Kubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft on the Dell D620 Laptop
I installed Kubuntu 6.10 "Edgy Eft" on this laptop. It just works :-)
Multibooting Windows and Linux
In order to get a multi-OS boot menu working with no hassle, it is important to install Windows XP first. If you want to keep the Dell pre-installed Windows XP image, then you can just reduce the size of the partition to make some free space for Linux. I like to use the gPartd LiveCD for that job, though you could probably get away with using FIPS, or the BootItNG LiveCD from TerabyteUnlimited.com.
Kubuntu: First Impressions
Kubuntu is identical to Ubuntu except that it comes with the KDE desktop, which I've always found more intuitive than GNOME. Anyhow, I was very impressed with Kubuntu Edgy both for ease of installation and for ease of use. Installing new packages is very easy with the Adept Package Manager GUI, and applying security updates is a breeze with the automatic update system - you just click on the toolbar icon when you want to accept the latest updates, or invoke the Adept GUI manually.
Amazingly, the power management stuff all works under Linux on this laptop with no setup effort. From the KDE logout menu, you can choose to Suspend or Hibernate instead of logging out, and both these options just work on the D620 straight out of the box. I'm guessing that starting with the Dell factory image (and leaving the diagnostic partition and the Windows partition in place) might have had something to do with Hibernate working, but I don't know. Also cool is that slapping in a second battery in place of the DVD gets noticed automatically and reflected in the battery status icon in the system tray. Rather annoyingly however, if you booted up with the second battery in place, then ripping it out and inserting the DVD drive won't work without a reboot (that is, the battery change gets picked up, but the DVD isn't seen until a reboot).
Edgy detects both Core Duo processor cores, and adjusts the processor speed to match the work load. With the system idle, Edgy drops the CPU speed down to 1.0 GHz, so that the system stays cool and the fans keep quiet.
Pretty well all of my Dell D620's hardware got picked up automatically by the Kubuntu installer. But I haven't tried using the infra-red port yet, and I'm not hopeful about the modem, which I'm guessing to be an el-crappo WinModem.
Hardware Notes
- Video card.
The D620 can be ordered with either an Intel video chip or an NVidia one (which is supposed to be the better
of the two, and has good Linux drivers).
My D620 has the NVidia chip, which was detected automatically, giving the 1440x900 screen resolution in full colour.
A Kubuntu Feisty user reported that the Intel video chip works happily enough on his machine, so you should
be fine either way.
You shouldn't need to set up the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file manually but in case you manage to corrupt it, there is a copy of mine for NVidia here.
- Wireless LAN card. Sadly the Dell standard wireless card is a Broadcom which only has
Windows drivers. I understand there's some way to load a Windows NDIS device driver in Linux but I don't know whether
it works for this card, and frankly I can't be bothered. I got an Atheros AR5424 triple-band (A/B/G) wireles card
off EBay for 25 quid. Most such cards should be OK - the two antenna connectors seem to be standard, so you still have the
benefit of the antennas that are built into the Dell. Just make sure you get a Mini-PCI Express card, not a Mini-PCI card or it won't fit!
The Atheros card was recognized by Kubuntu (and it works in Windows with the supplied device driver). The only minor drawback is that the Dell D620's wireless slider switch (the funny black thing on the left edge) does not turn the Atheros card on and off, whereas it did turn the Broadcom card on and off.
By the way, installing the wireless card (assuming you go for an internal Mini-PCI Express card rather than an external CardBus card) may void your warranty. Carefully follow the procedure in the Dell Latitude D620 Service Manual (currently to be found here) in order to remove the keyboard in order to gain access to the wireless slot. If in doubt get an engineer to do it for you. - Cellular (GPRS/3G) Card. I've talked about this on several other pages but in brief, it's a decent GSM / 3G datacard that's hidden neatly below the battery. It's not locked to any network, and buying it as part of your D620 does not commit you to pay monthly fees to Vodafone (Dell's suggested service provider) so I would definitely suggest ordering that option with your D620. Vodafone's prices were terrible last time I looked, whilst T-Mobile's Web N Walk tariff was reasonably affordable, with a decent monthly allowance that made it usable. The different networks prices do change from time to time, so it's worth shopping around for your SIM card.
Upgrading to Feisty Fawn (7.04)
I've covered this briefly here: Kubuntu 7.04 "Feisty Fawn".