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Vostro 1520 - How is the hardware compatibility?
Hello,
I cross-posted this question to ubuntuforums but did not get an answer. I'm on a tight timeframe for ordering here.
I'm considering getting a Vostro 1520 and will want to install Ubuntu over pre-installed Vista.
In the past I had a tendency to buy hardware without checking the HCL, then tear my hair out in frustration trying to make it work. I'm trying to do things differently nowadays but I don't see many reports, successful or not, concerning this laptop-- just a few sporadic problems here and there, nothing consistent.
My biggest concern is the wireless. I would appreciate some confirmation that wireless works with WPA-PSK/TKIP networks (specifically on the Dell Wireless 1397 card). In the past I've been burned by reports saying "hey, (some card) works with NDISwrapper" only to find that they didn't test against anything more sophisticated than WEP.
I did find one report for running Arch that looked alright. No confirmation on the wireless encryption though.
So is anybody running Ubuntu (or another distro) on a 1520? I'd appreciate any information concerning your experience with how it went-- what worked, what didn't, what (if anything) you have problems with.
Thanks
ToeBee
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August 31st, 2009 13:00
Well I don't have any personal experience with this type of hardware however I did notice that in the Dell Ubuntu store, the Inspiron Mini 10v that comes with Ubuntu pre-installed has a 1397 wireless card available in it so I would hope that it works pretty well in linux. Not sure if all the drivers are in the mainline Linux kernel or not. I think Dell does have their own Ubuntu "remix" that includes a few things that aren't in the default Ubuntu CDs (like drivers and media codecs)
johnnydopefish
3 Posts
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September 1st, 2009 09:00
Thanks for the feedback; I went ahead and ordered one anyway. Worse comes to worst, I'll attempt to downgrade to XP if Ubuntu doesn't work out...
lemontree75
3 Posts
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March 15th, 2010 05:00
Hi,
I am about to buy a Dell Vostro 1520, and I would like to know if you managed to install and use Ubuntu without any problem.
Thank you for your feedback.
-Fabio
johnnydopefish
3 Posts
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March 15th, 2010 13:00
Hi Fabio,
Ubuntu 9.10 installs flawlessly and everything but the media hotkeys work out-of-the-box. I do not have the integrated webcam so I do not know if that works.
However, I am running a dual-boot setup between 9.10 and Windows 7 Professional. A MAJOR problem I am having is that the MBR keeps getting corrupted, and if you do a Google search for "Vostro 1520" and "mbr corrupted" you'll find a lot of similar complaints. The result of this problem is that around every 10th boot for me, GRUB gets stuck in an infinite loop and I need to boot the LiveCD and manually reinstall GRUB. This is a serious annoyance since it takes 10 minutes to boot the LiveCD and 10 seconds to apply the fix.
I'm also having a few weird problems with Windows 7 itself-- every so often one of 2 things will happen. Sometimes Windows will load fine, but the touchpad and/or keyboard are completely unresponsive. I either have to reboot (which brings me closer to having the MBR corrupted) or plug in a USB mouse.
The other problem I have with 7 is that sometimes when I boot, the monitor is completely unresponsive once the initial Windows screen loads. The screen goes black yet I can see the hard drive chugging away. Then I have to force a hard reboot.
For what it's worth I did not have any of these problems when I was running a single-boot system on 9.04, but 9.04 had a few problems of its own with the keyboard being unresponsive at boot as well. I think sound was also broken in 9.04.
This particular model has a lot of hardware issues. When it works, it's awesome, but the sheer number of glitches (especially the MBR issue, which is completely unacceptable) really makes me hesitate recommending this model to anybody.
lemontree75
3 Posts
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March 15th, 2010 14:00
Thank you very much for your feedback.
I won't have the MBR problem since I am going to have only a single OS on the machine (Ubuntu). Also I got other feedback from other people using successfully the machine with Ubuntu so I think I am going to get it.
Thanks again.
-Fabio