Let's add support to other Samsung netbooks

[voria]

Please try this command in a terminal for toggling the wireless on/off:

Code: Select all

sudo samsung-scripts wifi

If it works, then the problem is just with the Fn-F9 keybinding. If it doesn't work, then paste here the output of the command.

[Julian2010]

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=691193

I found this link.There is a long discussion about the key_relesae issue (solved by now),but also about the brightness issue.
It's like Chinese for me..hope it may help.

[Julian2010]

It does work through the terminal command, so it's related to a wrong keybinding.

[voria]

Concerning the backlight control, according to this post (and also to the post on archlinux forum you linked), you just need a newer nvidia driver.
I have both the latest stable (190.53) and beta (195.36.03) nvidia drivers on my experimental repository, please try them and test the backlight control (try first the stable one, if it does not work then try the beta).

Fast instructions on how to install them:
- Add the repository to your installation.
- Update from the repository the package 'nvidia-common' ONLY and install its dependencies ('nvidia-190-modaliases' and 'nvidia-195-modaliases').
- Reboot.
- Go to 'System'->'Administration'->'Hardware Drivers'.
- Install the driver you want to test.
- Reboot.
- Disable the repository (it's a testing repository, better to have it disabled when it's not needed).

To revert the changes and go back to the default karmic driver:
- Go to 'System'->'Administration'->'Hardware Drivers'.
- Install the 185 driver (the official karmic version).
- Use the following command to revert 'nvidia-common' to the official karmic version and remove 'nvidia-190-modaliases' and 'nvidia-195-modaliases' packages:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install nvidia-common=0.2.15.1 && sudo apt-get purge nvidia-190-modaliases nvidia-195-modaliases

- Reboot.
- Disable the repository (if you did not before).

[voria]

It does work through the terminal command, so it's related to a wrong keybinding.

Then check if the command is correctly binded to the FN key.

- Install 'compizconfig-settings-manager':

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

- Start it from 'System'->'Preferences'->'CompizConfig Settings Manager'.
- Click on the 'Commands' plugin (the first one in the list).
- Check the command in the 'Command line 2' text field, it has to be 'sudo samsung-scripts wifi' (with no quotes).
- Go to the 'Key Bindings' tab.
- Check the assigned key for 'Run command 2', it has to be 'XF86WLAN'. If it's not, click on the currently assigned key, then on 'Grab key combination' and press Fn-F9.

Just a note (for the record):
from here you can bind the unused Fn keys (like Fn-F3) in order to launch custom commands. Just use the empty commands fields.

[Julian2010]

Should your "backilght package" be installed before that?I ask silly questions, as you know..but as it is not mentioned in your procedure..and we never spoke of that before...

[voria]

The 'samsung-backlight' package is only for intel video cards, so you don't need it (and it would not do any difference if installed or not).

[Julian2010]

It does work through the terminal command, so it's related to a wrong keybinding.

Then check if the command is correctly binded to the FN key.

- Install 'compizconfig-settings-manager':

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

- Start it from 'System'->'Preferences'->'CompizConfig Settings Manager'.
- Click on the 'Commands' plugin (the first one in the list).
- Check the command in the 'Command line 2' text field, it has to be 'sudo samsung-scripts wifi' (with no quotes).
- Go to the 'Key Bindings' tab.
- Check the assigned key for 'Run command 2', it has to be 'XF86WLAN'. If it's not, click on the currently assigned key, then on 'Grab key combination' and press Fn-F9.

Just a note (for the record):
from here you can bind the unused Fn keys (like Fn-F3) in order to launch custom commands. Just use the empty commands fields.

compizconfig was already on my machine.
Well, I did that and Fn/F9 works now..
But in command line 2 was the backlight control with Fn/F5..which has now disappeared.
As I did not take a picture of the content of that line before modifying it..please give me back the data I need to create it again.
It will be command line 6 (0 is brightness-up, 1 is Brightness-down 2 is for WIFI now, 3 for bluetooth, 4 for webcam and 5 for wmswithcher.sh:for VGA display).

[voria]

It will be command line 6 (0 is brightness-up, 1 is Brightness-down 2 is for WIFI now, 3 for bluetooth, 4 for webcam and 5 for wmswithcher.sh:for VGA display).

