Dell Inspiron 9400

This is a guide to running Linux with the Dell Inspiron 9400 laptop. This was tested with Ubuntu Linux 6.06 (beta).

This guide is intended to provide you details on how well this laptop works with Linux and which modules you need to configure. For details on how to actually install and configure the required modules have a look at our guides section for distribution specific instructions.

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For the graphics chip you can use both the open source nv module and Nvidia's proprietary one. For installation instructions, you can view our Configuring a nVidia graphics chip guide. For 3D support, you will need the proprietary module.

I didn't get a chance to test the modem, but from experience it should work with the Linuxant module.

Thanks to Edoardo Costa for the following information:

As of gentoo-sources-2.6.19-r5 it's very easy to get it working. Just follow the hardware ipw3945 guide. I recommend you use net-wireless/wpa_supplicant. The following is an example of what I have:

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=wheel
ap_scan=1

network={
       ssid="foobar"
       proto=WPA
       key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
       pairwise=TKIP
       group=TKIP
       psk=3c97f861f76a7d88a290a46077d91b27bc8776cea04755664cd122630a86c34a
       priority=100
}

Kernel settings
Networking
 <*>   Bluetooth subsystem support  --->
   <*>   L2CAP protocol support
   <*>   SCO links support
   <*>   RFCOMM protocol support
   [[*]]     RFCOMM TTY support
   <*>   BNEP protocol support
   [[*]]     Multicast filter support
   [[*]]     Protocol filter support
   <*>   HIDP protocol support

emerge bluez: emerge -av net-wireless/bluez-libs net-wireless/bluez-utils net-wireless/bluez-firmware

If you want to use gnokii, add the use flag to make.conf.

my hcid.conf

options {
       autoinit yes;
       security auto;
       pairing multi;
       pin_helper /usr/lib/kdebluetooth/kbluepin;
}
device {
       name "BlueZ %h (%d)";
       class 0x3e0100;
       iscan enable; pscan enable;
       lm accept;
       lp rswitch,hold,sniff,park;
} 

For best results you need a Linux distribution with at least the 2.6.15 kernel, such as Ubuntu Linux 6.06 or Fedora Core 5.

daniel.wild at gmail.com
Tested with Ubuntu 6.06 (beta and final).

http://www.dettenbach.de/DellInspiron9400royal/