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-   -   Philips Freevents X59: which distro fits this laptop. (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-laptop-and-netbook-25/philips-freevents-x59-which-distro-fits-this-laptop-781412/)

D748gian 01-11-2010 03:19 AM

Philips Freevents X59: which distro fits this laptop.
 
Dear all

I hope that the follonwing info’s cold be usefull for the Philips Freevents owners that need to start linux/Unix systems.

I have a Laptop Philips Freeevents X59, core 2 duo, 1G ram, 100 G HD.

I needed linux for work reasons.

I became mad because there is NO linux distro that fit this computer except one as we will see.

SUSE: if we browse in the linux forums we can find some peoples that have installed suse10.3. Maybe it has been possible on some previous version of this Philips freevents. On X59 there is NO suse version that does not freeze during installation. The main problem is that they do NOT recognize the the Ethernet Realtek 9138 and the driver in the suse distro simply do not fit.

Ubuntu: there is just one version on the et that has been modified to fit this kind of laptop , at least Freevents X52 or previous versions. This version can be found at : http://www.fitzenreiter.de/averatec/index-e.htm.
The installation goes fine but the computer is slow and a lots of applications do not work properly. But the main problem si the following: when the PC is powered on without internet connection it simply freezes!!!!! To avoid this you have to swich off any web connection before powering off the laptop.

Scientific Linux: it recognizes the Ethernet card but the distro do not like the SATA hard disk and thus it simply refuses to see it and consequently the installation simply freezes.

There is only one distro that goes fine with this kind of laptop:

FreeBDE:

http://www.freebsd.org/it/
.

There are two interesting BSD-based distros that include the automatic starts of a KDE performing desktop:

http://www.desktopbsd.net/index.php

or

http://www.pcbsd.org/.


the difference between Linux and BSD is the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeBSD

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/articl...and-linux.html
.

FreeBSD installation on Philips Freevents is simply and goes fine without any efforts. The ethernet card and the HD are seen without any problems.The ACPI is well supported and works fine. Wine software runs very well (it is very stable) and a lots of windows applications can be easily installed.

I hope that this note could help other people that have this laptop and let them save time avoiding unuseless installation exercises.

Bye bye

unSpawn 02-01-2010 03:21 PM

This machine has a Intel 945GM chipset, 82801GHM (ICH7-M DH) Southbridge, Intel GMA 950 graphics, Intel 2200BG wireless, Realtek AC'97 audio and 8139 Ethernet and a Motorola SM56 modem. Nothing fancy I see. People report some OSes working (FBSD 6, RHEL AS 4) on the X59 but mostly reports are about freezing up on install. Since they never post any diagnostics that could help us help them I wonder what value such a thread has...

//NTLB

D748gian 02-02-2010 02:09 AM

think before speaking
 
....if I could have found anything about what I can actually install in my "bad" machine (philips freevents X59) I would never lost months in trying to install something that simply cannot be installed in such a machine.

I hope that my "useless" (as YOU say) thread could help other unlucky people that have the same machine and that they need linux/unix operative systems to work. I hope that they could save their time and not waist it in useless operations

I think definitively that your reply is completely useless.

unSpawn 02-02-2010 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D748gian (Post 3849203)
I think definitively that your reply is completely useless.

The header for the Linux - Laptop and Netbook forum reads "Having a problem installing or configuring Linux on your laptop? Need help running Linux on your netbook? This forum is for you.". So you could have taken my reply as a cue to post details that could help us help you. Your only previous post dates from December last year so you haven't really given the LQ Community a chance to help you. Instead you chose to let your frustration rule you. Frustration leads to anger, and anger leads to, well, didn't you just shown it... Still you're invited to post details that could help your fellow LQ members help you. If you won't then at least express yourself in a respectful way and accept the fact that, without "evidence", your OP rant remains just that.

D748gian 02-03-2010 01:56 AM

thanks
 
...there are a lot of forum ... do you think really that I had not asked any help?

anyway....

as you like.

thank you again for your comments.

DrJohnFWright 02-12-2010 06:58 AM

Working distro at last
 
Folks,

I've gone through a similar nightmare with my Philips Freevents X59, but seem to have resolved things eventually.

I tried and failed to install Ubuntu Netbook Remix, Ubuntu 9.10 64-bit and OpenSUSE 11.2, in all cases following the various instructions about blacklisting device drivers.

With UNR, I found that the distro would only boot in text mode, and I got no keyboard/mouse response on running startx.

OpenSUSE just froze during installation.

With Ubuntu 9.10, I got a similar text-only boot, with a "failed to load module i810" error on running startx.

In the end, the only distro I've got to work is Ubuntu 8.04 32-bit. This is following the exact instructions here:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestin...psFreeventsX59

Install works fine if you boot off an alternate CD (not a Live CD) and insert the parameter "sdhci.blacklist=yes" before booting. I also wired my laptop directly into my router to ensure that the DHCP configuration section of the installation worked.

John

D748gian 02-13-2010 03:01 AM

ubuntu
 
Dear John,

I completely agree with you. As you can see in my previous post there is one person that has done a modified version of 8.04 32 bit . It works quite well except for the following problems:

1) some upplications do not work properly : wine for example do not work well at all.

2) if I started my laptop without an internet connection ON, it simply freeed. Some times I forget to connect it to internet and I was obliged to restart it many times..... 20 minutes for start the laptop as a result
.... I'm very forgetfull and thus you can immagine my nightmare....


...... I see that my post was not so unusefull as it was described by someone..... :)


bye bye

:newbie:

johnjustin 03-30-2011 05:55 PM

hi people, just had to register, I have had the same problems as you have had trying to load Linux on a Philips Freevents X59 machine. new versions would halt on install and the fan would stop working. after throwing all my toys out of the pram ! ! I came across an old copy of Mandriva 2009 spring. loaded straight up no problems. no halts fan working fine. hope this helps you people with a Philips like me.
all the best
JJ :)


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