Intel

Contact: wanchai, MattPerry

Make: HP

Brand: EliteBook

Model: 6930p

Website: http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF25a/321957-321957-64295-3740645-3955549-3688868.html

Current Issues

Sound: After a new install of Ubuntu 8.10 or 9.04, there is no sound on the built-in speakers (see Audio below). In Ubuntu 9.10 and 10.04, sound works out of the box. In 10.10, the internal microphone does not work out of the box (see Audio below).

Fingerprint: The fingerprint reader is not supported.

System Info

HP 6930p, model FL490AW

This model comes with a Mobile Intel GMA 4500MHD video card. (Other 6930p models have an ATI card.)

Hardware details

Screen & Monitors

Device

Works?

Bug #

in Ubuntu 8.10

9.04

9.10

10.04 β1

10.10

Screen

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Correct resolution

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Correct refresh rate

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

3D Acceleration

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

External monitor works

Yes

Yes

Yes

No high resolution

Yes

524299

External monitor - mirrors

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

External monitor - extend desktop

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Compiz

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Power Management

Battery detection

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Hibernation

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Suspend

Yes

Yes

Yes, after upgrade

Yes

Yes

Dim monitor on battery

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

284319

Blank monitor on inactivity

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Lid Close

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

CPU frequency scaling

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Sound & Video

Sound

Yes, after manual fix

Yes, same fix

Yes

Yes

Yes

284319, 269027

Correct volume

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Hardware volume switch

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Hardware mute switch

Yes, after manual fix

Yes, same fix

Yes

Yes

Yes

284319, 269027

Headphone jack

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Internal Microphone

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes, after fix

Mic jack

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Webcam

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Networking

Wired NIC

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Wireless NIC

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

IEEE 1394

Yes, see IEEE 1394

Yes, see IEEE 1394

Yes

Yes

Yes, see IEEE 1394

Bluetooth

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Modem

Yes, see Modem

Yes, see Modem

No, see Modem

Untested

Untested

Infrared

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Touchpad & Mice

Touchpad

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Touchpad - Tap = click

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Touchpad - Scroll down side

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Touchpad - Two Finger

Yes, see Touchpad

No

Yes, see Touchpad

External mouse - USB

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

External mouse - Serial

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Docking Station/Port Replicator

AC through replicator

Untested

Yes

Untested

Yes

Untested

USB

Untested

Yes

Untested

Yes

Untested

Serial

Untested

Untested

Untested

Untested

Untested

Parallel

Untested

Untested

Untested

Untested

Untested

External Monitor - VGA

Untested

Yes

Untested

Untested

Untested

External Monitor - DVI

Untested

Untested

Untested

Untested

Untested

Modem

Untested

Untested

Untested

Untested

Untested

NIC

Untested

Untested

Untested

Untested

Untested

PS/2

Untested

Untested

Untested

Untested

Untested

Additional Hardware

Fingerprint reader

No

No

No

No

No

CD/DVD drive

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

PCMCIA cards

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Express cards

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Parallel Ports

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

MMC/SD Card reader

Yes, after upgrade

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

311932

SmartCard reader

Untested

Untested

Untested

Untested

Untested

Function and other keys

Fn key

Operation

Keycode

Works?

Bug #

in Ubuntu 8.10

9.04

9.10

10.04 β1

10.10

+ Space

+ Esc

+ F1

+ F2

+ F3

Suspend

150

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

+ F4

Ext Monitor

235

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

+ F5

+ F6

Lock Screen

160

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

+ F7

+ F8

Battery Status

244

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

+ F9

Brightness Down

232

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

284319

+ F10

Brightness Up

233

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

284319

+ F11

Ambient Light Sensor on/off

199

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

+ F12

Other special keys

Key

Operation

Keycode

Works?

