Dell Dimension 8400 (Belinos)

GNU/Linux Desktop Survival Guide
by Graham Williams

Dell Dimension 8400 (Belinos)

Belinos is a desktop machine originally with 1GB of memory (but with 3GB from 6 October 2008), a 160GB hard disk, a 250GB hard disk, and a DVD $\pm$ RW Dual Layer burner. The machine came with MS/Windows XP installed so the machine was set up for dual boot (part of the Debian GNU/Linux and Ubuntu install options).

A default install using the Sarge Release Candidate 3 Debian GNU/Linux Installer, booting from a DVD+RW was performed (18 April 2005). The DVD image was obtained using jigdo-file (see Section 3.7.2).

Ubuntu Jaunty (9.04) was installed 9 September 2009. The machine is becoming a workstation for another user.

Additional 2GB memory was purchased 6 October 2008 from Dick Smith for AUD$59 per GB (DDR2 PC5300 667 MHz) and inserted into slots 3 and 4. Process was simple and followed the instructions from the Dell service manual on line. Performance improvement was immediately noticeable.

A 300GB hard drive was added, July 2009, to the machine. It was salvaged from a external USB drive whose circuit board seemed to have failed--the disk itself was just fine.

A Telstra 3G Wireless Broadband USB was connected. The instructions at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1147685 (posts number 1 and 7) were followed, and the network manager application then worked with the modem. A key element was that before the process:

$ sudo lsusb ... Bus 001 Device 009: ID 19d2:2000 ...

We then run the command:

$ sudo /usr/sbin/usb_modeswitch -W -c /etc/usb_modeswitch.conf

Then:

$ sudo lsusb ... Bus 001 Device 009: ID 19d2:0031 ...

That is, the :2000 became :0031.

Issues include:

The system has two soundcards and that presents ongoing issues. Simplest solution was to disable the on board sound card in the BIOS, then only one sound card is found. Otherwise the ``wrong'' one (on board) keeps getting preference it seems. Even when getting the snd_ca0160 instead of snd_intel8x0 the soundcard is working but when used direct through ALSA the sound is choppy--okay for totem but for mplayer need to tell it to use ``oss'' instead of ``alsa'' by setting the ``ao'' option in /etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf--fixes it for some movies, but others have the reverse problem with mplayer and need ``alsa'' rather than ``oss'' ...weird;
Kernel 2.6.11 was required because of its AHCI support for access to the hard drive (so dual boot could be simplified);
Non-free kernel modules required for support of the Tigon 3 NIC card (tg3)--irmware license fixed in Linux 2.6.12 by ;
Vesa video used until the install of the non-free fglrx driver, then replaced with the Xorg server with support for the Radeon RV370 (but without 3D support), then replace (070126) with the fglrx 3D accelerated driver then upgrade Xorg (090424) and ensure all fglrx packages are removed to avoid failure to start with message: RADEON: No matching Device section for instance (BusID PCI:1:0:1) found and then a Backtrace and exit.
The original, analog only, 19" Dell flat screen monitor (E193FP) had a problem--there was no position where the whole screen was crisp, top to bottom. Generally, letters were fuzzy and washed out at the top of the screen, but fine at the bottom. Also, colours were faded at the top, but clear at the bottom. Seemed like a problem with limitations to off angle views. A replacement screen soon arrived and was okay! Dell requested my paying for the return of the faulty screen, but an email fixed this up and they covered the costs.
The original PHILIPS DVD+/-RW DVD8631 drive failed after 5 months. Dell quickly replaced it with a NEC DVD+/-RW ND-3530A.

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