Installing Fedora Core 6 (FC6) on a Dell Inspiron 640m

Last updated: 2007-01-21

General Hardware Specifications of Dell Inspiron 640m:

Hardware Components	Status under Linux	Notes
Intel Centrino Duo, 1.66 GHz	Works	No special procedure required during installation.
14.1 SXGA+ TFT Display (1400x900)	Works	Select Generic LCD Display in Installer
Integrated Intel 954GM	Works	I used the i810 driver
512MB RAM	Works	No special procedure required during installation
60 GB Hard Drive	Works	No special procedure required during installation
Integrated Ethernet	Works	No special procedure required during installation
Integrated ipw3945 wireless	Works	Need to use ATrpms
DVD +/-RW Drive	Works	No special procedure required during installation

This laptop is operating under the latest FC6 Kernel (currently 2.6.19).

Basic Installation of Fedora Core 6

The desktop effects work when I use the "i810" driver in xorg.conf (thanks Intel!). The install incorrectly selected i586 instead of i686 so I only had one core working and it had no speed control. To fix, I just did a yum remove of the kernel and then a yum install of the i686 kernel. After a reboot, I then added the ATrpms to install support for my wireless (ipw3945).

I use 915resolution (atrpms) to get 1400x900 working:
/usr/sbin/915resolution 3c 1440 900
I created a script, /etc/rc.d/init.d/915resolution, which I setup using /sbin/chkconfig.

I had FC5 running successfully on the notebook at first.

I added "MaxTapMove 0" and "MaxTapTime 380" to make the touchpad useable.

    Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Synaptics"
        Driver      "synaptics"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
        Option      "Protocol" "auto-dev"
        Option      "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
        Option      "SHMConfig"
        Option      "MaxTapMove" "0"
        Option      "MaxTapTime" "380"
    EndSection