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Dell Supporting Linux on Laptops
SPI3LB3RG writes "Dell now supports Linux for it's laptops. Down at the bottom of the page is a listing of Drivers by OS." My old Inspiron basically fell apart. But it was running Linux for years before I wore out the keyboard, broke the CD-ROM drive, and the hard drive started failing ;)
Huh??
This post should state that Dell is supporting Red Hat Linux. The files are all rpm format, not source files. /. editors should know the diference between Red Hat, the distro, and Linux, the OS. This is one of the reasons there a so many newgroups posts looking for help with "Linux 6."
This doesn't apply to all Dell Laptops. My brand-new Inspiron 3700 doesn't have any Linux patches listed, thank you Dell. (And of course they wouldn't sell it to me w/o MSFT wares on it)
Maybe someday it will be as common of a question as "paper or plastic" but that's quite a ways off.
can a pcmcia modem ever be a winmodem? just curious.
I have tried them twice and got the same 5/sqr inch response. Perhaps it's different for each market? I'm in the UK, and everyone knows we never complain :)
Where I work, we use Compaq, Gatway and Dells. Both Compaq and Gatway say 10 dead pixels, sounds like Dell is ahead of the game.
I had an Inspiron 3200 with a similar problem: it would type n=b whenever I tried to use the keyboard; Dell diagnosed it as heat damage to the keyboard controller. Repairs required that the system be returned to Dell. Hope this helps, Daniel Myers myers1@concentric.net
I work at Dell. E-mail my personal account, and I'll send you info on our Linux workstations. ruthia@sarth.com is the address. (don't want to post an address that includes my real name.) Sorry to hear about that. Unfortunately there are some people here who hear "linux" and have a panic attack. I'm not one of them!
For a while Dell has been claiming to support Linux on the PowerEdge, but has anyone actually gotten the specs or software to take advantage of the DRAC's ability to do an automatic reboot if the OS kernel panics/hangs? Dell was supposibly going to get back to me in September with information. In October they did get back to me to tell me that they would get back to me again soon. And then ... nothing. Is there enough detail in anything on their website to accomplish writting a driver for anything still not supported by Linux? Is Dell working on drivers to get the DRAC working with Linux? Seems to me that "supporting Linux" has just become the latest hot-words for sales reps to throw around. When will it actually MEAN something?
all three
Someone posted a direct link to a dell configured laptop with linux pre-installed. I followed the link and indeed thats what it is. I tried to configure a different one for my own personal use however I was unable to find the option that that person must have used. If you want to see it, scroll up (his was a 4,000 dollar configuration).
And now I want a HP inkjet that goes with it, and that includes drivers in the box. Further, Dell's gotta sell it pre-installed and tell everybody that Linux Dell laptops are normal business practice.
If Dell starts selling Linux Dell laptops, Applixware or StarOffice pre-installed, there will be no holding it.
Maybe then we'll get rid of the most anal-retentive "If you can't re-install your motherboard's firmware you have no business using a computer!" kind of cartoon characters currently polluting the Linux space. I guess they can all move to BSD! Bye bye!
I just wanted to know if you could tell us what didn't work?? What do you mean RH wasn't installed right?
http://www-csag.cs.uiuc.edu/individual/pakin/compl aint this looks like it was done with the complaint generator above... the only thing that should be used on is Microsoft..or God Bill Gates ;-)
Dell supports linux on numerous bases, including workstations, all servers, most optiplex models, some dimensions, and probably everything else soon enough. check out the somewhat outdated dell linux webpage for more details
Dell seems to have that "Be Direct" motto and I thought it would really be cool if they endorsed/supported the BeOS with such a slogan.
Think for a second about what will happen here--Dell starts supporting Linux in a meaningful way, it gets them extra business, and in no time the other hardware companies will jump on the bandwagon, since the last thing any company wants is to let a competitor have a monopoly on any market. And no, places like IndyBox and VA Linux don't count--this is a phenomenon that's restricted to the Big Guys.
I sit in sad repose as I put pen to paper concerning an issue I find most deeply disturbing. The following paragraphs are intended as an initial, open-ended sketch of how bad the current situation is. Shooky shooky Now is -- for lack of a better word -- superstitious. You know, it strikes me that before I knew anything about him, I was once an onlooker at a few of Shooky shooky's mass demonstrations, without possessing even the slightest insight into the mentality of his cronies or the nature of his jokes. No one can deny that everything Shooky shooky tells you is a lie, yet I don't see why Shooky shooky wants to force us to do things or take stands against our will. He likes to launch into nonsensical non-sequiturs. Let's understand one fundamental fact: We'll know soon enough just how delusional these types of morons can be. It would be grossly premature for Shooky shooky to claim final victory. If someone were to leave helpless citizens afraid in the streets, in their jobs, and even in their homes, I'd rather it be an army of contemptuous hippies than he, because the latter is disaffected, while the former are only obtuse. Hey, it's not my fault that his stratagems are one of those things that will create new (and reinforce existing) prejudices and misconceptions. An unholy alliance of jackbooted misfits and crafty beatniks have been instrumental in devising increasingly ultra-impudent ways to prevent me from getting my work done. To exploit the masses is an injustice. Regardless of the theoretical beauty of the notion that Shooky shooky's lackeys are the carrion birds of humanity, there is the opposing fact that in a larger context, Shooky shooky's disgusting philippics remind us that acts of despotism continue in our midst. Once one begins thinking about free speech, about power-drunk prevaricators who use ostracism and public opinion to prevent the airing of views contrary to their own asinine beliefs, one realizes that Shooky shooky doesn't let a day pass without showing to the world that he is as little fitted to be trusted with liberty as thieves with keys or children with firearms. What has happened to our sense of humanity? Would Shooky shooky like it if I were slimy and squalid, too? I don't think so. