XPS 15z Linux installation

Go to a bookstore or computer store and get a Knoppix 6.4 Live Dvd.

What happens when you try booting that?

Just in time for CeBIT 2011 (1.-5.3.2011 in Hannover), KNOPPIX version 6.5 has been released exclusively in the next Linux Magazine. Apart from the usual updates, there are some add-ons in this special edition: webbrowser Chromium, PDF Reader Acrobat (TM) and the accelerated drivers for NVidia (TM) graphics adapters.

A talk about the new version 6.5 of KNOPPIX will take place daily at different times at the Open Source Forum in Hall 2, and on thursday, 3.3.2011 at 14:45, Klaus Knopper peeks into the next 100 years. All talks and workshops...

Interested users may have a look into new KNOPPIX and its blind-friendly derivate ADRIANE at infopoint C39-30 in hall 9. USB flashdisks brought by the visitor can be installed for free with KNOPPIX directly at the booth. More about this...

The anniversary edition of KNOPPIX is now avaible as DVD and CD image, including the blind-friendly ADRIANE version. More about the new release on the KNOPPIX website and in the Release Notes.

I have also tried Fedora 15 and Ubuntu 11.04 and it will not install, maybe a possible problem with the BIOS?  I have checked and I have A02 installed.  If someone gets it to install let me know, I have tried both the ubuntu forum and fedora forum and havent gotten a working solution.

Did you use the 32bit version or the 64?

When you say you got it to "work" what do you mean?  It finally booted?  I have now tried 10.04 and 10.04.2 and after installing, zero network cards are recognized, the resolution of the screen is reduced, and the trackpad does not work.  Was your experience different?  

I have also tried 11.04 and 11.10 alpha 1.  In these cases, the screen resolution and wireless cards are recognized but the trackpad still doesn't work (oh, but if you bother to run a system update after the installation, the machine becomes unbootable with a blank screen mid-boot).  This has been a frustrating and disappointing experience for me.

I also have tried to install Ubuntu 11.04 and failed just a purple 11.04 screen that never finishes I was able to get 10.04 to install but had to do extra work to get the wireless to function (compat wireless and kernel upgrade). The screen is at a lower resolution and teh trackpad does not function. I have tried the bumblebee via launchpad.net/~hybrid-graphics-linux this has failed as well can not use the nvidia card only the intel and not well. anyone that gets this to work please let the rest of us know how.

Thanks

@mmcintosh : FWIW, I was able to get 11.04 to install by 1) enabling the acpi=off option at the livecd boot menu and 2) Selecting "Install Ubuntu" instead of "Try Ubuntu".  This skips the live session and goes straight to install, which actually goes off without a hitch once you get it going.  At the conclusion of the install, the graphics are full resolution and the wireless card is recognized without additional work, but the trackpad is not recognized.  After install I tried to 1) to allow update manager to upgrade all available packgages and 2) on a second clean install, I tried just to install the proprietary nvidia drivers only and ignored all other available updates. In both cases, after doing these upgrades and on the first reboot, the boot process hangs midway through and I can't get any tty to show any error messages.

Yeah, I have the same setup at you describe.

What's frustrating is that while I can get the 11.04 installation to start and finish successfully everytime, upon first boot from the hard disk, sometimes it hangs.  What's worse, in the cases where I can get the machine to boot sucessfully, after the first reboot (without updating any drivers/packages) the system hangs with a blank screen at all subsequent boot attempts.

I haven't tried the Optimus stuff yet, but there are a few threads over on ubuntuforums about getting Optimus to work. 

I I have finally been able to get some other items to work no the video yet but still more and I am testing the optimus stuff but now luck with bumblebee yet. I used noirq instead of acpi=off this allowed the system to recognize that I had 4 cores instead of just one so is running much faster now. I have finally installed 11.04 and have wireless and the intel video working at the right levels meaning resolution and speeds. I have posted with the bumblebee group and am hoping with some assistance I will be able to get that going soon. good luck it is forward movement

cheers

Please send the command line you use for kernel parameters,  I try on my new XPS 15Z with 10.10, 11.4, 11.10 still no luck yet, 

@mmcintosh : I request the same as louaysakka.  I can't make 11.04 install to a stable state.  By stable state, I mean one that does not become unbootable (blank screen no TTY/keyboard response) after the first reboot.  Are you using other switches besides acpi=noirq ?  Thanks.  FYI, I started a thread over at ubuntuforums to try and get momentum going over there.

ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php

Louaysakk,

First off I used an alternate installation disk that I downloaded from here:

http://mirror01.th.ifl.net/releases//11.04/ubuntu-11.04-alternate-amd64.iso

Secondly I played about with apic setting on boot and found so far that while I could load ubuntu with apic=off what worked better was acpi=noirq I hope this helps please let me know.

Mark

Has anyone gotten the bumblebee hybrid to work yet ??? I would love to be able to use the nvidia card in linux. ???

http://www.martin-juhl.dk/

github.com/.../bumblebee

launchpad.net/~hybrid-graphics-linux

Mark

@Mmcintosh....I've installed it, but could not get it working properly.