I received my new and shiny Dell Latitude D620 just around one week after Fedora Core 6 official release. I was excited to wait for both new laptop and FC6. On the day when D620 arrived, I almost went crazy at work to get out of there ASAP. ;) Obviously, one of the first things I did, was shrinking NTFS partition to ~12 GB, reinstall WinXP, and then install FC6. Ok, here we go.
Hardware
- Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 2 GHz 667 MHz FSB
- 1 GB RAM 667 MHz DDR2
- nVidia Quadro NVS 110M 256 MB
- 14.1″ WXGA+ 1440×990 (widescreen)
- HDD SATA 80 GB, 7200rpm
- TSST Corp DVD+/-RW TS-L632D 8x Drive
- Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5752 Gigabit Ethernet
- Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG
- Intel High Definition Audio Controller
- Bluetooth, IrDA
- Touchpad, point-stick
- 4 x USB 2.0, RS-232, VGA-out, SmartCard reader, Cardbus slot, internal modem
- 6-cell 56WHr Li-Ion battery
lspci output
[root@dell620 ~]# lspci 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03) 00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS/940GML and 945GT Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03) 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01) 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01) 00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 01) 00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 01) 00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 01) 00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 01) 00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 01) 00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 01) 00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01) 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e1) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01) 00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) Serial ATA Storage Controller IDE (rev 01) 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 01) 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation Quadro NVS 110M / GeForce Go 7300 (rev a1) 03:01.0 CardBus bridge: O2 Micro, Inc. OZ601/6912/711E0 CardBus/SmartCardBus Controller (rev 40) 09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5752 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02) 0c:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)
Installation
Fedora Core 6 installation was a bit troublesome. I wanted to install FC6 from USB hard drive, as I believed this way will consume less time than directly from DVD drive. I’ve started installer with linux resolution=1440×900 option, and - quite a surprise - installer has started in that resolution without problems. I wanted to take advantage of FC6 installer’s new feature, which is installing packages from 3rd party repositories straight away. I’ve added Extras, Updates and Livna repos, carefully selected packages (which usually takes most of installation time), clicked Next and… installer crashed. :( I don’t remember what exactly error was (sth about can’t read some file blahblah), however I’ve had to run installer again. This time, I’ve tried running it straight from DVD. Unfortunately, another problem ocurred - each time graphical installer had reverted colors, something which didn’t happen before. Well, I’ve tried another method - I attached mentioned before USB-HDD to my old laptop running FC5, made directory containing FC6 ISO image shared via NFS and started FC6 installer again. Ok, colors were right (btw, I was bit stunned why the same installer launched from DVD several times had problems with graphics, and via USB/NFS - hadn’t), added Extras and Livna repos, without Updates this time, selected packages - carefully, of course - clicked Next, and… after about 30 mins Fedora Core 6 has been installed. Uff.
I could agree with notes in Linux.com’s FC6 review regarding buggy Fedora installer. Besides, my friend using Fedora Core also complained on crashing installer, while he was trying to update FC5 with latest release on his laptop.
Dual Core architecture
After FC6 first boot I found out that OS actually sees two CPU’s, which means 2.6.18 kernel automatically switched itself into multi-CPU mode. Dynamic CPU speed is also supported, with Performance, Userspace and Ondemand governors. I need to admit, overall performance is truly amazing, even while both CPUs are working at just 1 GHz speed.
HDD
Just one simple note: SATA hard disk drive has been recognized as /dev/sda1. Again, its performance is great!
Display
LCD’s native resolution is 1440×900, and it has been detected automatically, with both nv and nvidia drivers. Installation of native nvidia drivers was straightforward thanks to Freshrpms.net repository. All I had to do was select and install latest nvidia-x11-drv package, and while next reboot I could see nvidia’s splash screen. These drivers also gave me ability to enable eye-candy desktop-effects, which are really impressive! However, in the beginning I had strange problem with it - after enabling effects, all window borders and titlebars were gone, which made desktop pretty unusable. After digging for some while, I found a solution.
Sound
Works out of the box. Only thing which may require extra attention is PC Speaker. D620’s ugly habit is to beep very loudly in various circumstances, which is VERY annoying - especially at night, when your wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/whatever is sleeping nearby. Quick solution is to remove pcspkr module by executing following command:
[root@dell620 ~]# rmmod pcspkr
It is also good idea to put that line into /etc/rc.d/rc.local file, so it will be executed while each boot, and PC Speaker will not bother you anymore.
Networking
Wireless controller didn’t work out of the box, and required to install drivers manually. Fortunately, Freshrpms repo comes handy again. All I had to do was install following packages: dkms-ipw3945, ipw3945d, ipw3945-firmware, kernel-devel (for ipw’s kernel-module to compile properly), and then reboot. And that’s it! Wireless works. :)
Ethernet controller works out of the box, and I don’t think it requires any further attention.
