HardwareSupportMachinesLaptopsPackardBell

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Notes on installation and compatibility of Ubuntu with Packard Bell laptop computers.

Summary

Make

Model

Installs ?

Not working

Ubuntu Release

Comments

Last Updated

Packard Bell

Easynote J2830

Yes

Sound does not work

v6.06 (Dapper) & v6.10 (Edgy)

In process, see https://launchpad.net/bugs/75528

2006-Dec-10

Packard Bell

EasyNote R1100

Yes

v6.10 (Dapper)

Boot: vga=771 pnpbios=off acpi=force; ath wireless antenna switch via rfswitch; more info: LaptopTestingTeam/PackardBellR1100

2006-Sep-12

Packard Bell

Easynote R3400

No

v6.06 (Dapper)

Needs to be installed via Breezy CD then an upgrade to dapper. Due to an 8254 timer issue on the IO-APIC you'll need a custom boot parameter to boot dapper: noapic nolapic acpi=off. cpu is AMD Mobile Sempron 3000+ 1.8Ghz

2006-Sep-01

Packard Bell

Easynote R3400

Yes

All features in testing.

v6.10 (Edgy)

Boots without customizations. All other features seem to be working properly. cpu is AMD Mobile Sempron 3000+ 1.8Ghz

2006-Sep-01

Packard Bell

Easynote R3450

Yes

v5.10 (Breezy)

Needs boot parameter: vga=771 noapic, otherwise doesn't boot. Modem untested. cpu is AMD Mobile Turion 64 model ML-30 - 1.6 GHz

2006-Aug-07

Packard Bell

Easynote R3280

Yes

In process

v5.10 (Breezy)

Needs boot parameter: vga=771 noapic, otherwise doesn't boot. cpu is AMD Mobile Turion 64 model ML-28 - 1.6 GHz

2006-Feb-08

Packard Bell

Easynote 3300

Yes

(Warty)

Needs nolapic boot parameter, otherwise doesn't boot. Modem untested. Additional info: chipset is sis740, cpu is AMD XP-M 2600+

Packard Bell

Easynote A series

Yes

Centrino Wireless

Only issue so far is the Centrino Wireless: hardware shows up fine but HWaddr is 00:00:00:00:00:00, hence I can't set it in my router's MAC filtering.

Packard Bell

Easynote M5262

Yes

Details below.

2005-Dec-21

Packard Bell

Easynote A5560

Yes

Resume with ndiswrapper.

v5.04 (Hoary)

Celeron M. Linksys wireless. Details below.

2005-Aug-18

Details

Packard Bell Easynote R3400

Type

Info

Breezy

Dapper

Edgy

CPU

Mobile AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 3000+ - 1.8 GHz

Yes

Yes

Yes

RAM

512MB SO-DIMM (standard store configuration)

-

-

-

HDD

60GB HGST (Hitachi/IBM) IC25N060ATMR04

Yes

Yes

Yes

Optical

DVD±RW DL NEC ND6500A 8x ±SlimWriter Slimline

Yes

Yes

Yes

Display

Wide screen TFT 15,4" WXGA: 1280x800

Yes

Yes

Yes

Video

ATI Radeon XPRESS 200M 5955 (PCIE)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Ethernet

ALi Corporation M5263 - 100BASE-TX/10Base-T Fast Ethernet MAC

No*

Yes

Yes

Wifi

RaLink RT2500 802.11g Cardbus/mini-PCI (Billionton)

untested

Yes

Yes

Firewire

Texas Instruments PCI4510 IEEE-1394 Controller

untested

Yes

Yes

Modem

Smart Link 56K Modem (Billionton MDC56S-I)

untested

Yes

No*

Audio

ALi Corporation M5455 PCI AC-Link Controller Audio Device

Yes

Yes

Yes

Master card kernel

ATI Technologies Inc RS480 Host/PCI Bridge

Yes

acpi=off noapic nolapic*

Yes

USB

ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller (rev 03)

Yes

Yes

Yes

USB

ALi Corporation USB 2.0 Controller (rev 01)

Yes

NO!*

Yes

Breezy notes

  • Breezy will by default detect the wrong tulip module as the network card module. remove this module rmmod tulipdownload the uli526x module from http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=83710&page=2 (second post on second page). Follow the details in the post to get the module unpacked and installed properly.

Dapper notes

  • Dapper Livecd will only boot with the boot parameters noapic nolapic acpi=off

  • Dapper Livecd Installation crashes during finalizing installation stage prior to configuring grub leaving a unusable system.

  • Plugging in USB devices will "freeze" the system. Unplug usb device and the system will become available again after 30 seconds. Advice: blacklist the echi-hcd module. This is the usb2 module which causes all the trouble. USB1.1 is the only way to go if you're set on using Dapper.

  • Dapper kernel 2.6.15-(all versions) have issues with the ATI chipsets. Kernel will say "8254 timer not connected on IO-APIC". This is a known kernel issue for the 2.6.15 range. It's fixed in 2.6.16 (requires manual building) and 2.6.17 (Ubuntu Edgy). workarround: boot with boot parameters noapic nolapic acpi=off.

  • Installation advise: Install Breezy and upgrade to Dapper, it's the only way to get it working.

Edgy notes

  • 2006-09-02 sl-modem-source does not compile against current 2.6.17-6-k7 kernelsource.
    • Edgy is still under construction, so it might change before it's final release.

Packard Bell Easynote R3450

  • Installation boot only with the parameter vga=771 noapic

  • Installation: 1280x800 resolution needs to be set manually in xorg.conf

Packard Bell Easynote R3280

  • Installation boot only with the parameter vga=771 noapic

  • Installation: Only automatic network configuration failed
  • Others: in process

Packard Bell Easynote M5262

  • Generally a smooth install and good user experience: ethernet connection, DVD drive, etc, all good
  • Touchpad and USB mouse work fine in tandem
  • Not yet got built in card reader working
  • Problems linking external monitor (but also in WinXP)
  • Problems linking digital camera (Fuji Finepix 1400) but may be camera issue
  • After booting, X sometimes displays a blank white screen and needs to be restarted with Ctrl-Alt-Backspace to access GDM

Packard Bell Easynote A5560

  • Smooth installation, manual partition to keep recovery parition.
  • Kept recovery partition so my sister can go back to Windows, should she want to. (Brand new laptop - didn't let her even try Windows.)
  • Wireless Linksys card "INPROCOMM IPN 2220" not working. Fixed with ndiswrapper:
  • WXGA not detected automatically. Fixed with 855resolution:
    • Download and install Debian package from: http://www.debian.or.jp/~kmuto/855resolution/

    • $ sudo vi /etc/default/855resolution
      • MODE=3c
      • XRESO=1280
      • YRESO=768
    • $ sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
    • $ sudo /etc/init.d/855resolution start
    • $ sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart
  • Wireless not working after resume from hibernate, computer hangs if I try to enable it.
  • Haven't testet DVD burning and card reader yet.


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HardwareSupportMachinesLaptopsPackardBell (last edited 2008-08-06 16:36:07 by localhost)