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View Full Version : New Dell Studio 1535 laptop with Ubuntu is great



RFScheer
September 3rd, 2008, 11:12 PM
It arrived yesterday, 1 day early, and everything works perfectly, at least so far. Exactly the green color I was hoping for:)

The only things to "complain" about are trivial-
1. 20 minutes spent removing all the non-English language packages
2. about an hour downloading and installing 300MB of updates

I loved not having to pay the M$ tax and was grateful for the time saved installing Ubuntu. Especially nice has been all the working right out of the box multimedia drivers.

Highly recommended!

justinjstark
September 8th, 2008, 08:25 PM
I have a new Studio 1535 coming in the mail. Does wireless work out of the box?

midtown
September 8th, 2008, 08:41 PM
I have a new Studio 1535 coming in the mail. Does wireless work out of the box?

I would have to imagine every piece of included hardware works out of the box, or Dell wouldn't sell it to you.

That is why you can't add the backlit keyboard or fingerprint reader to the Ubuntu Studios, both of which I really want! Even though you can add them to Vista Studios and they are compatible with some manual configuration (I have even read the backlight works out of the box), they don't want to sell something that they can't fully support and have functioning. :(

LMP900
September 8th, 2008, 08:47 PM
I would have to imagine every piece of included hardware works out of the box, or Dell wouldn't sell it to you.

That is why you can't add the backlit keyboard or fingerprint reader to the Ubuntu Studios, both of which I really want! Even though you can add them to Vista Studios and they are compatible with some manual configuration (I have even read the backlight works out of the box), they don't want to sell something that they can't fully support and have functioning. :(

Well, not necessarily. The Dell Inspiron 1420n doesn't have S-Video working out of the box (at least for those with Intel video). But something as significant as wireless networking should work without issues.

midtown
September 8th, 2008, 08:56 PM
Highly recommended!

I think a Dell Ubuntu will probably be my next laptop purchase. Was there any sort of custom Dell software on it, positive or negative? Or did it just seem like a custom-configured install for the Studio?

Did anything not work out of the box? Function keys, media buttons, volume, et cetera?

Keep us updated on your impressions please! :KS

archer6
September 8th, 2008, 10:56 PM
It arrived yesterday, 1 day early, and everything works perfectly, at least so far. Exactly the green color I was hoping for:)
Highly recommended!
Congrats on your new Dell 1535, Please be sure to update us with a more detailed report as you have time. It would be nice to hear more about it.

Cheers!

archer6
September 8th, 2008, 11:06 PM
you can't add the backlit keyboard or fingerprint reader to the Ubuntu Studios, both of which I really want!
If it's any consolation, Fingerprint readers in general can be very slow & buggy.
I've had over 12 new laptops equipped with finger print readers, everything from top of the line ThinkPads, to Dells, To you name it, and the only fingerprint reader that worked well was on the ThinkPad. And then frankly I ended up disabling it as it was just one more (modest) delay in getting to the desktop. I find that I'm so used to typing a BIOS level password, that it's much faster than swiping my finger, waiting for recognition, then waiting for the software to unlock it.
Just my take on it anyway....:)

robgrant
September 9th, 2008, 01:47 AM
Please help!

Could you tell me how you managed to display working? I cannot get bigger than 800 X 600. Iĺl admit, I new to Ubuntu and am having some trouble finding my way around, but I figured after two solid days of trying I should be making more progress. I have networking and just about everything else working.

archer6
September 9th, 2008, 03:44 AM
Please help!

Could you tell me how you managed to display working? I cannot get bigger than 800 X 600. Iĺl admit, I new to Ubuntu and am having some trouble finding my way around,
Here are some links that may help you resolve it.

http://ge.ubuntuforums.com/showthread.php?t=896965

http://ge.ubuntuforums.com/showthread.php?t=820306

http://ge.ubuntuforums.com/showthread.php?t=876317

http://ge.ubuntuforums.com/showthread.php?t=847122

http://ge.ubuntuforums.com/showthread.php?t=832442

http://ge.ubuntuforums.com/showthread.php?t=826961

http://ph.ubuntuforums.com/showthread.php?t=856056

pelle.k
September 10th, 2008, 01:21 AM
Could you tell me how you managed to display working? I cannot get bigger than 800 X 600. Iĺl admit, I new to Ubuntu and am having some trouble finding my way around, but I figured after two solid days of trying I should be making more progress. I have networking and just about everything else working.
This laptop is supported by dell, but not using the vanilla install cd, but the customized one from dell.
Just like they do with windows install cds, they slipstream sata drivers etc because a vanilla xp install cd wouldn't do it.
In your case it's the ATI card, either install properiatry drivers with the "Hardware Drivers" manager in System>Preferences menu, or install using the dell install disc
http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Ubuntu_8.04

rafucho
September 10th, 2008, 01:55 AM
Hey !!

