This site describes my experiences installing and running Gentoo Linux on a Dell Inspiron 8200. I'm not a programmer; I just enjoy tinkering around. I hope you find it helpful.
You can find much more information on this and many other laptop models at Linux on Laptops and Tuxmobil: Linux On Mobile Computers.
Updates:
October 26, 2004: Oops, corrected the stylesheet links for the 2.4 pages. Now, they're easy to read again. I also fixed several broken links to other websites.
October 22, 2004: I finally moved from kernel 2.6.5 to 2.6.9. The change did not cause any problems, but I updated the Keyboard Patch section.
September 2, 2004: Unfortunately, I no longer have time to answer your emails, so I removed the email functionality from this page.
April 14, 2004: Changed to udev from devfs. This caused the following changes:
- Added a mini how-to for moving to udev.
- Changed my XFree86 config file to get my touchpad working again.
- Updated the CLIE section so it would sync.
- Changed my GRUB setup so I can boot with udev or devfs.
April 13, 2004:
- Cleaned up the Software Page.
- Included my kernel USB configuration inline.
April 8, 2004:
- Changed everything to reflect kernel 2.6.5 and added my new .config file.
- Changed video driver to the proprietary ATI video driver version 3.2.8-r1. Details are at Video.
- Updated ALSA to 1.0.3. See Sound for more details.
- Inserted all kernel .config snippets inline rather than as separate files.
- Renamed the shortcut icon. Apparently it was generating a lot of errors on Windows machines.
March 11, 2004:
- Reversed the order of the updates. Now, you don't have to scroll to the bottom of the page to see if anything's new.
- Changed everything to reflect kernel 2.6.3, which I've been using since it was released and added my .config file.
- Simplified the mini how-to on updating the kernel.
- Updated Dell Truemobile 1180 WLAN Card section. I'm now using the open-source ndiswrapper driver.
February 8, 2004: Added short how-to for configuring Apache and virtual hosts to use on a localhost.
February 5, 2004: Updated to Kernel 2.6.3 and added a mini how-to on updating the kernel.
January 30, 2004: Discovered solution for KDE shutdown problem with DRI enabled. It was related to the following error message in dmesg and /var/log/XFree86.0.log:
mtrr: 0xe0000000,0x4000000 overlaps existing 0xe0000000,0x1000000
January 27, 2004: Corrected minor errors and updated some config files plus the things below.
- Corrected link to keyboard patch for kernel 2.6.0. Damn those global search and replace functions!
- Updated the Dell Truemobile 1180 WLAN Card section. Now my network setup works much better.
- Added temporary solution for crash when logging out of KDE.
- Updated USB Mouse section.
- Updated the Epson Stylus Color 800 section. Now it prints with gimp-print.
January 21, 2004:
- Updated kernel to 2.6.1, which required a new Keyboard patch.
- Added two lines to my KDE startup script that closes the KMix window after KDE starts.
January 17, 2004: Updated Sound Section as a mini how-to.
January 10, 2004: Added access to the old Kernel 2.4.20 website.
January 2, 2004:
December 31, 2003: Added support for a Brother DCP-8025D MFP
December 26, 2003: Updated everything. Here's a short summary:
- Deleted the old /etc page and moved the data elsewhere.
- Added a page to detail my experience with Kernel 2.6.
- Updated all pages to reflect changes brought on by kernel 2.6.1.
- Changed to ACPI from APM.
- Changed to ALSA from OSS. See Sound for details.
- Grub now resides happily in the Master Boot Record. See Dual-boot for details.
- Added support for a Creative Muvo MP3 player. See Muvo for details.
- Corrupted my partition table and reinstalled Linux. I hate it when that happens!
October 18, 2003: Added support for Dell TrueMobile 1180 using driver from Linuxant.
October 1, 2003: Added a new USB mouse.
