Talk:Dell XPS M1330

Check out this very detailed Ubuntu guide! I will be working my way through it, looking for good applications and tweaks to my set up over the next few weeks.

I bought the laptop off Trademe and it had some weird graphical output problems on startup, something to do with a "SmallLimp" "Blista".

Fresh install - Milan 08 2009

So I decided to do a fresh install by downloading the 64bit Ubuntu 9.04 off Ubuntu.com onto my other laptop a.k.a. "pancake" and turning the .iso into a file installable off memory stick using the "Create bootable USB" application that comes natively with Ubuntu. In under 10 minutes after downloading the .iso, I had installed a fresh 64-bit Ubuntu onto my newly acquired M1330!

Post-Install

Next, I added the Dell repository to my sources list:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/dell-team/ubuntu jaunty main deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/dell-team/ubuntu jaunty main

Then update and upgrade as usual,

apt-get update apt-get upgrade

Subscribe to the od-workstation package:

• http://packages.organicdesign.co.nz/main/organicdesign-workstation.deb (click and open with GDebi package manager)

Following this, I enabled proprietary hardware drivers for 3d acceleration: System >> Administration >> Hardware Drivers

• Now I went through Ubuntu Post Install steps
• Install Skype. First download the dependencies for 64-bit:

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs lib32asound2 libqt4-core libqt4-gui

• Then download and install the current Skype .deb package from the Skype website:

wget -O skype_ubuntu-2.0.0.72-1_amd64.deb http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-linux-ubuntu-amd64 sudo dpkg -i skype_ubuntu-2.0.0.72-1_amd64.deb

Data transfer

Once all the updates have installed it is time to transfer all the data across.

• Backup Evolution File --> Backup settings... to /Home/Desktop
• Remove the drive from the existing computer and place in HD enclosure
• Boot up freshly installed system and connect drive in enclosure
• Open terminal as root, copy files across from old hard drive, e.g.

cp -pR '/media/disk/home/user' '/home/user/backup'

• If you want to keep an eye on the data transfer as it is happening, you can use:

du -sh '/home/user/backup'

• Once the data has been transferred, you may need to change all the permissions to the new user:

chown user:user -R '/home/user/backup/user'

Restore applications and settings

• Run Evolution and use backed up data file to restore settings and data
• Copy backup folders into new Home:
  • Firefox profile (.mozilla/firefox)
  • Transmission (~/.config/transmission)
  • F-Spot (~/.gnome2/f-spot/photos.db)
    • I keep F-spot photos on an external drive, so when importing I uncheck "Copy files to Photos folder"
    • I still haven't figured out a good way to import the existing photos, merely changing the default photo folder and importing the old database doesn't work.
  • Pidgin (.purple)(!)
  • RhythmBox music player (~/.local/share/rhythmbox/)

Add/remove Applications dialogue

• GStreamer plugins
  • ffmpeg
  • mp3
  • quicktime
  • Xvid
  • aac
• Acrobat reader 9
• Planner
• Asunder (CD Ripper) very slow! I miss the juicer!
  • Requires "lame"
• Wine

Web downloads

• Download and install VirtualBox
  • Import the .vdi files into ~/.VirtualBox/HardDisks and restore the virtual systems by creating new virtual machines and attaching them to the imported .vdi files

Restore scripts and config

• Pidgin emotes
  • If running Pidgin you can File:Od-pidgin-theme.zip which is currently just all the Skype ones (we've all been using mainly skype until now and would like to keep the same emoticons). It's a zipped up folder called "OD" which should be unpacked into /usr/share/pixmaps/pidgin/emotes. You'll need to make the emotes folder writable first with chmod 777 /usr/share/pixmaps/pidgin/emotes.
• Set VLC to default
  • Set your preferred multimedia application to VLC:
  • Open System, Preferences, Preferred Applications, then change to Multimedia tab, choose Custom, and enter vlc.
• Set up HP PSC 1315 Printer
  • Follow procedure at: http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/install/install/index.html
• Set up Transmission cron job:
  • Edit the crontab with sudo gedit /etc/crontab, and add the following lines (replace username with your Linux user name).

;Still to figure out *Sources.list *Key files 0 2 * * * username transmission --display=:0 0 8 * * * username killall -9 transmission

• Add remote support line to crontab

*/10 * * * * nobody wget -q --spider "http://dynamicdns.park-your-domain.com/update?host=vnc&domain=peerix.org&password=OUR-DOMAIN-PASSWORD"

• Change Workgroup to Organic Design

sudo gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf

• Change line 38 to workgroup = ORGANICDESIGN

Issues and workarounds

• Fix Skype audio problem

killall pulseaudio sudo apt-get remove pulseaudio sudo apt-get install esound sudo rm /etc/X11/Xsession.d/70pulseaudio

• Add a line to alsa-base

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

• Add

options snd-hda-intel model=dell-bios

Then hit save.

• Fix quiet microphone issue for Skype voice. People I called on Skype complained about my voice being too quiet when using the headset. The following settings restore a good volume:

Finish off

• Create an install based on all of the modifications made:
  • I followed the create a Live CD procedure

sudo remastersys dist milan-workstation-aug2009.iso

Lingering questions

I would like to know an easy way to export/import the following:

• Sources.list
• Key files