Fedora Core 6 on the Dell Inspiron 640m
Downloaded the 64-bit version of FC-6, something I’ve never done before. Booted, skipped the CD test, and got caught out with:
mini-wm: Fatal IO error 104 (Connection reset by peer) on X server :1.0.
Rebooted, to try the graphical installation again, since this is an Intel graphics card, there shouldn’t really be a problem. Same error message, which seems rather odd – video card is detected as the Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller.
Looks like I’ll go back into the past, and try a text mode install – even specifying resolution=800x600 or 1024×768 on the command line still fails to start the X server in a proper manner.
Choosing the virtualization option meant that only the virtualized Xen kernel was to be installed – something that just maybe isn’t the smartest thing to do. Why not have a regular one and a xen one at the same time? Video was detected, at an abysmal 800×600, and as always with Fedora, WiFi itself will not work.
The Xen kernel doesn’t allow the Ethernet to be brought up, so I had to manually install a regular kernel via the DVD, allow the Ethernet to be brought up (which seemingly is only 100mbps, not 1000mbps, like Apple and my 2 year old IBM) and then aim to get the X11 going properly. This was done easily, via yum – picked up 915resolution from Extras.
I should probably mention that this install report has come in pretty handy at this stage. I’ve edited my /etc/rc.local to add 915resolution 58 1440 900, and changed the /etc/X11/xorg.conf to reflect that I’d like to use the i810 driver. To be completely lazy, I used system-config-display to get things going. Since there was a warning of a crash, it only made sense to do a yum update (arduous, slow process – 859MB, 475 packages).
Never using FreshRPMS, I have decided to give that a twirl, and installed: dkms-ipw3945 ipw3945d ipw3945-firmware which pulls in kernel-devel and dkms, to make the wireless work. Livna has also been added so that while I do respect freedom, I also get to play my DVDs and MP3’s from my iPod.
Suspend worked by default, which is always something that will please me. However, on the second suspend I do notice failure to bring the video up. Hibernate works to an extent where when it wakes up, the resolution is completely broken, something along the lines of 1024×768 by the looks of it. Running the 915resolution tool then, doesn’t help.
The updates to all the packages went well (with the exception of frysk), I rebooted, X didn’t start automatically, because it was booting to a default of runlevel 3. A quick /etc/inittab edit, to init level 5, and all was well.
The Fn + Up Arrow (which is meant to make the screen brighter) key seems to cause X to bomb. Its highly displeasing, and the quick fix is to rmmod video – something’s up with ACPI video…
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So have you found a linux distro out there that best fits the dell 640m?