Linux install on HP 6910p using Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy)

I have installed Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy) on my HP 6910p, there where a couple gotchas although most should be gone by Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy) or a more recent Linux distribution. Most of the issues can be resolved by updating to more recent versions of the affected software.

HP 6910p specification:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 (2.4Ghz)
Display: 14.1" WXGA+ 1440x900
GPU: AMD/ATI Radeon X2300
RAM: 2GB (2x1GB)
Harddisk: 120GB 7200rpm Hitachi 7k200 Travelstar
Optical Drive: MultiBay II DVD SM DL
Wireless: Intel Pro/Wireless 4965 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, Infrared
Ports/slots: 3xUSB 2.0; MultiBay II; Intel 82566MM 10/100/1000 Lan; Modem; S-Video out; VGA out; Firewire; Audio in; Audio out; internal microphone; SD/MMC card reader; Smart Card Reader; Type I/II PC Card Reader; SIM card slot; Docking connector; Second battery connector.
Other: Finger print reader, Touch stick with 2 buttons, Touch pad with 2 buttons, Volume up – down, Volume mute, Presentation, Wireless, HP Info Centre touch sensitive buttons.

lspci output:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 0c)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 PCI Express Root Port (rev 0c)
00:03.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965 MEI Controller (rev 0c)
00:03.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965 PT IDER Controller (rev 0c)
00:03.3 Serial controller: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965 KT Controller (rev 0c)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82566MM Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Contoller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f3)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HBM (ICH8M-E) LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 03)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M64-S [Mobility Radeon X2300]
02:06.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev b9)
02:06.1 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev b9)
02:06.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 03)
02:06.3 Generic system peripheral [0805]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 20)
02:06.4 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C843 MMC Host Controller (rev 10)
10:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN Network Connection (rev 61)

Installation

Installation of Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy) went fine, however some of the hardware was not running. Most notably Gutsy is unable to identify the GPU. X will be configured with the basic VESA driver and configured to run on a low resolution. After the installation I had to do some fixing to most of the hardware run, here are the solutions that I have found out.

Wireless

My 6910p came with a Intel 4965 wireless card, Gutsy was able to detect it. For some reason my wireless card would not function properly, its unable to proceed in scanning the network. There is no notable error on syslog or dmesg. I was able to run it once only using the live cd while Ubuntu was installing. Intel 4965 should have been supported out of the box on Gutsy, but mine did not run maybe because its revision (rev 61). I had to update the drivers from http://www.intellinuxwireless.org and rebuild the linux-ubuntu-modules package.

Here is how I made it to work.

1. Download the linux-ubuntu-modules source package

sudo apt-get source linux-ubuntu-modules-`uname -r`

2. Edit the iwlwifi download script to fetch the latest drivers from http://www.intellinuxwireless.org
cd linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.22-2.6.22/ubuntu/wireless/iwlwifi
edit the BOM script file, set the correct versions and fix the firmware move, here is my diff:

@@ -4,10 +4,10 @@
# only need to do this when you are updating from one version
# if iwlwifi to the next.
#
-IVER=1.1.0
-MVER=10.0.0
-FW3945_VER=2.14.4
-FW4965_VER=4.44.17
+IVER=1.2.23
+MVER=10.0.4
+FW3945_VER=2.14.1.5
+FW4965_VER=4.44.1.20

if [ ! -f iwlwifi-${IVER}.tgz ] ; then wget http://intellinuxwireless.org/iwlwifi/downloads/iwlwifi-${IVER}.tgz; fi
if [ ! -f mac80211-${MVER}.tgz ] ; then wget http://intellinuxwireless.org/mac80211/downloads/mac80211-${MVER}.tgz; fi
@@ -24,13 +24,13 @@
# Note the '-1' in the new firmware file name.
#
tar xzf iwlwifi-3945-ucode-${FW3945_VER}.tgz
-mv iwlwifi-3945-ucode-${FW3945_VER}/iwlwifi-3945.ucode ../../../ubuntu-firmware/iwlwifi/iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode
+mv iwlwifi-3945-ucode-${FW3945_VER}/iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode ../../../ubuntu-firmware/iwlwifi/iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode
rm -rf iwlwifi-3945-ucode-${FW3945_VER}

#
# Note the '-1' in the new firmware file name.
#
tar xzf iwlwifi-4965-ucode-${FW4965_VER}.tgz
-mv iwlwifi-4965-ucode-${FW4965_VER}/iwlwifi-4965.ucode ../../../ubuntu-firmware/iwlwifi/iwlwifi-4965-1.ucode
+mv iwlwifi-4965-ucode-${FW4965_VER}/iwlwifi-4965-1.ucode ../../../ubuntu-firmware/iwlwifi/iwlwifi-4965-1.ucode
rm -rf iwlwifi-4965-ucode-${FW4965_VER}

3. Run the update script so it will fetch and patch the files.

./MUNGE

4. Rebuild the linux-unbuntu-modules, then reinstall the package.

fakeroot debian/rules binary-modules-generic
dpkg -i ../linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.22-14-generic_2.6.22-14.37_i386.deb

Now my wireless is working flawlessly.