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say that other neo-disorganized spivs are also consumed with a desire to destroy our moral fiber, so to speak. Ostensibly, he does not intend to strip the world of conversation, friendship, and love, but in fact, he might step on other people's toes by next weekend. What are we to do then? Place blinders over our eyes and hope we don't see the horrible outcome? Shooky shooky's announcements have kept us separated for too long from the love, contributions, and challenges of our brothers and sisters in this wonderful adventure we share together -- life! Perhaps I'm reading too much into Shooky shooky's publicity stunts, but they don't seem to serve any purpose other than to wreck our country, derail our civilization, and threaten the human race with extinction. Shooky shooky makes no sense at all. He says he's going to interfere with a person's work performance, bodily security, physical movement, or privacy rights faster than you can say "interparenthetically". Good old Shooky shooky. He just loves to open his mouth and let all kinds of things come out without listening to how scurrilous they sound. I repeat: We can and we must protect ourselves by any means necessary against the malign bestiality of ethically-bankrupt juvenile bimbos. The cardinal rule of Shooky shooky's recommendations is that saturnine boosterism is the only thing that matters. Which brings me to my point. For heaven's sake, this is a free country, and I suspect we ought to keep it that way. The Shooky shooky Now Foundation's latest report on disgraceful escapism is filled with fabrications, half-truths, innuendo, and guilt by association. This is the flaw in Shooky shooky's ebullitions. He doesn't understand that Shooky shooky is a psychologically defective person. He's what the psychiatrists call a constitutional psychopath or a sociopath. In the genesis of his press releases, debauched begat money-grubbing, which begat bleeding-heart, which begat cranky. I wonder if Shooky shooky really believes the things he says. He knows they're not true, doesn't he? Take this example: Let's say that I don't know how to deal with sinister punks. Now let's say that Shooky shooky's generalizations are uniformly riddled by an unbelievable degree of ignorance. Does that mean that he can achieve his goals by friendly and moral conduct? No, because it would be good for the press to start paying attention to things like this. His standard operating procedure is to make things worse. Shooky shooky's sophistries are in every respect consistent with the school of diabolic thought that tends to fight with spiritual weapons that are as gin-swilling as they are childish. This state of affairs demands the direct assault on those jaded beliefs that seek to traduce and discredit everyone but the most jaundiced fomenters of revolution I've ever seen. In that respect, we can say that Shooky shooky is possessed by the devil. None but the uncouth can deny that I oppose his teachings because they are superficial. I oppose them because they are brutish. And I oppose them because they will parlay personal and political conspiracy theories into a multimillion-dollar financial empire in the coming days. The next time someone denies that Shooky shooky works from the false assumption that most people actually want sordid ignorant administrators to force me to undergo "treatment" to cure my "problem", look that person right in the eye and reply, "Shooky shooky confuses entertainment with learning." Because of his wheelings and dealings, our schools simply do not teach the basics anymore. Instead, they preach the theology of libidinous authoritarianism. It is easy for the public at large to dismiss negligent birdbrained con artists as sullen sex-crazed desperados. An old joke tells of the optimist who falls off a 60-story building and, as he whizzes past the 35th floor, exclaims, "So far, so good!" But it is not such blind optimism that causes his henchmen to think that they can encumber the religious idea with too many things of a purely earthly nature and thus bring religion into a totally unnecessary conflict with science. I used a phrase a few moments ago. I referred to Shooky shooky's assistants as "simple-minded bloody-minded adulterers." You ought to memorize that phrase, because, frankly, you should never forget the three most important facets of Shooky shooky's bromides, namely their silly origins, their internal contradictions, and their tendentious nature. You don't have to say anything specifically about Shooky shooky for him to start attacking you. All you have to do is dare to imply that I should deal stiffly with despicable barbaric flag burners who break down our communities. At the very least, he uses the very intellectual tools he criticizes, namely consequentialist arguments rather than arguments about truth or falsity. Given what I know about infantile irritable cheapskates, I can say with confidence that Shooky shooky maintains that he has been robbed of all he does not possess. Perhaps it would be best for him to awaken from his delusional narcoleptic fantasyland and observe that the conjectures, epithets, and hijinks that he is trying to tattoo on our minds are not educational, but improvident. Whenever a will-o'-the-wisp of masochism, however unreal, turns up anywhere, Shooky shooky Now is off at a trot. So I give you this letter. I hope it helps. Why do you have a complaint about me on your Web page?.
SuSE sells the Thoshiba Tecra8000 notebook with SuSE Linux preinstalled. See
-- but dont know if they are available beyond germany too.
SuSE sells the Thoshiba Tecra8000 notebook with SuSE Linux preinstalled. See http://www.suse.de/de/hardware/suse_hw/lap/index.h tml
-- but dont know if they are available beyond germany too.
SuSE sells Toshiba Tecra 8000 notebooks with SuSE Linux preinstalled. See http://www.suse.de/de/hardware/suse_hw/lap/index.h tml
-- but dont know if they are available beyond germany too.
I just got my I7500 with a cardbus Xircom ethernet/modem card and it worked without any trouble
Can I buy an IBM with LINUX? I do not think so!! Dell has been selling Servers, Workstations desktops (Since last year) and now laptops. No other major vendor does it. All the others give lot of lip service. Dell at least follows through with the promise. But then again for flamers that is not enough. Damned if you do and still damned if you do not.
is the num lock on?
I actually repair Dell units everyday with this problem. (mostly Inspiron 3000/3200). Sometimes if you apply pressure near the trakpad on LHS, menus & apps will start to open by themselves. We find that a replacement keyboard fixes this problem. Ext warranty is well worth the cost!!
