Netexpertise

Packard Bell Easynote E6100

Graphic cards aren’t always detected by Linux. This can be a problem as many distributions only support graphic mode installation type, like Ubuntu, Fedora or Debian.
This is the case of my Packard Bell Easynote E6100 and its onboard Via Unichrome card freezing on graphic mode startup.

One solution is to run the installation in text mode. Xubuntu 8.10 alternate has this feature and offers Xfce, a very light desktop environment, ideal for older laptops.

Generic Driver Configuration

We still get an X session crash at first boot.
The last option is to boot in recovery mode, and select “Drop to root shell prompt”. Replace /etc/X11/xorg.conf with this file, which makes reference to the generic Vesa driver:
 

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Generic Keyboard"
	Driver		"kbd"
	Option		"CoreKeyboard"
	Option		"XkbRules"	"xorg"
	Option		"XkbModel"	"pc105"
	Option		"XkbLayout"	"gb"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Configured Mouse"
	Driver		"mouse"
	Option		"CorePointer"
	Option		"Device"		"/dev/input/mice"
	Option		"Protocol"		"ImPS/2"
	Option		"ZAxisMapping"		"4 5"
	Option		"Emulate3Buttons"	"true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Generic Video Card"
	Driver		"vesa"
	BusID		"PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier	"Generic Monitor"
	Option		"DPMS"
	HorizSync	30-70
	VertRefresh	50-160
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Default Screen"
	Device		"Generic Video Card"
	Monitor		"Generic Monitor"
	DefaultDepth	24
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier	"Default Layout"
	Screen		"Default Screen"
	InputDevice	"Generic Keyboard"
	InputDevice	"Configured Mouse"

EndSection

 
This driver being generic, it is of course better to use the appropriate driver to get the most of your graphic card. In the meantime, this will sort you out and let you run Linux in your favourite desktop environment.

Tags: linux, ubuntu

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