Archive for October, 2007

Installing Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) on a Dell Inspiron 8600

October 22nd, 2007 | Category: How-To, Technical Review

General Hardware Specifications of Inspiron 8600

Hardware Components Status under Linux Additional notes
Pentium M processor 1.6Ghz Ok
15.4 WXGA+ (1680×1050) TFT Display Ok Default resolution properly set: 1680×1050
ATI Radeon 9600 (Mobile) AGP video card Ok Desktop effects were actived by default. It can be changed in System/Preferences/Appearance on tab “Visual Effects”. There are 3 choices:

  1. None
  2. Normal (the default that was set on my system)
  3. Extra
  • “Normal” is working correctly and does not seem to create such lags so for now I keep it activated.
  • I didn’t install the proprietary drivers (can be installed using System/Administration/Restricted Drivers Manager)
512MB + 256MB PC2700 Ok
40 GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive 7200 RPM (Toshiba) Ok
Integrated Network Card I don’t know I only used the wireless card for now
Intel Pro Wireless 2915ABG Ok I just had to setup the WiFi SSID and WEP key using System/Administration/Network tool. But I had to check+uncheck+check again the Wireless in order to trigger the reconfiguration of the network interface.
Internal 56k Modem I don’t know I never tried the modem
DVD-ROW/CD-RW Reading:Ok
Writing:Untested		 I’ve been able to read DVD/CDs, but I haven’t tried burning CDs with it.
59 WHr Lithium-Ion Battery Ok
Integrated sound card Ok
IEEE-1394 (Firewire) I don’t know I have no firewire device to try it.
ALPS GlidePoint Ok
  • Mouse navigation: ok
  • Tap for click: ok
  • Tap twice for double-click: ok
  • Vertical scrolling: ok
  • Horizontal scrolling: not working (or not configured by default)
  • Drag’n drop: not working (or not configured by default)
PC Speaker Ok Nice addition in 7.10: You can easily disable PC Speaker beeps using System/Preferences/Sound in “System beep” tab.
Keyboard – Canadian French Layout Ok
Logitech Laser Wireless USB Mouse Ok
  • Left button: ok
  • Right button: ok
  • Scroll wheel: ok
  • Scroll wheel tilt left/right: not working (or not assigned)
  • Scroll wheel button: not working (or not assigned)
4GB Patriot USB Key Ok Just plug it into the USB port and it is automatically detected. An icon is provided on the desktop.

Special Keyboard Keys

Key Status Additional notes
Volume Up / Down Ok
Mute Ok
Media Play/Pause toggle I don’t know
Media Stop I don’t know
Media Skip Next I don’t know
Media Skip Previous I don’t know
Power button I don’t know
Fn + Volume Up / Down Ok
Fn + Mute Ok
Fn + Brigthness Up / Down Ok
Fn + Numeric keypad Ok Behave correctly depending if NumLock is On or Off
Fn + CRT/LCD I don’t know
Fn + Suspend I don’t know
Fn + Scroll Lock I don’t know
Fn + SysRq I don’t know
Fn + Wireless (on/off) I don’t know
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