I take exception to a few key aspects of the Linux community's contrivances. I assume you already know that a common thread runs through most of the Linux community's policies, a thread so insolent that it disgusts me nearly to the point of physical illness, but I have something more important to tell you. There's something wrong with this picture. Think of the Linux community's ideologies as being the sum of two components: an unrealistic component that consists of the Linux community's desire to advertise "magical" diets and bogus weight-loss pills and an infernal component that consists of everything else. We are concerned primarily with the former.
In many ways, there's always been suffering in the world, and wrongs have been and will continue to be committed. There's a lot of talk nowadays about the Linux community's revolting witticisms, but not much action. The Linux community's virtue and brains are inversely proportionate to its vices and the size of its mouth. Many lives have been lost to fascism. The recent outrage at the Linux community's litanies may point to a brighter future. For now, however, I must leave you knowing that due to circumstances that I have encountered in my research, I find that I must stop the Linux community's encroachments on our heritage.
This is a letter I have planned on writing for some time, a letter that I believe is extremely important and one that unequivocally must be heeded if we are to undo the damage caused by Slashdot. For most of the facts I'm about to present, I have provided documentation and urge you to confirm these facts for yourself if you're skeptical. Although we can occasionally tie the retailers of warped new claims to older fabrications, there is unfortunately no shortage of new rumor. There are three points I need to make here. First, Slashdot continuously seeks adulation from its cronies. Second, even without making an ethical argument against neopaganism, I can show that the mistaken claim that Slashdot's opinions represent the opinions of the majority -- or even a plurality -- is not only incorrect but is somewhat telling of Slashdot's core sentiments. And third, it is not possible fully to understand the present except as a projection of the past.
My point may be made clearer by use of an allegorical tale. Suppose a hypothetical group of three people is standing in a room. One of those people realizes that Slashdot expresses insufficient concern about the ozone layer, the Bhopal tragedy, and lesbian theater. Another goes on and on about Slashdot's perfidious feckless beliefs. But the third can't understand why Slashdot simply spouts endless fine-sounding cliches along with unintelligible, stubborn dialectic. In this hypothetical situation, it should be obvious that a common thread runs through most of Slashdot's slurs, a thread so quasi-testy that it disgusts me nearly to the point of physical illness.
Slashdot is capable of passing very rapidly from a hidden enjoyment of dodgy racialism to a proclaimed attachment to neocolonialism and back -- and back again. If the left of the current political spectrum is brain-damaged stoicism, and the right is silly hooliganism, then Slashdot's politics are sincerely going to be a form of unscrupulous Stalinism. Does Slashdot actually think its arguments through, or does it just chug along on its computer writing about whatever trite quips happen to suit its needs that day? What will be the next object of attack from Slashdot's camp? Which brings me to my point. Licentious flakes who create a climate in which it will be assumed that our achievements reflect not individual worth, talent, or skill, but special consideration will, hopefully, eventually be replaced by people who believe in freedom, justice, and the pursuit of personal growth. At any rate, the outcome of the struggle will ultimately be decided based on the number and influence of people fully informed about Slashdot's communications, committed to Slashdot's defeat, and organized under sound leadership. (Actually, Slashdot has values that are antagonistic to a traditional, moral society, but that's not important now.) With this letter, I hope I have made my views crystal-clear: Slashdot wallows in its basest behavior.
Damn, I'm glad I didn't get one of those... ..actually, I had one (a 3500) for a few weeks, but I gave it back. I'd rather use my sexxxy Toshiba wit da metal lid. Gets all the babez.
Yes, 3com makes one
3com Winmodem specs
Well, at least this gets the ball rolling... Now one can call Dell and ask "where are the drivers for the 3CCFEM656 nic/modem card you sold me with my Inspiron?" Of course, that driver does not exists yet, but maybe with enough needling from customers, Dell will lean on 3Com enough that they might provide the specs to those writing drivers for linux.
One of the big FUD factors working against linux is the large number of distibutions and setups within the framework of linux.
If Redhat is established as the "standard" for now, that is fine with me. We can worry about evening things out later once Linux support in such a tiny, tiny manner isn't a big news item.
We might need a new format of packages, specifically designed, for those who want to give away binary drivers. It would be fully all-linux distrib -compatible, and would be a nice thing.
Oh BTW, i don't know what's inside those rpms, but i think that for a few kernel modules and a readme, those packages already exist and are called tarball.
What do they think they're doing, acknowledging the existence of Linux? They should be like every other big computer company, and ignore Linux completely. Who do they think they are!!!
I'll assume good intentions, here, but Dell definitely doesn't quite get it.
Where's the source code?
If Dell wants to be taken seriously on Linux, providing binary-only RPMs of x86 drivers is not the way to do it. Binary-only drivers are a security hazard, they don't benefit from peer review, they're not portable to other CPU architectures that use the chipsets they serve, and they're prone to breakage as the kernel develops. Giving us those, only, isn't even half a loaf. More like 1/10 of one.
If Dell Computer wants to get serious about this, it can start by providing chipset information on its so-called "system specifications" Web pages. Consider, for exmaple, the Inspiron 3500 system specifications page: What's the PCMCIA chipset? What's the sound chipset? What are the chipsets for the optional modem and ethernet cards? Is the CD-ROM a standard ATAPI one, or on a custom interface? Is the floppy drive on a standard floppy port, or is it USB?
And, then, once they really get serious, they can apply their influence to get full programming interface information and sample driver code for those chipsets released to the Linux developer community.
That would be genuine Linux support.
Meanwhile, it would probably be better for Linux users to patronise companies that at least seem to understand the issues, and are trying. Such as IBM with some of its ThinkPad models, for example.
Well, I was going to retrieve copies of these binary-RPM "driver" files, and see if these were from Dell or are copies of open-source software from elsewhere. (Why? Because if they're distributing binaries of other people's GPL-covered drivers, and not offering source, then they're violating the licence.)
But the site is suffering from Microsoft-induced damage:
error 'ASP 0115'Unexpected error
A trappable error occurred in an external object. The script cannot continue running.
