Installing Gentoo on Dell Latitude X1 (2011) part4

Also check CrunchBang on Dell Latitude X1, distro I am using today!

At this point I become getting annoyed my the terrible high pitched sound.
This is all because of the AC power management. The way to do it is to remove certain states from sleep options.

First Get the ACPI management.

# emerge acpid

Then create /etc/init.d/limit-sleep-states

#!/sbin/runscript

depend() {
need acpid
}

start() {
ebegin "Limiting CPU sleep state to C${LIMIT_CSTATE}"
echo $LIMIT_CSTATE > /sys/module/processor/parameters/max_cstate
eend $?
}

stop() {
ebegin "Removing CPU sleep state limit"
echo $REMOVE_CSTATE > /sys/module/processor/parameters/max_cstate
eend $?
}

and /etc/conf.d/limit-sleep-states

LIMIT_CSTATE=2
REMOVE_CSTATE=8

Make sure that this gets started after boot:

# rc-update add limit-sleep-states default

Reboot. Voila! Laptop stopped beeping.

Next thing is the way to "touchy" touchpad. I can literally just hang my finger above it and cursor starts dancing.
I find that there is a very good manual in gentoo wiki describing basic installation, and it helps alleviate the problem.

To get sound working I run:

# alsaconf (intel8x0)
# rc-update add alsasound boot

Installing Gentoo on Dell Latitude X1 (2011) part3

Also check CrunchBang on Dell Latitude X1, distro I am using today!

At first I think it's because I forgot the firmware. So I emerge it:

# emerge ipw2200-firmawe

Upon restart I notice:

FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/2.6.36-gentoo-r5/modules.dep: No such file or directory 

Aha! That means "make modules_install" failed. Weird. I repeat it in /usr/src/linux and this time it creates everything.

The box boots, however now my wireless is visible as eth0 not eth1. So bringing up interface eth1 fails. Fair enough.

In other words I need:

# cd /etc/init.d
# rc-update add net.eth0 default
# rc-update del net.eth1 default
# rm net.eth1

then change last lines in /etc/conf.d/net to:

wpa_supplicant_eth0=”-Dwext”
config_eth0=( "dhcp" )

reboot.
Two warnings:

* Your TIMEZONE in /etc/conf.d/clock is still set to Factory!
.
.
* WARNING: netmount is scheduled to start when net.eth0 has started

I edit /etc/conf.d/clock and uncomment the TIMEZONE line setting it to:

TIMEZONE="Europe/London"

And remove checks on net in /etc/rc.conf as it will always fail, cause it take a while to obtain address.

RC_NET_STRICT_CHECKING="none"

OMG, finally. Took me some time to figure out (3 hours hehe ;)

Now I'm creating my everyday user:

# useradd -m -G users,wheel,audio,cdrom,portage,usb,video -s /bin/bash bev
# passwd bev
Password: (Enter the password for bev)
Re-enter password: (Re-enter the password to verify)

Cleaning after installation:

# cd /
# rm stage3-*.tar.bz2*
# rm portage-latest.tar.bz2*

I'm proceeding with KDE installation as I've decided.

After modifying USE flags and adding a couple of flags...
And many hours later (390 packages to emerge - 28 hours and 23 minutes) I'm ready to emerge kdm, to be able to start x at boot.

emerge kde-base/kdm
emerge xorg-server

Edit /etc/conf.d/xdm so it chooses KDE as default:

DISPLAYMANAGER="kdm"

rc-update add xdm default

xorg.conf wasn't created by default, so as root I run:

X -configure

and then change in /etc/X11/xorg.conf driver intel to vesa

Section Device 
driver="vesa"

In order to get the native resolution of 1280x768 I have to emerge little patch, that has been marked as not entirely safe (yeah, been using it for ages)

echo "sys-apps/915resolution ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
emerge 915resolution
vim /etc/conf.d/915resolution

in that last file make a change:

replace=("4d 1280 768 32")

and add that script to default level, so it starts with the laptop.

rc-update add 915resolution boot default

Reboot and I have working KDE... however there are a couple of tweaks left to do.