UPDATE: updated iwlwifi to newer version and step #4

Video

Gutsy will not detect the Radeon X2300 and will configure X with just the standard vesa driver. I have decided to use radeonhd driver because of 2 reasons:

1. fglrx currently has a problem with suspend, see Ubuntu issue 121653
2. radeonhd supports xrandr

Here is how I got radeonhd running.

1. Install the xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd from universe

sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd

2. Unfortunately the version is still old on Gutsy, Hardy has the working one. I had to manually update and install from source. Download the radeonhd tarball and follow the install instruction and overwrite the files from the debian package.

I was able to run xrandr, but its not that stable on the external display. Based from the radeonhd wiki I believe it can be fixed by updating X and xrandr. For now I just logoff to shutdown X and login again. I am trying to backport the Hardy deb package.

UPDATE: I have now resolved the xrandr re-enable of the external display. The basic fix is to explicitly specify the CRTC via --crtc switch of xrandr. My later blog entry explains it further.

Another solution is to grab the Hardy deb packages, this is what I did recently.

1. Edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list find all "gutsy" and replace with "hardy"
2. Get the newer packages

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-core
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd
sudo apt-get install libxrandr2
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-synaptics

3. Revert the file /etc/apt.sources.list find all "hardy" and replace with "gutsy"
4. Update apt so it points back to gutsy packages

sudo apt-get update

If you need 3D support, then fglrx is the only way. Just go install on the menu "System->Administration->Restricted Drivers Manager" and use "ATI accelerated graphics driver".

UPDATE: I am able to change the brightness when I switch to the console screen. I think this will be fixed on the later versions, its a documented issue with radeonhd on some video cards. Its a bit annoying but I don't change the brightness much so its ok. Ambient light sensor also has the same problem, function keys only works on the console.

Suspend and Hibernate

Suspend and hibernate works once I have edited "/etc/default/acpi-support". I have set the following:

SAVE_VBE_STATE=false
POST_VIDEO=false

Sometimes resume takes a while, it takes about 20 secs after to resume after suspending. Resume also sometimes does not work, however after setting

DOUBLE_CONSOLE_SWITCH=true

My resume has been successful all of the time.

Splash screen and virtual terminals

The splash screen and virtual terminals does not work. I was only able to make either work, but not both.

To make the virtual terminals work, I disabled the splash screen:

1. Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst
2. Change the defoptions=[your custom kernel params] splash to defoptions=[your custom kernel params] nosplash
3. Change the "kernel /boot/vmlinuz-[your kernel] root=UUID=[your UUID] ro quiet splash" to "kernel /boot/vmlinuz-[your kernel] root=UUID=[your UUID] ro quiet splash"

To make the splash screen work, but with no working virtual terminals:

1. Edit /etc/usplash.conf

xres=1024
yres=768

2. Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst
3. Add "vga=791" to "defoptions=[your custom kernel params] splash vga=791" and your kernel
"kernel /boot/vmlinuz-[your kernel] root=UUID=[your UUID] ro quiet splash"
4. Update your initramfs

sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`

The above work around is discussed here:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/2299
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1541970

Harddisk Power management

I am unfortunate that my harddisk (Hitachi 7k200 Travelstar HTS722012K9SA00) is one of those affected by too aggressive power management. This issue is discussed here https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695

The workaround that reduced my Load_Cycle_Count

1. edit /etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf:

LM_AC_HD_IDLE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=300
LM_BATT_HD_IDLE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=300
CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1
BATT_HD_POWERMGMT=128

2. edit /etc/default/acpi-support:

ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE=true
SPINDOWN_TIME=60

3. edit /etc/acpi/power.sh:
Changed "$HDPARM -B 1 /dev/$drive 2>/dev/null" to "$HDPARM -B 128 /dev/$drive 2>/dev/null"

UPDATE: lowered the apm value when on battery, check my later post for the additional script.

Fingerprint reader

UPDATE: It works, just needed to install fprint. Read my later post for some more details.

Audio

UPDATE: The microphone works perfectly, the thing is, its is at the Capture level 0 by default. Go in your sound config panel, Capture tab and set Capture at e.g. 60%. - by Alexander

Bluetooth

UPDATE: Bluetooth works. I had to install "gnome-bluetooth" since I want my laptop to be the server. You can stop the bluetooth service. "/etc/init.d/bluetooth stop" and use update-rc.d to stop it permanently.

Summary

Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy) will not able to run HP 6910p right of the box. With some work it will be able to do it. Ubuntu Hardy should be able to resolve most if not all of the issue. For now I am pretty happy with the laptop as most of it now works. Items I wish to work on the future:

1. hard disk accelerometer
2. 3G broadband