Linux on HP DV6000T or Dell Inspiron 1521

First, I don't know if anyone even has an Inspiron 1521 yet, or if they do, if they have had time to put Linux on it. The Inspiron 1521 is probably not my first choice, but I am curious about Linux compatibility. I would assume it will be good since Dell is going to start shipping with Ubuntu. Any thoughts?

Second, my real dilemma. I am really torn between a Gateway NX570X (DH has one, it runs Linux beautifully) and the HP DV6000T. With the HP I can get more features for a similar price, and it seems to have a better video card. I'm not a gamer, but I don't have great eyes, so a good display and good video capabilities are important to me.

Also, I kind of think it would be lame to have the exact same laptop as him.

But I have not found much info on the HP laptop and Linux. I'm most concerned about whether ACPI (hibernate and suspend) works, and whether all the function keys and the media reader work. Right now I have a Toshiba and none of that stuff works on it in Linux.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

 

Try to stay away from ATi graphics, go for nVidia or Intel for a smoother ride.

 

I've got a dv9000 and the [fn] key works in combination with the function keys(F1-F12) and the other keys that have a [fn] alternate use.

The blue glowing "touch pad buttons" across the top all work except the quickplay button just turns on the notebook and starts a normal boot cycle since I wiped both drives of windows prior to installing Ubuntu.

The sleep function works, at least when launched from the shutdown menu in Ubuntu. The notebook powers down and the power light slowly blinks while everything is off and asingle keypress brings it back to where it was in the session.

I have a media reader but don't have need to use it so I'm not sure it works or not. It shows up as a Ricoh Picture card controller in the ubuntu device manager but without an SD card or something to experiment with I'm not sure how well it works.

The built in webcam doesn't work either, but it stopped working when HP Update flashed the BIOS prior to letting me install Vista so I think it is more of a BIOS issue than a Linux one.

 

I'm not so concerned about ATI vs Nvidia because the newer ATI drivers (both proprietary and OSS) work well. My main concern is that all ACPI and built-in features work without much trouble. I am not a newbie to Linux but want to spend significantly more time using the hardware than tweaking it.
The Gateway is a known quantity. The only thing that doesn't work perfectly is the mic, due to a known bug. I haven't found much info at all on the HP, hence my query.

 

Thanks, Methuselah! That is the kind of info I am looking for. I will look up that model to see what hardware it shares with the 6000.

 

You'd likely be better off with the Inspiron 1520 rather than the 1521. The 1521 is AMD-based, and thus has ATi card (which is not good, especially with compositing, I don't know where you're getting that...), and will likely also come with a Broadcom wireless card as most AMD-based laptops do, so you're unlikely to see any good workings with Linux there.

 

Yes, I think I meant the 1520. The Intel one.

What do you mean by 'compositing'? All I do on my screen is read and watch video. No games at all, or at least nothing more graphics-intensive than a crossword puzzle. I'm currently using an ATI display (work laptop) that is more than adequate for that. The rest of the laptop is terrible but I've never had any complaints about the display or the graphics.

 

For Methuselah:

It looks like you can get the Quickplay working again if you put the partition back. HP has a 'patch' to do this. It would work booting from a DOS boot disk, I believe.

Also, here is some info on getting the webcam to work. Looks like it is do-able.

All in all, I am thinking I can get more bang for the buck with the HP. The dv6500t would run me $1272 with all of the features I want, and the dv6000t would run me $1200 with mostly the same config as the 6500 (same CPU, same amount of RAM, etc). The only thing that worries me now about the HP laptop is the "imprint finish", which some say scratches easily and others say is a fingerprint magnet. The Gateway's outer finish is more textured and matte.