Installing Fedora Core 3 on HP Pavilion ze4430US

Last updated: 2005-05-01

General Hardware Specifications of HP Pavillion ze4430US:

Hardware Components	Status under Linux	Notes
Mobile AMD Athlon XP-M Processor 2200+ (1.8 GHz) with PowerNow! Technology	Works	Use up2date and install the latest kernel. (2.6.11-1.14_FC3 As of this writing.)
15.0-inch XGA TFT (1024 x 768) display	Works	Select Generic LCD 1024x68 Display in Setup after in install on first boot.
ATI MOBILITY RADEON (M6) 4X AGP and 3D architecture	Works	No special procedure required during installation. (At this point in time there does not seem to be a Linux driver for ATI Mobility chipsets. This means no Unreal Tournament 2004.)
512MB, DDR SDRAM, 1DIMMs	Works	No special procedure required during installation
40 GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive	Works	I let FC3 remove all partitions and re-partition how it saw fit via the automatic option.
No Floppy Drive	N/A	My model does not have a floppy drive.
Integrated 10/100BASE-T Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)	Works	FC3 detected and installed the driver at install. (Note: This is how you can update the kernel before compiling Ndis Wrapper.)
Conexant 56K ACLink Internal Modem	Installed but untested.	Installed using cnxtinstall.run.sh script from http://www.linuxant.com/. See details below.
DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo	Works	No special procedure required during installation
Broadcom 54g MaxPerformance 802.11g	Works	Installed with Ndis Wrapper and XP drivers. (Upgrade kernel to 2.6.11-1.14_FC3 before compiling Ndis Wrapper) External wireless on/off button does not work. See details below.
8-Cell Lithium-Ion (4.4 Ahr)	Works	No special procedure required during installation
16-bit Sound Blaster Pro-compatible audio; internal Altec Lansing speakers; Volume control buttons and mute button	Works	On install when prompted, press the button to test for the sound card. After the sound plays, confirm you heard the sound and you're done.

This laptop is operating under Kernel version 2.6.11-1.14_FC3

Basic Installation of Fedora core 3:

Fedora Core 3 provided the best working scenaro for the HP ze4430US.
I downloaded the FC3 .iso files from http://www.linuxiso.org
I chose custom installation.
Make sure you install the default Developer packages. You'll need the compilers for some software and drivers.

Setting up additional features for Fedora Core 3

Setup (+/-) Volume Control Buttons
Follow: Applications > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts and find the Volume up and down entries, and map the buttons. Use Alt+Backspace for mute which coincides with the fn key.
Setup Quick Launch Buttons
Follow: Applications > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts and find the...
... E-mail entry. Press the quick launch button with the envelope icon. By default Evolution is the default mail reader for FC3. To switch the default mail reader, follow: Applications > More Preferences > Preferred Applications. Press the Mail Reader tab and select a mail reader from the drop menu.
... Internet Browser. Press the quick launch button with the globe icon. By default Epiphany is the default Internet browser for FC3. To switch the default Internet browser, follow: Applications > More Preferences > Preferred Applications. Press the Web Browser tab and select a browser from the drop menu.

The mute, Tv Now, lock and help buttons appear to be soft buttons. I've not looked for software to support these buttons in Linux.

Unresolved issues

Linux Drivers for ATI Mobility chipsets (no driver available for 3D acceleration)
Modem Configuration

Configuration Files

None

More Specific Information. Specific stuff such as:

Conextant 56k Modem Setup: [Currently untested. I'll edit this data if I have any problems.]
- The following scripts are available at http://www.linuxant.com/.
- Detect your modem with this script by Marv Stodolsky. This will help you determine what driver(s) you need. I needed the HSF driver.
- Once you know what driver you need, use this script which will automate the process (at least it did for me) and compile and install the modem driver you need.
Broadcom 54g Wireless Setup:
- Kernel 2.6.9-1.667 had a bug where it would not properly shut down on some motherboards. Later kernels fixed this issue. My PC was one of these affected by this bug.
- Ndis Wrapper suggests using a stack 16 kernel because it's required for some windows drivers. If you're going to use Ndis Wrapper, then you may need to do this. I've not had any crashes using the regular kernel, but had plenty trying to use the stack 16.
- Follow the Ndis Wrapper instructions on making and installing Ndis Wrapper. They're written well and that's all you should need.
- After preforming ndiswrapper -m, configure the wifi card in Applications > System Settings > Network > New > Wireless Connection > Choose the nidswrapper device and use the window that pops up to configure the device to your network.
ACPI
- Suspend was not compiled with my kernel, so the command /usr/bin/apm -s does not work.
- When the lid is closed, the monitor does turn off, and resumes when re-opened.
- Works great on battery power. I spent the about 2.5 hours working on it with only battery power.

Contact Information

usr_wifi at yahoo dot com
usr_wifi ( Yahoo! )

Links: