beside ubuntu, which distro has best hardward support for m1330

beside ubuntu, which distro has best hardware support for dell xps m1330?

 

I have had good experiences with Mandriva and Fedora Core, but I am not sure about model-specific support... most of this information is available on the forums for each respective distro. That said, compatibility depends on a "part-by-part" basis. For example, if you have a Dell wireless card, you're in for a hard time.

 

You could try Linux Mint, Debian SID/Sidux or Fedora. Basically look for a distro that has the latest version of the kernel. This will help greatly with hardware detection.

 

Most distros have great support for the m1330

 

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YES, what Fire Snake said, also...here I go again, MEPIS included....LOL Sidux is bleeding edge, and actually a pretty cool distro...but, they seem to be very restrictive on non-free stuff. I'd say stay with something Debian based in my humblest of opinions....but if you go RPM, Mandriva is a good one as well as Fedora. There are some Arch fanatics around here...it's takes a higher degree of knowledge to install though.

EDIT: don't worry about your english, you should hear me speak spanish !!

 

I'm running openSUSE 11.1 on my M1330. Works great, out-of-the-box.

 

Let's try this again, linux is linux. Pretty much any active distro will have the same support for hardware as any other.

 

True, but only to a certain extent. Developers choose which drivers the kernel comes packaged with; and sometimes, developers cut back on them in the interest of saving space and loading fewer unnecessary modules.

 

That's just it though. In all honesty, compiling the kernal is not that hard. I'd bet even a beginner could do it. There are plenty of guides out there and with xconfig it's a snap. Just clicking some boxes.

 

Try latest openSUSE distro, my cousin installed one on his m1330 and it even recognized the internal webcam, no hussles whatsoever.

Edit: goodies such as bluetooth work "out-of-the-box" as well

 

so.. if suse and debian have same kernel, they will have same hardware support? kernel version is what decide the hardware support and not specific distro?

 

It depends what drivers the developers have decided to keep from the mainstream kernel. For example, rather than integrating the new ath5k driver for wireless cards, Ubuntu developers decided to keep the madwifi module. For specifics, you will probably have to do some searching, but almost all hardware does work, with the exception of:

- Broadcom wireless cards (ndiswrapper and other such schemes can make these cards functional, but they are unreliable, slow, and a little unreasonable to expect from new users).

- webcams/media buttons/other small specialized devices (in my experience)

- 3D acceleration (out of the box; installing the right driver for it is easy)

 

hi again, wanted to use MINT but seems not asian language...so installed suse 11.1 didn't like the BIG menu lol and couldnt find a way to delete those greeting icon... ctr alt backspace ... sounds horrible "bib"

dont't know why.. but good harware support

 

Did you try Kubuntu, the Ubuntu version with the KDE desktop? People should use that over Ubuntu anyway.

 

Why? Kubuntu is terribad. It doesn't get the attention it deserves.

 

It's what?!? Kubuntu > Ubuntu. If the Ubuntu developers spent as much time on Kubuntu.... Kubuntu plays second fiddle but it should be way better, it uses KDE after all.

 

There are much better KDE implementations out there, like Mandriva and PCLOS. Putting aside KDE vs Gnome, Kubuntu is just terrible compared to Ubuntu in terms of stability.

I've always been more comfortable in Gnome though, since Fedora Core 4.

 

That just shows Ubuntu's/Canonical's devotion to Kubuntu and KDE is practically zero or zilch. In other words, negligible.

 

Their Xfce is pretty rough also...they don't tweak anything it seems, just see that it comes up ....as far as I'm concerned, if you're not doing gnome, you need to go over to Mint for those others if you want to stay in the 'buntu arena.

 

Mint doesn't care about KDE either, though.

 

Mints Xfce is the best I've seen....they seem, or rather merlwiz79, has put a lot of effort into that one with custom configuration scripts, etc. Their Fluxbox doesn't look half bad either but it's in RC1.

Who IS putting the most effort into KDE? I used to think it was Mandriva and Suse, maybe Sabayon. ?

 

i use gnome... cuz i hate single click icon by default, also hate windows like star menu... (even i m 90% windows user lol)

 

Yeah same as Kossel, I've used gnome before for my cousins laptop. Everything worked fine.

 

There is no standard m1330 hardware.. some come with broadcom wireless drivers and nvidia graphic cards. others come with intel wireless like mine comes use intel wireless cards and intel graphic cards. if you want to get the best Out the box support from linux you have to go for the dell m1330 that ships with intel wireless/graphic cards since intel hardwares are well supported on linux. but which ever choice you make you would find away to make the hardware to work even if it doesnt work out of the box. one thing i can confirm though

-Finger print reader works with every distro i have tried on my dell.
-Webcam worked with every distro i tried on my dell
-bluetooth support is a bit shaky with the latest distros (seem to be an upstream issue)
-internal mic is a bit shakky with distros that use pulse audio which is just about every major distro

that is just about want i can remember.
you can follow this guide with shows how to install fedora 10 on the dell m1330 http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~hamkins/M1330_fedora_10.html


while this shows how to install ubuntu intrepid ibex on dell m1330
http://bigbrovar.wordpress.com/2008/11/20/ubuntu-intrepid-ibex-on-dell-xps-m1330/

good luck in the choice you make