Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 Alpha 4 in a ProStar 9020 Laptop.
The Hardware:
|
Component |
Model |
Status |
|
CPU |
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7250 @ 2.00GHz |
|
|
Hard disk |
TOSHIBA MK1246GS |
|
|
DVD Driver/Burner |
TSSTcorp CD/DVDW TS-L632D |
|
|
Sound |
Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller |
It does not work right out of the box but all the tweaking it takes in order to run properly is to make an update: System>Administration>Update Manager, click on “Check” and then click on “Install”. Reboot after the new packages are downloaded and installed. However, the current ALSA driver for this sound chipset will not kill the sound in your speakers when you plug your earphones in. |
|
Video Card |
nVidia GeForce 8600M GT, 512 MB |
You'll have decent graphics support right out of the box but if you want to use the proprietary driver you'll need to install it after installing and updating the system. System>Administration>Hardware Drivers |
|
Ethernet |
NetLink BCM5787M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express |
|
|
WiFi |
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG |
Works from the LiveCD, even. You'll have the choice to install the proprietary driver after installation. |
|
Card Reader |
Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter |
It'll work after an update. I've only tried SD cards so far, but it works ok. Beware of big files, however. |
|
FireWire |
R5C832 IEEE 1394 |
I haven't got any use for it so I haven't tried it yet, but chances are it's working properly anyway. |
|
WebCam |
Chicony Electronics USB 2.0 Camera |
Not working right now, check back later. |
|
Fingerprint Sensor |
UPEK Touchstrip fingerprint sensor. |
This fingerprint reader is on a USB port and its DeviceID is 147e:2016. As far as I've been able to find out, this little toy also ships with one Thinkpad model (R61, I think) which led me to try the thinkfinger libraries and tools, but they don't do the trick-- they can't even find the device. There's been talk and requests to the thinkfinger project so that this device becomes supported by them but don't hold your breath. |
|
4 USB ports |
|
|
|
Trackpad |
|
Your scrolling region in the pad's right hand side will work just as in Windows without any extra work. |
|
Suspend / Hibernation |
|
|
|
Kernel |
|
Alpha 4 has used two kernel versions so far: 2.6.24-5-generic and 2.6.24-7-generic |
Why Ubuntu? Why a development version?
Well, I tried several other distros but this machine features a lot of relatively new hardware that is just not supported if you distro's version is more than six months old. Linux Mint 4.0, for instance needed a lot of tweaking and, even so, I was never able to properly configure some things such as the nVidia driver –and yet it was one of the few distros that actually made a successful boot. Older Ubuntu releases struggled to boot (some didn't) and the only one that behaved well enough to consider installing it was Gutsy Gibbon i386 (the 64 bit version barely booted into a 800x600 generic X session).
I decided to go with Hardy Heron, despite the fact it's still in development because a lot of stuff worked properly during in LiveCD mode and because it will be a supported for a longer time than any extant Ubuntu release to date so it's a good choice if you don't want change your Linux in, say, a few years. If you are going to go with Ubuntu's latest release in a few months time you might as well use the development version right now.
However please note the following: I used the i386 version, not the 64-bit one. Nope, the 64 bit does not work as good as it should. Also, beware of the fact that development versions are not meant to be installed in production computers.
You can download the .iso image here.
A bit about 64 bits.
They are still not as well developed as they should be. In the old days Linux was a fully fledged 32-bit system when Windows was still mainly in 16-bits, but it seem that keeping up with the new architectures is not coming along very easily. So if you are an architectural purist you'll find that things are not ready for you yet –32 bits is still the way to go with most distros and most computers. However, I found Mandriva PowerPack 2008.0 x64 to work very well in this machine, specially as far as the graphics card is concerned.
Other notes.
I'll keep updating this page as new developments make a couple of other components work or, at the very list, to document how the final Hardy Heron works with this machine. If you have any comments you can send me a message through my blog. Anyway, I intend to try and install DreamLinux 3.0 some time soon in order to be able to tap into Debian Sid's repository, which has a lot more to offer than Ubuntu's.
Updated: february 21st 2008
Last update: february 23rd 2008 –bug in the sound driver, flash card reader status.