I’ve been trying FC5 on my laptop to see if it fixes any of the software and libraries that were keeping me from running the latest stuff on Ubuntu. I found that it does fix a lot of libraries and also fixes the Intel 855 video driver issue that I was having and now my cards able to be accessed via DRI and OpenGL actually works. Anyways, here’s my summary of FC5 installation:
1. Get the 855resolution from yum or apt or source and install it.
2. Add this line to your /etc/rc.local file:
/usr/sbin/855resolution 7e 1280 800
3. Download the Intel Pro wireless firmware version 2.4 from this website: http://ipw2200.sf.net. There is a firmware link at the top. And you MUST use the 2.4 firmware.
4. Un-tar this into /lib/firmware
5. Reboot
This should be everything you need to do in order to get the widescreen resolution to work and the wireless to work. You still need to configure the wireless setup in the System > Administration > Network application. You will need to create a new device configuration that is a wireless configuration. You will also need to ensure that the firmware was loaded correctly by looking at the “Hardware” tab. The IPW should be listed as a wireless device and not a wired (ethernet) device.
If you get totally sick of yum, because it totally sucks, I would install apt. There is a summary of how to do this here:
Invert your Mind 
Where is version 2.4?
2006-Mar-31 ipw2200-1.1.2.tgz
1.1.2 seems to be the newest one…
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1.1.2 is the version of the kernel driver. This is not the firmware. The 2.6.16 kernel ships with the stable version of the driver automatically. That version is 1.1.0. These versions are such that the stable versions end in 0 and development versions end in everything else. Therefore, you can use the 1.1.2 of the kernel driver by compiling it and installing it by hand, but I tried this and never got it to work.
Instead, click the link at the top of the page that says “Firmware”. This contains the firmware that you need. Since the kernel ships with 1.1.0, you need the 2.4 version of the firmware. Download and untar this bundle into /lib/firmware
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Does the firmware update for the intel wireless card affect the card’s performance in windows? I have a dual boot system and I want the card to work in both OS’s.
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No, the FC5 firmware is simply a software firmware that is loaded into the kernel to allow FC5 to communicate with the device. You don’t actually have to install the firmware to the card itself. Therefore, this patch will not effect Windows in any respect.
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Hey guys, Im new to this. Can someone please tell me step by step how to untar this file into /lib/firmware. I get errors when I try. what exact commands do I type to untar it? Do i need to extract first? Please help. THanks
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I can’t recall if this file is a tar.gz or just a tar. My guess is it is a tar.gz. Here are the instructions to untar it:
su –
Password: <type in root password>
mkdir -p /lib/firmware
cd /lib/firmware
tar xzvf <dir>/ipw2000.tar.gz
exit
These commands log you in as root, create the firmware directory if it doesn’t exist and then untar the tar file into that directory. If the file is just a plain tar and not a tar.gz remove the ‘z’ from the tar command like this:
tar xvf <dir>/ipw2000.tar.gz
Good luck.
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Thanks alot man
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Ok. So I have it installed and it shows up in the networkconfig/hardware as wireless. Status is OK. How do I get connection? I created the profile. When I hit enable it says
“Determining IP information for dev9586… Failed: No link present Check Cable”
My router says the device is attached also…. But as the name it was before installing linux.
Thanks alot for the help.
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I assume you rebooted and also configured the SID of your wireless router in the network settings. If you’ve already done both of these things than something else is not working. I usually got that error because the network settings were wrong and the router couldn’t be located. Check to ensure all of your settings are correct (SID, keys, etc) and also ensure that the device is turned on (Fn-F2 on a Dell 700m). If none of this works, you have me stumped.
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Ok, wireless is working perfect. Can’t thank you enough. Can you tell me how to get the resolution working correctly, If its not too much trouble for you? I downloaded the install files but cannot figure out how to add in the line… Im new to all of this. Thanks alot.
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You mean 855resolution I would assume. This is pretty simple as well. Here’s a detailed description:
1. sudo yum install 855resolution
2. sudo vi /etc/rc.local
3. At the end of this file add the line:
/usr/sbin/855resolution 7e 1280 800
4. Save (:wq in vi saves the file)
5. Reboot
That should be all you need to do to get the resolution working. Good luck!
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Thanks man. Your the best.
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Hey Jon
How did you get that wireless working, I am getting the same error and have tried a bunch of things (Including deleting all the devices and profiles) but nothing helped ?
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You wrote:
The last issue and I’ve tried freaking everything to fix is suspend to RAM.
I don’t think this will work on the Dell 700m,
I installed fc5 on a Dell D610 a couple of days ago. At first suspend to ram worked fine. But after I got wireless working and a few other things I found it would never resume from suspend.
I may later try to find whether there are scripts that will shut down wireless and remove the wireless related modules.
Another thing that happened between suspend to ram working and not working is that I ran ‘yum update’ and got a newer kernel as a result, originally 2.6.15-1.2054_FC5 now 2.6.17-1.2157_FC5, but think is is unlikely that that upgrade would stop it working.
If I ever sort this out I’ll report details in http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~axs/laptop
Aaron
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I wouldn’t be too surpirsed that a new Kernel would mess things up. Since the ACPI stuff is now backed into the Kernel with some support for suspending and hibernating I could see a Kernel patch effecting that functionality. It depends on whether or not you are running the suspend2 kernel the the stock kernel, but from what it looks like you are running stock which makes it even more likely.
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guys .. Im way lost, I have read all the stuff above and still can make it work. Are you guys leaving stuff out? Im new to Linux but have been a WinAdmin for 15yrs.
Eli
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I meant to say “can not make the wireless work on my Dell Inspiron 700m
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What are the exact steps you took to install the firmware from the site listed in the post? Could you also provide the link you used to download the firmware? This will help to determine what steps are missing.
Thanks,
-bp
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Hi guys if someone can help me with the resolution i would greatly appreciate it. I have done everything listed in the post. I get a correct resolution when I log in as root, but if I load as another user I get the crappy resolution. Does someone know why this happen?
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Each user has a resolution setting in the GDM properties (I think that is where it is). Once you login as a user you should be able to select the 1280×800 resolution using the Preferences->Sceen Resolution menu.
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Thanks for the help.
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