Installing Debian on the Compaq Presario v6210

Hardware

• AMD Turion 2.0Ghz 64-bit
• Widescreen 15.4-inch BrightView display (1200 x 800)
• Nvidia GeForce Go 6150
• Broadcom 1390 WLAN Mini-PCI Card 802.11g

The Install

Started with standard Debian 4.0 amd64 (Etch) disks and install.
I compiled my own kernel from the start, most of the setup instructions should work with a stock Debian kernel
My 2.6.20 kernel config

X

If you are using a standard debian kernel there may be a Nvidia package for your kernel already:

• apt-cache search nvidia-kernel

If there isn't a package already you can either:

• apt-get install nvidia-kernel-source
• or
• Grab the newest installer from Nvidia

To install the nvidia module using the Nvidia installer

1. chmod 700 NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-1.0-9xxx-pkg2.run
2. ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-1.0-9xxx-pkg2.run

Either it will find a kernel module to use with your running kernel or compile the module for you.

Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Replace the nv driver with nvidia

To use Beryl

1. add deb http://debian.beryl-project.org etch main to /etc/apt/source.list
2. apt-get update;apt-get install beryl

Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Replace the current Device section with:

		
Section "Device"
  Identifier "Nvidia GeForce"
  Driver     "nvidia"
  Option    "NoLogo"
  Option    "AddARGBGLXVisuals"   "on"
  Option    "RenderAccel"   "true"
  Option    "AllowGLXWithComposite"   "true"
  Option    "AIGLX"   "on"
EndSection

Add the following to the bottom of /etc/x11/xorg.conf

Section "Extensions"
  Option    "Composite"   "Enable"
EndSection

Wireless

You can use the bcm43xx module in newer kernels or use the windows driver and ndiswrapper

Need to build the ndiswrapper module.

Need the windows driver, this is the WinXP one hp gave to me bcmwl5.inf

To use the ndiswrapper module you will need the kernel source and a kernel compiled with wireless support.

1. Copy the windows driver to a dir, I used /usr/src/broadcom-drivers.
2. Install ndiswrapper
   • apt-get install ndiswrapper-source
   • cd /usr/src
   • tar -jxvf ndiswrapper-source.tar.bz2
   • cd modules/ndiswrapper
   • make;make install (as root)
3. Run ndiswrapper -i /usr/src/broadcom-drivers/bcmwl5.inf
   • (or the path to where you unzipped the Broadcom drivers)
4. modprobe ndiswrapper (may need to depmod -a if it doesnt find it)
5. add ndiswrapper to /etc/modules
6. edit /etc/network/interfaces
   • #add the following to have debian automatically start wlan0 on boot
   • auto wlan0
   • iface wlan0 inet dhcp
   • wireless_essid your_network_essid_here
7. ifup wlan0 should bring your connection up if all went well

Sound

Install alsa

• apt-get install alsa-base alsa-utils

The snd_hda_intel module should already be included and should load when alsa starts.

snd_hda_intel runs the card but I get scratchy sound, havent figured this one out yet.

Volume Control Keys

Under Gnome go into System > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts. Select Volume mute and hit the mute key it should assign it, do the same for Volume down and up

Cpu Frequency Scaling

apt-get install powernowd

Suspend/Hibernate

Should work out of the box

• Test with 'echo mem > /sys/power/state', (as root )should suspend to ram.

You can also install the gnome-power-manager to map the power button/lid close to what you want

• apt-get install gnome-power-manager
• Edit /etc/dbus-1/system.d/hal.conf
• At the bottom of the file you will see a block with SystemPowerManagement, change user= to your user so you can suspend/hibernate as a user

Make sure apcid isn't installed as it will steal the power button and lid events