Alienware M11X Thread

[docdrow]

Hi All,

I figured I would start a thread here so we can discuss (and hopefully fix) issues with Fedora 13 on Alienware's M11X laptop. I just received mine this week, and I just finished installing Fedora 13 x86_64 (Base only, I prefer to manually add things as I go).

So far these are the problems I have:

1. Most of the FN keys are not recognized out of the box by the Linux kernel OR Xorg. So, we'll need to use "setkeycodes" in rc.local and also create a Xmodmap for Xorg keys.

2. I am unable to get brightness to work (though I think this is related to #1).

3. Sound isn't working. I understand that there there's a kernel driver on the manufacturer's website, but I haven't had time to look into this yet.

4. I have an M11XR2, which means I have no BIOS setting to control which video chipset I'm using. So far, I'm only using an xorg.conf that uses the intel driver, which appears to work great. (Though I'm not doing any 3D stuff yet). We need a way to turn on/off the Video chipsets in order to save power, because they both appear to be active 'out of the box' and this causes my notebook to run very hot and drain the battery very fast. Looks like the guys over at http://linux-hybrid-graphics.blogspot.com/ are working very actively on this problem, but I haven't had time to help them test yet.

5. I am using the broadcom "wl" driver from Rpmfusion. It seems to work ok, but it has dropped me without explanation a few times. Restarting wpa_supplicant seems to fix the issue.

Your help is appreciated!

[Zanpactou]

Was your Dell machine expensive?

Thanks,
Zanpactou

[docdrow]

I just sent my ACPI DSDT information to the guys over at linux-hybrid-graphics.blogspot.com. Looks like they are very actively working on a method to switch GPUs, and it's working for some notebooks. As of this post, their kernel module didn't work for my m11x R2.

I understand that working audio drivers are coming in 2.6.34, so hopefully FC13 will get that kernel soon.

The ArchLinux guys have a nice page for the m11x, but it's mostly for the R1. The script I found there that controls brightness when in intel mode didn't work for me. It appeared to execute correctly, but doesn't have any effect.

[docdrow]

Brightness controls fixed when using the intel driver.

Well, sortta. I found this in Xorg log:

[ 1574.285] (II) intel(0): found backlight control interface /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video1

The problem is that the control is actually acpi_video0 for the intel chip in this notebook.

So, I wrote this script that I call with my window manager:

#!/bin/sh
CUR=`cat /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/actual_brightness`
MAX=`cat /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/max_brightness`
if [ "$1" = "up" ]; then
  if [ $CUR -eq $MAX ]; then
    exit 0
  fi
  NEW=$(($CUR + 1))
  echo $NEW >/sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
else
  if [ $CUR -eq 0 ]; then
    exit 0
  fi
  NEW=$(($CUR - 1))
  echo $NEW >/sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
fi

Also, defined the keys using Xmodmap:

keycode 101 = XF86KbdBrightnessDown
keycode 212 = XF86KbdBrightnessUp

You'll need call the script with sudo or deal with the permissions some other way.

[erroneus]

I should be receiving my M11x pretty soon and so I have subscribed to this thread and plan to participate with questions, testing, reporting and suggesting.

But to get started, it might be nice to have a current update on the status of things. Also, about the sound thing -- I don't think F13 will see a 2.6.34 kernel any time soon if at all. I always thought even numbered kernels were for testing and odd was for release. That said, I wonder if a backport would be an option. Back in the day, patching and compiling kernels was a common thing for me.

As for the hybrid video, I wonder what the harm would be in leaving the video in nvidia mode? Okay, yeah, power consumption. I have an HP netbook that uses intel graphics and I'm generally pleased with the 3D graphics I get from it... well... the desktop effects anyway. But I'll be watching for improvements there daily.

As for the extra keys support? I wonder if we can make an RPM that can be shared somewhere/somehow?

[docdrow]

Actually, I just downloaded 2.6.34-RC1 from Koji and sound works fine with that kernel I'm hopeful it will be pushed to the regular updates repo soon, which will cause the rpmfusion guys to update their Broadcom STA driver package as well.

Still haven't found a solution for the nvidia / intel switching. For now I've just blacklisted the nvidia driver in /etc/modprobe.d. I can't tell if its saving power or not, but I'm only using the intel driver.

I have filed a bug with the guys over at Intel Linux Video about the acpi_video, and they have implemented a patch to correct this issue. Eventually when F13 (heh, or by then probably F14) gets that updated Xorg driver, the keys may work without the script I posted.

As for the Alienware USB device that does neat stuff like control the LED colors on the keyboard, etc.. Someone wrote a program called AlienFX Lite that supports the m11x. Unfortunately, the guy wrote it in Java (grumble), and it hangs using the F13 openjdk. GUI comes up, but you can't click on anything. It may work using Sun's java engine, but I haven't had the time to try.

[docdrow]

Replaced F13's 'stock' IcedTea openjdk with Sun's. AlienFX Lite works great now, and it's actually a very cool little app. But, it's designed to be a systrap app. Who wants a jre hanging around resident ?

Some guy over on the Ubuntu forums says he's working on a C++ command line util to change the AlienFX attributes, which would be nice because then we could write silly scripts and plug them into various system events such as acpi, etc.

[erroneus]

Replaced F13's 'stock' IcedTea openjdk with Sun's. AlienFX Lite works great now, and it's actually a very cool little app. But, it's designed to be a systrap app. Who wants a jre hanging around resident ?

