Hey Guys,
Here's my problem
I have a Dell xps 15 l502x laptop, with the following configuration:

2nd Gen Intel Core i7 2670QM @ 2.2 Ghz
6GB DDR3 1333MHz Ram
750GB WD HDD @ 7200rpm
Nvidia GT525M 1GB graphics card


I have a host of Problems. I am posting this in multiple forums (LQ, LC, OLH) in hopes of quick solution(s)
1. I Installed Debian 6 64bit on my Laptop (Win 7 and Fedora 16 too). Fedora allows me to increase/decrease the brightness of the screen using the keys in the keyboard (fn+f4/f5), while Debian simply does nothing when I press them. However, the volume shortcuts, mute, play/pause etc work fine in Debian
How the hell do i get this working? I need to reduce the brightness when needed. But how?

2. Debian does nothing when I connect my laptop to the projector. In Fedora it automatically starts up as soon as I connect. The laptop uses a mini-video-port to VGA adapter cable to connect to the projector. How to connect in Debian?

3. Sounds don't play in Debian. At All. I noticed that ALSA is present in the system. "Alsactl" & "alsa store" work,however, "alsaconf" does not work. I dont know if this related, but the debian setup showed up "Missing firmware" error during installation, and asked me to provide the same through a usb device. The missing firmware was: rt18168e-2.fw. I couldnt find this anywhere online. I did find rt18168d-2.fw, rt18168f-2.fw, and so on though. I have installed software like vlc, amarok, xmms, xine, etc. Videos play perfectly, but without sound. mp3 players show that the file is playing, but no sound. What do i do?

4. Wifi Missing in Debian. Running fine in fedora. When I turn on WiFi, the bluetooth icon turns up in the panel, but no wireless options show up at all. This might be because of the "missing firmware" error i got during installation....

HELP!!!!

What I have done so far:
Installed Fedora
Installed Debian
Updated Fedora
Did NOT update Debian (No internet temporarily)

In Debian, here are the outputs of

1. lshw
http://pastebin.com/hX2D6xsC

2. "lspci" and "lspci -vv | grep driver"
http://pastebin.com/i94Brrq4

If you're sending it everywhere, why should we bother to try our luck? You do better to tell us what you have tried, and work with the suggestions you are given. Contributors here aren't paid, and do have other thing to do in life.

This is linuxquestions where Linux user come for help, if you have better things to do than help Linux users, go do something else instead of hanging out in this forum.

Attempted answers:

1: You may need to configure hotkeys for that specific function, one might also be able to figure it out by comparing files with Fedora.

2: You may need to install or configure drivers for the projector, state the make and model of the projector. Also, it may have something to do with missing firmware. Debian is all about "free", proprietary firmware does not come with Debian installation, you need to install this after or during installation, by adding non-free to your /etc/apt/sources.list and install firmware-linux-nonfree package. You can download it from debian packages web site from Fedora or Windows and install with command: dpkg -i firmware-linux-nonfree, go to "search package directories" section of the web page and put firmware-linux-nonfree in the search field to find it.

3: Post the output of command: lspci -v, this will tell us if the sound card is recognized and if there is a driver in use. It may be muted, I think the command to display and configure the alsa mixer is: alsamixer, normally you need master and pcm to get sound. To save alsa settings when you get it working, as root or sudo run command: alsactl store.

4: Installing missing firmware should take care of the wireless networking, possibly bluetooth also, again, the lspci -v command will help figure this out.

EDIT: BTW, nice laptop, I'm jealous. My XPS Gen 2 is over 6 years old and rock solid, I paid an arm and part of a finger on the other arm for it, but got what I paid for.

SECOND EDIT: Debian wiki has all the tutorials you need to configure most if not all your hardware issues.