Jaime Hernandez

Dell XPS M1330 Mic Workaround For Ubuntu 9.04

I purchased a Dell XPS m1330 system over a year ago and installed Ubuntu the instant that I received the laptop. There have been little bugs here and there that I have been able to workaround successfully for some time, but I started having problems with the microphone that I was unable to fix beginning when pulseaudio was introduced to Ubuntu Intrepid 8.10. This led to this bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/fedora/+source/alsa-lib/+bug/275998

After a few months of participating in the bug we ended up happiest with upgrading the kernel to 2.6.30.4. To do this I had to upgrade nvidia binary driver to 180.60 because the current one will not work with the jaunty kernel. Sound is definitely better because I don’t get crackling anymore and latency issues as far as I can tell. We hassled the PulseAudio developer for the bug, but it seems it may have not been his problem. Still when I upgraded, the sound was still low on the mic. You have to boost it through paman. You need to have this installed to do this. Once installed you type paman in the terminal and you select the devices tab and select the device that has capture in it. Select properties and adjust the volume. I was satisfied with the volume at 150%. I definitely had a better quality input. Since things work much better for me. There is no support for this, so be aware of that. Make sure to get rid of any workarounds to get this working. I hope this helps.

First install the nvidia driver if needed… I have m1330, so I needed it. Install in order from this mirror since the archive for ubuntu no longer has it: http://mirror.linux.org.mt/ubuntu/pool/restricted/n/nvidia-graphics-drivers-180/

nvidia-180-kernel-source_180.60-0ubuntu1_i386.deb
nvidia-180-libvdpau_180.60-0ubuntu1_i386.deb
nvidia-glx-180_180.60-0ubuntu1_i386.deb

Install the kernel in order from here that I give for packages: http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.30.4/

linux-headers-2.6.30-02063004_2.6.30-02063004_all.deb
linux-headers-2.6.30-02063004-generic_2.6.30-02063004_i386.deb (or amd64)
linux-image-2.6.30-02063004-generic_2.6.30-02063004_i386.deb (or amd64)

Once all this is installed you can restart and everything should be functioning. You can adjust the mic sound through paman, as I had discussed before in the devices tab and click on properties for the input source. Set skype to pulse to get it working.

Edit: I changed the mirror for the nvidia drivers. The one I had previously, no longer had the files.

Friday, October 2, 2009 Ubuntu

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