Installing Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala on the Dell XPS 16 i7 laptop is pretty straight forward. Everything pretty much worked out of the box. The only thing that needed to be modified to work was the sound drivers.

Sound:

To get the sound to work add the following to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf:

# Configure the sound card
# Codec: IDT 92HD73C1X5
options snd-hda-intel model=dell-m6
options snd-hda-intel enable_msi=1

Touchpad:

To get multitouch working on the touchpad e.g. two finger scroll, etc. I found that you will need to create a script to run  right after login to make these settings work. Here is the script code:

Create a file called touchpad.sh.

Add the following in the file:

#!/bin/sh
#
# Use xinput --list-props "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" to extract data
#

# Set multi-touch emulation parameters
xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Pressure" 32 10
xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Width" 32 8
xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Two-Finger Scrolling" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling" 8 1 1

# Disable edge scrolling
xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Edge Scrolling" 8 0 0 0

# This will make cursor not to jump if you have two fingers on the touchpad and you list one
# (which you usually do after two-finger scrolling)
xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Jumpy Cursor Threshold" 32 110

Add this script to auto start when you log in. This will very between gnome and kde. This should be considered as a temporary solution. I am still looking for a more permanent solution to this problem.

Openvpn via Gnome Network Manager:

To get openvpn working correctly via gnome-network-manager you have to apply a patch:

Create the following file: openvpn.patch

Add the following code to the openvpn.patch file:

--- nm-openvpn-service.conf.fixed 2009-11-05 16:07:53.764591878 +0200

+++ nm-openvpn-service.conf 2009-11-05 12:24:59.672779358 +0200

@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@

 		<allow own="org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.openvpn"/>

 		<allow send_destination="org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.openvpn"/>

 	</policy>

+	<policy user="at_console">

+		<allow own="org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.openvpn"/>

+		<allow send_destination="org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.openvpn"/>

+	</policy>

 	<policy context="default">

 		<deny own="org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.openvpn"/>

 		<deny send_destination="org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.openvpn"/>

Install “patch” via apt-get e.g. sudo apt-get install patch.

Now apply the new patch:

sudo patch -b /etc/dbus-1/system.d/nm-openvpn-service.conf <openvpn.patch

My new 50inch Samsung plasma. Upgraded from a 52inch Mitsubishi DLP. The TV stand is also brand new.

content to come…

Inside of the Studio XPS 16 i7:

My current computer rigs:

From left to right: Server, APC UPS, Main Computer

Specs:

VM Server

Motherboard: BIOSTAR TA790GX XE 790GX Micro ATX

CPU: AMD Phenom 9150e 1.8GHz quad core

Heatsink: ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64

Memory: 4GB DDR 1066

Video Card: Onboard ATI Radeon HD3300 (running headless)

Disks: 160GB System disk, 4TB active disks, 3TB inactive (Storage)

Power Supply: OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ400MXSP 400W

Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 590

OS: Proxmox VM Server (Debian based)

—————————————————————————————————————

Main Computer

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-E7AUM-DS2H Micro ATX

CPU: Inten Q9300 2.5GHz quad core

Heatsink: Scythe SCMNJ-1000 “NINJA MINI”

Memory: 8GB DDR2 800

Video Card: Onboard NVIDIA GeForce 9400

Disks: 500GB

Power Supply: XIGMATEK MC NRP-MC651 650W

Case: LIAN LI PC-V350B

OS: Dual boot Ubuntu 9.10 and Windows 7

My current workspace: