Guide/Experiences: Ubuntu Linux @ Latitude E series (highly experimental!)

I'm positively surprised that this machine runs quite well despite the development status of the distribution and of the drivers themselves. All BIOS-related stuff works OOTB (I really had been pessimistic about the hotkeys) and there's only driver-related stuff left that could be just a question of time if we're lucky. When I put Arch Linux on my not-yet-ordered machine (end of October, probably) I expect it to work like a charm with some tweaking

The graphics chip issue seems to be a quite difficult one at the moment. The Intel IGP is definitely on the safe side of the force, if you can live with it performance-wise. Nvidia has always been suggested as the second-best choice for Linux, and power management is definitely included in the closed-source driver - but the configuration always has been tricky. ATI, once disliked for their lack of Linux support, finally release open-source drivers - but I wouldn't be too happy about that by now as I can't find any evidence for PowerPlay support on the HD3000 series. And I think graphics power management on Linux really might be a concern for those who work on Linux and play on Windows

Myself, I was struggling a lot with the decision between integrated and dedicated graphics because I do rarely play games, which could also mean too rare to justify buying a second PC (won't buy a console ever, I'm too used to PC gaming). After seeing the third graphics chip die (two Radeon 9000 and one Radeon X1600), I finally decided to settle for a two-PC solution for the reason of reliability. While my future notebook will be equipped with an IGP that should stay cool, that budget-gaming-level PC might also act as a reserve in case of emergency - replacing that old P3 I'm typing those lines on...

 

I've no doubt your system will run smoothly until then. Since the development phase of Intrepid Ibex is in a pretty advanced state (there will be only one more alpha for features/newer libraries and then the beta will be fine-tuned in order to get to the final release), I'm not so surprised of the stability of the system. Sure, some things might break, but it's only due to their state being mostly untested. The drivers seem to be finished for the biggest part, but they're still rather slow (speaking about the Intel GMA X4500MHD drivers in xorg-video-intel) but I guess it will be only a matter of time, until the drivers get more mature. So far it's at least enough for Compiz-Fusion at 1920x1200. For me that is sufficient.

Yes, I agree -- the driver situation is a bit awful. For nVidia you're still stuck in propritary hell and can't be sure whether it will work with kernel version XY or xorg version YZ. There's this great project "nuveau", though -- which aims to provide fully open source nVidia drivers. But it's still under heavy development and certainly will still be for quite some time from now.

As for the open sourced ATI drivers I'm not sure how mature they already are, but I guess there's still a long way to go for completion. I think ATI didn't even release documentation for all graphics card generations yet, correct?

About the power management issue: I agree this will become a major topic. And I bet integrated cards are definitely amongst the better options as of now and for long-term developments in this area.

Good choice! My E6500 will replace the desktop and act as mobile powerhouse. Since I'm not into gaming anymore, the performance of the GMA X4500 is good enough and at least I'll be able to benefit from the reduced power consumption and heat.

 

Btw, did you test if suspending to RAM works yet?

 

Since I also consider buying a Latitude E6400, some questions about linux compatability:

• Is there the possibility to switch between quick charge and normal charge while running the OS (Linux?), or do you need to make a swith in the BIOS (the needed reboot would be a bit absurd)?
• What about this support/diagnostics partition? Can it be booted from GRUB or may there be problems when you call the support and have deleted it? Or can it be moved to (or booted from) a usb hdd?
• Can the functions of the Dell Control Point Software be used in linux? Maybe command line? scripts? Which "important" functions are there in windows that could be absent in linux?
• The review of the E6500 on cnt.com.au said: "Present is the ability to turn off pretty much everything in the machine". Well, what does that mean? In windows software or in bios? Does it work in linux (powertop)?
• what about the display port? It should work with the newest drivers but can it output fullHD?
• There is almost no video acceleration in the intel driver apart from XvMC or X-Video, right? but not for HD content like in windows?
• I hardly dare asking about sound over display port...
• Has the intel driver also problems playing videos/games with compiz fusion? (I'm a tortured fglrx user). Really looking forward to Dri2
• What about the dvd burner issue? Have you already used k3b or whatever?
• Could somebody measure the power comsumption with powertop?