Afterthought: If the reason we're supposed to admire Dell is that they offer rather generic and poorly customised preloads of one (only) Linux distribution, then why are we supposed to be excited at binary-RPM drivers on a Web site? Does the preload come without drivers, or what?
It works like a charm and the screen is faultless.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
- W. Wriston, former Citibank CEO
I am typing this on a Sony Vaio Z505S. It has
the neomagic chipset with the sound integrated.
I think it is a NM256AV or some such.
The stock Mandrake 6.5 install was flawless. I
have no problems with my video. I don't know if
it is the same video chipset.
-- I am not a fanatic, I am a true believer.
Now that Dell wallpaper & icons RPM is cute. ;)
I wonder when they'll start shipping a matching Dell screensaver too
I know of several friends who have bought from Dell, and none have had trouble. Their quality seems to be well above average -- two friends have had their laptops for almost 1.5 years with no problems. One has had his for over two, no problems. Their good experience with Dell was one of the reasons I bought from them.
Maybe they treat companies different than individuals or something . . .
Even though I never liked the customer service from Dell (them wanting me to pay $300 to replace a keyboard in which the part [at the time] cost about $30) their p133 Latitude laptop was my main machine for about 3 years.
In the past the NeoMagic video card was only supported by AcceleratedX but eventually RedHat released free Xfree drivers for the card.
The machine was great and I am glad to see Dell finally moving support to a wider range of PC's. I really hope that other "online" stores (like GW2k) will soon follow suit.
I've got a Latitude CPi, too (brand new, 400MHz :-), but the X Server (3.3.5) doesn't recognize the NeoMagic chipset's revision number. It won't work out of the box.
It worked only after I forced it to 'NM2200' and found out somewhere deep in xfree86.org that there was no acceleration at 24bpp so _that_'s what made it so ****ing slow.
It's working great now, though. Sound too.
However, the 'Linux' link at the downloads pages is only there when you choose the Inspiron. It's gone when you go to the Latitude driver page.
So the headline "Dell supports Linux on laptops" may just be slightly exaggerated.
You know, I used to think that too. Until recently, I couldn't find a Dell laptop with Linux on it.
The trick, however, is not to look at their home / home office section, but rather their Small Office section. There you can find the Inspiron 7500 laptop with your choice of Windows or Linux. Only the 7500, and the default price is $3952, but you can knock that down to $3744 by removing those extraneous options like external keyboard and changing the warranty to 3 year next day on site. You can even drop it more by removing the ethernet and modem.
Along these lines, does anyone know a good company that makes well-done Linux laptops? The later VAIO's are good, and VA used to make some fine laptops (I'm only sorry I didn't get one then). Is there anyone else that does them right? Or is there any WinLaptop that out of the box will be nearly fully Linux supported yet has all the standard goodies (15" screen, built-in modem, etc)?
I looked at the Latitude LT page, and there was no option for Linux drivers.
I've got RH6.0 on my LT, and have had no problems, except the built in modem is a Winmodem.
Now when Dell starts pre-loading laptops with Linux, then I will get excited.
The built-in modem in my inspiron is a Winmodem. The specs didn't indicate that this was a Winmodem, but I should have asked. If you look at the standard built-in modem for the I7500 it states "56K Capable V.90 Modem, Internal". I suspect that this is a winmodem too. I bought a PC-Card modem and all is fine now.
It is sad that they shoosed only to release .rpm-files. If you run Debian, or some other distro, you have to install the RPM system in order to extract the drivers. And they do not provide any source. But, someone here at /., hinted that these drivers where not developed by Dell, but by others, so that the source is out there for you, just not on Dell's site. Is this correct? :)
Anyway, it is quite strange that the site mentions the format of the drivers to be "i75alna0.rpm - Non-Packaged - This file format is used for files that have no specific installation mechanism, or where an installation mechanism is not applicable."
--The knowledge that you are an idiot, is what distinguishes you from one.
I've seen Linux (Redhat, Caldera, Corel), NetBSd and FreeBSD all run on Dell Latitudes and Optiplexs. My only problem was I could not get an external monitor to work on the Latitudes with the Neomagic video card. All in all they are great machines to run as high powered portable open source workstations.
300mhz 128mb ram 6 gig hd running NetBSD !
Sleep is for the weak.
I have a Inspiron 3500 and absolutely love it. It does seem kind of fragile though, so I hope it holds up in the long term (doesn't do too much traveling). Setting up RH6.1 was a no-brainer. If I wasn't already a linux geek, I would be saying "XF86Config? what's that?"
Oh yeah, the Xircom....
Dell sells the cardbus version of this. IT DOESN"T WORK WITH LINUX! No, I didn't learn this the hard way. Just go on dejanews and look for David Hinds (the linux PCMCIA guru, since you said you were a newbie) telling folks it doesn't work.
I picked up a 16-bit (REM* model, not the REMB* model) Xircom realport 56K modem and 10BT (not 10/100) ethernet from compusa on-line for $200. It works almost like a charm. The ethernet is great. The modem works, but with strange problems. Usually it works great. But on certain downloads, it just stalls at the same point every time (the file I had problems with was the VmWare tools for windows). It will repeatedly stall in the same location every time. Web surfing was flawless, but I had some problems accessing an IMAP mailbox. These problems do not show up when booted into windows.
I am using the pcmcia distribution that came with RH6.1. I am going to check to see if there is a newer one, and if that hives the same problem, I'll file a bug report.
Anybody else using the 16-bit Xircom Realport with Linux?
Yeah, we had the same experience. We had previously purchased 4 Inspiron 7000 laptops, and they required the cash up front before even building the machines! They also said that if we were willing to give them three years of audited comany statements, they would give us $25k credit. Yeah right! CDW gave us double that, with only references, no audited reports. Maybe if we have ordered 400 laptops they would have changed their minds ...
