Dell Inspiron 1545, T4500 with Slackware Linux 13.1

I bought it in September 2010 (new), it has 3G of RAM, 250 HDD, Core™2 Duo processors. It has Windows 7 Home Premium preinstalled. Here are some tips for installing Slacware Linux 13.1:

• Disk. First you must take some disk space for the system. I use gparted live cd (current stable at the time of writing). There were three primary partitions — /dev/sda1 (vfat, very small, for windows it is hidden, I did not touch it), /dev/sda2 (ntfs, about 15G, labeled as RECOVERY, it contains original software for recovery, it is safe not to touch it if you do not delete Windows) and /dev/sda3 (ntfs, the rest of the disk, main partition for windows). In my opinion it is wise not to wipe /dev/sda3 (to reproduce some hardware error on Windows, for example), so resize uder gparted only /dev/sda3, create partition (or partitions) for linux. I have three logical partitions: /dev/sda5 for / (about 15G) /dev/sda6 for /home and /dev/sda7 for swap (I need swap to easily hibernate the system).
• Install. Boot slackware install, choose partitions, install everything. If you use KDE and wicd (from slackware EXTRA) everything (graphic card, function keys, wired lan, hibernate, suspend, built-in webcamera) works out of the box, nothing this laptop specyfic, just slackware. Simple and easy, just works. The only things that need some work is lilo.conf, sound and wireless net.
• lilo.conf
  • If you want to be able to boot original Windows software, make its partition /dev/sda2 in lilo.conf. Yes, /dev/sda2 which is RECOVERY partition and /dev/sda3 is main Windows partition. This is how it works and you must configure it manualy (or in expert mode).
  • To hibernate properly I add append="resume=/dev/sda7" in lilo.conf, where /dev/sda7 is my swap partition.
• Sound The audio cards reports to be HDA INTEL and its codec:

  bash-4.1# cat /proc/asound/card0/codec#* | grep Codec
  Codec: IDT 92HD71B7X
  

  Out of the box only headphones works OK. By trial and error I found right option for the kernel module. Finaly you create file sound.conf

  options snd-hda-intel model=dell-m4-1
  

  in /etc/modprobe.d restart the machine and everything with sound works. Manipulating with mixer you can record with built-in microphone or external, you choose. Remember to make the PCM to be your main channal — otherwise Skype will not work properly (and it works, audio and video).
• Wireless card. The card is properly recognized and (dmesg) you will find info about the lack of firmware. That's right, the card is

  bash-4.1# lspci | grep Network
  0c:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g (rev 01)
  

  and Slackware 13.1 doesn't provide firmware. That was easy: goto slackbuilds.org, search for b43- for 13.1 There are two packages, build them, install them. The card will start working almost immediately (if wicd is working). That's it.
• BluetoothI am not sure whether the model has it. Neither Linux sees it, nor Windows. I suspect it is not present, although in BIOS there are some options for Bluetooth. I do not know. I bought (for the price of about 4-5 cheap beers) very small dongle, plugged and it works. Simpler than giving the laptop to service.
• Closing the lid Closing the lid during the work of KDE ends with the hanging of X system (no matter whether you configure it to suspend or to do nothing). Upgrading the kernel from 2.6.33.4 (default in Slackware 13.1) to 2.6.35.5 solved the problem.

Paweł Wlaź (Pawel Wlaz)