Ubuntu 12.10 or Linux Mint 13: Install HP 3D Hard Drive Guard

How to install "HP 3D DriveGuard" protection on a HP laptop with 64 bit ubuntu/mint:


Go here and download hpfall_2.6.38-0pmjdebruijn1~natty_amd64.deb.Double click the downloaded file and install it.Reboot your HP laptop.

You can test if the HP 3D DriveGuard works by shaking gently your laptop: the HDD led should turn orange indicating that the HDD head is parked, and you should hear a HDD click; after 2-3 seconds the HDD orange led should turn off or back to white.

ubuntu hp probook 4530s with radeon 6490m drivers

Update: Ubuntu 12.10 64bit works fine with amd-driver-installer-catalyst-13-4-linux-x86.x86_64.zip. Steam games work with this setup.


Below instructions are old.

This page is about how to install the amd radeon driver on Ubuntu/Linux Mint 13 on Laptop HP 4530s ProBook. By installing this driver, your laptop will get a lot cooler, battery will last max 4 hours and 45 min if switched to the intel graphics card.

Validated stack: (configuration that worked on a fresh install):
linuxmint-13-kde-dvd-64bit.iso +
amd-driver-installer-12-6-x86.x86_64.run 
(The screen no longer is black after reboot with intel driver activated.)

The original installation instructions can be found on: http://askubuntu.com/questions/124292/what-is-the-correct-way-to-install-ati-catalyst-video-drivers. Most of the linux commands are pasted from there.

I am creating this page to prove that amd-driver-installer-12-6-x86.x86_64.run can be installed on Linux Mint 13 and to remind me of how to install again video drivers.

Prerequisites:

• Laptop HP 4530s with RADEON 6490m
• I didn't make any bios updates. 
• Make sure that the discrete graphics card isn't disabled in bios.
• Has clean installation of Linux Mint 13 64 bit

Benefits:

• If Intel Power Saving GPU mode is selected from "AMD Catalyst Control Center (Administrative)":
• Can have up to 4 hours 45 minutes of battery life.
• Temperature is very low. (Left side of touchpad is cool)
• Low fan noise level. (Fan runs on lowest level)
•  If "High Performance GPU" is selected from "AMD Catalyst Control Center (Administrative)"
• Can have up to 2 hours 15 min of battery life.
• Medium fan noise level.
• Temperature is a bit higher than on Intel GPU, but way cooler than default Ubuntu installation drivers.

Installation Steps: (copy-paste the following into a terminal window)
sudo apt-get update
sudo sh /usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh
sudo apt-get remove --purge fglrx fglrx_* fglrx-amdcccle* fglrx-dev*
#answer with 'Y' if asked:
sudo apt-get install build-essential cdbs fakeroot dh-make debhelper debconf
sudo apt-get install libstdc++6 dkms libqtgui4 wget execstack libelfg0 dh-modaliases 
sudo apt-get install ia32-libs
#For 64 bit only:
sudo apt-get install ia32-libs-multiarch  i386 lib32gcc1 libc6-i386

Download the driver from AMD site-->drivers-->and select RADEON 6000m series. I downloaded "amd-driver-installer-12-6-x86.x86_64.run". Extract the file amd-driver-installer-*.run contained in the downloaded zip if you downloaded as a zip. "cd" to the location of amd-driver-installer-*.run (~/Downloads/ in my case)and run the following in the terminal:
cd ~/Downloads/
chmod +x amd-driver-installer-*.run
sudo sh amd-driver-installer-*.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/precise
sudo dpkg -i *.deb
sudo aticonfig --initial


Reboot the system.


Type "amd catalyst control center" in Dash Home and open "AMD Catalyst Control Center (Administrative)", type your root password, select Switchable Graphics tab from left panel, and chose your favorite GPU. A reboot is required each time after you switch the GPU from Catalyst Control Center.

Over 4h of battery life on Mint 13 KDE 64 bit + AMD driver version 12.6 with 3D KDE effects disabled with [Alt+Shift+F12] and with screen brightness reduced to minimum:

How to run Minecraft on HP 4530s + SLED11 + Radeon 6490m

 

By, default the laptop has installed some old video drivers for the Radeon 6490m graphics card and with java-1_6_0-sun pre-installed. You can play minecraft with these settings, but the game will be laggy, and will have some graphics glitches which will make the game unplayable. The magic happens if you use the variable LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT, without this, the game will exit before entering the game.

I) How to play on default setup, I do not recommend to play on the default setup:
I) Steps (not recommended):

1) Make sure that the Radeon video card is activated. Go to "Catalyst Control Center" and select the high performance GPU:
    "Computer" -> "More Applications..." -> "System" -> "AMD Catalyst Control Ce... (select the one that tooltip says: Allows the configuration of the AMD graphics hardware settings that requires administrative access.) " -> Type your root password -> Select "High performance GPU for optimal graphics performance", then reboot if required.

2) Now you can open terminal and type the following command on a single line:

env LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=1 java -cp /home/your_path_to/minecraft.jar net.minecraft.LauncherFrame

The option LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT will lower your framerate. If you are not satisfied with the low framerate you can try with the drivers from www.amd.com:

II) How to play on the setup with the latest Radeon drivers, the recommended way:
II) Steps (recommended):
1) Download the latest drivers from www.amd.com -> select "Support and drivers" -> on the left select the following options:

Component Category - Notebook Graphics
Product Line - Radeon HD Series
Product Model - Radeon HD 6xxxM Series
Operating System - Linux x86

Click "View results" and Download.
At the time I am writing this, the file is called "amd-driver-installer-12.6-legacy-x86.x86_64.zip" you will find a more recent version. The version I have downloaded works very well on Hp4530s + Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop 11.

2)Remove the existing drivers:
 Go to "Computer" -> "Install Software" -> type in your root password.
Uninstall the following 2 packets: "ati-fglrxG02-HP" and "x11-video-fglrxG02-HP", or the packets which have a similar name.

3) Install the downloaded driver:
Extract the content of the previously downloaded archive with your favorite archive manager to a known location, then open a terminal, change directory ("cd") to that location and launch the installer with "sudo":

cd

chmod +x *.run
sudo ./amd-driver-installer-12.6-legacy-x86.x86_64.run
sudo  aticonfig --initial

(note that you have to adjust the name of the *.run file with the name of the file you downloaded and extracted)
The installation will request a reboot.


4) Make sure that the Radeon graphics card is activated in "Catalyst Control Center". (like described above) Reboot if required. Each time you want to switch between the Radeon and the Intel graphics card, you have to reboot the laptop.

5) Launch minecraft:

java -jar /home/your-path-to/minecraft.jar

Enoy the high FPS !!!
I observed that the game has a bit more FPS in Suse Linux Desktop Enterprise 11 than in Windows 7 and it feels more fluent and fast.