Fujitsu Amilo L7320GW

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Configured this laptop with Ubuntu 10.04 for a friend who was having many problems with Windows XP

Installed Ubuntu 10.04. Difficult to run the installation as the screen appears to be split in the middle and it is hard to see what options you are choosing. This is because the main problem with this laptop is the screen is assumed by Ubuntu to be a much higher resolution than it is. The correct screen resolution is 1280×800. Using the “alternate” Ubuntu 10.04 ISO is the best way to go and it is possible to get through the installation despite the screen issue.

However once installed you cannot log into X windows at all. The login screen comes up but when user credentials are entered something bad happens and you are returned to a login prompt.

To get past this, press the “shift” key as you start the laptop so you see the grub menu. Select the “recovery mode” version and then on the next menu select “failsafe graphics”. You can then login ok in a low resolution screen (I think it is 800×600) and have a chance to fix the problem permanently by creating an xorg.conf file in the /etc/X11/ folder. So in a terminal do:

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

and then create a /etc/X11/xorg.conf file like this (the xorg.conf file will not exist by default):

####start of xorg.conf
Section “Monitor”

Identifier    "Monitor0"

EndSection

Section “Device”

Identifier    "Device0"
Driver        "openchrome"

EndSection

Section “Screen”

Identifier    "Screen0"  #Collapse Monitor and Device section to Screen section
Device        "Device0"
Monitor       "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth  24
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth     24
    Modes     “1280x800” "1024x768" “800x600” “640x480”
EndSubSection

EndSection
####end of xorg.conf

Once this file has been saved, the laptop should be restarted and graphics will work normally once you login.

The integrated wireless card works with the default ath5k driver. You do not need to configure it at all. It appears not to work, it continually tries to connect to the wireless access point you choose but always comes back with the password prompt or fails. This is because by default the laptop does not have wireless turned on. Look at the wireless light on the front right of the keyboard - it is probably not lit. Press the Fn and F2 keys and the wireless light should come on and wireless networking should now work normally.

The nice Ubuntu logo does not show when starting or stopping the laptop. This is due to screen resolution issues described above. It is not easy to fix and I only have a partial solution which ensures the logo shows, but not at a very good resolution. First,edit /etc/default/grub file in a terminal:

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

add this line into the end and save the file:
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=800x600x16

Finally, you must update grub to apply the change. Type in a terminal:

sudo update-grub

and restart the laptop.

This laptop works well with Ubuntu 10.04 and there are no major issues once configured.