Greetings! I have a very old (8-9 years old) Dell Vostro 3550 laptop. It currently has Windows 7 on it. Since that OS is no longer supported, I want to put Linux on it, to use as my portable amateur radio computer. However, I'm concerned about finding proper drivers for all the Dell "proprietary" hardware.

Yesterday, I checked the Dell web site, as well as a couple of the other Linux forums. Dell only has Windows drivers for this computer, and only up to Windows 8. I didn't have any luck on the other Linux forums, either.

Is anyone aware of any place I might find Linux drivers for this computer? I'm afraid my research may have given me the answer to the question (I'm SOL), but I thought I'd take one last stab and try here before resigning myself to actually having to go buy another laptop.

Thanks everyone, in advance, for your help.

Ian Kahn
Linux Newbie
Roswell, GA

The Linux Hardware website lists 20 different variants of Dell Vostro 3550. Which one is yours?

Update. Only eight of them are from year 2011. And another one is from year 2012.

I bought mine in mid-2012. Based on the link you provided to the Linux Hardware web site (I didn't know about this site - thank you!) Linux Mint 19.1 should work on thus laptop. I have a valid backup/recovery process for this laptop and will give Mint 19.1 a try.

Thanks very much!

Ian Kahn
Linux Newbie
Roswell, GA

Check the status of individual hardware components in the probes there. E.g. fingerprint reader doesn't seem to work without an extra driver