Talk:Dell XPS M1330

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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" (it's for sale here) 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

First, I set up a root password:

sudo passwd root

Next, edit sources list

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

and add the following:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/dell-team/ubuntu jaunty main deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/dell-team/ubuntu jaunty main deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/tualatrix/ubuntu jaunty main deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/tualatrix/ubuntu jaunty main deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ jaunty free non-free deb http://www.geekconnection.org/remastersys/repository ubuntu/

Install keys

wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get update

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

Further installs

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras gtk-recordmydesktop planner ktouch mencoder libdvdcss openoffice.org acroread ubuntu-tweak sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin sun-java6-fonts msttcorefonts dkms libdvdcss2 libdvdread3 remastersys libcurl3

Skype

http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-linux-beta-ubuntu-32

VirtualBox

http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/3.0.10/virtualbox-3.0_3.0.10-54097_Ubuntu_intrepid_i386.deb

Rhythmbox

http://getdeb.fastbull.org/ubuntu/jaunty/rh/rhythmbox_0.12.5-1~getdeb1_i386.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 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

• Evolution spellchecker

sudo apt-get aspell

• Then set the dictionary in Evolution to UK English
• 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).

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

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

Upgrading to Ubuntu 10.04

This upgrade was quick and painless due to me setting up /home as a separate partition. I had to set up some things again after re-installing:

Useful documentation

General post-install guide:

• http://ranjith.zfs.in/ubuntu-10-04-lucid-lynx-post-installation-guide/

Additional software sources to add

OD workstation package:

• https://www.organicdesign.co.nz/Category:Debian_packages

Medibuntu:

• https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu#Adding%20the%20Repositories

Ubuntu-tweak

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tualatrix/ppa

Software installs

Restricted extras:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras ubuntu-tweak

Web downloads

Download and install Virtualbox

• http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads

Download and install Skype

• http://www.skype.com/download/skype/linux/

Ubuntu 10.04 bugs and annoyances

• Important dialogue windows are often not brought forward
• Taskbar/menubar a complete random mess - needs streamlining. Generally, window controls can disappear or opened programs disappear and can only be brought back into view using alt-tab keys. Years behind other OS's in terms of UI unfortunately.
• Skype video broken - used to work on Ubuntu 9.04!
• Management of multi-monitors for NVidia graphics cards - quite painful currently. Having worked without the external screen, it should be easy to re-connect the external and switch back to dual-screen using the laptop CRT/LCD switch. This does not work seamlessly at this time.

Logitech Marblemouse USB

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Add this:

Section "InputClass" Identifier "Marble Mouse" MatchProduct "Logitech USB Trackball" MatchIsPointer "on" MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*" Driver "evdev" Option "ButtonMapping" "1 8 3 4 5 6 7 2 9" Option "EmulateWheel" "true" Option "EmulateWheelButton" "9" Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7" Option "Emulate3Buttons" "false" EndSection