Evolving from my earlier post which only consisted of Windows OS and the hardware issues related with it, this time a relief for Linux users. Owing to its AMD chips that are integrated into this box most of the Linux distributions do not interpret the hardware correctly. For most components there is no opensource driver support and most do not have their functionality outside Windows.
I tested nearly all major Linux distributions on this hardware and found that most of them are useless for this box.
The most (but not fully) compatible distribution is the Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex). It handles the graphics card tactfully, providing the much needed and most used effects without any other package installation. However additional driver needs to be updated to use the card extensively.
The Atheros WiFi which is a major concern on this notebook works seamlessly for hours with no ouch .
Mouse works better than other distributions and CD-drive works like it used to work on Microsoft Vista.
However the ACPI still encounters trouble while you are booting the PC on battery with ACPI enabled. This issue has not been resolved. However if once you have booted and then the AC-power goes off you can still work until the battery drains.
Distributions such as Fedora , OpenSuse and other developmental releases should be avoided as these do have some troubles either with the ACPI or with the graphics card.
I used Fedora 8, 9 and 10 but none gave me better performance as the Ubuntu 8.10.
Alternatively if you are a RPM guy and do not want to use any Debian products then I suggest you to either use Red Hat Enterprise (RHEL) or go for Cent OS.
This was all in the Linux archive. Happy computing. 🙂
init 5 for now …