Well, many many questions and you have certainly not tested everything yet, so take your time Would be really nice to get some positive!!! feedback Thanks in advance.

 

I already have the E6400 running Kubuntu 8.10-alpha 5, and my experience is described in this thread.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3911322#post3911322
I haven't burned anything using k3b yet. So far, I made one burn in Windows XP using Roxio (DVD+RW, image of my XP partition) and that worked and verified correctly.
--hasi

 

Neafujn:
I am running kubuntu 8.10-alpha5 on an E6400, as described here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3911322#post3911322.
As describe in my thread, I have some headaches with the touchpad. It does not seem to be recognized as a touchpad (or at all) by X. Nothing about a touchpad in /proc/bus/input/devices.
Is your touchpad working well including scrolling? In my case, the default settings are quite bad (no scrolling, too little sensitivity, ....).
How about you? Do you have scrolling? Is your touchpad recognized? Can you change the options using synclient?

thanks so much for you feedback.
--hasi

 

Sorry to *kinda* hijack this thread, it's the only one that mentions Intel's X4500MHD video card in connection with Ubuntu.

I have a ThinkPad T400 with said video card.
Ubuntu 8.04 doesn't work, as expected.
Ubuntu Intrepid (8.10 Alpha 6) Desktop Install CD doesn't work - when I start the LiveCD, X crashes to a black screen.
Ubuntu Intrepid (8.10 Alpha 6) Alternate Install CD lets me install the OS in command line mode. Then I boot to it, again, BLACK SCREEN crash. I get to a shell and change the driver in xorg.conf to "vesa" and instead of a black screen crash I get a colored stripe screen crash.

ANY IDEA? OP, how did you get your system to work in Intrepid?
Would really appreciate some input.
Thanks,
-b

 

@Bernardo:

First of all, a WARNING in using the current alpha releases of Intrepid: There is a serious bug in an Intel driver that may permanently damage Intel Ethernet cards!!! Given that you have a reasonably new system and very likely Intel Ethernet, you may actually be affected by this. For more information, check this thread:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/263555

They are currently working on a solution to shut off the bad driver. Once that is taken care of, I would continue using the alphas. For me (Dell E6400), the 4500 graphics worked out of the box using 8.10 (no xorg.conf fiddeling).

In my case, I discovered that also the 8.04.1 version worked with the 4500 card (the 8.04 did not). So there may be a route to using the 8.04.1 and get the graphics work on your system. I do not have any further idea why it works on my system, but not on yours when they seemingly use the same graphics card.

--hasi

 

Hi folks,

sorry to respond that late.

@ Hasinasi: The touchpad issue is (or _was_ for that matter) more related to the kernel than X itself. It's been represented as a regular PS/2 mouse rather than the ALPS touchpad it really is. This has been resolved by the latest kernel patches, so it's possible for X to recognize it correctly using the ALPS touchpad driver. This way you can activate the SHMconfig option in order to use gsynaptics (or whatever you prefer) to configure your touchpad settings like increasing sensitivity, acceleration, ...

@ Bernardo: Originally I used the alpha 4 CD, which worked quite well. I didn't have to change the xorg settings to use vesa or anything else; the graphics card recognition worked out of the box (and still does using the latest versions). Have your issues been resolved by now?

Regarding the e1000e network card issues: These have luckily been resolved by now.

Keep it up, folks!
Neafujn

 

Oh, btw -- since something this has been asked before, some random facts that come to my mind spontaneously:

* I get 6.5 hours with the 9 cell battery running Linux.
* got PowerTOP power consumption down to 13-14 watts
* Suspend to RAM works
* Webcam and mic work
* WLAN works
* Touchpad works