dourk

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Hallo

I'm going to buy my first laptop. I think I'm falling for a Dell Inspiron 1525 with

CPU: Intel Core Duo T3200 &
GPU: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100

but I'm afraid to buy it because of the possible compatibility issues, especially with X3100. I did some research but it didn't help me much. I'm very confused now and still hesitate to spend so much money. So please tell me what you think and if you already run this machine on linux

upchucky

get the ubuntu or knoppix live cd, take it with you when u go laptop shopping, plunk it in the laptop/pc in question, get it to boot from the cd, if it boots up and runs then Yes the laptop/pc is compatable.

I got a $50.00 refund from dell for not using windows when i installed on my xps. but this was like pulling teeth from a chicken.

nitrousoxide82

The Intel GMA 3100 did work with Linux for me when I needed it on my desktop (Core 2 Duo E6550, Intel DG33BU motherboard). It worked, including with accelerated OpenGL, but it was kinda tough to configure (especially because it was already configured for NVIDIA drivers), and had a few problems (if I had more than one user logged on KDE, only the first one would get accelerated OpenGL. This may not be a problem for a laptop though). It may be easier to get to work with a fresh install.

upchucky's suggestion is good - take a live CD and see for yourself when you go shopping for it, if the shop will allow (try on those that will). I for instance ended buying a laptop that comes with Linux (Satux) pre-loaded but isn't even 100% Linux compatible (it has SiS 671 integrated video, for which there were no OpenGL accelerated drivers from the time I got it up until recently, when an extremely buggy 32-bit driver which can't run anything but glxgears surfaced).

Hope this helps.

dourk

Thanx for replying guys

I definitely will try to follow both of upchucky's suggestions. I'm planning to buy from an online store but I'll look for the same laptop on another store and test it with Ubuntu liveCD. I'll just have to pretend to be interested. It's gonna be fun

As for the refund of the MS-tax, I was planning to ask Dell to pay me back in guarantee years. After all, having no ms-windows, I'll never bother them with software problems which is a large part of the issues they are bothered with by their customers. Plus the linux users are supposed to be more respectful and knowledgeable with the use and treatment of computers so it seems more unlikely to damage the hardware

After the research I did lately I came to the conclusion that more or less any problem that may arise, like the OpenGL problem that nitrousoxide82 was faced with, will get solved after a while with a newer version of the kernel or something. So I guess that if the little test with the liveCD goes well I'll be comfortable enough to buy that laptop. Especially if Dell will give me back a five years guarantee for my windows licence

olin

It works for my Debian Lenny, just remember not to use the default VESA driver, use Intel instead, e.g. in /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "Device"
Identifier "IntelCard"
Driver "intel"
VendorName "Intel Corporation"
BoardName "Mobile Integrated Graphics Controller"
BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
Option "DRI" "yes"
EndSection