I'm still working on my page about
installing Fedora Core 6 on a Dell Inspiron 6400. That will contain all
the bits and pieces I've had to do to get it working to my satisfaction.
But I have to say at the outset I've been very happy with how easy it's
been to get working most of the things a laptop should do.
- Suspend and resume when you close and open the lid has worked pretty
much from install time. It's locked up a few times, and I'm still working
out whether some modules need to be reloaded or reactivated after resume.
The Hibernate feature hasn't been as good - the video resolution in
particular needs to be reset using 915resolution and I haven't yet done the
research to find out where I put this. There's probably a script somewhere
that controls what needs to be run on awakening. But it's all been good.
- Having the correct screen resolution took a little time to get right,
but my prior research told me what I needed to know, and it was just a
matter of plugging it in. If the 915resolution utility and the relevant
calls to it were included by default in a laptop install, or (even better)
if I knew whether the ForceBIOS option was needed or available in the
xorg.conf, or (best) if Dell actually included the correct modes in their
BIOS, then this would be great. But the OpenGL acceleration of the Intel
drivers is fully utilised - 800 FPS in full-screen glxgears and all the
lovely wobbliness that "Display Effects" brings.
- Wireless networking seemed to require the installation of the FreshRPMS
distro and three ipw3945 packages to start. It then required required me
to know that I had to activate the dhcdbd service before NetworkManager in
order for NetworkManager to do its funky stuff. But now it pretty much
works out of the box. I've found that occasionally I get firmware errors,
and maybe this is because I haven't reloaded the driver after a suspend and
resume, so I'm still working on this. But being able to do a bit of work
answering emails while in bed, and then just closing it down and and going
to sleep when Kate finishes reading her book and turns out the light has
improved our relationship significantly.
- All the little things we take for granted are there. The touchpad,
including Dell's neat 'tap to click' and 'scrollbar areas', has worked
perfectly. Plugging in USB devices, likewise. Charging the battery and
switching from mains to battery mode and back. Bluetooth works as well
as it ever has, which means the Bluetooth Manager can see my phone but
not do a single thing with it - i.e. I haven't got any further in trying
to get it working. Even the front panel volume keys and so forth work
correctly. It's these little things that make the whole experience so
nice.
In my opinion, we're now at the stage that if Dell did the same process
of installing, configuring, patching and testing on a modern Linux
distribution as they do with Windows XP Home, the user would get the
laptop with the same amount of functionality 'straight out of the
wrapper'. Imagine that - an everyday person with average, non-technical
experience with Linux, just opening it up and everything working just as
it should. This is what Windows XP and OS X try to ensure, and for
Linux it's really starting to become a reality.
Of course, we'd still need to train people. Scarcely anyone these days
is completely computer-agnostic - they all have some prior experience,
and that's usually Windows. The desktop experience may be quite similar,
but it's not the same, and we do need to provide easy ways for people to
get used to the different technologies 'under the hood'. Applications
install in fundamentally different ways. The drive is layed out
differently. Even simple things like training them that they use
Evolution instead of Outlook and FireFox instead of Internet Exploder
take time and patience. These are not difficult things; this is what
the Make The Move project is
trying to do. It takes time, but people are always adaptable. If you
don't tell them it's a hassle, half the time they'll find it easy
anyway.
(Make mental note: I must write the "Paul's friendly guide to finding
your way around your new Linux system")
