Dell Compatability

[asusradeon]

Hi, would this system be compatable with linux, i think most of it is. my main concern is the wireless adapter and the Graphics adapter....

Inspiron 6400

Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core T2080 Processor (1.73GHz,533MHz,1MB L2 cache)
15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display
1024MB 533MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x512]
80GB (7200rpm) SATA Hard Drive
Intel® Media Accelerator 950 Graphics Up to 256MB shared graphics memory
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW with Software
9 cell Lithium-Ion Battery (85 Whr)
Dell™ Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini-PCI Card (for Dual-Core Processors)

Unfortunatley they don't do linux ready systems yet or FreeDOS for that matter.. The other system i was looking at was this:

Inspiron 1501

AMD® Turion™ 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL52
15.4" Wide Screen XGA TFT Display: 1280x800
1024MB 533MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x512]
120GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
256MB ATI ® Radeon® Xpress 1150 HyperMemory™
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW with Software
9 cell Lithium-Ion Battery (85 Whr)
Dell™ Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini-PCI Card (for AMD Processors) - or the 1490


Thanks

 

[Xenocide]

Everything should work out of the box on ubuntu except your wireless card.

You can A) get a new one, or B) follow these directions:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=297092&highlight=dell+1390

 

[Cheator]

They do do linux ready ones, as they sell Ubuntu systems. So compare the specs and that should work. The first one looks ok though, and the wireless card is similar to that used in the ubuntu lappies.

 

[Misfit138]

The Intel graphics should work just fine with the xf86-i810 driver.
The ATI graphics will be kind of lacking under Linux. I used to love ATI, till I started using Linux. They were (and are) an underdog, which I like to support, but their Linux drivers were bad for me. ( I had an x1800xl on a machine, and I cursed Linux for months trying to get it to work. )
Intel and especially nVidia graphics work quite well on Linux.

 

[MRD]

The wireless card won't work. The ATI graphics card will sort of work. It will be a pain in the butt to get working, only basic features will work, and it will be only about half the speed it should be, but it will function. (Compare to nVidia where it is a piece of cake to get working, all features are fully operational, and it runs at full speed). Intel integrated graphics also work very well... although they are not a high performance graphics solution to start with. At least in that case though you aren't paying for something you won't have. Paying for a yugo and getting a yugo is one thing. Paying for a mustang and getting a yugo is quite another matter.

There is a workaround for your wireless adapter issues though. You could buy one of those 100,000 foot reels of cat 5 networking cable and mount it on a cart.

Dell does do preinstalled linux systems. Go to www.dell.com/linux and click on the ubuntu link. All of that hardware has been tested to work flawlessly with linux and even comes with linux preconfigured and working. The FreeDOS systems include some hardware that is NOT linux compatible, so don't assume that the FreeDOS systems are the same as the linux systems. Unfortunately, there isn't yet a lot of choice in the linux systems.

 

[asusradeon]

They don't do linux systems in the UK yet.. (thats what i meant... forgot the UK bit lol)

 

[MRD]

Well, the main thing to watch out for is the wireless card. The rest you can get around most likely. Also, try really hard to avoid ATI. nVidia is best, but if you can't get that, intel integrated will be an easy setup. Certainly a high end ati will outperform intel integrated, even in linux, but the ati will perform at 50% of what it's supposed to, meaning you're getting a $50 card for the price of a $200 card. At least with the intel, you get what you pay for, plus it's very easy to get working, while the ATI is buggy, some features won't work / are not supported, etc.

Also, don't get fancy on the sound, as some sound is not supported. For example, I don't think audigy has a driver yet... BUT I could be wrong, I'm not sure on that. I'm one of those people that thinks a sound card is a sound card is a sound card, so I always go cheap there.

Wireless is the big thing though. You can make ATI work, but you have to get a compatible wireless card. My suggestion is to look at the ubuntu systems on the american website and try to match their hardware on the British site.

 

[asusradeon]

i suppose as long as the laptop has a PCMICA slot i could always buy a Prism2 card or something at a later date if i found that the internal 1 didn't work.. The main use of this laptop is going to be internet and some development etc in c++, perl... Im not going to be doing anyting graphically intensive but it would be nice for it to be as fast as i can afford...

 

[asusradeon]

well the closest i can get has a dell wifi adapter theses are the options:


Dell™ Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini-PCI Card (for Dual-Core Processors) [Included in Price]

Dell™ Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini-PCI Card (for Core 2 Duo Processors) add £0.00

Intel® Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Mini-PCI Card (for Core Duo Processors) [add £23.50 or £1/month1]

Intel® Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Mini-PCI Card (for Core 2 Duo Processors) [add £23.50 or £1/month1]

the top one is the one selected but i can't change it as it means have a C2D processor which adds like £300 or something stupid...

 

[MRD]

Go to the american website and just check which is used in the ubuntu laptop.

I could be wrong but I think it's the Intel Pro Wireless 3945 that works with linux (that may be an atheros?). I think the Dell Wireless won't work at all in linux (I believe it's basically paperweight level functionality). I think the prism cards work but don't support WPA, only WEP (not a linux limitation, I think the chipset just never supported WPA... but I could be wrong.) WEP is pretty insecure, I wouldn't use it. I won't permit anything less than WPA on my home network, but of course that's up to you. WEP is stupidly easy to crack if you really want to.

If you won't be using it for any gaming, an intel integrated graphics chipset will work fine and will conserve battery life versus a discrete graphics solution.

 

[Cheator]

I can test if that wireless card works, if you like. I have that card right now.

Let me know.