"Those who would give up essential liberty for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety" - Benjamin Franklin,
Hmm... I have a Dell Ispiron 3500 and can't seem to get it to run at 800x600. While this may not seem incredibly useful, I've had to project on several occassions, and unless I can get the laptop to work at this resolution, I can't really do it (so i just project from a console -- luckily, this has been sufficient so far). Anybody having more luck than me?
Also, dell seems to have added a linux software directory on the inspiron 7000 series page, but not on the 3500. Maybe this will change....
-Yinon
Interesting little problem on my 3500. Occasionally when coming out of a suspend, I hit the "g" and it gives me a "5" as well (so I can't enter a g without getting a "g5"). Same things with h and 6, backspace and \, and - and '. Pretty odd. How hard is it to replace the keyboard yourself? Can't seem to find much documentation on this one..
Give me some credit, please.
Seams like a place to ask. I'm trying to track down details on the Mini PCI spec from PCI SIG. I just need gross details like size of board, connector used, etc. It's a spec to make daughter cards for laptops to a common standard so each manufacturer donsen't need their own format. Email me with them. I want this because over the weekend I came up with the idea of standard for motherboards and expansion cards for wearable computers. Wearable Board Standard My document sofar is rather slim, but it's a start with a bunch of ideas that all seam well founded.
My company INSISTS on putting NT on laptops, even though there's poor power management support. I hope that Linux will support power management in Dell's configuration!
http://www.robert.to/
I have one of these (a 450 celeron 7500). It's bloody fast, i have an 18gb hdd and 256 mb of ram. I had a bit of trouble getting linux up, and I sure as hell will appreciate sound and network drivers from Dell.
To anybody out there who hasn't tried one, do it. They're bloody amazing. It cost me AU$7000, but I'd pay almost that much just for an lcd as good as this. It does 1400x1050, and now I don't even like working on my 17' trinitron coz compared it looks like a fishbowl!
Cheers to Dell!
Send lawyers, guns, and money!
Yeah, binary only for RedHat 6.1. What if I am not running RedHat at all? I need freedom baby! Let me compile my own damn driver.
Speak truth to power.
I've been to linmodems.org and the gist I got was that was that Lucent doesn't give a rip about the end user and probably couldn't be pressured into releasing a driver (or specs for us to write a driver) by us, the end users. Pressure to release a linux driver for their modems would have to come from their direct customer - the computer manufacturer - which would be Dell in this case.
HEY DELL! If you're reading this, how about giving Lucent a kick in the pants and releasing a linux driver or some specs for the LT Winmodem in your notebooks? I'll buy more of your products if you do.
Speak truth to power.
seems like growing pains to me. I've been using their machines for ~3 years and their online support (drivers and the like) is top-notch, dunno about enterprise customers tho.
+&x
I have an Thinkpad 1400 and it has a Neomagic too, it seems to work very well with the Thinkpad.
I found that there was no "Linux" link for my CPi either. Quite annoying. The link that I posted above is very useful for the CP series of laptop though, so through its use you should have no probs.
No, sorry, once I got the driver config'd correctly, everything was hunky-dory. To tell you the truth, it's been a couple of months since I've had a chance (gotten off my lazy ass that is) to play with it, I can't remember too much about the config or any particular problems I had. I will say that the Redhat installer, well, nevermind, that's another story altogether.
Has anyone gotten X to work right on their i7000? If so what did you use as the settings for the monitor? Mine does some crazy stuff and I don't know what the H sync and vertical refresh rate is for my 15" LCD screen...
Does this config work with the ATI Rage Mobility or jsut the NeoMagic? I have an Inspiron 7000 with the Rage card in it. Is this card even supported? If not I have Accelreated X Laptop so that will work instead then. Also is the Xircom Realport 10/100 pcmicia card supported inder Linux?
(Sorry for the ignorance but I'm a Linux newbie)
Well, Dell has always been great for me. I really like the level of support on their website - complete specs for practically every system they've made. And their OptiPlex line of business workstations is awesome.
I bought a Quantex T-1410 in September and it came with 128MB of RAM, PII-366, 6.1 GB hard drive and a DVD-floppy combo drive. They didn't offer linux as an alternative OS but installing linux was easy. The only problem was that RH 6.1 didn't include the driver for the sound card (Maestro ESS). But, RH support has a link to a page where you can download it.
So far, I'm very happy with my laptop and as an additional bonus it was a few hundred cheaper than the nearly identical Dell Inspiron.
One downside though was that Quantex only offered Winmodems (bleh) at the time (not sure if it is still the same). When I asked them how much they would reduce the price to omit the modem they said they would take off $20 (US). I ended up keeping it (I was afraid it would delay shipping) and bought a 3Com combo card from a retailer.
When they support FreeBSD then I shall cheer.
Eve Fairbanks says I drive a hybrid!LOL
I have some time ago - right out of the box - installed RedHat 6.0 on my Dell Latitude CP (233MHz). I runs wolderfully, and network is 100% OK on my docking station.
Yesterday I installed RedHat 6.1 and the only small problem I have discovered is that spmd (daemon for monitoring battery) hangs, and needs a pathch to run normally.
Has any one had any success with Linux or Beos on Acer Notebooks.
...what do you think of acer nootebooks them selves?
=1000101
My experience with Linux on a Dell laptop is that it SUCKS. When I came to my current job, I left an HP Omnibook and got a Dell Inspiron 3500. I loved my HP, it was perfect. The Dell on the other hand, is horrible.
First of all, getting my network card to work took many hours. Once I get everything working (or so I thought), I found that when you close the lid, the laptop goes into suspend mode. On my HP there was a BIOS setting to disable this, so naturally I looked in the BIOS. Nada. I looked around online and found that there is no way to fix this. The suggested method was to break off the little tab that signals the computer that the lid is closed. I did that.
