it’s me… henry

Basically, since using my laptop more and more, I’ve noticed that it has been getting hot. The fan should be turning on, but it hasn’t. So after digging around… I fixed the problem.

First, I’m not sure if turning off apmd made a difference or not, but I did it because another forum told me to do it. But after the results were not successful, I kept it off. acpi is newer than apm, so I left apm off.

In this thread, it basically tells you to install the i8k packages. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=74578

In this thread, it basically tells you how to configure the i8k package. http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=1325507&postcount=128

By doing both, I got my fans working.

This is my customization of Ubuntu 7.10. Since I’m forgetful, this will be my cheatsheet in the future. The laptop is for a Dell 700m.

*Note: this is not a how to install Ubuntu, this is after the installation.

*I like to keep the ISO on local cause if I install anything new, I don’t have to get the CD/DVD

Create ISO from CD/DVD
$ dd if=/dev/dvd of=/path/to/file.iso

Auto-mount ISO (edit /etc/fstab) and add the following line
/path/to/image.iso /mnt/path/to/ubuntu iso9660 ro,loop,auto,user 0 0

Edit /etc/apt/sources.list to include ISO, and disable CD/DVD version
Put this line before cdrom and comment out (#) CD/DVD
deb file:///mnt/path/to/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted

*I like KDE more than the default Gnome.

Install Kubuntu
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

Some problems with logging out, shutdown, rebooting
Change “intel” to “i810″ for device
$ sudo apt-get install 915resolution
If the xserver-xorg-video-intel get better, than we can use the intel drivers

Install console font for konsole
$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig-config
$ fc-cache -f -v ~/.fonts
Reboot

Install MS fonts
$ sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts

*Since there is just one user (me), I don’t need a login screen

Auto login for KDE
$ sudo gdmsetup
Select the Security Tab,
Flag the “Enable Automatic Login”,
Select your name from the drop down menu,
Select Close.

*I like printing to PDF than to actual printers.  It saves paper and I can archive it better

Install PDF printer
Make sure the package is installed
$ sudo apt-get install cups-pdf
Make sure permissions are correct
$ sudo chmod 4755 /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf
Go to System -> Administration -> Printing
Add new printer.
Select the Generic, Postscript Color Printer
*Cannot print test page, it prints as root, print using app

*Since my laptop has speedstep, I want to add speedstep control

Add CPU freq utils (for speedstep)
$ sudo apt-get install cpufrequtils

Install firefox mplayer and remove totem
$ sudo apt-get install mozilla-mplayer
$ sudo rm /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/libtotem*

Install firewall
$ sudo apt-get install guarddog

Configure firewall
Start guarddog, then allow “DNS-Domain Name Server” for “Internet”