Nasa Image directory

Nasa has been publishing amazing pictures for years, and the archives can be found here.
Rarely however one can see there something so utterly beautiful, breath taking and simply very arty as the Astronomy Picture of the Day for September the 15th, 2010, made by Isaac Gutiérrez Pascual.

Click on the image to be taken to the original site.

Installing Gentoo on Dell Latitude X1 (2011) part2

Also check CrunchBang on Dell Latitude X1, distro I am using today!

Before starting the entire fun with kernel, Gentoo manual suggest making sure that the time is set to what we want it to be. I'm checking date and setting timezone to UK one.

(chroot)# date
Thu Jan 20 09:09:04 GMT 2011
(chroot)# cp /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/London /etc/localtime
(chroot)# nano /etc/conf.d/clock

In that last file changing CLOCK to GMT.

Time to deal with kernel, the heart of linux system (and windows for that matter, however you have no easy choice to change it as you will). I install kernel sources.

emerge gentoo-sources

Configure and compile kernel and modules.

I use manual process (you may just copy my config file). And once that's done copy kernel to my boot partition. I leave normal name as it's easier to follow versions later. Also copy config file for future reference.

# make && make modules_install
# cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/kernel-2.6.36-gentoo-r5
# cp .config /boot/config-2.6.36-gentoo-r5
# nano /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6

With the last one I add ip2200 as a module to be loaded on system boot.

Next I modify fstab to reflect my system:

nano  /etc/fstab

And that ends with:

/dev/sda2   /boot        ext2    noauto,noatime     1 2
/dev/sda3   none         swap    sw                   0 0
/dev/sda4   /            ext3    noatime              0 1
/dev/cdrom  /mnt/cdrom   auto    noauto,ro          0 0
proc        /proc        proc    defaults             0 0
shm         /dev/shm     tmpfs   nodev,nosuid,noexec  0 0

Another step is to finish network configuration.

# nano -w /etc/conf.d/hostname

Set the HOSTNAME to how my LX1 will be seen in the network.

HOSTNAME="bevLX1"

And I'm adding the following line to my /etc/conf.d/net:

config_eth1=( "dhcp" )

Ensure that networking is started at boot:

# cd /etc/init.d
# ln -s net.lo net.eth1
# rc-update add net.eth1 default

Open /etc/hosts and add name of my box to it.

127.0.0.1     localhost bevLX1
::1           localhost bevLX1

emerge wpa-supplicant, because my new environment will not have it otherwise.

# emerge net-wireless/wpa_supplicant

emerge: there are no ebuilds built with USE flags to satisfy "=dev-lang/php-5.3.5[xml]". 
!!! One of the following packages is required to complete your request: 
- dev-lang/php-5.3.5 (Change USE: +xml) 
(dependency required by "dev-lang/php-5.3.5" [ebuild]) 
(dependency required by "php" [argument]) 

and a couple of others, duh. so...

# USE="xml X gd" emerge net-wireless/wpa_supplicant

Now I get Error: circular dependencies. I break them as suggested. And try again.

Success. Quick check to see if my config files didn't get overwritten... No they haven't been.

Set root password:

# passwd

And edit /etc/rc.conf

UNICODE="yes"
EDITOR="/usr/bin/vim"

then I adjust:
/etc/conf.d/consolefont
/etc/conf.d/keymaps

I'm emerging vim at this point cause I simply hate nano.
and a couple of steps from page 9 of Gentoo manual:

# emerge vim
# emerge syslog-ng
# rc-update add syslog-ng default
# emerge vixie-cron
# rc-update add vixie-cron default
# emerge mlocate
# emerge dhcpcd

time to install boot loader. I prefer grub. Once it's installed I edit config.

