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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 ;)
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.
Check out Dell's I7500 sales page to order with RH 6.1 preinstlled
Damn it, users should have to scour the net looking for drivers, like in the old days!
heaven forbid a manufacturer should not only officially support an OS but provide all the drivers for your hardware in one place.
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
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
I must say, though, that I like the idea of OEMs providing an XF86Config file. These can be a hassle to put together, especially for those new to Linux. Kudos to Dell on that. (but just give us a text file next time, eh?)
Greg
The Dell latitude series works very well with Linux. I don't know if they'll pre-install, but my latitude works great with the Redhat 6.0 installer and GNOME. Plus, the hard drive is 6GB (they do at least 10GB now), so I have enough room to dual boot. Also, I've got 64MB RAM.
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!
ASL Workstations
--Lawrence Lessig for Congress!
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
Check the vendors' list at linux.org, and Alt-F for laptops. There are a couple of them, and not only in US: Hong, Malaysia, US (1, 2, 3).
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
My brand-new Inspiron 3700 doesn't have any Linux patches listed, thank you Dell.
The I3700 is very similar component-wise to the I7500, so the linux stuff posted there might work for your I3700. I plan to at least try the sound driver.
For more information on configuring linux for the I3700, see my page Linux on the Dell Inspiron 3700. Much of this information was gleaned from pages about the I7500: Jim Frost's page Linux on the Inspiron 7500 and Steve Hsieh's page Linux on a Dell Inspiron 7000/7500 Laptop . (I see on checking Steve Hsieh's page that he's now added "3700" to the title, so he may have additional information about the I3700.)
--Jim