Dell Inspiron 2650 with Redhat installation

first of all why did i put it on linuxquestions.org?
at linux-laptop.net i got alot of 404 error and my hosting expires in a moth.

This document describes my installation of Redhat 9.0 on a Dell Inspiron 2650C laptop.

machine came with windows xp home edition i wiped it.if you dont want to erease windows totaly use partion magic to partion your system it is the easiest way.installation started without any problem monitor not probed but nvidia geforce 2 go probed.just read and press next till the x configuration at x configuration when selecting video card do not touch it it should select geforce2go but not for monitor choose dell laptop display 1024x768 if you did not choose it you will only get 800x600 resolution.while choosing the resolution mode choose to login at command promt(do if you dont want to i will tell you how to chage it to graphic mode later)press next and press exit. after booting up the system do not enter x system first of all we will install nvidia drivers.

get the following driver from www.nvidia.com
_
Linux Display Driver
Version: 1.0-4349
Operating System: Linux IA32
Release Date: March 31, 2003
http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=li..._ia32_1.0-4349
latest release doesnt work!!!!! in my system be carefull.

it is a .bin file frist you have to download it(before installation) and give it executable permissions with chmod 755 filename.bin
the run it like this ./filename.bin
it will install the drivers then open XF86Config file and
find
the relevant Device section and replace the line:
Driver "nv"
(or Driver "vesa")
with
Driver "nvidia"
In the Module section, make sure you have:
Load "glx"
You should also remove the following lines:

Load "dri"
Load "GLcore"

then you are ready to go just startx and have fun.

for the other part all working out of the box without any configuration except winmodem you need drivers from http://www.linuxant.com/drivers/ just install them and vaila modem is working.if you have question please e mail me nurullah_akkaya@yahoo.com. and i will add them.

i have the same computer, but running debian.

i installed the latest nvidia drivers, but it doesn't work for some reason - i can get into the xserver, but if i logout for any reason, i can't get back in (comp basically halts). i did some tests and it also doesn't seem to offer any acceleration

Hi Yo!
My Inspiron 2650 hasn't given me any problems yet after installing Red Hat 9.0. Except when I try to plug an extetrnal monitor in, the GUI OS is all jibberish.

The external monitor is a SYS 15" LCD Flat Panel. If it's plugged in and I probe it probes fine but still doesn't display properly. I don't know what to do next and I'm hoping someone here has some ideas?

Originally posted by JamesSmith2 Hi Yo! My Inspiron 2650 hasn't given me any problems yet after installing Red Hat 9.0. Except when I try to plug an extetrnal monitor in, the GUI OS is all jibberish. The external monitor is a SYS 15" LCD Flat Panel. If it's plugged in and I probe it probes fine but still doesn't display properly. I don't know what to do next and I'm hoping someone here has some ideas?

Hello James,

I have an Inspiron 2650 also. I have cd's with Fedora Core 2 ready for installation, but I have a few questions I wanted to ask first. Since you have already installed Red Hat 9.0 and have the same machine, I thought you would be a good person to ask.

Did you have files from Windows XP that you needed to transfer to the new OS? If so, what procedure did you use for copying them and getting them into Red Hat 9.0?

Did you partition instead of doing a clean install? If so, how did you go about partitioning? You do not have to get into detail, just tell me the method that worked for you, i.e. did you use a tool to help, or did you do it on your own?

In my line of work I use the internet and email extensively. I'm wondering if I can copy my files, like bookmarks and Outlook Express, and transfer them into FC2, or do I have to partition and keep Windows on my machine? I would rather get rid of Windows entirely, if possible.

Sorry I can't help you with your problem, but if I ever get techno savvy I'll get back to you, lol!

Thanks,
Maureen

Mr. Tropicalman

I am new to the linux scene, so I'm not sure what the relation is between Fedora & Red Hat 9.0. I did plan on moving files from XP to my laptop, however I have multiple computers so I never persued a solution. I did have samba working though at one point.

I let RH9's installation deal with the partitioning. It let me create a 20GB partition for RH & a 10GB partition of XP.

I'm not sure how saved e-mail will move over to RH9. This would require some research. In my opinion RH9's out of the box e-mail software sucked hardcore. It was called... Evolution. Browsing is made easy with Firefox. But RH9 came with just Mozilla installed and for the life of me(a computer programmer) I couldn't get Firefox to open instead of Mozilla.

If you're moving over to FC I'd suggest being very ready to do research. You're going to have a lot of problems with Linux. Especially if you're a like me.

I started using XP again on the laptop since Red Hat Network expired and RH9 didn't meet my needs as a software developer or surfer. When I switched back it made XP seem SOOOO nice. It was like taking a heavy backpack off my back and throwing it on the ground. wew.

