Precision M6400 and wireless

It appears that Dell just removed the option for Intel wireless cards on the M6400... The Dell branded cards are now the only option. Odd.

<<
Dell Wireless™ 1397 802.11b/g Mini Card [Included in Price]
Dell Wireless™ 1510 802.11a/g/n Draft Mini Card [add $39]
No Wireless LAN Card add $0
>>

 

I may get flamed for this, but a lot of people actually prefer the Dell wireless cards over the Intels'.

 

People who care about Linux support certainly don't. The Dell wireless is based on Broadcom technology, and while there are rumors about available working drivers, I'd call the Intel drivers...um...a bit more trustworthy...

 

Why would you put Linux on the m6400? Seems like it would be a hassle to find all the right drivers.

 

Personally, I run Linux on an E6400. But if one wants to put Linux (the new Ubuntu Intrepid/8.10, for example) on the M6400, it shouldn't be that hard to find drivers for 90% of the functionality, trust me. Exotic stuff like Bluetooth or the media card reader rarely works OOTB, but it might help some people if the wifi drivers work properly. The Intel Wifi Link 5x00 drivers do that on Intrepid, there are lots of people witnessing this.

 

I can honestly say that the Dell 1397 is the best WLAN card I've ever used.

Doesn't drop connections, and connects much more quickly than the Intel card in my father's Sony SZ420. It is better than the card that was in my Acer Ferrari 4005, and that was pretty good. Broadcom also I believe.

I got the Dell card simply because the laptop was already pushing my budget, and if the Dell card wasn't as good as I had hoped, it would only take few months before the Intel cards were all over eBay.

Even though I have an N router, I didn't bother with the N card since my router isn't known to have great range anyhow and my internet is only 500kilobytes/sec.

Greg

 

Thanks for the info! I have an XPS at the moment with an Intel card. It works really well, but if the Dell card is as good or better, then I won't complain.

 

The Intel card from my father's SZ was a 3945 I believe, while the 2200 in my old XPS m140 just plain sucked.

Greg

 

M6400 is a mobile workstation. Lots of software supposed to be used on it runs on Linux. In the DCC world, Houdini, Maya, XSI, Nuke, RenderMan and lots of internal studio proprietary software are all used under Linux in many production facilities. I suppose that in the CAD world there are also such cases.
If I'd decide for a M6400, compatibility with Linux would be a must as I will *have to* also have Linux besides Windows on my workstation.
To me the question would be "why would they sell a mobile workstation which isn't compatible with Linux"? It would defy it's own purpose.
Anyway, I see RedHat 64 bit listed in the supported operating systems list, so it would probably run Linux happily.

Dragos