Why do you have brightness up and down?
What commands they launch?
They are not installed by my scripts, and they are not there by default.
So, you probably added them manually, and this explains why not all the keybindings created by the 'samsung-scripts' package work (the user-defined keybindings override the global ones installed by the package).

Anyway, you can find a list of all the keybindings installed by the 'samsung-scripts' package and the commands they launch in this thread. Manually re-add the missing ones.

[Julian2010]

You largely over-estimate my ability to do such things alone!

[Julian2010]

I mapped again manually in compiz/commands the Fn/Fx with the relevant command lines.

I uploaded from your archive repository the 190.53 NVIDIA driver, rebooted, and then tested the Fn/F5 action: good news, it works!
However, strangely, in the same session the Fn/F5 does not always shut down the backlight at the first strike, and at times a second Fn/F5 strike is needed
When backlight is OFF, two strikes may also be needed to get the backlight ON again.Just to be precise, in these tests I let the backlight OFF for at least 10 to 15 seconds: in normal use there is no reason to switch off the backlight for 2 seconds only and want to get it on again so quickly, as then there would be some interaction with the time needed to manage the key_release_issue (just a guess I make).

Just to be sure, I reverted temporarily to the former 185 NVIDIA driver and rebooted.
To my surprise, the Fn/F5 also works for this driver (I checked through NVIDIA settings its number, and it was clearly 185).
The same situation happens: one or two Fn/F5 strikes are needed sometimes to switch the backlight OFF and/or then ON.
As the 190.53 is the latest tested NVIDIA driver, I installed it again and will keep it from now on.
I did not forget to uncheck your testing repository.

So as a whole, backlight control is a success on the N510, with the minor ( in my view) defect of the number of Fn/F5 needed strikes.

In my case computer science is not an exact one, but it however happens that things work.
I will get back to you later for some minor questions , but for the time being, everything you designed for the N510 and I implemented (more or less easily..) works fine, although I did not test the switch to an external VGA display.

I hope all this will help other N510 owners to use Ubuntu on their netbook.
May I suggest that all this could be summarized in a separate tutorial , specific to the N510?
So, thank you again.
I hope that the brightness control problem itself will be solved in the near future (Ubuntu 10.04 and/or future NVIDIA driver version).

[voria]

I uploaded from your archive repository the 190.53 NVIDIA driver, rebooted, and then tested the Fn/F5 action: good news, it works!
...
So as a whole, backlight control is a success on the N510, with the minor ( in my view) defect of the number of Fn/F5 needed strikes.

What about the Fn-up and down? Do they work too now? From your words I assume it is, and if so, I'll add this nvidia driver to the official repository.

However, strangely, in the same session the Fn/F5 does not always shut down the backlight at the first strike, and at times a second Fn/F5 strike is needed
When backlight is OFF, two strikes may also be needed to get the backlight ON again.

I can't figure out why it behaves this way. The script for managing the backlight on/off use the 'vbetool' command line utility which, as far as I know, should work good in any case.
Please try from the terminal the command:

Code: Select all

sudo samsung-scripts lcd

and see if even in this case you need to use the command more than once to toggle screen backlight.

May I suggest that all this could be summarized in a separate tutorial , specific to the N510?
So, thank you again.

Well, I was thinking about rewriting the howto for using the repository in a better way, by adding specific instructions for netbooks that need some further step. But I'm really out of time lately, so it's not a thing I can do for now.
However, if anyone is interested in reorganizing/rewriting the howto, I would have no problem with that.

[Julian2010]

It seems there is a misunderstanding about brightness control , specially as regards the last line of my previous answer, which I thought was self-explanatory about the remaining issue: I only stated in that post that now the Fn/F5 works (with some trouble sometimes),which was not the case before, but that the brightness control problem remains unsolved.

In fact in that last answer I said nothing about the Fn/Up & DOWN, which means they still do not have any effect on the real brightness of the screen, although the brightness bubble is correctly displayed and the level it shows is increased/decreased by the Fn/UP or DOWN action.

