[svlug] Fedora on Dell Vostro 1500

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Chris Templeton (cbtempleton at gmail.com):

> I'm about to purchase a Dell Vostro 1500 which is the business version of
> the Inspiron 1520 which dell just released a few months ago.

Let's see what'cha got:

North bridge:  Intel 965GM Express (w/integrated graphics) or 965PM Express
  (w/discrete graphics).
South bridge:  Intel ICH7
Integrated graphics (option):  Intel X3100.
Discrete graphics (option):  Nvidia 8400M GS or 8600M GT (depending on 
  sub-model)
SATA HD of some sort, hanging off the ICH7
Wireless:  Several options in miniPCI cards, of which I'd take the 
  Intel PRO/Wireless 3945, myself.
Ethernet:  Lord only knows, but it's almost certainly some bit of 
  Broadcom rubbish requiring the Tigon tg3 driver.

> Does anyone know if Fedora will work on this computer, if not then
> what is the best version of linux that I should try. 

Fedora 7 comes with a vendor kernel based on 2.6.21, so you're probably
fine if you use the embedded Intel graphics chip.  I'm a bit less 
certain about your results with the Nvidia chips, where your options
would be vesa driver, nv driver, or propriatery Nvidia driver.  If
you're a gamer and hot for the Nvidia chips for framerate, be advised
that these particular ones might be seen as a bit congested and pokey by
cutting-edge standards.

As a general rule, the first two chips you need to check for Linux
driver support will tend to be the south bridge (vital for HBA support
and thus mass storage), then the ethernet chip.  After that, video.

-- 
Cheers,                English is essentially a text parser's way of getting 
Rick Moen              faster processors built.
rick at linuxmafia.com    -- John M. Ford, http://ccil.org/~cowan/essential.html