Howto Install Feisty & Beryl On Dell Inspiron 6400, ATI x1400, Dell 1390 WiFi
Posted by admin on June 1st, 2007 
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Hardware Details
Dell Inspiron 6400
ATI X1400 128 MB (not shared)
BCM4311 (Dell 1390) WiFi
BCM4401 LAN
160 GB HD
DVD Writer
2 GB RAM
15.4″ LCD w/ 1280×800 Res.
Firewire
Intel 82801G High Def. Audio
Synaptic Touchpad
56K Modem
Ricoh MultiCard Reader
Installing Feisty On 6400/1505 With Script
Initial Install and Preparation
Download the Ubuntu Desktop Live CD from Here: Download ISO Here. Burn the ISO to CD and boot.
After booting into the CD X won’t start. Hit Enter to say OK to the error messages and get back to the black screen. You may need to switch to ALT-F4. Do the following, one at a time, to get X working:
wget http://www.mylittleubuntuguide.com/files/ati
sudo chmod +x ati
./ati
You’ll see X start and you are now running the Live CD in your native resolution!
Double click the Install icon and configure your install how you like it.
After your system finishes installing it will prompt you before rebooting, ensure you have a network cable connected, and when it boots into the new system you’ll see an error about X. Use your arrows to select NO, hit ENTER and then OK to get to the black login screen. You’ll see an error regarding BCM43xx appearing, ignore it and type as if it wasn’t there. The command line can’t “read” that error so don’t try to backspace over it, etc. Login using your username and password.
Download the script
wget http://www.mylittleubuntuguide.com/files/dellinstall
Make it executable and run it:
sudo chmod +x dellinstall
./dellinstall
Sit back and relax for a moment until you hear your system BEEP at reboots.
After the system reboots X still won’t start, login to the black login screen (X still errors out), go into the install (cd install) directory and again type the same script command:
./dellinstall
When it is finished the system will BEEP, reboot, and you can now use it!
Your system will reboot automatically and after it comes up you’ll have X. To login to Beryl, before you login select the GNOME with XGL session from the Options>Sessions menu in the bottom left corner.
This howto credit goes to lifeempower
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June 7th, 2007 at 1:08 am
Those scripts were a godsend. It appears like everything is working like a charm. Only one comment, when I was finishing runnning the dellinstall for the second time I recieved a message, that it could not find avant-window-navigator, whatever that is?
Thanks
June 15th, 2007 at 12:44 am
Definatelly works!!!!
However the windows didnt have borders in beryl/emerald mode
only in compiz/compiz….
Inspiron 6400/e1505
Ati X1400 128MB Dedicated (256 HyperMemory)
Centrino core duo 1.83G
60GB Sata
Intel Pro/3945 b/g
June 29th, 2007 at 3:55 am
Hello this is the only way on the entire web that works (almost) for me thank you soooo much. I’ve been going through hell to get out of that black screen of death. anyhow I tried to do the last step which is to repeat the ./dellinstall portion, and it tells me it can’t overwright the /home//jpbefx/instal/sources: File exista jpbefx@jpbefx-laptop:~$ I must be doing something wrong. When in says to restart and go back to the cd install, that’s just restart on the startup disk and hit enter on the first menu option install or run Isn’t it?? If not and there’s a step I’m missing do ya mind droppin’ it on my?? Also I can’t log into ubuntu desktop unless I give the whole wget http://www.mylittleubuntuguide.com/files/ati and run ati and if I try to log off and log back on I’m stuck in the black screen of death again. I have the Dell Inspiron 6400 with the Dell 1390 WiFi and all but my card is the x1300 is that going to make a big difference?? I’m sorry for the insanely long blog but I’m a noo00b and I’ve been trying to play hacker with this program for two weeks now. anyway thanks again and “I am not worthy”
June 30th, 2007 at 3:13 am
Great script! As the automatix version changes, I had to edit the script /install/a automatix variable to reflect the current version and comment out the three mkdir .
July 10th, 2007 at 2:52 am
Thank you ! That was exactly the steps I was looking for ! I spent two loooongs days trying to set it up, with no result. Until this evening, thanks to your advice !
By the way, Joshua, I had exactly the same error, but everything’s going fine anyway. I just ignored it
July 26th, 2007 at 12:25 am
Thanks for the helpful article.
Just to augment your instructions a bit: I’m using Ubuntu 7.04 and noticed that “./dellinstall” doesn’t execute correctly; I needed to type in “sudo ./dellinstall” instead.
Upon reboot I needed to do:
cd install
sudo chmod +x ./dellinstall2
sudo ./dellinstall2
August 19th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Yeah, how long does the ./dellinstall take? I’m overseas on a 56K connection, and it seems to be downloading over 250MB! Should I try the ./dellinstall2?
Thanks!