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Install Windows XP and Fedora Core 3 Dual Boot on Dell Inspiron 8600

1. Partition.

The Dell Inspiron 8600 comes with a whole C:. Even if you just want to use Windows system, it is a bad idea to put everything in one logical disk. You can use some partition tools to partition hard disk while keeping all the installed software, such as PowerQuest's PartitionMagic or Paragon's Partition Commander.

I use PartitionMagic split the disk and reserve ~10G for Fedora Core 3 installation. Here is the example of what the final partition table looks like: (/dev/hda4 is extended partition that /dev/hda5 above sits)
> fdisk -l
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System Comment
/dev/hda1
1 261 2096451 de Dell Utility Dell pre-installed POST
/dev/hda2 * 262 6277 48323520 7 HPFS/NTFS Windows XP Professional
/dev/hda3
6278 6290 104422+ 83 Linux Fedora Core 3 /boot
/dev/hda4
6291 7296 8080695 W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5
6291 7042 6040408+ 83 Linux Fedora Core 3 /
/dev/hda6
7043 7296 2040223+ 82 Linux swap Fedora Core 3 Swap

2. Fedora Core 3 Installation

  • Now put Fedora Core CD1 into CD-ROM driver and reboot. It will boot into Linux installation interface. If not, check boot sequence in BIOS setup.
  • Follow the installation on-screen steps to finish the installation.
  • I was hesitated about installing GRUB on MBR because I saw Dell Utility was located at /dev/hda1 already. It turns out no problem.
  • After the reboot, GRUB will allow you to choose dual boot from Fedora Core or Windows XP Professional.
  • Use yum update to update the Fedora Core installation.

For the steps below, make sure to backup original files !

3. Configure NVIDIA FX 5650 Go in Fedora Core 3

3.1 Configure used in Fedora Core 3

Fedora Core 3 now can boot into graphics interface (Gnome or KDE) with NVIDIA GeForce FX generic drivers. The resolution is very limited (800x600 and 640x480). Go to NVIDIA website and download the latest driver. Follow the instruction to install it. Now we need modify /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

Original portion looks like

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Unknown monitor"
HorizSync 31.5 - 37.9
VertRefresh 50.0 - 70.0
Option "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nv"
VendorName "Videocard vendor"
BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce FX (generic)"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
Modes "800x600" "640x480"

EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Modified to

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "dell-i8600"
HorizSync 31.5 - 100
VertRefresh 30-90
UseModes "16:10"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "geforce-fx-5650"
Driver "nv"
VendorName "Videocard vendor"
BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce FX (generic)"
EndSection

Section "Modes"
Identifier "16:10"
Modeline "1280x800" 107.21 1280 1360 1496 1712 800 801 804 835
Modeline "1280x800" 123.38 1280 1368 1504 1728 800 801 804 840
Modeline "1280x800" 147.89 1280 1376 1512 1744 800 801 804 848
Modeline "1680x1050" 147.14 1680 1784 1968 2256 1050 1051 1054 1087
Modeline "1680x1050" 188.07 1680 1800 1984 2288 1050 1051 1054 1096
Modeline "1680x1050" 214.51 1680 1800 1984 2288 1050 1051 1054 1103
Modeline "1680x1050" 256.20 1680 1808 1992 2304 1050 1051 1054 1112
Modeline "1920x1200" 246.59 1920 2064 2272 2624 1200 1201 1204 1253
Modeline "1920x1200" 282.74 1920 2072 2280 2640 1200 1201 1204 1260
Modeline "1920x1200" 337.58 1920 2072 2288 2656 1200 1201 1204 1271
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 0"
Device "geforce-fx-5650"
Monitor "dell-i8600"
DefaultDepth 24

Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1920x1200" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1920x1200" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1920x1200" "1024x768" "800x600"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection

3.2 Configure used in Fedora Core 2

Fedora Core 2 now can boot into graphics interface (Gnome or KDE) with generic drivers. The resolution is very limited. I tried the Linux driver on NVIDIA official website and it didn't work at that time. To make the NVIDIA FX 5650 Go working, I get nv drivers from www.xfree86.org and configure X11.

