U 8.10 install on Inspiron 1525: really did "just work"

[DanEnsign]

What do you know! Ubuntu does, apparently, "Just work," at least on the Dell Inspiron 1525. Oh happy day. :) In that vein, I thought I'd post just in case there is someone in a similar situation with some trepidation as to whether Ubuntu will "just work" on a laptop.

I needed a non-windows laptop for work (computational chemistry) that I could afford. So no Mac. But I had no experience installing Linux on laptops, and feared a lack of functionality especially with the network card and other laptop-specific features.

It wasn't exactly a gamble, because Dell (supposedly) sells the Inspiron 1525 with Ubuntu pre-installed. Because of a series of obnoxious shipping issues I couldn't get that machine; instead, a local retailer had the same model with Vista.

And the end of the story is the same as the beginning: it really was incredibly easy to install Ubuntu and so far it seems to be working perfectly. Immense thanks to the Ubuntu 8.10 developers. Because this was so easy, now I can spend Sunday watching football and calculating science stuff at the same time. :)

Have fun,
Dan

[nhasian]

if you bought your laptop with vista preloaded, you should be able to call up dell and have them reimburse you for the windows license that your not going to use.

http://www.linux.com/articles/59381

http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2006/110706-dell-windows.html

[zzHanks]

My Dell Latitude D505 worked perfectly running 7.10/8.04.
It did not fail until the power supply stopped working (doesn't charge anymore).

There's another story with my desktop - I always manage to do something that I cannot fix, then I think it's easier to do a fresh install.