Installing Fedora Core 4 on HP Pavilion ZV6015us

This laptop is operating under Kernel version 2.6.12, previously it was operating under Kernel version 2.6.11.

Basic Installation of Fedora Core 4:

Fedora is the distribution for which more hardware works out of the box. I've seen reports of problems under Suse and Ubuntu that were non-issues under Fedora.

Download and burn the latest x86-64 ISO from one of the mirrors at http://fedora.redhat.com/download/mirrors.html

Boot from the Fedora DVD or CD and enter the following at the boot: prompt: "linux vga=771", just hitting enter without entering this will result in a black screen early in the install with no way to abort but rebooting.
Touchpad will not work during installation, either choose a text install or hit ctrl-alt-F1 and enter the following command (without the quotes) to enable the touchpad: "echo -n "reconnect" > /sys/bus/serio/devices/serio0/drvctl", this should make the installer recognize the touchpad.
Fedora install is fairly easy and intuitive, follow the prompts until Fedora is completely installed.

To make Fedora recognize the touchpad, add the following line to /etc/rc.local: echo -n "reconnect" > /sys/bus/serio/devices/serio0/drvctl
To fix the "fast clock" and "50% CPU utilization when idle": edit /boot/grub/menu.list:

Look for a line similar to: "kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.11-1.1369_FC4 ro root=LABEL=/1 rhgb quiet" and add "no_timer_check" at the end of the line.

Download the latest proprietary ATI Linux driver RPM for Radeon Xpress 200 Series at http://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/64bit/fglrx64_6_8_0-8.13.4-1.x86_64.rpm (If the link doesn't work, look around http://support.ati.com, you should be able to find the latest driver).
Install the RPM by issuing the following command (as root): "rpm -ivh fglrx64_6_8_0-8.13.4-1.x86_64.rpm".

If you get a message similar to the following: error: Failed dependencies: libstdc++.so.5()(64bit) is needed by fglrx64_6_8_0-8.13.6-1.x86_64 libstdc++.so.5(CXXABI_1.2)(64bit), then you need to install some required libraries, issue the following command as root: "yum install compat-libstdc++-33", you should now be able to install the ATI driver by using the command above.

Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and change the video driver from "vesa" to "fglrx", change the display depth to 24 bit, and the resolution to "1280x800".

Get the kernel development package by issuing the following command as root: "yum install kernel-devel".

Extract the source from the compressed file by issuing the following command: "tar -zxvf ndiswrapper-1.2.tar.gz" (substitute ndiswrapper-1.2.tar.gz with the actual file downloaded from the ndiswrapper web site).
cd to the new directory created when extracting the ndiswrapper source.

type "make" to compile the source code.
type "make rpm" to create an RPM
cd to /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/x86_64
type "rpm -ivh ndiswrapper-1.2-1.x86_64.rpm", again substitute ndiswrapper-1.2-1.x86_64.rpm with the actual RPM file created in the previous step.
Download the BCMWL564: 64-bit generic Broadcom 54g NDIS driver from http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/drivers.php.
Follow the instructions at http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/Installation to finish installing ndiswrapper.

General Hardware Specifications of the HP Pavilion ZV6015us:
Hardware Components	Status under Linux	Notes
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Processor	Works	Initially the system clock will run twice as fast as it should, and the system will report 50% CPU utilization when idle. Both of these issues can be fixed by passing the "no_timer_check" boot parameter to the kernel.
15.4" WXGA High-Definition BrightView Widescreen (1280 x 800) Display	Works	No special procedure required during installation.
ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M IGP 128MB Dedicated Video RAM	Partially Works	Full 1280x800 resolution using the proprietary ATI driver. Proprietary ATI kernel module fails to compile.
1 GB PC2700 (333MHz) DDR-SDRAM	Works	No special procedure required during installation.
100 GB 4200 RPM IDE (Ultra ATA/DMA) Hard Disk	Works	No special procedure required during installation.
6-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader	Doesn't Work	Not supported.
Integrated 10/100Base-T Ethernet LAN	Works	No special procedure required during installation.
Internal 56k Modem	Not tested.
DVD+/-RW	Works	No special procedure required during installation.
Broadcom BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller	Works	Needs ndiswrapper.
8-cell Lithium-Ion battery	Works	No special procedure required during installation.
Touchpad	Works	Some configuration required to make it work.

Unresolved issues

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Installing Fedora Core 4 on HP Pavilion ZV6015us var addthis_pub="heffel";