Laptops which run Arch

Boris Bolgradov · 2011-08-10 08:06:16

Packard Bell EasyNote TS11-HR

I had some trouble installing Arch on it:

I had to use archlinux-2010.05-core iso, because I couldn't get neither LAN nor WLAN to work on the LiveCD. I had to install it on the hard drive along with base-devel and some additional packages (kernel26-headers, etc.). Then download the linux ethernet driver from the Broadcom website (chipset is BCM57785, module is tg3) on another PC and copy it here, then compile it (the built-in tg3 module didn't work). Once I got internet connection I upgraded the kernel to 3.0. After a reboot, wlan0 appeared and then everything got working.

I still can't get the LEDs to work right, but hey, that's the Arch way tweaking everything one by one until you get everything to work as you want.

Last edited by Boris Bolgradov (2011-08-10 08:06:36)

lulzapram · 2011-08-10 18:57:31

I am running Arch on an Alienware M11x R2: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Alienware_M11x. The official broadcom driver works great and can be found in AUR. I've managed to get bumblebee to work so that I can switch between the nVidia card and onboard intel graphics:https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Bumblebee. I've also got acpi_call properly loaded and can turn off the NVidia card completely to conserve battery. All-in-all, I love this set up.

Last edited by lulzapram (2011-08-10 18:59:15)

timms · 2011-08-15 23:38:18

I got Arch running now on my Alienware M11x R1, and although there were a few snags everything seems to work well now. The only problem I'm having is getting sensors to work, I'm just detecting temp, no fan speed or voltage or anything.

kang · 2011-08-17 02:17:59

running arch on my Z2. works ok overall. Some clickpad and PMD issues.

pivotraze · 2011-08-21 19:30:02

Personally, I just started running Arch on my Gateway MX8734. It took some work to get the internet to function without timeouts because of using a realtek rtl8187 but seems to be working perfectly now

davidgurvich · 2011-08-27 14:26:16

Acer Aspire One ZG5 netbook, N270 atom with 1GB ram. I installed gnome3 to see how that would look on a netbook. The hard drive was given over to btrfs to see how that does. After tweaking the default interface so that there is no titlebar when a window is maximized that works quite well.

The only hardware issue was with the integrated microphone. I needed to install pavucontrol and mute one of the recording channels before it would record. There were some problems with fullscreen flash which seem to be gone with flashplugin-11-beta. Make sure to install and configure cpufreq and friends.

Gnome3 works well with this laptop as there is a dedicated key available to reach the applications screen otherwise I would have gone for openbox.

Last edited by davidgurvich (2011-08-27 14:29:45)

Włóczymyśl · 2011-09-02 12:19:53

I have a question about graphic drivers for laptops... I need to buy a laptop now and I'm wondering if should it be nvidia-, ati- or intel-based. Intel seems to have the best Linux support and I really don't need 3D graphics (only tasks I preform are databases, non-linear video editing and Python/Java programming) but I need (as I believe) hi-end processor and a lot of RAM (for tmpfs); and it's the case: every i7-based (2nd generation) notebooks are shipped with some hi-end graphics I don't need and don't want to pay for... also, Windows is a standard and I really don't care about it (for me it's 5 years with Linux only) so why should I pay for it?

Any advices?

Fackamato · 2011-09-02 12:28:31

Włóczymyśl wrote:

I have a question about graphic drivers for laptops... I need to buy a laptop now and I'm wondering if should it be nvidia-, ati- or intel-based. Intel seems to have the best Linux support and I really don't need 3D graphics (only tasks I preform are databases, non-linear video editing and Python/Java programming) but I need (as I believe) hi-end processor and a lot of RAM (for tmpfs); and it's the case: every i7-based (2nd generation) notebooks are shipped with some hi-end graphics I don't need and don't want to pay for... also, Windows is a standard and I really don't care about it (for me it's 5 years with Linux only) so why should I pay for it?
Any advices?

Get some Lenovo Thinkpad (T420, T520?), they're Intel CPU/GPU/chipsets and work fine. I'm quite fond of my work laptop, T510 (i5 @ 2.4, 4GB RAM). It's no SandyBridge though (520 series might be?).

If I had to choose, if no gaming is to be done at all, I'd go with some i5 or i7 CPU. After that Nvidia, lastly the rest.

Włóczymyśl · 2011-09-02 19:25:32

Fackamato wrote:

Włóczymyśl wrote:
I have a question about graphic drivers for laptops... I need to buy a laptop now and I'm wondering if should it be nvidia-, ati- or intel-based. Intel seems to have the best Linux support and I really don't need 3D graphics (only tasks I preform are databases, non-linear video editing and Python/Java programming) but I need (as I believe) hi-end processor and a lot of RAM (for tmpfs); and it's the case: every i7-based (2nd generation) notebooks are shipped with some hi-end graphics I don't need and don't want to pay for... also, Windows is a standard and I really don't care about it (for me it's 5 years with Linux only) so why should I pay for it?
Any advices?
Get some Lenovo Thinkpad (T420, T520?), they're Intel CPU/GPU/chipsets and work fine. I'm quite fond of my work laptop, T510 (i5 @ 2.4, 4GB RAM). It's no SandyBridge though (520 series might be?).
If I had to choose, if no gaming is to be done at all, I'd go with some i5 or i7 CPU. After that Nvidia, lastly the rest.

Thanks, I'm not really into hardware but Lenovo has quite good specifications I can choice from.

lemerap · 2011-09-04 17:07:22

Hi guys,

Running it on Acer Aspire 4720 , 1GB RAM.
E17 and Xfce4 with Compiz setup.
Quadra-boot with Arch, Win7, Ubuntu and Bodhi.

kennym · 2011-09-04 17:12:53

Acer Aspire 5372Z, 2 Gigs of RAM and Gnome 3 desktop environment.

localredhead · 2011-09-04 23:47:49

HP DV9700 Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo w/ 4 megs of RAM.

NO problems at all. I am running proprietary NVIDIA drivers.

I've run Archbang, CTKArch, and now my own vanilla KDE. I had problems getting openbox installed but that was my own issues. Arch works better than ubuntu on this laptop. I will say my system as a whole runs better with arch installed from scratch.

-L

asusu · 2011-09-05 21:38:45

Acer TimelineX 3830

Well, some issue with dual gpu (NVidia, integrated intel), and with sound. Sound issue has a workaround. (http://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/783582)
With brightness (add acpi_osi=Linux to kernel options in grub's menu.lst)

Future plans: custom kernel

ibrunton · 2011-09-06 00:03:32

Acer Aspire 5742-6458
With DWM.
Everything works, including wireless and suspend (but I haven't tried the integrated webcam).

Shinryuu · 2011-09-10 16:34:52

I have Acer Aspire 3690 laptop from 2006 here and it works really well. The only problem I've noticed so far is the wireless connection because it won't work by default (..you can grab the working module from AUR).

Here's the full inxi output:

System:    Host: boom Kernel: 3.0-ARCH i686 (32 bit) Desktop dwm 5.8.2.s Distro: Arch Linux
Machine:   System: Acer (portable) product: Aspire 3690 version: V2.90
           Mobo: Acer model: Grapevine Bios: Acer version: V2.90 date: 09/20/2006
CPU:       Single core Intel Celeron M CPU 430 (-UP-) cache: 1024 KB flags: (nx sse sse2 sse3) clocked at 1733.329 MHz 
Graphics:  Card: Intel Mobile 945GM/GMS 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller 
           X.Org: 1.10.3.901 driver: intel Resolution: 1280x800@59.9hz 
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel 945GM x86/MMX/SSE2 GLX Version: 1.4 Mesa 7.11
Audio:     Card: Intel N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller driver: oss_hdaudio
Network:   Card-1: Broadcom BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX driver: b44 
           IF: N/A state: N/A speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
           Card-2: Broadcom BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller driver: b43-pci-bridge 
           IF: N/A state: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 60.0GB (18.8% used) 1: /dev/sda TOSHIBA_MK6034GA 60.0GB 
Partition: ID: / size: 6.3G used: 2.8G (47%) fs: ext4 ID: /home size: 48G used: 11G (24%) fs: ext4 
           ID: /boot size: 99M used: 30M (32%) fs: ext2 ID: swap-1 size: 1.08GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 48.0C mobo: 48.0C 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes: 89 Uptime: 3:23 Memory: 150.1/995.6MB Client: Shell inxi: 1.7.23

Last edited by Shinryuu (2011-09-10 16:35:43)

the sad clown · 2011-09-10 17:00:35

Cyberpower Xplorer X6-9100

System:    Host: laptop Kernel: 3.0-ARCH x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.6.1) Desktop dwm 5.9 Distro: Arch Linux
Machine:   System: PEGATRON (portable) product: A15 version: 1.0
           Mobo: PEGATRON model: A15 version: 1.0 Bios: American Megatrends version: 210 date: 05/06/2011
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU (-HT-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 15970.5 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 800.00 MHz 2: 800.00 MHz 3: 800.00 MHz 4: 800.00 MHz 5: 800.00 MHz 6: 800.00 MHz 7: 800.00 MHz 8: 800.00 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0 
           X.Org: 1.10.3.901 driver: intel Resolution: 1366x768@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Sandybridge Mobile GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 7.11 Direct Rendering: Yes
Network:   Card-1: Atheros Device 1083 driver: atl1c ver: 1.0.1.0-NAPI port: a000 bus-ID: 04:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: down speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: e0:69:95:c5:4a:b7
           Card-2: Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) driver: ath9k bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: e0:91:53:53:4c:8b
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 320.1GB (0.2% used) 1: TOSHIBA_MK3256GS

Touchpad is Sentelic and I have only been able to have basic mouse functionality from it, no scrolling or multitouch.

Suspend to Ram also does not work so far, and although this may just be my setup, I am using a pretty vanilla installation, so you would probably have to make modifications (the same one's I'm hoping to figure out) to get it to work.

Aside from these two, a great machine and probably one of the cheapest second gen i7 you will find.

Edit: Recently noticed that bluetooth also does not work out of box with the AR9285 combo card.

