N6010 Linux Mini-review

Well, I finally took possesion of my N6010 today, and its better than I expected from the reviews I have read. One of the first things I did was get it set up to dual boot WinXP and Mandrake Linux 10.1. The automated installer was able to successfully resize the partition without problems. Here is a quick rundown of the hardware:

DVD-RW: Out of Box
Display: Out of Box
Video Card: Out of Box*
Ethernet Card: Out of Box
Wireless: Needs Additional Files/Work**
Card Reader: Currently Unavailable
PCMCIA: Config Needed***
Firewire/IEEE1394: Out of Box
Tuner: Currently Unavailable
USB: Out of Box
Sound: Out of box

For the purpose of completeness, Out of Box means the device works without the need for additional configuring (auto-detected) except in the case of the video, where settings were needed to be set (which is normal for any install) *The auto-detected video card driver will work, however the use of the ATI drivers available may improve performance. **Need to download additional drivers/software (ndiswrapper I believe, haven't gotten working yet) ***From previous experience, I just need to enable PCMCIA, but haven't enabled yet so could require more work. The Card Reader, Modem, and Tuner were not available for use out of the box, but may be possible to get functional with tweaking.

I will be posting a full review of the install as soon as I have time. Also, the install didn't affect the functionality of the Instant MyMedia Program.

 

You have any clue if the N6 can handle booting into linux from a USB external drive. I was thinking of installing linux on an external drive, since I am a beginner in that field and just feel like tinkering around (no serious work), and I didn't want to clutter my internal 60G drive with linux's partitions in addition to winXP and my data.

I am glad that things worked for you with linux and N6. But can you elaborate on how to get the wireless card working, cause with my old laptop I never managed with my limited skills in linux to get my usb linksys wireless to work!

And why would you need improved performance of graphics in linux? you mean for gaming, or does it affect general operation of the OS?

 

I needed the improved drivers for my finite element program called Femlab. The rendering of the results and so on was horribly slow otherwise.

As for the atheros wireless chipset, you need to get the madwifi drivers. I got them installed once, but I never could figure out how to configure the wireless settings.

You can boot from a usb flash device, but I don't know how. I recall seeing people post about how to do it, but I wasn't really interested. You might try damn small linux. I bet they would know how. You could also play with live CD's if you don't want to repartition your HDD. Both kanotix and knoppix will allow you to save settings to the HDD so you don't have to reset them everytime.

 

I actually found something to do with booting from USB devices in the bios. I guess that is the key. I'll try it tomorrow. But if I cannot figure out how to make my wireless run then maybe I'll pass on learning linux for now.
Since you used linux for a while, does it support the speed steping for the CPU? which distribution? I have a P4M, if that matters! I mean does it clock down when there is low load on the CPU? Cause my bios doesn't have anything to force the CPU to remain in slowest speed. And I don't feel like having my fans at full blast!

 

I wouldn't bet on speed step working. I know that the newer kernels support it, but I haven't looked into it. My buddy in the next cube has a PM but hasn't been able to get speed step working yet. However, he hasn't really had time or inclination to try really hard. You would have to hit the boards to find out if speed stepping works yet.

My distros of choice are libranet and kanotix.

 

Booting from a USB device can be done from the BIOS, not sure if it can be selected from the boot menu (f12 at startup) So it is possible, but kind of a hassle. I couldn't find any information on selecting a USB device from the boot menu. Looks like Wireless just needs the MadWIFI drivers, just need to get that working.

 

If you press F12 on boot, the USB devices would be what the bios considers floppy drives.
I ran into problems with linux. And me being a novice in that field I couldn't work it out. Fedora wouldn't see the USB drive to install on it. Mandrake installed but on boot i got a screen of 070707... guessing it's something to do with grub. So I decided to wait until I can find someone to help me out in person, since I am not in a rush!

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N6010: P4M 3.2G, 512MB Dual 333MHz, 60GB 7200RPM, ATI 9700M, 17" WXGA+
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