Alienware M11x

Alienware M11x - Article in Progress (will update more over next couple of days)

Hardware Specs
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub (rev 07) 00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset PCI Express Graphics Port (rev 07) 00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03) 00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03) 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03) 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03) 00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03) 00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 03) 00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03) 00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03) 00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03) 00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03) 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 93) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation ICH9M-E LPC Interface Controller (rev 03) 00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation ICH9M/M-E SATA AHCI Controller (rev 03) 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03) 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GT215 [GeForce GT 335M] (rev a2) 01:00.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1) 02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications AR8132 Fast Ethernet (rev c0) 08:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43224 802.11a/b/g/n (rev 01) 1a:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): JMicron Technology Corp. IEEE 1394 Host Controller 1a:00.1 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. SD/MMC Host Controller 1a:00.3 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. MS Host Controller

Kernel Options
The Sound card and speakers only worked on 2.6.34 and above, the sound would work with headphones on earlier versions.

The NIC is the atl1c module.

You need the synaptics driver for the touchpad to work correctly in X.

Onboard camera works with uvcvideo *TESTED ON kernel 3.4.0*

Graphics Drivers
Nouveau driver works in discrete mode. Intel drivers work correctly in switchable mode. Graphics confirmed fine through nvidia binary drivers. (While in Descrete mode only).

Bumblebee works for at least shutting down the secondary card; Install sys-power/acpi_call this allows bumblebee to shut down the nvidia card while the intel is in use.

I have not been able to get the nvidia card working fully within switchable. Graphical corruption requiring a reboot occurs.

I have not been able to get switchable to work consistantly. VGA switcheroo does not appear to work properly. Bumblebee works, but often leads to graphical corruption (It shows up the moment anything is processed on the nvidia card).

Wireless
08:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43224 802.11a/b/g/n (rev 01)

Kernel >=3.0.0 Broadcom softmac works correctly.

Kernel <=3.0.0 broadcom-sta is required.

Cflags
You can use either;

CFLAGS="-march=core2 -O2 -pipe"

OR

CFLAGS="-march=native -O2 -pipe" (if running GCC version 4.4 or later)