# Dell N7010 Laptop

## shpena

Hey guys,

Just bought a Dell N7010 17" lappy, 4gb memory.  Are there any prebuilt kernel .configs out there that I could use?  I'm trying to slim down the kernel as much as possible, just have it load all necessary hardware and support video, sound, usb, etc. as well as a few other things.  A search of the forums for N7010 only brings me to the webcam post (great post btw).

Please let me know!

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## Hypnos

1) http://kernel-seeds.org/

2) Use lspci to fill in the rest.

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## shpena

Alright, got my kernel slimmed down to the bare minimum of what I need.  Pappy's Kernels were brilliant, and after a couple of hours of going through his examples and whatever lspci and lshw spat out, I now have a very fast kernel.

Thanks!

Now, I am trying to setup wireless but I am having many issues.

Followed this link: https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-862777-highlight-broadcom+4727.html

but still nothing.

ifconfig -a gives:

```

lappy ~ # ifconfig -a

dummy0    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 

          BROADCAST NOARP  MTU:1500  Metric:1

          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0

          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 

          inet addr:10.0.0.3  Bcast:10.0.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0

          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

          RX packets:47 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:48 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:1

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000

          RX bytes:6750 (6.5 KiB)  TX bytes:8460 (8.2 KiB)

          Interrupt:43

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr

          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000

          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

          Interrupt:17

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback

          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0

          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1

          RX packets:24 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:24 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0

          RX bytes:1512 (1.4 KiB)  TX bytes:1512 (1.4 KiB)

```

iwconfig gives:

```

lappy ~ # iwconfig

lo        no wireless extensions.

dummy0    no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      IEEE 802.11  ESSID:""  Nickname:""

          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated

          Bit Rate:72 Mb/s   Tx-Power:off

          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off

          Power Managementmode:All packets received

          Link Quality=5/5  Signal level=0 dBm  Noise level=0 dBm

          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0

          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

```

I emerged broadcom-sta and it loads as w1 according to lsmod:

```

lappy ~ # lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by

cpufreq_ondemand        9678  4

snd_pcm_oss            38105  0

snd_mixer_oss          14955  1 snd_pcm_oss

snd_seq_oss            28418  0

snd_seq_midi_event      6244  1 snd_seq_oss

snd_seq                52453  4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event

snd_seq_device          5897  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq

snd_hda_codec_intelhdmi    10480  1

snd_hda_codec_realtek   294884  1

i915                  306253  3

snd_hda_intel          22457  0

snd_hda_codec          76006  3 snd_hda_codec_intelhdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel

lib80211_crypt_tkip     8010  0

drm_kms_helper         30629  1 i915

wl                   2536866  0

snd_hwdep               6362  1 snd_hda_codec

snd_pcm                78821  3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec

snd_timer              20305  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm

intel_agp              31525  2 i915

snd                    59713  11 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer

iTCO_wdt               11196  0

uvcvideo               60147  0

atl1c                  31609  0

lib80211                5087  2 lib80211_crypt_tkip,wl

iTCO_vendor_support     2483  1 iTCO_wdt

soundcore               6824  1 snd

videodev               70804  1 uvcvideo

snd_page_alloc          7685  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

v4l1_compat            14644  2 uvcvideo,videodev

v4l2_compat_ioctl32    10017  1 videodev

i2c_i801                7787  0

```

wpa_supplicant.conf is same as the posted link.

conf.d/net:

```

modules_eth1=( "wpa_supplicant" )

#wpa_supplicant_eth1="-Dmadwifi"

wpa_supplicant_eth1="-Dwext"

wpa_timeout_eth1=15

config_eth1=( "dhcp" )

dhcpcd_eth1="-t 10"

modules_eth0=( "ifconfig" )

config_eth0=( "dhcp" )

essid_eth1="any"

#config_eth0=( autoipd )

```

init.d/net.lo is the only net.* there.  

iwlist eth1 scan gives " eth1      Failed to read scan data : Invalid argument"

Is there something else I need to post so one of the wireless gurus could help?

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## The Doctor

you should look this page,  Wireless Networking if you really need command line internet. If you are going to install a gui, then I would just use wicd.

the reason that you only have net.lo is because you skipped a step in the handbook its step  8.b Networking Information

```
cd /etc/init.d 

ln -s net.lo net.eth1

rc-update add net.eth1 default # only if you want it to start on boot[/quote]

```

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## shpena

I didn't have net.eth0 or net.eth1 because from reading the link the guys said:

 *DONAHUE wrote:*   

> wicd and "gentoo networking" conlict
> 
> at minimum 
> 
> ```
> ...

 

I'm keen on using gui, but wicd isn't picking up any wireless whereas windows picks up 7 different ssids....

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## The Doctor

if you use wicd, then what is in /etc/conf.d/net wpa_supplicant.conf are irrelevant.

post the errors that you get when you start wicd from the command line

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## shpena

So I blank out the wpa_supplicant.conf as well as conf.d/net, correct?

Here is what the command line tells me:

```

lappy ~ # wicd-cli -l -y

#       BSSID                   Channel ESSID

```

i also used the wicd-curses one, nothing pops up in wireless.

Please tell me what information to post so I can get to the bottom of this.

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## The Doctor

 *Quote:*   

> So I blank out the wpa_supplicant.conf as well as conf.d/net, correct? 

 

I actually meant that they do not matter one way or the other.

hmm... no error. so it does start.

I really never had trouble shoot like this, so I am doing a fair bit of guessing here.

First, if you have the gui available reload from the gui.

Second check Preferences to set your wireless connection point. my money would be that wicd doesn't know that eth1 is wireless

third, play with the advanced settings.

I am afraid that anything else I say will be out of my experience...

these links look like they are relevant

http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Lenovo_Ideapad_V460

http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Broadcom_43xx

I really hope you can get that card working, sorry I can't be of more help.

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## shpena

No worries mate, thanks for your input.  :Smile: 

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## shpena

Got it working.  Didn't notice the Tx-Power: off in iwconfig's output.  All I had to do then was turn the darn thing on and it works like a charm.

If anyone else has a Dell N7010 (17R) 4gb laptop they want to run gentoo on, let me know and I'll post my .config and my config files.

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## shpena

Here's a link to my .config file for anyone who is interested:

http://pastebin.com/jL01k3JH (edited for 2.6.36-r8 update)

and my make.conf:

http://pastebin.com/1ak4c18T

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