That did solve the problem of suspending on lid close, but that didn't fix the suspend totally. At one point, I was running VMWare and wanted to get out to do something in Linux using the Ctrl-Alt-Esc keys, like I should. Instead of VMWare releasing my cursor, the laptop went into suspend mode.
So now, if I want to use VMWare, I have to get everything ready so that once I'm in VMWare, I boot up windows, do my stuff, then shutdown windows.
I WANT MY HP!!!
-- Get your free Mini Mac http://www.FreeMiniMacs.com/?r=14209873
I don't know what your problem might have been, but I've been running RH6.0 and 6.1 on my Inspiron 7500 since October and power off works fine.
Suspend works too, although it loses the keyboard repeat settings and one of my PCMCIA cards doesn't reset properly.
jim
jim frost
jim frost
jimf@frostbytes.com
I bought a pair of Inspiron 7500s back in late September. It took a little while to get the process going because of poor availability of the 15" displays, but they called me and told me about it and even beat their (revised) estimated ship date by two weeks.
I have no complaints about them and the machine works so well that I recommend it. I had to cobble together some drivers and figure out the display settings myself but this was expected.
Now we have Dell officially supporting Linux (even if only RH Linux) on the things. That's another step in the right direction if you ask me.
My only complaint with them in the ordering process was that they refused to sell me a DVD driver for the machine I bought with NT. NT doesn't have DVD drivers, which I knew, but even though I told them I didn't care (because I intended to dual-boot the thing) they wouldn't sell me the drive anyway. The service representative said their order entry system wouldn't allow him to do it.
jim
jim frost
jim frost
jimf@frostbytes.com
my laptop came with a 3Com modem. It's not a winmodem. Worked like a charm with Linux.
Hates people who have stupid little sigs
is there anyone semi-intelligent to answer this?
Hates people who have stupid little sigs
The article is somewhat dated. Since writing it, I have loaded Linux on all but one of my systems, and use it 90% of the time.
Got a beef? Plug a name into the Bizarre Rumour Generator!
The article is somewhat dated. Since writing it, I have loaded Linux on all but one of my systems -- a notebook, and use it 90% of the time.
Got a beef? Plug a name into the Bizarre Rumour Generator!
By claiming official support for Linux on their laptops, Dell is now on the hook to resolve (or at least prove "it ain't our fault") problems with their laptops and Linux. It means that if you have problems with a supported Linux on a supported Dell laptop, you can call tech support and they have to support you. If they don't, they get to talk to Mr. Lawyer.
One more (small) step towards Linux For The Masses, or, at least, Linux As A Viable Choice For The Masses.
Side note: the company I work for has standardized upon the Sony Vaio laptops and the Dell Inspirons (someone authorized to get a laptop has a choice between a few models on a short list). Being a networking hardware/software company, many of the laptops are used in the field for on-site diagnostics. The operating system of choice? It ain't 98!
--Lance
http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/document.asp?DN=F A1012146
It's a good thing (TM) they added this file, I mean how many of you haven't spent hours on finding the best configuration for you Xserver?
IMO, this could be a standard support PC manufacturers can provide... They have the full description of the hardware specs used in their products. It shouldn't take much of their time, but saves us, and especially the newbies *A*LOT*OF*TIME*....
-- The day Microsoft makes things that don't suck, it's the day they start making vacuum cleaners.
The pages are not specific about the shipping, as has been pointed out, however Dell has been shipping Linux as an OS option for a few months (as reported on Slashdot and elsewhere) along with Compaq, and now IBM, it seems, on their desktop systems. I think it is only a matter of time for them to complete their own testing to ship a version (perhaps tweaked? laptops are strange beasts) of Linux, fully supported, on their laptop systems. hurrah! Fross
Sadly, yes. 3Com/US Robotics makes a PC Card Winmodem. Beware...
The built-in modem in my Inspiron 7500 laptop is a winmodem - a Lucent model if I am not mistaken.
Apparently there is a "Linmodem" driver available for the Lucent Winmodem in Inspiron 7500s, see the Winmodems are not modems page..
I *have not* tried this yet, but I have high hopes that I won't have to shell out for a PCMCIA modem (and use up a slot)! I would love to hear from anyone who has tried this driver, particularly on a Dell Inspiron laptop.
It's great to see Dell selling Linux on Inspiron 7500s, but some of us (most of us?) need Windows too. I didn't see a dual-boot (or better yet, VMware configuration for sale...
Heh.
Never tried Linux on a Dell, but did run NT and SCO Unix on their servers, and a hell of a lot of Win95 workstations.
Of the lot, the SCO Unix install was the smoothest.
Meow.
Yes, that's really my e-mail. Don't change a thing.
- 3Com 3c575C NIC drivers for the Redhat Linux operating system
- Linux ESS Maestro Audio Drivers
- Linux Wallpaper/Icons
- Linux XF86Config File
and nothing else.My Latitude CP runs RedHat without any help from Dell, fortunately.
Although I personally don't use RedHat sound drivers, I thank you for your information.
I was very wrong. Thank you, Dell.
I couldn't see from that site that Dell was actually selling their laptops with Linux pre-installed or that they sold laptops without MS Windows. I am going to buy a laptop soon and I don't want to pay for Windows, and I want it to work right away with Linux (RedHat, Debian, SuSe, etc). Are there anyone out there which sells such laptops, preferrably spiffy ones with enough memory?
Thanks in advance
Dell's idea of lightweight is 6.5 pounds! But I've heard the Vaio's are very well made. What's the best lightweight (5 lbs) laptop with over 10GB hard drive space?
I have an inspiron 3200. I have had the power supply and floppy drive die. Each time, Dell airfreighted me a replacement, no questions asked. I just had to slap the return label on the box and ship back the old part. The extended warrenty is GREAT.
