SUSE LINUX 9.0 on Dell Inspiron 8200
 
NOTE:  AT THE MOMENT I NO LONGER OWN A INSPIRON AND HAVE BOUGHT A POWERBOOK G4 and do most of my developemnt on my G4.

Configuration
2ghz P4
40Ghd
512MB ram
15inch 1400X1050 screen
32mb Nvidia Gefore2go
DVD-CDRW
USB mouse
D-link dwl-650 pcmcia wireless card


Initially I had suse 8.2 running on this machine and it installed and ran without any problems.

Nov 28 2003
    Suse has decided to release version 9.0 free to public availible for easy network install.

    Started upgrade.  When it was time to restart, then the problems started.  Multiple errors happened when booting up.
   
                        -Cmos clock error
                        - Harddrive errrors
                        - Pcmcia errors
                       
                         All of these were segmentation faults.  When booting was finished I tried to start X but no go.
                         Next I rebooted in Safe mode and started X, KDE came up but no sound.
                          I though it was had to do with power management so i added these lines to grub config.  apm=off acpi=off
                          Rebooted and the problems were gone, but still no sound.



Nov 29 2003.

    Problems are still here.  Read article on Dell linux laptop group on yahoo groups.  this is what a read and did

    ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
    Went to suse.com. Into the downloads and mirrors. Picked a mirror. 8.2 distribution. Downloaded k_deflt-2.4.20-62.i586.rpm and put it in my home directory.

Opened a Konsole window.

Type "su" and enter your root password.
type "rpm -Uvh --oldpackage k_deflt-2.4.20-62.i586.rpm" 
Wait for install to complete.
type "cd /boot"
type "rm initrd"
type "mv initrd.shipped initrd"
Reboot.



////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Thanks to whoever put this up.


Now the errors are gone but X does not work
    I tried to reinstall Nvidia drivers but the kernel interface was compiled under a different GCC then installed Kernel
    So  next type   export IGNORE_CC_MISMATCH=true and restart nvidia installer

Now X works fine and so does sound.

Nov 30 2003
   
    System is a little sluggish so I followed a article on suse.com and removed the "desktop" line from grub bootloader config, I am not sure if this helped or not.  But it was recommended for stability and performance reasons,

    went to http://packman.links2linux.de/ and downloaded new version on XINE and KAFEINE now all quicktime trailers work from mozilla and I get FULL DVD play back with no performace hits.


WIRELESS CONFIG
   
       Go to ACX 100 site and download and compile stable driver.  It works ok at home with the Dlink DI-614+ base station, but in the grad-lab it is sometimes a little tricky to start.





OUTSTANDING ISSUES
    Wacky fonts with mozilla and OO
    Performance needs a boost when applications are launched
    gnome-pilot does not work properly now.
    I will try and update to kernel 2.6 when it released.....

Good LUCK
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