Bug #

in Ubuntu 8.10

9.04

9.10

10.04 β1

10.10

Info Button

no idea

none

No

No

No

No

No

Presentation Mode Button

no idea

0xC9

see Notes

No

No

No

No

Wireless Button

Wireless on/off

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Screen Brightness

Ubuntu 8.10

The brightness problem isn't solved yet (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/284319), but creating a file /usr/share/hal/fdi/information/20thirdparty/30-keymap-private.fdi with the following content enabled the Fn F9/F10 keys:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <!-- -*- SGML -*- -->

<deviceinfo version="0.2">
  <device>

    <match key="@input.originating_device:info.linux.driver" string="atkbd">
      <match key="/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer:system.hardware.vendor" prefix="Hewlett-Packard">
        <match key="/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer:system.hardware.product" contains="6930p">
          <!-- HP Compaq 6930p -->
          <append key="input.keymap.data" type="strlist">e012:brightnessdown</append> <!-- FnF9 (brightness down) -->
          <append key="input.keymap.data" type="strlist">e017:brightnessup</append> <!-- FnF10 (brightness up) -->
        </match>
      </match>
    </match>
  </device>
</deviceinfo>

When you have this file, you'll see the OSD when you press Fn F9/F10. After issuing the following command, these keys will actually work:

xrandr --output LVDS --set BACKLIGHT_CONTROL native

This helps if you boot with A/C power. If you boot on battery, the display will remain dimmed until you reboot with A/C power.

SD/MMC Card

Ubuntu 8.10

The SD/MMC card reader works since kernel 2.6.27-14 which was released on 2009-03-13.

If you want to use an older kernel, you would have to compile your own with a replacement of the Ricoh driver from http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/drzeus/mmc.git;a=commit;h=0527a60c2b6bd7ab20e82cc5e488659e20eaaacd

Audio

Ubuntu 8.10 and 9.04

The audio can be fixed as described in https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/269027. Adding the following line to /etc/modprobe.d/options was all that was needed in my case:

options snd-hda-intel model=mobile

Ubuntu 10.10

The internal microphone works only if /etc/modprobe.d/options.conf contains the line

options snd-hda-intel model=mobile

IEEE 1394 (Firewire)

The IEEE 1394 interface (aka Firewire) works out of the box. However, regular users may not have permission to access the device. I tested with a film scanner that showed up as /dev/sg2 with permissions 660. It's owner was root, and in Ubuntu 8.10 the group was scanner. After adding myself to the scanner group, I was able to use the device.

In Ubuntu 9.04, the scanner group does not exist anymore, now /dev/sg2 belongs to group root. The obvious quick fix of changing the permissions to 666 didn't work, the scanner software could not detect the scanner. After creating a file /lib/udev/rules.d/50-udev-scanner.rules containing a single line

SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", ATTRS{type}=="6", GROUP="plugdev"

everything worked fine. Of course, plugdev can be replaced by any other group that you have access to.

In Ubuntu 9.10 and 10.04, my scanner works out of the box, no special udev rules required.

In Ubuntu 10.10 (64bit), we're back to the same behaviour as in 9.04, i.e. we need a udev-scanner rule.

Ubuntu does not create a /dev/raw1394 device. If you need that, you need to modprobe raw1394 or add raw1394 to /etc/modules.

Modem

Softmodems are an adventure in Linux. This laptop has a modem implemented as part of the sound card. Therefore, it could work with the Smartlink software modem daemon sl-modem-daemon (it's in the repository) together with the standard sound driver snd-hda-intel. However, this machine uses LSI's (formerly Agere) modem chip 0x11C11040 which isn't supported.

The instructions found at http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/bigarch/archive-eighth/msg03863.html work for Ubuntu 8.10 and 9.04. Currently they do not work in Ubuntu 9.10 because the compilation of the kernel modules for the modem fails.

Here is the skinny:

  • Install package dkms from the Ubuntu repository.

  • wget http://linux.zsolttech.com/linmodem/agrsm/dkms-agrsm_2.1.80-5_i386.deb

  • dpkg -i dkms-agrsm_2.1.80-5_i386.deb
  • modprobe agrmodem
  • modprobe agrserial
  • If everything goes fine, there will be a line "Hello Agere Driver" in /var/log/messages and ls -l /dev/ttyAG* should show you something.