Unfortunately, the support for linux is not retroactive! They have nothing for my older machine. This is true for software and hardware alike. I think one should NOT buy Dell if upgrading is part of your plan; providing an upgrade for older machines doesn't seem to be part of their plan.
Nels
See what I've been reading.
Having bought a Dell/Linux box through a fictious company name and mailing address, I can tell you it wasn't worth it. It came with Red Hat, and even that wasn't installed properly! Apparently, the had the same robotic morons that install Windows on the production line to install Linux, too. Maybe they should throw a Linux for dummies book at them or SOMETHING.
No, this is dell in a nutshell: "Help, Help, I'm dell and I'm stuck in a nutshell. Someone please get me out of this nutshell." Sorry, Couldn't resist that. Seriously though, linux drivers are unavoidable. Within a year it will be considered inexcusable to make a device without support across multiple platforms (much in the same way that PC only USB devices are now criticized). Sure, for the current time you might find yourself waiting on drivers more than you would like to, but this will be a shortlived stage in the linux revolution.
I work in Business Sales here at Dell, and combed our intranet for info on this. I did not find any changes in our support policy for Linux on Laptops. To my knowledge we support Linux on our PowerEdge servers only. (And the Precision workstation? It's been too long since I have had any "enlightened" customers on the phone.)
Hell, I think the X video driver that whoever wrote for the Neomagic...
I think we can thank Frank LaMonica (and others) from Precision Insight
If I'm not mistaken I was under the impression that when m$ sold (I believe) xenix? to sco they signed some sort of legal proclusion forcing them to never enter the unix market again. Correct me if I am wrong.
Hope their wrong this time.
More race stuff in one place,
than any one place on the net.
but do they support V2OS or HURD?
Sheepdot: Open Source good, Closed Source baaaaaaad!
Gee... i think we have a hall monitor weenie reading slashdot ... who let him in here! =) its a damn shame!
So is Dell putting out drivers (kernel mods, perhaps?) for APM support in their laptops, cause last time I tried redhat on mine, it gave a seg fault every time it tried to turn the power off.
=======
There was never a genius without a tincture of madness.
I used to work tech support for Merill Lynch on the trading floor. We got all our PCs from Dell, and the support was exceptional. Now I work at a small private IT company out of a home office and we also get all our new stuff from Dell. (Anybody interested can actually check out our network layout here.) In short, I've had a fair bit of dealings with Dell and I come away satisfied every time. Their support of Linux is another giant leap towards universal Linux acceptance.
"Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
WTF!? Slashdot ate my /a tag.. I previewed and everything. Sorry about that.
"Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
I have the 312T seriers of these and have been runnning suse on it for over a year. When the mosue pad stopped working and i phoned technical support they were fine about it and said to just leave a post it note with a password on it so they could test it upon replacement.. The only thing that doesn't work is the soundcard allthough others with the same laptop on the net have patches for redhat....
They said that they only sell Linux workstations to companies. So I made up a company name and asked them to email me details on workstations with Linux installed.
I am still waiting for that email.I am going to try again. Hopefully, I can my open source workstation and laptop configured with care.
Dell makes nice computers, but can every person you talk to on the phone really tell you what the problems are with the computer. It's bad enough to get help with windows. But all in all I think this is showing that linux is a needed os in the world today and maybe if enough corperate vendors start marketing linux we could see more drivers written for it. And dare I say it ... a MS Linux?
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
you might take a look at www.EmperorLinux.com. We sell fully pre-configured Linux laptops and notebooks. Sony, Toshiba, IBM(soon). Some of our stuff includes a 3.5 pound P-II-400 or a P-III-500 with 15'' LCD. Also, if you don't see a system you like, we do custom orders all the time.
Lincoln D. Durey, Ph.D.
Electrical Engineer
EmperorLinux
Successfully installed SuSE 6.2 without any problems. Bought a 3com eth-card for a local shop as I was told Dell's are win-fied like their onboard modems. I was online via a cable modem within a few of minutes.
Can't get X to work properly though.
You should be aware of their displays. I have two dead pixels on the screen. Dell claim that it's within their manufacturing tolerance, which happens to be 5 dead 'uns with 1 square inch! Odd that magazines never tell you this.
most X software works best with at least 3 mouse buttons, and using any of it with a 2 button mouse is a pain. so is the x server hack with holding down both mouse buttons to emulate the one in the middle. a notebook really made for use with X would have a 3 button pointer.
the only notebook i know of which has 3 button mice and are still affordable by most of us are thinkpads (yes, i know of tadpole and RDI, i said affordable by most of us) but they have thier own support problems when it comes to linux. like the modem support, and i think sound card support too. dont know if thats been solved yet.
Not if you are using sound. Dell sent hardware and provided assistance in getting programming information for the Maestro audio chipset. So, while Red Hat developed the Maestro driver, Dell certainly did help.
FWIW
-- "Ever wonder why the SAME PEOPLE make up ALL the conspiracy theories?"
APM is a horribly broken thing (calling it a standard is suggesting too much); ACPI, while not perfect, does push policy and most implementation into the OS, so we will be less dependent on BIOS implementation quality, and better able to work around bugs.
-- "Ever wonder why the SAME PEOPLE make up ALL the conspiracy theories?"
Hi,
;)
I have one (an I3k 266mhz PI) that's basically been mangled to death. However, I have a bunch of bits for it I quite like (2 64MB SIMMs, 6.4gb HDD never stained by M$ (built the ftp install disk on a SPARC and bought the unformatted HDD from MegaHaus)), so the question is...
Any other boxes use Inspiron 3000 SIMMS? The HDD is IIRC either 6mm or 9mm, and I assume I can just bolt it into a bracket..
(Then again, I can sitll use the thing as a battery-backed server
Your Working Boy,
Firstly, Dell doesn't support Linux on their laptops; they just have a couple of useful files available for download. I haven't found one of their laptops yet that you can order with Linux (somebody please prove me wrong, that'd make me happy.)
