Installing Mandrake 9.0 Linux on a Dell Inspiron 2600

Installing Mandrake 9.0 Linux on a Dell Inspiron 2600

by: Ky MacPherson
last updated: 15 Aug 2003
note: This page is no longer maintained. I have a newer reference document with some details about installing Debian Linux on the same system.

I've been happy with the stability and ease of use of Mandrake 9.0 Linux. However some of the hardware features of my Dell Inspiron 2600 laptop were not plug-and-pray (err ... play) compatible. This document is an overview of the measures I had to take to get Linux running.

My laptop has the following configuration:

Celeron 1.13 GHz processor, 128MB RAM
Digital flat panel 1024x768
30GB IDE hard drive
3.5" floppy drive
HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8080N
Intel 82830 CGC Integrated Graphics Device
3Com EtherLink XL 10/100 PCI (3C905C-TX)
56K winmodem, vendorID=8086 deviceID=2486, identified by Windows as "Actiontec MD56ORD V92 MDC Modem"
Intel 82801CA/CAM AC'97 Audio Controller
Synaptics Touchpad

Note that unless otherwise noted, all commands and files described below must be issued/created by the root user.

1. Conexant by Actiontec MD56ORD modem

I use dial-up internet access so getting the modem up is the first priority. To accomplish this, you will need to access the internet by some means to obtain the driver, and then transfer the driver to your laptop. The file will fit on a 3.5" floppy disk. Go to http://www.mbsi.ca/cnxtlindrv and navigate your way to: "HSF (Softmodem) Driver" > "Download" > "Mandrake 9.0" and choose the rpm for the hsflinmodem driver that matches the kernel version (2.4.19_16). Install the driver with the command :

rpm -i hsflinmodem*.rpm

Suggestion: Keep an archived copy of this modem driver, with your linux rescue disk!

Once the HSF driver is installed, you should be able to connect to your ISP easily with kppp. However if you'd like to do a little more work you can automate the connection process with a "chat" script.

I will share the connection scripts I use to connect to earthlink. I am using the string "earthlink" to identify the ISP specific files. Feel free to name your files differently if it would be appropriate for your ISP. Furthermore, if your provider uses PAP or CHAP authentification, you will need to make some modifications to these files; refer to the Mandrake PPP documentation at http://www.mandrakeuser.org/docs/connect/cppp.html.

Here are my configuration files:

/etc/ppp/options

0.0.0.0:
/dev/modem
lock
crtscts
defaultroute
asyncmap 0
mtu 576
mru 576
usepeerdns

/etc/ppp/peers/earthlink

connect '/usr/sbin/chat -v -f /etc/ppp/chat-earthlink'
/dev/modem 115200 0.0.0.0: asyncmap 0 crtscts defaultroute debug

/etc/ppp/chat-earthlink

# define error conditions
ABORT   'NO CARRIER'
ABORT   'NO DIALTONE'
ABORT   'ERROR'
ABORT   'NO ANSWER'
ABORT   'BUSY'

# set 5 sec maximum window for the modem to respond to
# the following commands
TIMEOUT 5

# make sure the modem is awake
''      'AT'

# initialize Actiontec MD56ORD modem
# (I copied these lines verbatim from the Windows modem logs)
# Note that a different brand/model modem would require a
# different modem init string here.
'OK'    'AT&FE0V1S0=0&C1&D2+MR=2;+DR=1;+ER=1;W2'
'OK'    'ATS7=60M1+ES=3,0,2;+DS=3;+IFC=2,2;X4'

# instruct the modem not to answer incoming calls
'OK'    'ATS0=0'

## uncomment the following line to turn off the speaker while dialing
#'OK'   'ATM0L0'

# dial command
'OK'    'ATDT5555555'

# allow time to establish the connection
TIMEOUT 55

# user name and password
ECHO ON 'CONNECT' '' ogin:--ogin: xxxxxx word: yyyyyy

Notes for the chat script: Replace 5555555 with your ISP's dial-up phone number. On the last line, replace xxxxxx and yyyyyy with your login name and password, respectively.

To initiate the connection I type the command

pppd call earthlink

2. Intel 830 Video chipset

To resolve the error message during boot "You passed an undefined mode number" edit the file /etc/lilo.conf and change the setting "vga=788" to "vga=773" and run lilo.

The version of XFree86 distributed with Mandrake 9.0 does not include support for the Intel 82830 chipset but the newer versions do, so go to http://www.xfree86.org and download the latest release (currently XFree86 4.3.0) and choose the "Linux-ix86-glibc22" binaries. Installation is very easy, just follow the instructions in the file named "Install". Accept the default responses when prompted by the install script; specifically, do not allow the new installation to overwrite the "xinit" or "xdm" configuration files.

After installing the new version of XFree86 you need to change the configuration to allocate enough frame buffer memory to run 16-bit color mode. Make the following changes to the file /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 :

in the "Device" section add the line "VideoRam 32768" (shown below with comments added)

Section "Device"
    Identifier "device1"
    VendorName "Intel Corporation"
    BoardName "Intel 830"
    Driver "i810"
    Option "DPMS" # DPMS (power management) turns off the display in standby mode
    VideoRam 32768 # allocate 32MB system memory to frame buffer
EndSection

in the "Screen" section change "DefaultColorDepth" from 8 to 16

Issue:

After upgrading to XFree86 4.3.0, when the laptop boots into the windows manager, the login screen does not accept input from the keyboard. But you can use the pointer to select "Menu" > "Restart X server" and after the restart the keyboard should work. I will eventually solve this but its low priority since the workaround is simple and reliable.

3. Synaptics Touchpad

To disable touchpad "tapping" download the touchpad configuration tool "tpconfig-3.1.3.tar.gz" from http://www.compass.com/synaptics

Run make and make install. To disable tapping automatically during boot, edit the script "touchpad" that was included in the tar package:

Change the line "# chkconfig: 35 84 84" to "# chkconfig: 35 14 14" (Note: this change is specific to Mandrake)

Copy the modified "touchpad" script to the directory /etc/rc.d/init.d and issue the command:

chkconfig --add touchpad

4. Removable media

By default, Mandrake uses the "supermount" mechanism to detect media in the CD and floppy drives. I have had problem with files "disappearing" on both CD and floppy filesystems, and these are apparently due to known problems with supermount. I prefer to have manual control over the external devices via the "mount" and "umount" commands.

To disable supermount, issue the command:

supermount -i disable

It is only necessary to issue this command once, i.e. supermount will remain disabled even after the system is shut down and restarted.

The procedure for using the floppy drive is now:

mount /mnt/floppy

umount /mnt/floppy

Note that removing the disk without issuing the "umount" command first can leave the disk in a corrupt state. To read a CD-ROM, follow the same steps using "/mnt/cdrom" in the mount and umount commands.

To burn CD-Rs with the HL-DT-ST drive, it is useful to set the default configuration for cdrecord. As root, create the following file to set the SCSI address and default speed (4x) for burning.

/etc/defaults/cdrecord

CDR_DEVICE=0,2,0
CDR_SPEED=4

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