New to laptops

[O. Sinclair]

As already stated by others Dell sell the same laptop under the E1505n 
"model" with Ubuntu preinstalled. Installing KDE afterwards is a breeze, 
once up and running just search through this thread or 
Kubuntu/Ubuntuforums online. This is so far only available in the US 
though and you might not be there or they are having some superduper 
offer on 6400 (not the first time).

Note that using a Nvidia graphics card is a better choice than ATI (I 
did not know that...) and the Intel 3945 wireless works out of the box 
while Dell or other alternatives can cause headaches.

Feisty works just fine (I have an Inspiron 6400 with Kubuntu Feisty on 
it) and in my experience is mostly better than Edgy though Dapper might 
be more stable still. Some quirks exist and one of them that got worse 
from Edgy -> Feisty was usb where all of a sudden a lot of items are not 
working proper due to a change in the kernel. Darn irritating and hope 
it is sorted before or with next release.

And installation of Feisty has a major bug with the x system so I 
suggest reading below thread first... I installed 3 times before I found 
out about this bug. In short the gui does not start but hangs after 
install and you have to install the proper drivers from command shell. 
this whether you install from Ubuntu or Kubuntu Live or Alternate. 
Unless this has been fixed since, I doubt it though.

Here are 2 helpful threads from ubuntuforums, one relating to Edgy and 
one to Feisty, specifically for this laptop:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=257684&highlight=inspiron+6400+Edgy
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=399913

Sinclair

Gerald I. Evenden wrote:
> I have had a few years of experience installing various flavors of Linux on 
> desktops (currentlly kubuntu dapper) but wanted to do a laptop installation 
> on a Dell 6400 Inspiron DualCore.  I seem to recall reading of a lot of 
> problems with laptops but do not know the current difficulty level, 
> espectially with 'feisty fawn.'
> 
> I would appreciate comments on
> A. is the Inspiron is a reasonable choice,
> B. is feisty fawn too leading edge and better to step back a level?
> 
> Many thanks.
> 
> PS: If I have reason able success with the laptop, I will rebuild the dapper 
> system as it is beginning to show its age.