  • Try minicom or another terminal program with the ttyAG* device.

With minicom I was able to connect to an mgetty running on my server. However, the dialing process is completely quiet, you don't hear ringback and you can't hear the modems negotiating.

Another method that involves recompiling the sound module is described in: http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/packages/ltmodem/11c11040/HOWTO-Agere-11c11040-HDA.html (This procedure did not work for me when I tested it with 9.04 Beta. After recompiling the kernel and applying patches to the modem software I managed to get the agr modules compiled and inserted, but then minicom segfaulted. Apparently, this is a problem with the sound driver.)

Touchpad

Ubuntu 9.04

Some touchpads can recognize more than one finger. This can be used for features such as two-finger-scrolling which is a nice alternative to scrolling at the right edge of the touchpad, or tapping with two or three fingers to emulate mouse buttons 2 and 3. You can check whether your touchpad supports multiple fingers by running synclient -m 10. This requires SHMConfig to be enabled (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticsTouchpad#Enabling%20SHMConfig). When you run this, you'll get the coordinates, the touch pressure, the number of fingers f, the width of your finger(s) w and a few others.

On my machine, f is always 1. However, w changes when I use two fingers. Debian Sid has a newer version of the synaptics driver that allows you to define a threshold for w that distinguishes one or two fingers. See here for details: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=7253159&postcount=17. This works fine on my laptop. Big thanks to the author of that post.

Ubuntu 10.10

Ubuntu 10.10 does not use HAL anymore. Therefore, the link given above is not applicable anymore. A two-finger emulation can now be enabled by adding the following lines at the end of the Input Class section in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf:

Option "SHMConfig" "on"
Option "EmulateTwoFingerMinZ" "45"
Option "EmulateTwoFingerMinW" "6" 

The values for MinZ and MinW may differ in your case. Run synclient -m 10 to find the thresholds that work for you.

In principle, it is also possible to set the following option in 50-synaptics.conf:

Option "TapButton2" "2" 

This option specifies that a two-finger tap should be interpreted as a middle-click (see http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/karmic/man4/synaptics.4.html for details). However, it seems that this setting gets overwritten later on, and two-finger taps result in a right-click event. This can be changed by putting the following into a script that gets executed after every login:

synclient TapButton2=2

Notes

The hardware mute button on this machine seems to be rather "physical". Its status is not reflected in the software volume controls and it affects only the speakers, not the headset.

The Fn+F4 for switching external monitors on and off isn't really needed. In Ubuntu 8.10 the Gnome screen resolution setting does a much better job than before. However, pressing Fn+F4 is much faster, although the resolution might not be exactly what you want. In Ubuntu 9.04 the opposite seems to be true: switching with Fn+F4 works properly, whereas the gnome-display-properties tool does all sorts of weird things. In Ubuntu 9.10, 10.04 and 10.10 both button and display properties are working fine. However, 10.04 β1 did not recognize make, model and resolution of the external monitor, it offered only resolutions up to 1024x768. Ubuntu 10.10 does not have this problem.

There is no screen lock icon on the F6 key, but the function is there anyway (it's been assigned to this key in 30-keymap-hp.fdi).

The Fn+F11 key enables or disables the built-in ambient light detection. This works, but I think the machine does this without involving the OS.

I tested the microphones only after applying the fix described in bug 269027.

The fingerprint reader is an AuthenTec 2810 which apparently isn't supported yet (http://reactivated.net/fprint/wiki/Unsupported_devices#AuthenTec_AES2550_.26_AES2810).

The battery info (Fn+F8) started working after update on 2008-12-09 which included new versions of the gnome-power-manager (2.24.0-0ubuntu8.1) and libx11-6 (2:1.1.5-2ubuntu1.1).

By default, the presentation key (0xC9) does nothing, but in Ubuntu 8.10 I was able to assign its code to the screensaver function in gconf-editor: /apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings. This gave me back the "lock" button that I liked on my older laptop.


CategoryLaptop

LaptopTestingTeam/Old/HPCompaq6930p/Intel (last edited 2010-12-11 17:29:31 by 65)