This is with the 190.53 NVIDIA driver I use now, and was already the case with the "official" (185) driver I used before, as far as the Fn /UP & DOWN keys are concerned.

As already told, as the Fn/F5 works with the 190.53 driver, I did not even try the beta 195 NVIDIA driver you mentioned as I thought is was then useless.
Do you think I should have a go with this beta driver for the Fn /UP & DOWN...and what are my risks?
I would not like to break everything and restart from scratch if the Xserver is not pleased with that driver....I already made some mistakes (as you understood very well each time it happened trying to implement what you explained, so..

About the backlight command using the terminal, it seems it does not always work well.
When it works correctly, backlight is shut off.
Then when typing (in the dark!) the same command, backlight comes ON again, and I can see that after the first command, I was given back the hand by the terminal: the line of the backlight ON same command (typed without seeing it) begins with xxxx@MyNetbook:~$, which is expected.

When it does not work properly , I have to type Fn/F5 to have backlight ON again..and read what has happened in the terminal.
In that case, hand has not been given back to terminal, so the second typed command has not been executed, as the line does not begin by xxxx@MyNetbook:~$
It can be the other way around: backlight is on, I type the command in terminal, backlight stays ON, and I can see that the second command line (for backlight OFF) is just at the beginning of the next line, meaning that also in this cas hand has not been given back to the terminal.
Please note that I checked each time very carefully to avoid any typo. mistake , so it does not come from some kind of unknown command (terminal never answered that when the command did not work).
All this seems consistant with what happens with the Fn/F5 strike having sometimes no effect at the first strike.

I am sorry I am not in a position to help you rewriting anything, although I would be happy to do so.
Only someone who really understands how these things work , and has a good knowledge about the similarities as well as differences between the different Samsung netbooks is really able to design and write an efficient tutorial about them.
My lack of knowledge in Linux really prevents me to do so, sorry again.

[voria]

It seems there is a misunderstanding about brightness control , specially as regards the last line of my previous answer, which I thought was self-explanatory about the remaining issue: I only stated in that post that now the Fn/F5 works (with some trouble sometimes),which was not the case before, but that the brightness control problem remains unsolved.
In fact in that last answer I said nothing about the Fn/Up & DOWN, which means they still do not have any effect on the real brightness of the screen, although the brightness bubble is correctly displayed and the level it shows is increased/decreased by the Fn/UP or DOWN action.

My fault, I misunderstood your report.

As already told, as the Fn/F5 works with the 190.53 driver, I did not even try the beta 195 NVIDIA driver you mentioned as I thought is was then useless.
Do you think I should have a go with this beta driver for the Fn /UP & DOWN...and what are my risks?
I would not like to break everything and restart from scratch if the Xserver is not pleased with that driver....

Yes, I think you should try the beta driver.
I'm using it right now on my desktop pc, and it's working perfectly, no problem at all.
However, if even the X server should stop working with it for some reason, you can easily revert back to 190 stable driver with this command from a terminal:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx-190

About the backlight command using the terminal, it seems it does not always work well.
...
When it does not work properly , I have to type Fn/F5 to have backlight ON again..and read what has happened in the terminal.
In that case, hand has not been given back to terminal, so the second typed command has not been executed, as the line does not begin by xxxx@MyNetbook:~$
It can be the other way around: backlight is on, I type the command in terminal, backlight stays ON, and I can see that the second command line (for backlight OFF) is just at the beginning of the next line, meaning that also in this cas hand has not been given back to the terminal.

Please redo the same test by using these commands instead:

Code: Select all

sudo vbetool dpms off

Code: Select all

sudo vbetool dpms on

The first one disables the backlight, the second one enables it.
'vbetool' is a standard tool which should work with any video card, and it's used by my scripts to manage backlight. I need to understand if the same behaviour occurs even by using the vbetool directly, or if it's related to my scripts.

[greggy]

Good day everyone. I am a complete noob in Ubuntu, I bought Samsung n120 3 days ago and installed Ubuntu that I had just downloaded, Karmic Koala (not a netbook remix), I do not have wireless network working though I tried to understand what you were saying here.

Could you please type a simple guide of what I should do?

Appreciate your help.

Greg