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Installing [Fedora FC6] on [Hewlett Packard DV 9000t]

Last updated: [2-Nov-2006]

General Hardware Specifications of [HP DV 9000t]:

This laptop is operating under Kernel version [2.6.18-1.2798]

Basic Installation of [Fedora Core 6]:

• I downloaded the FC6 DVD via bittorrent – and I usually keep bittorrent running until the up/download ratio is above 1.0 – just to be a good OSC (open source citizen).

• The installation of FC6 proceeds without any special intervention. I used "linux resolution=1440x900" to start the installation. My disk configuration is: 100 MB "/boot" partition, the remaining 260 GB are allocated to the logical volume group VG0. This volume group is divided into: 4 GB swap, 24 GB "/", 24 GB "/ for testing", 24 GB "/var", 140 GB "/home" and the remaining 40 GB are not yet assigned.

• After the installation I updated the system (yum update). I use the Ethernet connection to connect to my DSL router. The first additional packages to install are "rpm -ivh http://ftp.freshrpms.net/pub/freshrpms/fedora/linux/6/freshrpms-release/freshrpms-release-1.1-1.fc.noarch.rpm" and "rpm -ivh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-6.rpm". These two packages add new repositories to your yum configuration (in /etc/yum.repos.d).

• To install the driver for the Nvidia graphics card use: "yum install nvidia-x11-drv". BTW: glxgears shows 1030 fps without the nvidia driver and 6120 fps with the nvidia driver. To install the driver for the integrated wireless card use: "yum install dkms-ipw3945". Both packages (plus dependencies) come from freshrpms.net.

• This completes the basic installation and you are ready to go.

Setting up additional features for [Linux Distribution]

• To get the laptop to suspend to memory when you close the lid, you need to set up the proper acpi events and actions (/etc/actions/ and /etc/events/). I basically copied the scripts from: "http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_configure_acpid".

• The standard behavior of the touchpad felt a bit erratic. Therefore I used the "InputDevice"-section from "http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_Synaptics_Touchpad" in my xorg.conf. I also configured the "Horizontal Scroll" in Firefox as is explained in the page because I thought the standard configuration is a bit confusing. However, I am beginning to like it and I went back to the standard Firefox configuration.

Unresolved issues

• The built-in 1.3MP camera is not supported by Linux. There may be a chance that the

• HP Mobile Remote Control ?

• HP QuickPlay?

• The battery reports "design capacity: 6000mAh" and "last full capacity: 4832mAh". Does this mean my battery has 4832mAh? Or do I have to re-calibrate the battery as is explained on the HP website (but only for MS XP)?

• I have to confess to have never used a microphone on any off my PCs. I don't have a clue how to test the built-in stereo microphone.

• During boot I get the error message:
  PCI: Failed to allocate mem resource #6:20000@d0000000 for 0000:01:00.0
  Anybody knows what that is all about?

• I have not tried to connect devices to the FireWire (IEEE 1394) bus.

• I have not tried to connect devices to the MultiMediaCard connector.

• I have not tired to connect the SVGA, the HDMI or the VGA port.

Configuration Files

• Any Configuration files that you needed to modify

More Specific Information. Specific stuff such as:

• Second Hard Disk
  I ordered the Hitachi 160 GB TravelStar disk for the second hard drive bay of the DV9k. I noticed only after I opened the laptop that you need to have a special hard drive mounting kit. This kit can be ordered from HP. There are good news and bad news. Good news: you can easily find and order almost any part of the laptop (unlike with my old Fujitsu laptop). The bad news: this kit costs $45.- ($60.- with tax and shipping)! The mounting kit consists of three parts: a metal bracket which holds the disk, the screws and a special connector which connects the hard disk SATA interface to the laptop.

• System Recovery DVD with Windows XP Home Edition
  These two DVDs restore the factory installation on any disk (it worked also with my new 160 GB disk). On my old laptop (Fujitsu Lifebook P2040) the recovery CDs required the specific "recovery partition" on the disk – once I deleted this, the recovery CDs were useless. However, the HP recovery DVDs restore also all the ad-crap that HP throws at you (14 GB used disk space after installation! Just imagine how may hours it takes to clear that garbage).

• Laptop Sleeve
  I ordered a laptop sleeve from CasePC (case-pc.com) for $30.-. This is actually a very nice sleeve to protect the laptop. It's just big enough to hold the laptop and a few "flat" items (CDs, papers, etc.). This laptop case is not for you if you need to store bigger accessories (like power supply, additional batteries, etc.).

Contact Information (Optional)

• wkuballa(at)yahoo.com

Links:

• good notebook config advice: www.thinkwiki.org

• good infos: gentoo-wiki.com

If you find out more about the things that I haven't tried, or the things that don't work for me, please let me know.

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