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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:
- $ sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper
$ wget ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/notebook/TravelMate_4000_4500/driver/a802.zip
- $ unzip a802.zip
- $ sudo ndiswrapper -i A802/Winxp/neti2220.inf
- $ sudo modprobe ndiswrapper
- $ rm -rf A802 a802.zip
- 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.