Fedora Core 6 "Zod" on a Dell Inspiron 6000 notebook

From Julian Yap

This is an overview of my experience running Fedora Core 6 "Zod" on my Dell Inspiron 6000 notebook.

The previous GNU/Linux distribution I ran on this laptop of Fedora Core 5 (FC5) so where appropriate, I will note improvements from that release.

The Fedora GNU/Linux distribution has a strong Free Software stance which I have come to appreciate. Fedora does not compromise and does not include any proprietary software in their GNU/Linux distribution. I am also doing Red Hat related courses but I have grown to prefer Fedora over Ubuntu.

I highly recommend Fedora to more experienced GNU/Linux users and developers. For entry level users, I'd still recommend Ubuntu which has distinctly led the way in bringing GNU/Linux to the desktop.

1 Hardware
2 Other things of note
3 Issues
4 Additional notes

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Hardware

I bought a Dell Inspiron 6000 around December 2005. The only hardware upgrade I have performed since that time was to put in additional RAM. Personally, I feel that Intel is ahead in terms of features for their notebooks CPUs. Right now my current configuration is:

CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.73GHz
- Known issue with installation kernel. See below.
Disk /dev/sda: 60.0 GB
- Works fine.
DVD burner (dual-layer)
- Works fine and correct speed is detected when burning with K3b. This is an improvement with FC5 and K3b which did not correctly detect the correct burning speeds.
RAM: 1.25Gb RAM (1GB + 256Mb)
- No issues.
Video: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller
- Works fine. Detected nicely with the correct 1280x800 resolution after installation. FC5 did not detected a widescreen monitor and the highest resolution available by default was 800x600. Selected Generic LCD display capable of 1280x800 during FC5 install worked fine.
Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller
- Works fine.
Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX
- Works fine.
Wireless: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG
- Works fine. Does not include ipw2200 binary firmware which I installed via the rpm.livna.org repository.
SD Card Reader: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter
- This device is detected and in the hardware database. I haven't tested it yet.
FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C552 IEEE 1394 Controller
- Untested.
Mouse input: AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint
- Words great out of the box.
Set to triple-boot Fedora Core 6 GNU/Linux, MS Windows XP and a spare OS.

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Other things of note

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Hibernation

Works out of the box as does Suspend. An improvement over FC5 which could only Suspend out of the box.

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Fonts

The default font is now Deja Vu which looks nice. It's 'wider' than the default font in FC5.

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Yum update notifier

This did not exist for FC5 and is a welcome introduction as Ubuntu has had a similar update notifier for a while. .. It can sometimes have the impression that it has hung so more feedback to the user would improve this.

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Desktop effects

These can be enabled simply and work out of the box. System > Preferences > Desktop Effects

The integration is great and I find myself more productive. It's a pleasant surprise and impresses the crap out of people. Personally, I disable the 'Windows wobble' option but I like having the workspace in 3 dimensions.

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Stability, speed and 'feel'

FC6 feels more stable, faster than FC5. Fedora definitely feels more stable compared to Ubuntu. Start up speed of the system getting to GDM and then starting Gnome has improved but not overly. Gnome definitely feels more stable.

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Gaim

Beta of version 2 is included and looks really nice.

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Issues

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Wrong architecture kernel on install

Anaconda installs the wrong architecture kernel. 586 instead of 686. cpuspeed does not work for this same reason.

Known issue: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Bugs/FC6Common

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Multimedia keys (the extra buttons at the front of the laptop)

These do not work out of the box. For Ubuntu they are set up and work out of the box which is a nice addition. No big dramas as you can set them with the menu item System > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts.

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