the kdeutils-klaptop package. You have to choose Pavilion ZT11xx in "keyboarddrake" and most of the multimedia keys will work.

Loging out and battery indicator

As mentioned in the Mandriva 2006 errata : some HP Pavilion laptops have problems with those two functions. You just have to load the "omnibook" module by adding the line "omnibook" in /etc/modprobe.preload. You can have this module with the kernel-multimedia or build it yourself. The errata is here : http://qa.mandriva.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/MandrivaLinux2006Errata#Power_management_functionality_m

Update : instead of compiling the "omnibook" driver yourself, you can use the "dkms-omnibook" package available here (it's a cooker RPM, but as it's using dkms, don't worry for your stable 2006 : the module is recompiled automatically for Mandriva 2006). Be careful : you have to add manually the line "omnibook" inside /etc/modprobe.preload.

Update2: unfortunately, HP Pavilion ZD8000 isn't supported (yet) by this "omnibook" module :( So I still have problems when logging out from time to time.

Conclusion

Except SMP and virtual resolution (which are two bugs known by the Mandriva team and solved in the updates), I didn't find anything serious and my conclusion about installing Mandriva 2006 on my laptop is rather positive. Under windows, I probably had to install tons of drivers to have my hardware supported, so I think the install time is more or less equivalent (except that on my machine, windows was pre-installed… so of course, if Linux could be pre-installed too, it would be very convenient for me, Mr HP :) ).

What worked without any problem :

• Network
• Wifi
• Sound
• USB ports USB and my key
• Burning CDs and DVDs
• L'ACPI and frequency scaling of my CPU (except suspension : see above)

• Bluetooth
• Modem

• SD card reader (but I can live without it : it's not supported by the linux kernel)

Blog Home