Installing Debian on a HP dm-1

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Getting Debian working on different hardware is always a challenge. This week I am using a HP Pavilion dm1 4306AU.

lspci shows that it has the following hardware:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 14h Processor Root Complex
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Wrestler [Radeon HD 7310]
00:01.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Wrestler HDMI Audio
00:10.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB XHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:11.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
00:12.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB OHCI Controller (rev 11)
00:12.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller (rev 11)
00:13.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB OHCI Controller (rev 11)
00:13.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller (rev 11)
00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller (rev 14)
00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller (rev 01)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge (rev 11)
00:14.4 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH PCI Bridge (rev 40)
00:15.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Hudson PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 0)
00:15.1 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Hudson PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 1)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 0 (rev 43)
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 1
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 2
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 3
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 4
00:18.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 6
00:18.6 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 5
00:18.7 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 7
02:00.0 Network controller: Ralink corp. RT3290 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe
02:00.1 Bluetooth: Ralink corp. RT3290 Bluetooth
06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 06)

The Debian installer worked fine, but it booted to a blank screen with a blinking underscore. Steps below to get a working machine.

Fix graphics and wifi

Debian 7 running on a HP dm-1

You need the nonfree firmware in firmware-linux-nonfree. First select ‘recovery mode’ from the boot menu.

From the root terminal, nano /etc/apt/sources.list, and add non-free. Plug in a network cable, then:

apt-get update && apt-get install firmware-linux-nonfree firmware-ralink

After a reboot, you can now get a working desktop and use wifi.

The beep problem

On shutdown, my computer gave a loud PC speaker beep, which could not be muted. The GNOME sound control doesn’t provide a volume bar for the PC speaker, so I installed the gnome-alsamixer package, which has it:

Muting the PC speaker with gnome-alsa-mixer

Strangely, the beep returned after a few reboots, but was no longer as loud.

Brightness keys

The brightness keys did not work originally, but upgrading to “testing” (jessie) fixed this.

Overall

This laptop requires two non-free packages to run, both of which are just firmware blobs.

HP Mini 210 review

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I used a HP Mini 210 netbook for around 18 months. It costed just $329 AUD when I bought it, and had Windows XP and a 160GB hard drive.

I was originally interested in dual-booting Windows alongside Linux, but HP support proved to be very stubborn and would not provide recovery disks or the Windows licence key, so I ran it with only Linux instead.

Here are some features to note:

  • An SD card can be placed in the slot and stays out of the way.
  • The VGA port makes it suitable for doing presentations.
  • The battery life is not fantastic. Around 3 hours when new, and reduced to just 20 minutes or so by the first year.
  • Not particularly durable. The right-click stopped working on the mousepad after a while. I enabled mac-style gestures in Ubuntu to overcome this.
  • The ventilation is poor. It has no vents on the bottom at all, which is great for keeping the inside dry, but it has a very weak fan and does not handle heavy loads gracefully.

Some things you can do to improve it.

  • As soon as I found out how to open the case (video), I got an Intel SSD, which was quite expensive, but can be used in whatever netbook you have. It makes it quieter, faster, more power efficient, and removes the shock-sensitivity that plagues notebook hard-drives.
  • Consider getting a high-capacity battery. I replaced the dead standard size one with a cheap 3rd-party battery (link), but it could still do with more power.
  • The default install is filled with crapware. Either reinstall windows or run something else. GNU/Linux compatibility is great, and it also runs Windows 7 with no worries. It turns out your Windows XP key is inside the case, so open it up and use it.

It was a good laptop for the price, but not exceptionally fast, durable, or long in its battery life. This netbook should be purchased with the understanding that it will have a short life.