Installing RedHat Linux 7.3 on a Dell Inspiron 4100 Saturday, May 04, 2002 This document is out of date. There are newer versions of RedHat and the NVidia drivers available. I updated from this setup to RedHat 8.0 without any trouble at all. I also recommend using the latest NVidia Linux drivers. This document describes how to set up a dual-boot system with WindowsXP and RedHat 7.2 Linux on the Dell Inspiron 4100 with an NVidia GeForce2Go UXGA LCD. The system works very well for me as a general home computer and for programming portable applications for Linux and Windows with a shared CVS tree.
Setting up XFree86 was the biggest stumbling block, since the current NVidia drivers do not support this particular configuration (although all other i4100 and i8100 models work just fine). After that problem was solved, everything else was fairly simple to setup using RedHat 7.2 Update: The latest NVidia drivers have fixed the issues with the i4100 UXGA cards. (I believe the 2880 versions work just fine.) I'll also mention some graphical setup details which will make your desktop look just as good as WindowsXP with ClearType subpixel font rendering. People often complain that a high resolution display is actually harder to read. This is rubbish. You just need to make sure to setup your fonts and window settings to display larger fonts. Since these fonts are now antialiased under KDE, your screen actually is much easier to read. In fact, it almost looks like a piece of paper! Hardware DescriptionI chose this system primarily for the UXGA screen and NVidia graphics card and the internal Wi-Fi card and NIC. For about $2000, this combination of features was the best I could find.
The system hardware included:
Please note that the UXGA GeForce2Go card presents some unique setup issues discussed below. The rest of the system is fairly standard and setup fairly simple. Partitioning for WindowsXP and LinuxMy goals for partitioning this system were:
I used the program Partition Magic to partition the system. The program can be purchased online and it supports WindowsXP (unlike Partition Commander). I'm sure you can also use a free program for the partitioning, if you are willing to put up with a bit more hassle. The important thing to remember when considering a non-trivial partitioning scheme is that there are only 4 primary partitions. Although extended partitions can be made to increase flexibility, each OS's boot sector should be installed onto a primary partition. Also, the current versions of Linux (RedHat 7.2 in my case) don't fully support NTFS. You can read NTFS from Linux, but you can't write to it. Since I wanted to share a CVS tree, I really wanted full R/W support. For this reason, I decided to add a special FAT32 (fully supported by RH7.2) partition to use for sharing data between WindowsXP and Linux. Dell sends you the computer with a special 50MB primary partition already installed at the front of the driver. After a couple of false starts, I decided to go with the following partition scheme for my 40GB (!) drive:
After partitioning, my WindowsXP system recognized the new Fat32 shared partition as "E:". This is important since I want to download stuff under WindowsXP and make it available to Linux by saving it on the "E:" driver since that is easily mounted by Linux. I did not go to the trouble of installing the read-only NTFS support for Linux. I figure I'll just use my shared Fat32 for now.
Although my partitioning may seem somewhat light on the Linux side, I expect to make heavy use of WindowsXP for games and general business work. I'll be doing programming under both Linux and WindowsXP using a CVS tree installed on the shared Fat32 partition. I don't expect to install much Linux-specific stuff, and I'm sure that the combination of 8 GB for Linux should be enough. After all, that's about 4x what I had at work about two years ago!
Some people have mentioned problems with Suspend to Disk (s2d). I have not experiemented with the Linux setup for hibernation or suspend to disk, but it seems to work just fine under WindowsXP with my current setup. If this concerns you, make sure to see if you still need to setup a special sleep partition before you decide on your final partitioning setup. Linux InstallationI started by downloading RedHat 7.2 from one of the RedHat mirror sites using WindowsXP. I also downloaded a free program which allowed me to burn ISO images directly from the Windows Explorer file browser.
