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Linux on Latitude D820

post #1 of 7
5/4/06 at 9:15pm
Thread Starter 
I have a new Dell Latitude D820 with:
T2300 Core Duo
Intel 945GM Graphics Controller
Broadcom 5721C1 NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 A/B/G

I am especially worried about the network drivers, because I can find no evidence of any Linux distros supporting it. However, does anyone know what Linux distros will play nicely with my hardware?
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post #2 of 7
5/4/06 at 11:04pm
Gentoo works quite nicely but might be a PITA to install, it just takes a while and some practice.

You can get the wired network adapter by compiling Broadcom support as a module (should be available?). For the E1705, the module is called b44.

There's growing support for the intel wireless card. Search google for ipw3945.

Good luck! If you choose gentoo, I can assure you that it will be a great, educational experience that teaches you about the way linux works (and how to configure things!)
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post #3 of 7
5/8/06 at 10:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by aindfan
Gentoo works quite nicely but might be a PITA to install, it just takes a while and some practice. Good luck! If you choose gentoo, I can assure you that it will be a great, educational experience that teaches you about the way linux works (and how to configure things!)
gentoo is a good pick if you're willing to get down and dirty....and really ticked off at it. if all else fails there is always LFS to make you wanna blow your brains out. SourceMage is a happy medium. otherwise, hell there is always ubuntu or whatnot. if you cant get wifi to work natively, there is aways ndiswrapper as a backup (lucky for me i have atheros and madwifi is there, but its still an option) i mean, its pretty good stuff. just make sure to get the latest kernel source and build something of it... make it great.
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post #4 of 7
5/24/06 at 4:59pm

Debian on the D820

The page http://math.umh.ac.be/an/D820 may help you to get started. So far the only thing that does not work is the internal microphone.
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post #5 of 7
5/24/06 at 10:27pm
Thread Starter 
gentoo question: i need to get my broadcom nic working so i can see the installation documentation. when i try to ping it says ping: unknown host. and when i run ifconfig it displays lo instead of eth0. i can get it to display eth0 with ifconfig eth0, but i figured it should be doing that itself. any suggestions on what i can try.
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post #6 of 7
5/25/06 at 4:31am
Well, were you able to bring up the documentation after bringing up eth0 manually?
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post #7 of 7
5/25/06 at 8:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott9027
gentoo question: i need to get my broadcom nic working so i can see the installation documentation. when i try to ping it says ping: unknown host. and when i run ifconfig it displays lo instead of eth0.
It is not "instead", lo is always there, eth0 is not up. If ifconfig eth0 up brings eth0 up then the correct module is loaded (it is tg3, you can check that with the command lsmod). After it depends on your network. Probably you need to issue a DHCP request to get an address. I do not know gentoo but pump eth0 or dhclient eth0 or something similar should bring eth0 up.
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