# emerge grub
# vim /boot/grub/grub.conf

grub.conf looks like this for me:

default 0
timeout 15
splashimage=(hd0,1)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
javascript:void(0)
title Gentoo Linux 2.6.35-r5
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/linux-2.6.36-gentoo-r5 root=/dev/sda4

title Windows 7 Proffesional
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

I install manually grub:

# grub --no-floppy

and then in it's command line enter:

root (hd0,1) 
setup (hd0) 
quit

lets go. exit chrooted environment, unmount partitions. Reboot and remove CD.

# exit
~# umount /mnt/gentoo/boot /mnt/gentoo/dev /mnt/gentoo/proc /mnt/gentoo
~# reboot
.
.
.
Failed to load module ipw2200.

To be continued...

Installing Gentoo on Dell Latitude X1 (2011)

Also check CrunchBang on Dell Latitude X1, distro I am using today!

My steps, following Gentoo Handbook with changes for my LX1:

Divide the disk into two roughly equal parts (I may be using Windows for some specific tasks such as gaming ;) So leaving it a fair amount of space)
I own a copy of EASEUS Partition Master 6.1.1 Professional Edition. I think it's one of the best tools available to disk manipulations.
The other (non-windows) partition for the time being is just created as a primary partition without any system on it.

Download and burn the latest gentoo installation iso (/gentoo/releases/x86/current-iso/ install-x86-minimal-********.iso from Gentoo Mirrors)

Boot the machine from the CD. In case your laptop wasn't starting from External CD, hit F12 at boot and change the Boot Sequence.

First set-up your network connection. If you're using your wifi and it is WEP protected you should be fine.
just run:

# net-setup eth1

Fill in all the data and voila, you should have connection with your network.

Similarly for cable connection:

# net-setup eth0

I run wifi, only WPA protected, which is a problem cause it needs wpa-supplicant, and that's not a part of my installation disk.

I skip to disk management for the time being.

It's a very small disk and even though I'd like to divide it as my other boxes in separate partitions for opt or usr, due to the space loss I don't do it. I'm just creating the standard layout:

boot partition
swap partition
root partition

I'm not backing up anything as this is an almost clean windows install I'm risking, so not much.
In case you're changing system that's been used for a while it's strongly advised you DO backup your files.

Let's see what I have right now:

# fdisk /dev/hda

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 7852.  There is
nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024, and could in
certain setups cause problems with: 
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., LILO) 
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
  (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

This is fine. I'm going to divide it anyway.

Now press p to display partitions.

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/hda: 64.6 GB, 64592281600 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7852 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x9a52c54a

   Device  Boot    Start    End    Blocks   Id   System
/dev/hda1    *         1   3849  30917061    7   HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2           3850   7852  32154097+   1   FAT12

Correct. Well... hda2 isn't really FAT12. But it doesn't matter.

To be 100% sure everything is fine I'm removing it. And check if it's gone.

Command (m for help): d
Partition number (1-4): 2

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/hda: 64.6 GB, 64592281600 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7852 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x9a52c54a

   Device  Boot    Start    End    Blocks   Id   System
/dev/hda1    *         1   3849  30917061    7   HPFS/NTFS

It is.
First create boot partition. It can be really small. I'm using default value for start. No need to complicate things here and making this partition 32MB in size.
Then a to make it bootable.

Command (m for help): n
Command action
  e   extended
  p   primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 2
First cylinder (3850-7852, default 3850): [Accept default with Enter]
Using default value 3850
Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (3850-7852, default 7852): +32M

Command (m for help): a
Partition number (1-4): 2

Another check:

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/hda: 64.6 GB, 64592281600 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7852 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x9a52c54a

   Device  Boot    Start    End    Blocks   Id   System
/dev/hda1    *         1   3849  30917061    7   HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2    *      3850   3854     40162+  83   Linux

That's more like it :)
Now swap. Following good recipe for a stable system with little RAM:
[(2 x RAM) + 1 MB] = Swap File Size
I set it to 4gig.