I am going toy with Mandrake sometime soon. On another forum with the same question I asked someone told me I would need Mandrake to do hook up duel monitors. My main usage for linux will be my webserver, not my workstation.

good luck Tropical Cancer

Hello James,

Thanks for your reply. You have given me invaluable information! Fedora Core 1 is essentially the Red Hat 10 release. I forget the exact details why it's named that way.

I have discovered that with my laptop, a Dell Inspiron 2650, that I cannot partition because I don't have FAT16 or FAT32 files. Instead, I have NTFS files, which apparently won't let me partition at this point in time. Maybe a future release of Fedora will solve that problem. There is no way I'm going to do a clean install with only Fedora on my laptop! After what you told me, I'd be foolish to do it. My internet activities/businesses involve heavy use of email and browsing.

My husband has recently installed Fedora Core 1 on his desktop. He did a clean install since he had nothing to save. We returned the unopened Fedora Core 2 yesterday, that he wanted me to install on my laptop. He has Knoppix from a magazine, and Novell's Suse is coming in the mail any day now. He's anxious to get a copy of Gentoo and Mandrake, also. This guy has turned into a Linux-head in a matter of days! He's Finnish.....that may explain it. I think he's just got too much time on his hands!

Oh, don't worry about mistaking the gender, it happens. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me, it confirmed a suspicion I already had. One reason Windows gets a bad rap is because the OS bogs down over time. This can be dealt with by disk clean up and defragging. But I learned about another tool on a different forum today. It's called CrapCleaner. Do a google search for CrapCleaner and you can download it for free. After I had already done a disk clean up, Pest Patrol, Spybot Search and Destroy, and a virus check, I used CrapCleaner and it found 108 files that were no longer needed! Often, when uninstalling a Windows program, files are left behind. These files can waste space and mess up other programs. Other files were just outdated and no longer used. Now my XP feels like new again, lol!

Thanks again,
Maureen

i have been using System Commander to support a Mandrake 9.1 install on a Dell Inspiron 7500, with an ATI Rage Mobility-P board. It detects everytime....

not a problem

- perry

Thank you Perry. I'll keep that info for future use.

FWIW, I've also got a Dell Inspiron 2650. I've written instructions on how to use it on RH9 at http://exiledmind.net/inspiron/

I plan on updating the instructions for use with Fedora Core 2.

(Apologies for reviving an old thread, found this in Google, thought this might be a noteworthy addition)

If anyone has any further information to add about the 2650, I'd be happy to credit you and place it up on the site listed above. IE, how to get the laptop to hibernate and S2R correctly, etc.

I should have some free time soonish to cover 1this properly. Any help anyone could give with writing documentation would be greatly appreciated =)

Cheers,


~Rhett Kipps

Thanks Rhett! I will bookmark your site for future reference.

The reason you probably can't partition NTFS with Redhat or derivative Fedora (which broke off when Redhat stopped doing free linux to sell corporate stuff) is because Redhat made the legal decision that it was not allowed to mess with NTFS for copyright reasons.

Mandrake has been able to partition NTFS for some time. If you prefer to use Fedora, you can always download CD#1 from Mandrake, fire up the machine, then after partitioning is done, hit the power switch and install Fedora.

Having said that, the only time I ever lost my Win system in many installs was with Mandrake 9.1 when I partitioned NTFS.

Do note that XP puts stuff all the way along the HD, and defrag also does not move it up to the front as Win 98 defrag did. So, it takes a special defrag to get it tightened up, or the partition will wipe out stuff you need -- or more likely refuse to partition at all.

Thanks for that additional information irlandes. We have come to decide that Mandrake is the distro we will be using. My husband got it installed on his desktop. When I get up the courage....I'll try installing it on my laptop!

Originally posted by irlandes The reason you probably can't partition NTFS with Redhat or derivative Fedora (which broke off when Redhat stopped doing free linux to sell corporate stuff) is because Redhat made the legal decision that it was not allowed to mess with NTFS for copyright reasons.

Perhaps that is not the only reason. Read-write NTFS is still marked experimental in the linux kernel and it may destroy data on the disk. And that has nothing to do with copyright, unfortunately. The problem is, Microsoft keeps the NTFS format secret for some reason. If the specs were published, I am sure such an important interoperability piece would not still be missing.

Readonly NTFS support is fine, although 3-4 years back it did not exist at all.

Having said that, the only time I ever lost my Win system in many installs was with Mandrake 9.1 when I partitioned NTFS.

Please, use NTFS support in linux WITH CAUTION. Perhaps the XP disk manager is a better idea here.