I also took this time to download a few other things that I knew I would need after installing RedHat. It is much easier to download all this stuff under WindowsXP before you install Linux. Each thing I downloaded I placed in the shared "E:" partition. I downloaded:
Next, I modified the BIOS settings to allow me to boot from the CDROM. The BIOS settings are accessible if you hold down F1 during a reboot. Make sure that you set the CDROM to boot before the hard disk. Now, you can insert the RedHat 7.2 installation disk (Disk1) and reboot to begin the installation process. A couple of important tips during the install:
After you install RedHat 7.2, you should be able to reboot the computer and get to a text installation screen. XFree86 ConfigurationThis section will describe how to install the proprietary NVidia drivers for XFree86 4.x. You will need to download the proper files from the NVidia website. Start by downloading the NVChooser program to determine the proper packages. In the near future, the I4100 at UXGA will be fully supported by the RPM packages, but for now, you'll need to get the source tarball of the kernel driver since we'll be patching it below. As of February, 2002, the NVidia proprietary XFree86 drivers do not support UXGA resolution on the Dell i4100. The problem is that the EDID information reported by the laptop screen is incorrect. NVidia provided a patch to the NVIDIA_kernel module that forces the use of SoftEDID as is used by WindowsXP. The symptoms of this problem are that UXGA resolution will not work at all, while smaller resolutions (eg. 1450x1024, 1280x1024, 1024x768) will have a black stripe to the right of the visible desktop and the top portion of the desktop is repeated along the bottom. You can also verify the problem by running "startx --verbose 5 --logverbose 5" and then checking the reported EDID settings in /var/log/XFree86.0.log. You will see something like this: (II) NVIDIA(0): --- EDID Information for Display 0 --- (II) NVIDIA(0): Manufacturer: NVD Model: 302 Serial#: 2 (II) NVIDIA(0): Year: 1999 Week: 28 (II) NVIDIA(0): EDID Version: 1.2 (II) NVIDIA(0): Digital Display Input (II) NVIDIA(0): Max H-Image Size [cm]: horiz.: 30 vert.: 23 (II) NVIDIA(0): Gamma: 2.88 (II) NVIDIA(0): DPMS capabilities: StandBy Suspend Off; RGB/Color Display (II) NVIDIA(0): First detailed timing is preferred mode (II) NVIDIA(0): redX: 0.600 redY: 0.342 greenX: 0.295 greenY: 0.570 (II) NVIDIA(0): blueX: 0.147 blueY: 0.111 whiteX: 0.312 whiteY: 0.328 (II) NVIDIA(0): Manufacturer's mask: 0 (II) NVIDIA(0): Supported additional Video Mode: (II) NVIDIA(0): clock: 108.0 MHz Image Size: 300 x 228 mm (II) NVIDIA(0): h_active: 1400 h_sync: 1448 h_sync_end 1560 h_blank_end 1688 h_border: 0 (II) NVIDIA(0): v_active: 1050 v_sync: 1051 v_sync_end 1054 v_blanking: 1066 v_border: 0 (II) NVIDIA(0): Ranges: V min: 60 V max: 60 Hz, H min: 30 H max: 100 kHz, PixClock max 120 MHz (II) NVIDIA(0): Serial No: 000000000001 (II) NVIDIA(0): Monitor name: NVIDIA_SXGA (II) NVIDIA(0): --- End of EDID Information for Display 0 --- To fix this problem, you must patch the NVIDIA_kernel module using the following procedure:
Make sure that the compile completed without any errors. You can verify that the kernel installed correctly using "lsmod | grep NVdriver".After the proper kernel module is installed, make sure to install the NVidia GLX RPM with something like this: # rpm -Uvh NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-2313.i386.rpm GLX should install without any problems. If you do run into trouble, consult the NVidia readme. Next, you need to modify your XFree86 Configuration file. Here's a breakdown of my file and what each section controls: The first section is there so that I can use an attached USB mouse along with my trackpad and thumb mouse: Section "ServerLayout" Identifier "Farpoint" Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0 InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer" InputDevice "USBMouse" "SendCoreEvents" InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard" EndSection The second section sets up all my fonts. In particular, I'm setting things up to use unscaled large fonts whenever possible. In practice, I use KDE, which now uses antialiased TrueType fonts and looks fantastic. The font path for the antialised fonts is set in /etc/X11/XftConfig . Details in the font de-uglification page. Section "Files" RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb" FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled" FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled" FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled" # FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1" FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc" FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi" FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi" FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo" ModulePath "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules" # FontPath "unix/:7100" EndSection The module section controls which loadable modules are automatically loaded by XFree86. You need to disable the "GLcore" and "dri" modules since they work with the Open Source "nv" driver, but cause problems with the proprietary NVidia drivers. You want to also make sure that you add the NVidia "glx" module, and probably the "type1" module to render nice antialiased text really quickly! Note that you can verify which modules are installed once you get X up and running using the "xdpyinfo" command. Section "Module" # Load "GLcore" Load "dbe" Load "extmod" Load "fbdevhw" Load "pex5" # Load "dri" Load "glx" Load "pex5" Load "record" Load "type1" Load "freetype" Load "xie" EndSection The input device section is used to setup both the internal trackpad and thumb mouse and the external USB Logitec optical mouse. I also set the autorepeat of the keyboard, and made sure to enable the mousewheel using the ZAxisMapping line. It is important to add a link for the USB mouse: # ln -s /dev/input/mice /dev/pointer Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Keyboard0" Driver "keyboard" Option "AutoRepeat" "250 30" Option "XkbRules" "xfree86" Option "XkbModel" "pc105" Option "XkbLayout" "us" #Option "XkbVariant" "" #Option "XkbOptions" "" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Mouse0" Driver "mouse" Option "Protocol" "PS/2" Option "Device" "/dev/psaux" Option "Emulate3Buttons" "on" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Identifier "USBMouse" Driver "mouse" Option "Device" "/dev/pointer" Option "Name" "AutoDetected" Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2" Option "Vendor" "AutoDetected" Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" EndSection The final section is the critical area for monitor and card setup. Most important is to switch from the "nv" driver to the newly installed "nvidia" driver. I've disabled the login screen and enable the hardware mouse shadow, since I think that is easier to find on the UXGA display. Make sure to get this section exactly correct. Section "Monitor" Identifier "LCD" VendorName "Dell" ModelName "UXGA" HorizSync 30-100 VertRefresh 60 Option "dpms" EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "NV AGP" VendorName "nvidia" Driver "nvidia" # BusID "PCI:1:0:0" # Option "UseEDIDFreqs" "1" Option "NoLogo" "1" Option "CursorShadow" "1" EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "Screen0" Device "NV AGP" Monitor "LCD" DefaultColorDepth 24 Subsection "Display" Depth 24 Modes "1600x1200" EndSubsection EndSection Okay, now let's just check things over before we try to start up X. You should have the NVidia kernel module loaded. Verify by running "/sbin/lsmod" and checking for a line with "NVdriver". Okay? Now, let's try starting up X with a bunch of debugging information just in case. This stuff is logged into "/var/log/messages", in case something doesn't work: % startx --verbose 5 --logverbose 5 Hopefully, it all worked okay. If not, suffer for a bit. I'm sure this works on i4100 with NVidia G2Go at UXGA. You don't need the kernel mod unless you have a UXGA display. If you have a 1400x1050 or lower display, or an ATI card, you should be able to just install the NVidia kernel module from the RPM. NetworkingMy setup came with an internal wireless 802.11b mini-PCI card, an internal 10/100 NIC with RJ45, and an internal modem. I have not setup the modem yet, but I hear that it can work. The 10/100 NIC worked with the standard install. The Orinoco wireless card was not setup correctly. The 802.11b wi-fi internal mini-PCI card was setup to use the wvlan_cs driver. This driver will probably work for most people. However, I have a LinkSys wireless access point. There is a bug in wvlan_cs which causes problems with the linksys access point. The orinoco_cs driver fixes the problem. It is probably good to upgrade to the orinoco_cs driver anyway, since it has better support and is generally more stable. To switch to the orinoco_cs driver, you can grab the configuration files for the wireless options at the end of this document.
I use an internal gateway machine to access the net and my internal network is setup with DHCP. It all works just fine. SoundSound worked correctly for me with the standard RH7.2 install. KDE desktop sounds are working just fine and I can play CDs. TrueType Fonts and DisplayAfter setting up X correctly, you need to fix up a few other configuration files to make sure you use the highest quality fonts with your awsome UXGA display. There is a great review of the technical side of the setup in the font de-uglification page. Most X applications don't support anitaliased fonts yet. However, KDE via the QT toolkit do support these high quality fonts. The Konquoror browser, in particular, supports aa text and looks almost as good as IE under XP. Unfortunately, it still has bugs and crashes occasionally and also occasionally cannot draw some web pages. The biggest problem in setting up TrueType fonts is getting the fonts. Luckly, you have WindowsXP and can just copy them over from the C:\WINDOWS\fonts folder. I copied the entire fonts folder onto my shared "E:" drive, and then copied it from there into /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TrueType. Make sure to run the script on the FDU page to change the font files to lower case, and update the /etc/X11/XftConfig file to point to the folder containing the fonts. There are a couple of key lines in the XftConfig file that really make a difference:
Next you'll want to update the various font settings for Konqueror, Mozilla, and your window manager (KDE or GNOME). When using KDE, I set the following fonts (which are just copied settings from WindowsXP and happen to be really nice) using the KDE Control Center under "Look & Feel" -> "Fonts":
I also find it useful to adjust the icon sizes by hand and to use a smaller panel, but that's all personal preference, of course. ReferencesPlease let me know if you notice any problems on this page, or think that it could be enhanced. If anything at all was unclear, let me know and I'll try to fix it up. Here are the various configuration files:
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