Command (m for help): n
Command action
  e   extended
  p   primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 3
First cylinder (3855-7852, default 3855): [Accept default with Enter]
Using default value 3855
Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (3855-7852, default 7852): +4G

Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1-4): 2
Hex code (type L to list codes): 82
Changed system type of partition 3 to 82 (Linux swap / Solaris)

Now my partition table looks like this:

Device  Boot    Start    End    Blocks   Id   System
/dev/hda1    *         1   3849  30917061    7   HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2    *      3850   3854     40162+  83   Linux
/dev/hda3           3855   4377   4200997+  82   Linux swap / Solaris

As last I allocate the rest of space for the root partition:

Command (m for help): n
Command action
  e   extended
  p   primary partition (1-4)
p
Selected partition 4
First cylinder (4378-7852, default 4378): [Accept default with Enter]
Using default value 4378
Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (4378-7852, default 7852): [Accept default with Enter]

Final layout of my disk will look like this:

Device  Boot    Start    End    Blocks   Id   System
/dev/hda1    *         1   3849  30917061    7   HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2    *      3850   3854     40162+  83   Linux
/dev/hda3           3855   4377   4200997+  82   Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda4           4378   7852  27912937+  83   Linux

I like it, and I save it with w:

Command (m for help): w

Next step: Filesystems.

Activate swap:

# mkswap /dev/hda3

# swapon /dev/hda3

My boot is pretty small, so I don't want to waste space for journal here. It's not going to get used that often anyway. I'm activating ext2 on it.

# mke2fs /dev/hda2

I was a huge fan of ReiserFS, but lately it seems to be a bit abandoned, hence my choice of the "good old" ext3 for root partition.

# mke2fs -j /dev/hda4

This takes a bit of time, but once it's finished it's time to start creating system layout. In other words mounting partitions:

# mount /dev/hda4 /mnt/gentoo
# mkdir /mnt/gentoo/boot
# mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/gentoo/boot

Ha! I've no internet connection and minimal installation CD doesn't contain stage3 tarball to install the system. I have another computer at hand so I'm just downloading:
/releases/x86/autobuilds/stage3-i686-.tar.bz2
/releases/snapshots/current/portage-latest.tar.bz2
to a USB stick, from Gentoo mirrors and copy to my Laptop, to /mnt/gentoo

# mkdir /mnt/gentoo/usb
# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/gentoo/usb
# cp /mnt/gentoo/usb/stage3....tar.bz2 /mnt/gentoo/
# cp /mnt/gentoo/usb/portage-latest.tar.bz2 /mnt/gentoo/
# umount /mnt/gentoo/usb
# cd /mnt/gentoo
# tar xvjpf stage3....tar.bz2
# tar xvjf portage-latest.tar.bz2 -C /mnt/gentoo/usr

Now I have both system layout and portage in place, time to configure portage.
Automatically created make.conf is in place.

# nano -w /mnt/gentoo/etc/make.conf

Right. I've not that much memory and very quick disk. So I'l removing -pipe from CFLAGS. The rest is fine, just adding this line:

MAKEOPTS="-j2" 

That's a compiler option for LX1 processor.

Gentoo intallation help suggest mirrorselect at this point.
Ok, time for internet.
edit: /etc/conf.d/net

modules=( “wpa_supplicant” )
wpa_supplicant_eth1=”-Dwext”

and then /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=0
ap_scan=1
network={
ssid=”name of my ssid”
psk=”network key”
priority=5
}

Save both files and run:

wpa_supplicant -iweth1 -Dwext -c/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf &

ping gentoo.org showed me some nice stats and there my internet connection is ready.

mirrorselect -i -r -o >> /mnt/gentoo/etc/make.conf

That gave me a nice list of mirrors. I've chosen any available in UK as this is where I'm based. And "any available" ensures that when the best server is down I'm still able to update my system. That choice gets saved in make.conf.

Before chrooting into the new environment last touches, and here we go.

