Linux Ubuntu Dapper (6.06 LTS) on a Dell Latitude D800

Last revised January, 22, 2007.

To see a report of the installation of Ubuntu Breezy on this laptop, click here.

Recently I had to reinstall entirely linux on my laptop with Ubuntu Dapper (6.06 LTS). I took this opportunity to make this report on the installation
[Note: It seems various laptops have been sold by Dell with this "Latitude D800" name, not sure yours will be exactly the same].
I chose a standard Dapper installation. My BIOS revision is A11.

Subsystem	Status	Updated	Info
Hard Drive		6/13/2006	Works out of the box. (DMA automatically activated)
Optical - DVD-ROM/CD-RW		6/13/2006	Works out of the box. (DMA automatically activated)
Internal floppy drive (optional)		6/13/2006	Works out of the box.
Audio		6/13/2006	Works out of the box.
Xserver - Open source "nv" driver		6/13/2006	Display works out of the box. Suspend/hibernate works. TVout requires to boot with the cable connected. No 3D acceleration.
Xserver - Proprietary "nvidia" driver		6/13/2006	Dispaly works OK after installing the driver. Suspend/hibernate works but not 100% of the time. TVout requires to boot with the cable connected. 3D acceleration.
Xserver - Proprietary "nvidia" legacy driver		6/13/2006	Dispaly works OK after installing the driver. Suspend/hibernate does not work. TVout works. 3D acceleration.
Keyboard - special keys		6/13/2006	Main keys work out of the box (see below).
Mouse		6/13/2006	Trackpad and touchpad work out of the box.
ACPI / Power Management		6/13/2006	Works out of the box.
ACPI / Suspend/Resume		6/13/2006	Works out of the box.
Wired Ethernet		6/13/2006	Works out of the box.
Wireless Ethernet		6/13/2006	Works out of the box.
Modem		6/13/2006	Does not work out of the box. I have not tried to install the binary driver yet.
USB		6/13/2006	Works out of the box. (tested on mouse and external Hard Drive)
Firewire		6/13/2006	Works out of the box. (tested on an external firewire Hard Drive)
PCMCIA		6/13/2006	Works out of the box. (tested on a pcmcia modem)

Xserver - Open Source "nv" driver

Display works out of the box.
All resolutions are supported.
3D acceleration is not supported by the driver.

TVout only partially works. When hotplugging the cable, the external monitor will show very strange colors (depending on the resolution used).

This is my xorg.conf file for the nv driver.

Xserver - Proprietary "nvidia" driver

You need for that to install nvidia-glx, and to change one line in /etc/X11/xorg.conf from:
       Driver          "nv"
to:
       Driver          "nvidia"
Display then works, but you only have access to the maximal resolution in gnome (1920x1200).
I have not found a solution to this yet.
Maybe it would be possible to configure it in the xorg.conf file directly, but I have not tried yet.

For the display to wake up correctly after a suspend/hibernate, you also have to:
1) Add this line in section "device" of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file:
        Option          "NvAGP" "1"
2) Set POST_VIDEO to false in /etc/default/acpi-support
You really need those two things together to make it work.
(I have tested with either one or the other and it does not work).

Nvidia also propose to remove the following line:

    Load "dri"

This is my xorg.conf file for the nvidia driver.

There is a problem that prevents access to a virtual console with <CTRL>-<ALT>-<F1> to <CTRL>-<ALT>-<F6> when using the nvidia driver.
To solve this problem, simply add vga=788 after splash in your /etc/grub/menu.lst file.
This makes the screen using a 800x600 resolution during the boot process and for the virtual consoles.
You can also use vga=791 to have it in 1024x768.
Unfortunately, I have not figured out how to use a "wide screen" resolution (e.g. 1280x800).

TVout also does not work correctly.
<Fn>-<F8> does not switch between dispalys as expected.
The only solution I found was to boot with the cable connected (or more simply to restart the X server with the cable connected).

Xserver - Proprietary "nvidia" legacy driver

Alternatively, you can install the nvidia-glx-legacy package, and apply the same configurations than above.
With this driver, you do have access to all the screen resolution.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to make suspend/hibernate to work with it.

The interest of this driver is that TVout works better.
<Fn>-<F8> switches between dispalys as expected (1: Monitor; 2: Out; 3: Both).
Note however that you need to be at max resolution in gnome (1920x1200).
I tested with a 1680x1050 resolution, but the display then becomes black and the only solution is an hard reboot...
Also, depending on the video projector used, I sometimes had only a portion of the screen visible.
In this case, the only solution I found was to boot with the cable connected and switch to the external monitor during the boot process.

Mouse

Trackpad and touchpad work out of the box.
The synaptic touchpad is, by default, configured so that the right part emulates a scroll wheel.

ACPI / Power Management

The main functions of ACPI work OK : battery charge, AC adaptor status, temperature, processor state.
I have not looked at the advanced ones.

I have enabled laptop mode in /etc/default/acpi-support :
ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE=true

ACPI / Suspend/Resume

If you use the nvidia driver, you will have to configure two things to make the screen waking up (see above).

The laptop suspends/hibernates, but there are some limitations. I don't know exactly what are the problems, but for it to work, I do the following things: 1) disconnect all connections before suspending (wireless and wired networks, usb peripherals), and 2) keep the ac-adaptor connected during suspension and wake-up.
Of course, 2) is a bit limiting when travelling or being at a conference...

Keyboard

All keys work out of the box:
<Fn>-<Escape> suspend tthe computer.
<Fn>-<F2> switches on/off the wireless internet.
<Fn>-<End>, <Fn>-<PageUp>, <Fn>-<PageDown> for the volume.
Multimedia sound keys work too.
<Fn>-<Up> and <Fn>-<Down> to control brightness.
<Fn>-<F8> for CRT/LCD switching.
<Fn>-<F3> shows battery status.
<Fn>-<F10> ejects CD.
Num lock works.

Comments ? Questions ? Suggestions ? Send an e-mail to: parrenin [at] ujf-grenoble [dot] fr.

Links

to TuxMobil page : TuxMobil

The very good page from Mike Hardy on Linux on the Dell Latitude D800: http://www.mikehardy.net/linux_latitude_d800/

Useful information on this ubuntu wiki page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/DellLatitudeD800

The US Dell page on the D800: http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/latit_d800?c=us&cs=28&l=en&s=dfb