Ubuntu on the Inspiron 13?

[jonathanmotes]

Has anyone tried Ubuntu on the Dell Inspiron 13? I'm considering buying one...

Thanks!

[jonathanmotes]

I'm just wondering if everything worked out of the box. If not, were you able to that feature to work?

Thanks!

[jpreston84]

I am running Kubuntu 8.10 on an Inspiron 13. It works well, overall. You'll need a wired network connection to get the wireless broadcom drivers installed (which are handled by the restricted driver manager pretty painlessly).

You'll probably want to install the network-manager-gnome package, which is much better than the KDE package.

The only real flaw I know of thus far is the media buttons. While I have not tested the play/pause controls, the repeat speed on the volume up/down/mute buttons is too fast, and I have yet to find an adjustment to fix this. Aside from that, it's all working well (over the couple of weeks I've had my Inspiron).

[jonathanmotes]

I am running Kubuntu 8.10 on an Inspiron 13. It works well, overall. You'll need a wired network connection to get the wireless broadcom drivers installed (which are handled by the restricted driver manager pretty painlessly).

You'll probably want to install the network-manager-gnome package, which is much better than the KDE package.

The only real flaw I know of thus far is the media buttons. While I have not tested the play/pause controls, the repeat speed on the volume up/down/mute buttons is too fast, and I have yet to find an adjustment to fix this. Aside from that, it's all working well (over the couple of weeks I've had my Inspiron).


Thanks for the response! The wireless was one of the things I was concerned about, and I'm glad to hear that the restricted drivers manager handled everything well. The last time I tried it with a Broadcom wireless chip it locked my whole computer up!

[Rooksuicide]

The only real flaw I know of thus far is the media buttons. While I have not tested the play/pause controls, the repeat speed on the volume up/down/mute buttons is too fast, and I have yet to find an adjustment to fix this. Aside from that, it's all working well (over the couple of weeks I've had my Inspiron).

But the media buttons do work? Even if they're a little buggy...

I'm seriously considering picking up an Inspiron 13 but I had myself convinced they wouldn't work with Ubuntu, leaving no way to adjust volume. That would been a deal-breaker.

[jpreston84]

Yes, the buttons do work. If anyone finds a way to reduce their repeat speed, I'd appreciate it if you can post it in this thread (eventually I'll see it again and will find the solution -- the mute is particularly annoying).

Note, even if the buttons didn't work, you could still adjust volume with KMix.

[superm1]

There is a gconf key to adjust their speed.

[thaltek]

Thanks for the response! The wireless was one of the things I was concerned about, and I'm glad to hear that the restricted drivers manager handled everything well. The last time I tried it with a Broadcom wireless chip it locked my whole computer up!

yha i'm a thinkin i will be getting an inspiron13, as my e1505 is dieing a slow painful death one random memory controller related crash after another... on the plus side i know hardy has worked great on my e1505 and the wifi thingy actually interfaces with the wifi at uni (minor miracle i even got signal)...... working well with wep enterprise level encryption

[novafluxx]

I am running Jaunty (Ran 8.10 also) on my Inspiron 1318, everything works out of the box, its great for me.

If you have any specific quesions, please feel free to ask me as I specialise in Dell systems. ;)

[novafluxx]

One more thing, Dell has a customized image of Ubuntu, if you care to try that. It's almost guaranteed to run out of the box, and includes some other neat features. Heres the link:

http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Products/Consumer

From there you can go to the 8.10 link, and download the iso.

NOTE: The DVD playback software and media playback codecs are *NOT* included in this public image. Using this DVD will produce a system very similar to what you receive when ordering Ubuntu, but not identical.

[ds77]

Some of the info in this thread is a little old. Now that its been a good 6 months, can anyone shed any more on the latest with Ubuntu and the Dell Inspiron 13? I think I might pick one up. They are dirt cheap for a nice little machine it seems.

[ds77]

I just made the purchase. We will see how it goes. :)

[chulamami]

hey i'd love to know if you got yours to work?

edit: nvm, got it to work already. i tried this solution and it worked. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1018397

[charding]

ns77: How did the install go? They are $599 at Futureshop and I might get one..