Re: [TCLUG:22137] Linux laptop questions

[David Royer <dave@droyer.org>]

Sorry for comming a bit late here, but I have a Dell Inspiron 7500
dual-booting Win & Mandrake 7.something.  I purchased the thing with
Windows pre-installed from Dell.  It wasn't very difficult getting Linux
up and running on it.  The biggest problem, like usual, was getting X
setup and working.  It was definately worth the trouble though.  X is
beautiful running at 1400x1048!!

There's a good site packed with a bunch of pointers at:
http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~steveh/inspiron/

It doesn't seem to be responding at the minute, but hopefully it's just
temporary.  (That or bounce over to google and search for "Dell inspiron
Linux" and take a look at some of the results.

On to your specific questions...

>    1. If I got a Dell Inspiron 7500 preloaded with Windows (and with,
>       say, a 20GB hard drive), and then tried to install Linux on it
>       myself, can anyone tell me what kind of experience I'd be in
>       for?  I've installed Linux on a lot of desktops and servers but
>       never any laptops, so I'm OK with putzing with it a bit, but if
>       it'll take me a week to get X up and running, for example, then
>       I'd rather pay someone else to do it.  Also, I don't want to
>       have to spend a lot of time in advance checking and
>       double-checking the specs to make sure that all the hardware
>       will work with Linux.
> 
I just ran the default Mandrake 7.1 install, then grabbed the XF86Config
file from the site above, tweaked it a bit, and was off and running.
There were no problems at all.  If you want my config file, or need some
pointers or help, let me know.

Dave Royer