Originally Posted by
jdos2
Ubuntu 9.10.
Before the change to X 1.6, the accelerated closed source stuff from ATI was fantastic. 3D worked extremely well.
Of course, the mid-flight update to the new version of X destroyed the ability to run the ATI driver. Now, just say that at a developer party and see how bad the finger pointing gets...
After all Ubuntu 9.10 updates current to 18 December 2009 the box is stable and useable.
For X, just use the opensource driver.
For sound, modify the line in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf to read:
options snd-hda-intel power_save=10 power_save_controller=N model=hp-dv5 enable_msi=1
Ethernet works fine.
Bluetooth works fine.
Keyboard... Well, it's not as nice as Apple's and mine has a sticky '/' key which seems to be getting better, the more I use it.
Reading CD's with the included USB connected reader/writer is fine. WRITING them is another matter and the device fails under Ubuntu. I'm not sure if it fails under Windows, which I can't test yet. Underruns are a problem at all speeds.
The touchpad is a bother. No drivers for it yet except as a generic "mouse" type device. Annoying when typing as it is sensitive and will send the cursor somewhere unexpected and then CLICK there if one brushes it with one's thumb. There's no right-click of course. I use an Apple USB mouse and it works just fine.
Otherwise, it's a fast laptop. There's a bit of back and forth about which side the problem is on for ACPI- and it looks like it's a problem back on the Linux side, with "when" the kernel handles ACPI. Know that the latest OpenSolaris also has trouble with the exact same thing. Opensolaris won't install for a lack of a driver, too, for the RAID0 disks.
My laptop idles with the sensors applet showing about 40c.
I don't know if "turboboost" is working. I've not tried really hard with single threaded applications to get the CPU's to bump up.
Booting from the batteries does give a much better readout (CSTATES) in powertop- which is NOT installed by default.
Overall, I'm not exactly happy with my experience so far- but I realize that the laptop is new and the experience will almost certainly improve as time goes on. Patches for the touchpad are in the works. Appropriate kernel bugs are opened up for the ACPI troubles. ATI WILL eventually get a driver that'll work with the newer versions of X. Someone will fix the USB port drivers (well, or not- and I'll get a new CD reader)
With Linux, it's no MacBook Pro killer, yet. With some work, it might well be.
Did I mention it's fast? I mean, it's very fast. It boots up before my Thinkpad a20m can bring up the boot splash screen for Ubuntu. It eats batteries for lunch, but the included so-called "slice" battery has a huge capacity and is good for somewhere around 4 hours, the way I work.
Anyway. I blew away Windows 7 before I even had a chance to use it- wiping the disks clean meant that I didn't get a chance to see how the fast booting included Linux worked. I just updated the BIOS (to 07) and ran. I'll be restoring everything and trying a different kind of install, perhaps dual booting with Windows 7, more likely just to keep it around for the BIOS updates.
Did I mention that it's fast?
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