:-)
Secondly, Dell solves the problem by not building in modems. You buy a PC card. The cheapest one is a Winmodem, but there are other choices.
And then there's the whole DVD mess.
Yep, I see it. Thanks for finding it.
:-)
:-)
Unfortunately, it's still half-ass. They only offer the Pentium III 500Mhz with 15" XGA screen, as if Linux won't run with less and NT will.
Also, they say they offer "Linux V6.1". There's no such animal.
They need to offer one of the Celeron 433 with 12.1" display; that'd give us better battery life, and outperform a PIII 500 running NT.
But, all in all, at least they're trying. It's easier to convince an OEM to do a better job than to convince them to start doing the job in the first place.
Dell, I give you a B-. Offer Linux on all your Inspirons, and stop violating both Linus' and whatever distro you're using (presumably Red Hat)'s trademarks, and I'll raise it.
Offer it on the Latitude's too, all of them, and I'll give you at least an A-.
hell, I think the X video driver that whoever wrote for the Neomagic in the Dell is better than the Windows driver.
Mine (on a Viao) suffers from scramblitus when the destination of full width bit block move is exactly the edge of the screen. Does yours? I've been meaning to track this down - surely I can't be the only one. Is it a hardware, firmware or driver bug? No clue yet.
It's ****fast**** though.
Life's a bitch but somebody's gotta do it.
I know that most laptops these days have built-in modems, and most of them are Winmodems. Is Dell any exception?
We'll know Dell is serious about doing more than give lip service to Linux when they make sure that the modems are supported by Linux.
(And of course, there's the whole DVD mess for the high-end laptops.)
This looks very encouraging! I can't wait to see the prices, but the specifity of support might be enough to win me over in any case.
Chris
San Francisco values: compassion, tolerance, respect, intelligence
It's a bit premature, but I'm part of a startup that's working on providing real linux on laptop solutions. It's cool that dell is doing something, but our goals are very different than what theirs will be. We really want to make linux into the premier OS for laptops, and do things like write drivers and software to support a lot of the tricky things (like the strange monitor types you get, sound, suspend/resume, power management, mobile network configuration managers, and stuff like that.) Which is something Dell will never care about doing, and companies that would (such as VALinux or RedHat) aren't focused on the needs of the laptop. We believe this is a real niche that the linux community needs filled, and by people who understand open source software. We plan on doing product launch at linux world expo, the first week in February. Online ordering should be up right around then. The company name is Tuxtops. I'd, of course, love it if people who wanted Linux Laptops waited eagerly until we open our doors. :-) We're busy getting our first set of laptops configured right now. Yes, this is a blatent commercial plug, albeit relevant to the topic at hand. We might be hiring people in the near future, if anyone has particular expertise in linux on the laptop, particularly in device drivers, feel free to send resumes to info@tuxtops.com. Stop by our boot at Linux World Expo, if you can.
-- Kate
My Inspiron (bought in Jan/98) has been falling apart for years, too. Had to get new LCD, floppy driver, keyboard, etc. They're usually good with getting you a new part.
It seems Dell uses standard parts because I've never had a problem running Linux. Glad to see them officially support Linux on the laptops, though.
Hates people who have stupid little sigs
Good for Dell -- and it's customers. My next new consumer computer purchase will probably be from them, just as a matter of principle.
Got a beef? Plug a name into the Bizarre Rumour Generator!
Dell is one of the largest computer makers in the world right now, so it is definately a good thing that they are coming out and saying that they support Linux.
Hopefully this move will cause others to follow suit. Of course, a good goal to push for is to have all the major manufacturers offer Linux preinstalled with the sale of a new computer, instead of just Windows.
"You ever have that feeling where you're not sure if you're dreaming or awake?"
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
I also had a good experience with my PCMCIA etherent cards (a regular 3COM wired card) and a Wavelan card (wireless rocks!) - both are working great under Linux on my Dell.
Beyond that, I didn't find much need for Linux support from Dell. Linux just works for the most part.
This page was useful: http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~steveh/inspi ron/ I used it to get the FBDev X server running, though it could use some improvements (I plan to mail the author). Basically, use vga=794 (or 795) in your lilo.conf to get 1280x1024.
None of that changes the reality of course: as an OS, Linux was "real" years ago, even on laptops. What's nice to see, now and for whatever reason, is the increasing "corporate" acceptence of Linux which will lead to more apps and options for users, and more interesting and rewarding work for developers.
Still, though, I want to know: is Micros~1 still trying for exclusivity, are they neutral, or are they encouraging at least the appearance of competition?
Giga Vice President Rob Enderle said in late September that Dell had made mistakes on orders, missed delivery dates, failed to fulfill terms of agreements and showed "arrogant disregard" for some newer customers. "
The story from Nov. is here, and some Zdnet follow-up here.
With their support being so poor across the board, I don't know if I would purchase again from them. Good for Linux exposure, but I don't think it will be all that good for Dell.
More race stuff in one place,
than any one place on the net.
Everyone always claims company xyz has poor support and htey wont buy from them again? I heard this for Dell, Gateway, Compaq and a number of other companies. Its not that bad.. One of our Dell's (one of 20) and the guy was out the next day it was fixed and life was happy. We have a couple Compaq Proliant's as well. One of the power supplies went. Compaq had it fixed within a day. These people dont get a good reputation and make a lot of money by a poor service/support model.
JA
I've had wonderful experience with dell laptops and linux. I've had a Latitude CPi and now a CPia and have had no trouble whatsoever with the laptop itself. It sets up fairly easily for X, and the Redhat installer picked just about everything up on it's own. Hell, I think the X video driver that whoever wrote for the Neomagic in the Dell is better than the Windows driver.
p top/mirrors.html
For you other laptop users:
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-la