# cp -L /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/gentoo/etc/
# mount -t proc none /mnt/gentoo/proc
# mount -o bind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev

# chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
# env-update
>> Regenerating /etc/ld.so.cache...
# source /etc/profile
# export PS1="(chroot) $PS1"

Next I update Portage. And choose profile.

# emerge --sync
# eselect profile list

Just making sure that the default is chosen.

[1]   default/linux/x86/10.0 *

Now really tough choice. KDE or Gnome? Really don't want other ones as they simply are not useful enough for me. I prefer KDE and have been using it for ages, however list version was killing this little box. Would it run better now? There's a couple of tools in it that I really like. Lets give it a try. I can always rebuild later.
Why am I thinking about it now? Cause it's time to build USE list for compiler. What lands in /etc/make.conf:

USE="alsa apache2 bluetooth cdr curl dri dvd fbcon ftp gtk iconv ieee1394 imagemagick ipod jpeg kde mp3 mpeg mysqli opengl php png qt4 samba scanner truetype wifi"

If anything will be needed later this can always get amended. For now that's all I can remember.

Make sure I have UTF8 in my locales... Well I don't so I edit /etc/locale.gen

en_GB ISO-8859-1
en_GB.UTF-8 UTF-8

and then run:

# locale-gen

That's it for today :)

Latitude X1 upgrade

As it stands right now, there is not even one laptop on the market that's as little as mine (netbooks counted out for reasons mentioned before) with such a nice design and very good resolution. In order to get anything even close to the size and battery life I'd have to spend the amount of money I'm not willing to.
To save myself trouble I've actually thought: My little one has really only two weak spots and another one that should be replaced.
1. Really low amount of memory.
2. Very slow disk.

Those two combined mean that during work majority of things are just being paged, cause there's not enough space for them in memory, and because the disk is slow, overall performance is weak.

Thing to replace was ofc the battery, because after 5 years of work it simply is not performing well, keeping the computer up for slightly less than an hour. I've expected really high prices cause usually all Dell components are pricey, but I was pleasantly surprised. There are a couple of merchants selling on ebay, who offer the better, 6-cell, ones for less than 30 quid!

So that left me with memory and disk. I definitely wanted an SSD disk, because of the lack of mechanical elements meaning less battery usage, less heat and SPEED!

And at least 1GB memory (wasn't sure if it was capable of addressing more). As it shown it was.

However somebody else thought about the same thing earlier and offered his insight:

Dell Latitude X1 Upgrade (SSD) @ iamgoat

There he replaced disk with 32GB one and added 16GB memory card I'm planning on using dual boot, so I've chosen a bigger disk (64GB - same brand) and as I already had 32GB Compact Flash card in my inventory I've decided to use it as it is a brilliant idea to extend my box' memory.
Thanks Rick!

Everything I did was pretty much the same as Rick shows it in his gallery, as LX1 is really easy to upgrade, there's really nothing you can break as long as you don't pull too strong and can count (numbered screws on the HDD lid) ;)

Now before doing so I've made a couple of simple tests to check how will my laptop improve.

Because I was testing everything with Windows 7 (trial to check if my computer is able to run it - tat's because I was thinking of maybe selling it - It is and is doing really well). I have several screens from before and after upgrade.

Windows Experience Index before:

Component	Details	Subscore	Base score
Processor	Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.10GHz	2.1	1.0 Determined by lowest subscore
Memory (RAM)	512 MB	2.9
Graphics		1.9
Gaming graphics	Not detected	1.0
Primary hard disk	43GB Free (56GB Total)	3.4

Windows Experience Index after:

Component	Details	Subscore	Base score
Processor	Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.10GHz	2.0	1.0 Determined by lowest subscore
Memory (RAM)	2.25 GB	4.1
Graphics		1.9
Gaming graphics	Not detected	1.0
Primary hard disk	43GB Free (56GB Total)	5.9

Even though due to the poor graph the overall index is still 1.0, that's not the point.
Memory index increased from 2.9 to 4.1
Disk Index increased from 3.4 to 5.9

Would the 0.1 drop in processor index be caused by higher CPU resources consumption needed to run SSD?