I installed Ubuntu today, it's the 64.bit version, and so far after many software updates I've got wireless and video card working like a charm, and that's without doing anything!!
I just installed the flash plugin, and I'm happy to be in Ubuntu again!
That's my review,

Rafa

RFScheer
September 15th, 2008, 01:44 AM
Well after a week of use, I'm still very happy.

Yes, wireless works right away. I don't think the little search light function that indicates the status of searching for access points works but frankly I couldn't understand how that would help anyone either. There's a cute little white LED in the left screen pivot (you might have to look at their ads to see what I mean) that is supposed to light up and then blink fast when wireless ap's are found.

The ONLY other thing so far that I've found that didn't work is the cd eject icon/button thingie on the panel above the keyboard. On the other hand, ALL of the media player control icon/button thingies work out of the box, whether you're using Rhythmbox or Mplayer or whatever.

Yes, I've had to install (automatically of course) codecs for various movie and music formats but not nearly as many as for a vanilla Ubuntu install. So far so good with this laptop. Still recommended.

- Robert

archer6
September 15th, 2008, 07:47 PM
Well after a week of use, I'm still very happy.
Thanks for the update, sounds like you have a great machine to enjoy.

Cheers....:)

conorsulli
December 30th, 2008, 08:01 PM
my eject button on the dell studio doesnt work either, I tried
# allow eject of cdrom using eject button
dev.cdrom.lock=0
to add in a config file with no luck... I tried assigning a shortcut but it doent recodnise the key at all.

conorsulli
December 30th, 2008, 08:13 PM
I found out how to use the eject key!! it was what i did last time but I had to reboot!
sudo gedit
open /etc/sysctl.conf

then add these lines to the end..

# allow eject of cdrom using eject button
dev.cdrom.lock=0

save

reboot!

hey presto working eject key!! hope it helps the fellow who said it didn't work for him.

netlaptop
January 5th, 2009, 04:33 AM
About 6 months ago, I installed Ubuntu 8.04 and Window Vista to my Desktop successfully. They both work well up to now.

Recently, I have got Dell Studio 1535 with Window Vista Home Premium Pre-installed 64 bit edition. And I also want to create a dual boot Laptop Ubuntu and Vista.

After installing Ubuntu 8.10 inside Window, I restart the computer and select Ubuntu at the boot screen.

I was happy to see the "UBUNTU" boot screen, but after that happy screen is "Sad Screen". It was a screen with white background and there were a lot of colors on it.

I waited for "Sad Screen" more than 20 minutes, but that screen just got more and more color on its white background. I restarted the computer for several times, but there was no luck. It still got problem.

Then I thought that I should to install Ubuntu fully to a new partition to hope it works. And my first step is using Partition Magic in Hiren's Boot CD with to resize the big one partition of Window Visa Home Premium and create a new partition for installing Ubuntu.

Sadly My Dell Studio 1535 is that I can not run any program inside the Hiren's Boot CD!!! I could see its boot menu and program lists, but When I run a program in its list, it just said can not load CDROM... (I am sure that the Hiren's boot CD works well on other computers).

Haizzz

Please tell me what I should do. So mad with that Laptop.

zmjjmz
January 5th, 2009, 04:42 AM
I assume you installed it via Wubi? Try hitting ctrl-alt-f3 and see if you can get to a prompt in Ubuntu.

sharon.gmc
January 5th, 2009, 07:11 AM
Wow, congratulations on your new Dell. Way to go ubuntu!

mwalimu54
April 2nd, 2009, 01:17 AM
I found out how to use the eject key!! it was what i did last time but I had to reboot!
sudo gedit
open /etc/sysctl.conf

then add these lines to the end..

# allow eject of cdrom using eject button
dev.cdrom.lock=0

save

reboot!

hey presto working eject key!! hope it helps the fellow who said it didn't work for him.

thanks, works like a charm. i love my 1535

twoaday
May 13th, 2009, 02:16 PM
I have Dell Studio 1536 and was having a similar issue with the eject button, also with the media buttons, and after doing:
open /etc/sysctl.conf

then add these lines to the end..

# allow eject of cdrom using eject button
dev.cdrom.lock=0

every thing seemed to work fine till I rebooted a couple of times then teh buttons stopped working again. What I ended up doing, and I hope this helps, is unplug the power, remove the battery and hold the power button for about 30 seconds, put every thing back reboot and they all worked fine again.