Bluetooth
Works, but a bit weird. FC6 comes with new Bluetooth Preferences thing, which jumps into notification area when BT device is detected. This nice tool gives opportunity to configure BT options, and also handles PIN-secured device pairing, in user-friendly way (really cool addition, I must say - finally much less fiddling in command-line to get bluetooth pairing working). Now, when I try to find nearby devices with Bluetooth Device Manager, it detects nothing. But doing same thing with command-line, devices are found:
[root@dell620 ~]# hcitool scan Scanning ... 00:12:D1:9C:90:C3 Dawid Lorenz 00:E0:03:37:AB:25 evad.6230 00:10:C6:56:D7:BB Dell 510m
I am also able to send files from other devices (phones) to D620. Sending files in other way around, through nautilus-sendto-bluetooth context menu is not possible - because there are no devices found by BT Device Manager. Weird.
On the other hand, typical rfcomm commands to get internet connection via BT and mobile phone are working, just as it used to in FC5.
Power management
Battery life is a bit dissapointing. Fully charged battery allow to work about 2.5 hours away from AC power, with WiFi/BT switched on, LCD backlight dimmed and CPU speed managed by Ondemand governor (mostly at 1 GHz speed per CPU). Well, I must say I expected around 3 hours at least…
Hibernation works! Hibernating process takes a while and is a bit confusing - screen is switched off initially and then switched back on after some time, while some messages are flooding screen, and then finally switched off together with whole machine. After restarting, screen is flooded with bunch of error-like messages, but after a while… desktop hops back on the screen with all applications running. NetworkManager also picks up wireless network back, so the system is back in the business!
[UPDATE] My second approach to hibernation revealed it does not work properly. After displaying some messages about ’shrinking memory’ (afair), screen went off but machine was still on… forever. I mean, after few minutes anything changed, so basically I had to reset it manually. :(
Suspend mode is working, but not perfectly. Computer suspends and resumes quite quickly, but after resume wireless adapter doesn’t work. However, getting it back is just matter of restarting ipw3495d and NetworkManager services.
[UPDATE] Actually, there’s no need for restarting services. Easier and faster way is just right-click on NetworkManager tray-icon, disable networking and enable back again. There’s also one small issue with sound driver after resume, but i.e. changing volume one step up or down brings sound back.
[UPDATE2] After I stopped using NetworkManager, in favour of WiFi Radar, I don’t have to restart anything at all, in order to have wireless connection back after resume! It just works straight away. NetworkManager was problematic (not only in matter of resuming after suspend), so I just dumped it.
Cool feature of D620 is Ambient Light Sensor - a small light-sensor built in front panel, which automatically adjusts LCD backlight intensity depending on external light brightness. Initially I thought this feature will depend on software drivers (M$-only, obviously), but I was suprised to find out it’s completely OS independent and works perfectly under Linux as well. Cool thing, but personally I think it’s not sensitive enough, as it needs really strong light source to make LCD bright and comfortable to look at. Well, maybe next BIOS release from Dell will fix that.
DVD Drive
Burning my first blank DVD-R with over 3 GB of data took over 2 hours (!) with k3b and data verification, so I figured out something is terribly wrong. After quick googling I found out DVD drive had DMA mode switched off. Issuing hdparm -d1 /dev/hdc command didn’t work, so I found a bit dirty solution, which I will cover in separate post.
Touchpad/point-stick
Both work OK, However, I’ve had to tweak touchpad settings in xorg.conf file, to make it work even better.
Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Synaptics" Driver "synaptics" Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice" Option "Protocol" "auto-dev" Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes" Option "LeftEdge" "120" Option "RightEdge" "830" Option "TopEdge" "120" Option "BottomEdge" "650" Option "FingerLow" "14" Option "FingerHigh" "30" Option "MaxTapTime" "180" Option "MaxTapMove" "110" Option "VertScrollDelta" "20" Option "HorizScrollDelta" "20" Option "MinSpeed" "0.10" Option "MaxSpeed" "0.75" Option "AccelFactor" "0.2" EndSection
Not tested
Internal modem, IrDA, CardBus slot, SmartCard reader, external monitor, serial port
Related
- http://mikelococo.com/2007/01/fc6-on-d620/
- http://seclab.cs.sunysb.edu/sekar/d620/ubuntu-d620.html
- http://javier.rodriguez.org.mx/index.php/linux/debian-gnulinux-on-dell-d620/
- http://www.math.dartmouth.edu/%7Esarunas/D620F6.html
- http://www.fzu.cz/%7Ekolorenc/d620/
- http://mcsp.wartburg.edu/figura/D620.html
- http://tuxmobil.org/dell.html
- http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/dell.html
