HOWTO: Use the repository on K/Ubuntu 9.10 and 10.04

[voria]

First of all, welcome to the forum

Yes, this is the correct behaviour, 8 brightness levels, with the lowest one not completely dark.
It works the same way by using the latest BIOS 11CA, and it's also the way it works with the windows xp shipped by default.
To get a completely dark screen, you can install the 'nc10-scripts' package from my repo, which enable (among the others) the Fn-F5 hotkey.

[mintlars]

I see. Kind of a disappointment for me though since I kind of liked the fact that you could dim the screen so that I could read it, but maybe not the dude behind me, but I guess I'll be fine with 8 . Thanks.

[gamecat]

hi voRia,
I have found your website via a google search for Samsung Ubuntu support...

I am fairly new to Linux so please bear with me.

I have a Samsung n140 running Ubuntu with the most recent kernel 2.6.31.16. I have sucessfully run the CLI commands and then installed the nc10 packages (script and backlight).

Then NC10 command works in the CLI but the brightness keys do not.

I have tried finding out the keycodes for them with xbindkeys but the keys in question fn+up etc do not return any codes. Some functions keys do return codes such as fn+o for a 6.

Does your package work with the n140?

[marshmn]

hi voRia,
I have a Samsung n140 running Ubuntu with the most recent kernel 2.6.31.16. I have sucessfully run the CLI commands and then installed the nc10 packages (script and backlight).

Then NC10 command works in the CLI but the brightness keys do not.

I have tried finding out the keycodes for them with xbindkeys but the keys in question fn+up etc do not return any codes. Some functions keys do return codes such as fn+o for a 6.

Does your package work with the n140?

The Fn keys are not working properly on the N140 with the 2.6.31 kernel. I believe that they should work with a 2.6.32 kernel (with some config) or I understand that the 2.6.31 kernel can be patched to enable them. See the following arch linux page for info about the Fn keys (other good info about N140 support on Linux on the page too): http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sam ... 40#Fn_Keys

Matt

[gamecat]

Thanks for your reply.

I have already been looking at the arch linux page you pointed me to.

Am i ok to install the necessary packages on Ubuntu?

[marshmn]

I have already been looking at the arch linux page you pointed me to.

Am i ok to install the necessary packages on Ubuntu?

I wouldn't recommend using the packages mentioned on the Arch page on Ubuntu. If you want to get the Fn keys working then I think the best way to do it would be to either:

• install ubuntu 2.6.32 kernel packages which are currently being produced ready for Lucid (eg. from http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/ma ... .6.32-rc8/) and then use the instructions on that Arch page to add the necessary config
• or, get the source for the ubuntu 2.6.31 kernel and patch it

Matt

[voria]

If you want, I can add a patched kernel on the repository.
The only problem is, I can't test it in any way, since I have a NC10, not a N140.

Let me know, and I'll add it in a few days (I'm still on vacation now, and I'm trying to stay away from PCs, at least during the holidays )

[marshmn]

If you want, I can add a patched kernel on the repository.
The only problem is, I can't test it in any way, since I have a NC10, not a N140.

Let me know, and I'll add it in a few days (I'm still on vacation now, and I'm trying to stay away from PCs, at least during the holidays )

That sounds cool. If you would like me to test it before you add it to the repository just let me know.

Have a good vacation, and yeah, keep away from the PCs

Matt

[voria]

A new kernel is available on my testing repository, it should fix the Fn keys on Samsung N140.
I've uploaded new 'udev' packages too, which are needed to actually map and enable the Fn keys on Samsung N140.
Please test them and let me know if everything works.

[marshmn]

A new kernel is available on my testing repository, it should fix the Fn keys on Samsung N140.
I've uploaded new 'udev' packages too, which are needed to actually map and enable the Fn keys on Samsung N140.
Please test them and let me know if everything works.

Hi voRia,

Thanks for the kernel, but I'm afraid I haven't managed to get it to work yet

I added your archive ppa to my sources and updated all the packages from there (I wasn't sure if I needed everything that was there but didn't know if I could safely leave any of them out).

I booted from the new kernel but the boot died fairly early on with:

Code: Select all

udevadm trigger is not permitted while udev is unconfigured.
udevadm settle is not permitted while udev is unconfigured.
svgalib: Cannot open /dev/mem.

and then dropped into BusyBox.

Any ideas where to go from here?

Thanks,
Matt

[voria]

That's really strange.
There is nothing critical on that repository right now, and the only change I've done to the udev packages is to add the N140 model to the list of Samsung netbooks, in order to map the Fn keys. I'm using the experimental packages right now with no problem at all. Maybe something for you went wrong during installation?

Anyway, to fix the problem you'll probably need to boot from the liveUSB, mount the ubuntu partition(s) on the HD, chroot in them and then reinstall/downgrade the culprit packages.

If you need any help or step by step instructions on how to do that, I'm here, just ask.

[marshmn]

Getting back to the previous state is no problem, since I still have an older kernel available from grub which I can use to boot from and remove the packages.

I didn't notice anything unusual during the install but when I get chance I'll clean the system and add them again. I'll let you know the results of that.

Matt

[marshmn]

I ended up re-installing karmic from scratch and then added the kernel, udev and libc (I think?) packages from your archive repository. That seemed to work, and I'm now able to boot from the test kernel.

Some keys - such as the brightness keys - now seem to work where I don't think they did in the past. I still can't get all of the Fn keys to work though. Fn+F9 doesn't seem to work to toggle the wifi at the moment (sudo nc10 wifi works fine of course). I started up sudo sendkeys and hit Fn+F9 a whole bunch of times - sometimes the keypress/release gets reported but most of the time it displays nothing. Pressing Fn+F9 repeatedly outside of sendkeys seemed to have no effect at all.

Matt

[voria]

I started up sudo sendkeys and hit Fn+F9 a whole bunch of times - sometimes the keypress/release gets reported but most of the time it displays nothing.

I think this is the correct behaviour, I use 'xev' to test the Fn keys on my NC10 and the Fn-F9 is like deactivated for some seconds (~5) after it's been used.

Anyway, is Fn-F9 recognized as XF86WLAN?
if so, then it does not work probably because you have set up custom hotkeys for your user, which override the global configuration installed by the 'nc10-scripts' package. If this is the case, you have to reset your user's hotkeys configuration, or rebind them manually to the correct commands ('sudo nc10 wifi' for Fn-F9, and so on).

[marshmn]

Ah yes, I see what you mean, I am seeing the same behavior as you from xev. Fn+F9 is indeed reported as XF86WLAN as you suggested.

I'm not sure why the keys are not getting mapped correctly using the defaults included in the nc10-scripts package. This was a clean machine install a few days ago and so I definitely haven't added any custom key mappings myself (unless some package I've added has caused it). Running 'Keyboard Shortcuts' from Admin -> Preferences, I was able to add a new shortcut to map XF86WLAN -> sudo nc10 wifi and that worked as expected.

I'll keep looking to try and figure out why the default keymappings didn't work. One thing I can think of... did you do your testing of the nc10-scripts on ubuntu desktop? I'm using ubuntu NBR and I'm wondering if the NBR config somehow causes the difference - it's a long-shot but I can't think of anything else at the moment.

Matt