Some guy over on the Ubuntu forums says he's working on a C++ command line util to change the AlienFX attributes, which would be nice because then we could write silly scripts and plug them into various system events such as acpi, etc.

No doubt. I might just crank out a simple utility to do the same. Where can I find the source for this app?

[docdrow]

http://progger.co.uk/alienfx/source-0.3.tar.gz

[docdrow]

I fixed my wireless problems.. Unfortunately, the fix isn't so graceful

I replaced crappy broadcom wireless card with an ath9k based card, all problems 100% gone.. $19 bucks on ebay. And, now I can use Master mode

[docdrow]

As of this post, I haven't been successful in finding a way to turn off the nVidia GPU. I've been through every ACPI METHOD using acpi_call, none seem to do the trick.


vgaarb: device added: PCI:0000:00:02.0,decodes=io+mem,owns=io+mem,locks= none
vgaarb: device added: PCI:0000:01:00.0,decodes=io+mem,owns=none,locks=no ne
vgaarb: loaded

nouveau 0000:01:00.0: power state changed by ACPI to D0
nouveau 0000:01:00.0: power state changed by ACPI to D0
nouveau 0000:01:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0003)
nouveau 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
nouveau 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Detected an NV50 generation card (0x0a3780a2)

[drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Attempting to load BIOS image from PRAMIN
[drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: ... BIOS signature not found
[drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Attempting to load BIOS image from PROM
[drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: ... BIOS signature not found
[drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Attempting to load BIOS image from PCIROM
nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Invalid ROM contents
[drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: ... BIOS signature not found
[drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Attempting to load BIOS image from ACPI
[drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: ... BIOS signature not found
[drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: No valid BIOS image found
nouveau 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A disabled

vgaarb: device changed decodes: PCI:0000:00:02.0,olddecodes=io+mem,decodes=none:ow ns=io+mem
vgaarb: transferring owner from PCI:0000:00:02.0 to PCI:0000:01:00.0

[docdrow]

Did a lot of reading / googling today. I can't find any evidence on any forum/site that anyone has been able to successfully enable for use, or disable the power consumption of, the nvidia GPU on an optimus enabled laptop running linux.

I've read through some ACPI docs (not something I recommend unless you want a headache), and also some DSDT.dsl files from various other users. Some from non-optimus hybrid GPU systems, and others from optimus-enabled hybrid systems.

Seems that the optimus-enabled systems lack ACPI methods to enable/disable power to the discrete GPU, which the pre-optimus systems seem to have.

vgaswitcheroo doesn't support (at least as of 2.3.36) optimus, at least not on my laptop. I believe thats because the code expects to use acpi _DSM methods, so it's not even recognized.

C'mon nVidia! Don't leave us Linux users hanging!

I'm not asking you guys to prioritize linux drivers over Winblowz, but can you at least tell us what method to use to disable the damn power to the GPU so we can have better battery life?

I'm fine with using integrated graphics until there's better support.


By the way, I have tried to disable the card at a PCI level using /sys/bus/pci directory, but first doing something like 'echo 0 >enable' and then 'echo 1 >remove'

This causes the VGA Arbiter to switch back control of the io ports to the intel card (noted in dmesg), the PCI interrupt to be disabled as well.

However... there's not a significant difference in battery discharge rate

-G

[erroneus]

First I would like to express my thanks to you for keeping this thread going all by yourself. I find it interesting and useful.

Yesterday afternoon, I finally received by Alienware M11x after some confusion and mishaps from Dell business. I hope to get into this new machine soon. I haven't even turned this one on yet but when I do, I want to have a plan and resources.

I intend to install Fedora 13 and then tweak it out in every way known to get the hardware in its most supported state. I too am in favor of using the Intel graphics over the nVidia for power saving. I find that most Intel graphics to be well supported and simply adequate for most things.

As for other things, I too might lean in favor of replacing the wireless board. It just seems to be the most reasonable approach. A few bucks spent on eBay is better than sub-par performance.

Then it will be time to get my programming hat on to make the light utilities work. One thing I would like to do is write a daemon that monitors the various temperatures of the machine and represent the temperatures in the colors displayed. I am pretty sure that has been done before as any time I get a good idea, someone else had it long before I did.

So, is everything mentioned on this thread a complete list of resources and information known? I would surely like all of the knowledge to be collected here to the benefit of anyone else as well as myself.

[docdrow]

Here's a list of links that I've been reading...

These guys are our best hope for better support on optimus notebooks, but most of the work they've done so far is for pre-optimus notebooks that do not work at all on my m11x-r2:

http://linux-hybrid-graphics.blogspot.com/

The guys over at ArchLinux have a nice wiki with some info that works on both the M11X and M11XR2
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Alienware_M11x

arlied's blog, he's the guy behind vga switcherroo and leading the way for supporting real-time gpu switching. However, I wish he'd release something that would, in the mean team, just all us to manually switch optimus notebooks.. or just power off the nvidia gpu.
http://airlied.livejournal.com/71734.html

Good discussion over at Mandriva on this problem:
http://forum.mandriva.com/viewtopic.php?t=128869

AlienFX Lite
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1403399&page=4

[R3353]

One thing I would like to do is write a daemon that monitors the various temperatures of the machine and represent the temperatures in the colors displayed. I am pretty sure that has been done before as any time I get a good idea, someone else had it long before I did.

temp sensors in gnome panel