Linux on the MSI 1036

Has anybody installed and used Gentoo, Mandrake(Mandriva) or FreeBSD on a MSI 1036? Did it work? What were the issues if any? I've searched these forums as well as a few other sites and haven't seen a listing of anybody that's tried it.

Don't know if that's because it doesn't work, it's so simple that they never thought to post about it, or just something that never came up.

I've installed various distros of linux on multiple desktops/ servers but never had an occasion to on a laptop. From what I've heard the ATI driver support is crap but if you're determined enough you can get it working reliably.

Thanks

 

I don't know if this helps but all drivers BUT the 1.3MP camera are available for 64bit XP Pro.

 

sbraith,

I haven't seen anyone running any opensource on the 1036 yet. There were some excellent links for the 1013 when it came out, so just watch out for it.

 

This link has information on Ubuntu running on various laptops. The only MSI model listed, though, was the MS-1029.

http://tuxmobil.org/distribution_linux_laptop_ubuntu.html

It also has links to other distros.

Hope this helps.

DH

 

I will be doing exactly this when I get mine (*hopefully* in about 2-3 weeks..) but I do know that the 1029 worked perfectly on the 1029. The 1036 has fairly similar hardware, so I'd venture to guess it should work as well on Ubuntu... I read a post from someone who also had pretty good results with the 1029 on Gentoo, so I think you'll be fine there. Basically it depends on how much of a linux guru you are... you can get most anything to work if you hack at it long enough

But from what I hear so far, it should "just work".

Yeah the ATI stuff may cause issues, but again should be fine if you're willing to tinker with it a bit.