Overall, I am happy with the way things work.
- Intel b/g wireless works fine out of the box.
- Ethernet networking works fine out of the box.
- The Fedora distro supplied video drivers were slow and buggy but the Nvidia quadra nv135 with wxga+ display now works fine including spanning the desktop with a DVI monitor while connected to a d/port station. I had to upgrade the Kernel to get the nvidia drivers to work correctly - I used the drivers from the livna repository. Using the GUI NVIDIA configuration tool made setting up and switching the xorg.conf file a breeze. (Applications.System Tools.nvidia Display Settings)
- I can play DVDs and MP3s with some other add ins from livna.
What isn't working fine:
- The idiotic HSF modem. I've tried every way of installing drivers, Including installing drivers from livna, a set from Dell and compiling a set from the linuxant website and none of them get the modem working as it should with audio also working as it should. A pox on all winmodems anyway.
- Power management when undocked and running on batteries stinks. I get about 1/2 the battery life I do when I run WinXP. Because I don't generally use the machine tons without A/C power available, this isn't a huge issue for now, but it will be whenever I hit the road with it.
- Since the kernel upgrade, I get that widely reported pnpacpi: exceeded the max number of mem resources: 12 I understand that this is not a new issue, just that the new kernel reports it on startup, and that a fix is coming in a later kernel.
I'd love to hear from other D630 users about their Linux experiences - and particularly if anyone has a system with everything working properly.
All in all, I really like this distro.
If you had nailed the -12 kernel, which was a rare dud, your first impressions may have been way different. Anyway, I'd say it's time to spoil your good time and try the -50.fc8 kernel
Linear Mode
