by siyb

This is a small tut explaining how to setup Debian SID on an Dell Inspirion 6400, if you encounter any problems please contact me in this post. The laptop is pretty Linux friendly and it’s not a hazzle to get the major features working. As Dell issues different models, I am just giving a small information about my system:

Intel(R) Core(TM) Duo CPU T2350 @ 1.86GHz
2048 mb ram
160gig hdd
nVidia Corporation Quadro NVS 110M / GeForce Go 7300
IPW 3945

Add your user to plugdev and powerdev:

adduser $USER powerdev
adduser $USER plugdev

nVidia drivers:

# get all required packets
apt-get install nvidia-kernel-source nvidia-settings linux-headers-`uname -r` module-assistant build-essential

# building the module
cd /usr/src/linux-headers-`uname -r` && m-a a-i nvidia

# edit the drivers option in your device section in /etc/xorg.conf
Driver “nvidia”

# get glx
apt-get install nvidia-glx

# stop gdm/kdm/xdm etc…
/etc/init.d/gdm stop

# load the module onto your kernel
modprobe -v nvidia

# start gdm/kdm/xdm again
/etc/init.d/gdm start

Next step wlan:

# installing packages
apt-get install firmware-ipw3945 ipw3945-source ipw3945d wireless-tools

# building the module
cd /usr/src/linux-headers-`uname -r` && m-a a-i ipw3945 && modprobe -v ipw3945

# install network manager (on demand)
apt-get install network-manager network-manager-gnome (or kde)

# adding user to netdev group
adduser $USER netdev

# restart gdm/kdm/xdm
/etc/init.d/gdm restart

Sound:

alsaconf

Cpu frequency scaling:

# first edit your /etc/modules file, add the following entries

# frequency scaling
speedstep_centrino
cpufreq_ondemand
cpufreq_conservative
cpufreq_stats
cpufreq_userspace
cpufreq_powersave

# after this reboot OR load all modules listed above manually
modprobe -v $MODULE

# install a cpu frequency scaling daemon and applet (in this case I choose powersaved and the emifreq applet)
apt-get install powersaved emifreq-applet

Disable internal speaker

$EDITOR /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

# add the following line at the end
blacklist pcspkr

The SD cardreader worked without me having to modify anything. Vertical scrolling works fine too (touchpad), haven’t bothered to try to set up the horizontal scroll, due to the fact that I don’t really need it. I am still working to get the TV out working properly and will probably write a whole post an that later on.