Note that both test were made on clean installation of Windows, and almost empty disk, with nothing but bare windows services running in the background.

There's nothing to comment on really. SSD is clearly better. One thing worth noting tho is the temperature. 42-43 degrees on the old disk show that it was really the part of the laptop that cause majority of the heat problems.

It still gets hot, when processor is, but now the temperature is bearable, while before it could get unpleasant.

Next step will be: Partitioning and installing Gentoo.

New laptop

Waited for so long they've managed to reduce price on another model of Toshiba ;)
It's going to be delivered tomorrow!
It's going to be SATELLITE R630-13T. We'll see.

UPDATE: out of stock. Well To be honest I was glad to hear that. Money aside I've taken a look at that box and it is too big and too heavy.

beta-testing

I was given a chance to test RIFT. and here are my thoughts after that beta:

Graphics are very nice, nothing mind bogging, but nice anyway. I like the dark mood, not too sweet, although it is a bit cartoony. Some places look slightly empty, as in only a couple of trees and a bit of mobs wandering over a flat green surface. That looked a bit "unfinished".
All in all it'd be a rather positive experience if not for one huge problem: I had to turn details to MEDIUM to be able to play. Otherwise the game became extremely choppy. And I do have two good Nvidia cards on board.

Gameplay is smooth, abilities fire as they should and when you expect them. Had only one occasion when one of my spells didn't fire properly and that looked like a lag spike to me, may have been my connection. Hard to tell. Other than that, I might say I was impressed. Both LOS and distance checks seem to work well. Animations of the abilities are good too. Not too flashy, with just enough variations to keep it interesting, and not cause brain damage.

Questing is a bit boring, as you don't even have to read quests to do them, hence you won't get deep into the story, so the RPG experience loses its depth. In other words: why am I here? why do I kill those guys exactly? who the hell is Regulos? Those questions may as well get never answered unless you REALLY want to know. That's bad imo. But a case of personal choice.

PvP - I've managed to queue a couple of scenarios/battlegrounds called warfronts here. Since I was only lvl 10/11 I was given a choice of one. Not much brain-work involved here. You take the "artifact" just as in and hold it. Point sare given for holding it, killing holders and ofc all other normal activities (kills, DBs, heals). No problems here. Smooth play, good animations and nice final warfront screen. Haven't seen much other PvP.

UI - Similar to Aion or actually any other MMO you've seen. I liked particularly the feature where you could turn on map and still keep running and the map just became translucent so you could see through it. Very nice and clear chat letters. Could use a couple of good tweaks tho.

Grouping - They should learn from war. Crappy. Really. You can't look for groups. You don't see them.  When invited you don't see who's playing what class, no icons or colours in group list.

Character souls - in other words your mastery trees. Interesting. Although given the fact that this game reminded me so much of wow I've tried a warlock as I've played one in wow. And guess what? It was almost exactly the same, maybe not as OP, but the abilities and all... SAME. A total rip-off.
Now the funny part is that I actually liked it as it made it easier to familiarize myself with the char.
The sheer variety of abilities you can spec into having so many souls is mind-boggling! And it's really what's setting this game apart. Some of the abilities are duplicating themselves (like for a warrior I've chosen two souls/trees and ended up with two starting abilities causing exactly the same amount of damage. The difference was then in following souls abilities, that were affecting the basic ones).
I'd say this is really fun, really interesting and I liked it a lot.

Summary
At this spot the game looks like PvE heaven, much better in some respects than wow. Not sure about other types of PvP than warfronts as I wasn't able to see any such action.
I hated the fact that every single char (pvp marked), every vendor or quest giver was marked with the same colour, size and type of letters (names). This made it slightly hard for me to find my way around.
And again I'll stress it out: at least during the beginning of game, soul system seems great.