  • wget -c http://www.xfree86.org/~alanh/drivers/x86/XFree86
  • wget -c http://www.xfree86.org/~alanh/drivers/x86/nv_drv.o
  • Backup the current XFree86 binary and nv diver
  • cp XFree86 /usr/X11R6/bin/XFree86
  • cp nv_drv.o /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/nv_drv.o
  • Modify /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

Original portion looks like

Section "Monitor"
     Identifier   "Monitor0"
     VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
     ModelName    "Dell 1600x1200 Laptop Display Panel"
     HorizSync    31.5 - 90.0
     VertRefresh  59.0 - 85.0
     Option      "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
     Identifier  "Videocard0"
     Driver      "vesa"
     VendorName  "Videocard vendor"
     BoardName   "VESA driver (generic)"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
     Identifier "Screen0"
     Device     "Videocard0"
     Monitor    "Monitor0"
     DefaultDepth     24
     SubSection "Display"
             Viewport   0 0
             Depth     24
             Modes    "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
     EndSubSection
EndSection 
Modified to
Section "Monitor"

 Identifier  "dell-i8600"
 HorizSync   31.5 - 100
 VertRefresh 30-90
 UseModes    "16:10"

EndSection

Section "Modes"
     Identifier "16:10"
     Modeline "1280x800"  107.21 1280 1360 1496 1712 800 801 804 835
     Modeline "1280x800"  123.38 1280 1368 1504 1728 800 801 804 840
     Modeline "1280x800"  147.89 1280 1376 1512 1744  800  801  804  848
     Modeline "1680x1050" 147.14 1680 1784 1968 2256 1050 1051 1054 1087
     Modeline "1680x1050" 188.07 1680 1800 1984 2288 1050 1051 1054 1096
     Modeline "1680x1050" 214.51 1680 1800 1984 2288 1050 1051 1054 1103
     Modeline "1680x1050" 256.20 1680 1808 1992 2304 1050 1051 1054 1112
     Modeline "1920x1200" 246.59 1920 2064 2272 2624 1200 1201 1204 1253
     Modeline "1920x1200" 282.74 1920 2072 2280 2640 1200 1201 1204 1260
     Modeline "1920x1200" 337.58 1920 2072 2288 2656 1200 1201 1204 1271
EndSection

Section "Device"
 Identifier  "geforce-fx-5650"
 Driver      "nv"
 #VideoRam    131072
EndSection

Section "Screen"
 Identifier  "Screen 0"
 Device      "geforce-fx-5650"
 Monitor     "dell-i8600"
 DefaultDepth 24

 Subsection "Display"
     Depth       8
     Modes       "1920x1200" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
     ViewPort    0 0
 EndSubsection
 Subsection "Display"
     Depth       16
     Modes       "1920x1200" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
     ViewPort    0 0
 EndSubsection
 Subsection "Display"
     Depth       24
     Modes       "1920x1200" "1024x768" "800x600"
     ViewPort    0 0
 EndSubsection
EndSection

4. Configure Wireless in Fedora Core 3

It is a breeze to recognize and configure wireless connection with the help of ndiswrapper project. To get more information, please google ndiswrapper or look at the current project website http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/.

>lspci

02:03.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM94306 802.11g (rev 02)

>dmesg

ndiswrapper version 0.9 loaded
ndiswrapper: driver bcmwl5.sys added
ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:02:03.0[A] -> GSI 7 (level, low) -> IRQ 7
ndiswrapper: using irq 7
divert: allocating divert_blk for wlan0
wlan0: ndiswrapper ethernet device 00:90:4b:13:ac:39 using driver bcmwl5.sys
ndiswrapper device wlan0 supports WPA with AES/CCMP and TKIP ciphers

>iwconfig

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"ITS Wireless" Nickname:"localhost.localdomain"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.457GHz Access Point: 00:02:2D:0B:75:71
Bit Rate=11Mb/s Tx-Power:13 dBm
RTS thr=2347 B Fragment thr=2346 B
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality:100/100 Signal level:-50 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:12307 Missed beacon:0

5. Configure Modem in Fedora Core 3

6. Configure Suspend in Fedora Core 3

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