Last edited by the sad clown (2011-09-14 13:15:50)

Cero · 2011-09-16 08:59:58

HP Probook 6550b, everything working flawlessy

adamrights · 2011-09-22 04:51:04

Toshiba Satelite L645D-S4033

Came to Arch in June from Fedora after recently coming back to computing (I'm a writer at heart and went Walden a bit). I clicked a link to the Arch Way off a forum thread, liked it and tried the distro.

00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS880 Host Bridge
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Toshiba America Info Systems Device 9602
00:04.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 0)
00:06.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 2)
00:11.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
00:12.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:12.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 41)
00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) (rev 40)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC host controller (rev 40)
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge (rev 40)
00:15.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Device 43a0
00:16.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:16.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor HyperTransport Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Miscellaneous Control
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Link Control
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M880G [Mobility Radeon HD 4200]
02:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8191SEvB Wireless LAN Controller (rev 10)
08:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications AR8152 v1.1 Fast Ethernet (rev c1)

DL1JHP · 2011-09-22 07:54:52

Thinkpad X60, everything running smoothly. The 3G-card is properly recognised but there is still some setting wrong so the card won't connect to my providers.
I am using a LUKS-LVM with s2disk configured according to the great wiki-entry on this topic.

Inxi-output as follows:

System:
	Host: isengard Kernel: 3.0-ARCH i686 (32 bit) Desktop Xfce 4.8.2
	Distro: Arch Linux
Machine:
	System: LENOVO (portable)
	product: 17*****
	version: ThinkPad X60
	Mobo: LENOVO
	model: 17*****
	Bios: LENOVO
	version: 7BETD7WW (2.18 )
	date: 11/20/2008
CPU:
	Dual core Intel CPU T2400 (-MCP-) cache: 2048 KB flags: (sse sse2 sse3 vmx) 
           Clock Speeds:
		1: 1828.538 MHz
		2: 1828.538 MHz
Graphics: 
	Card: Intel Mobile 945GM/GMS 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller 
           X.org: 1.10.3.901
	driver: intel
	Resolution: 80x24 
Audio:
	Card: Intel N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller
	driver: HDA Intel
	Sound: ALSA
	ver: 1.0.24
Network:
	Card-1: Atheros AR5001 Wireless Network Adapter driver: ath5k
	Card-2: Intel 82573L Gigabit Ethernet Controller driver: e1000e 
Drives:
	HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (0.6% used) 1: /dev/sda Hitachi_HTS72505 500.1GB

cpo · 2011-09-23 08:18:29

Hi people,

I have just received my Dell XPS15 (i7, 8G, 750G). It runs nice with the side note that you should:

- disable the nVidia graphics card (Optimus chipset) because it will not play nice with Xorg. Instead, use the Intel graphics controller (xf86-video-intel). See https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dell_XPS_15z for info on how to disable the nvidia card for now.
- the intel card runs smooth without any Xorg configuration file. I have added the KMS kernel module in the mkinitcpio config (see https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Intel) and enabled the kernel option i915.modeset=1 in Grub.

Apart from that, Gnome3 runs perfectly, the LAN + WiFi is recognized out of the box and the media keys all work! Most surprising: including touchpad enable / disable fn-key !

Suspend / resume has to prove itself as of yet, I have had a failing suspend once, but all of the other times it just works (tm).

My first encounter in the Arch Linux world, and a positive one might I add!

Chris

Last edited by cpo (2011-09-23 08:24:00)

pielas · 2011-09-23 08:25:32

HP ProBook 4530s. I had some troubles with realtek 8168 card, but with driver from realtek homepage everything works fine.

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b4)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev b4)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev b4)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev b4)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev b4)
00:1c.7 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 8 (rev b4)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM65 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 04)
23:00.0 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. SD/MMC Host Controller (rev 30)
23:00.2 SD Host controller: JMicron Technology Corp. Standard SD Host Controller (rev 30)
23:00.3 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. MS Host Controller (rev 30)
24:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
25:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 06)
26:00.0 USB Controller: NEC Corporation uPD720200 USB 3.0 Host Controller (rev 04)

vladimir_1922 · 2011-09-28 21:44:33

Samsung R530

Works EVERYTHING. No problems. Good cuality-price

santodelaespada · 2011-09-29 02:38:10

My New Acer Aspire One D255 (64bit Dual core Intel Atom N550, Wifi-N by Intel, 1 GB DDR3).
The downside is the ALPS glidepoint "multitouch" "multigestures" touchpad.
Everything else works perfectly.

Ishpeck · 2011-09-29 04:00:53

Posting from a Dell Latitude e6510.

Haven't tried the webcam yet but everything else seems to work great.

vandakiara · 2011-09-30 08:58:43

Asus EeePC 1005HA (a netbook, not really a laptop but still) with everything working perfectly - I've had Arch for months and still no problems

Arch Linux

#951 2011-08-10 08:06:16

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#952 2011-08-10 18:57:31

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#953 2011-08-15 23:38:18

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#954 2011-08-17 02:17:59

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#955 2011-08-21 19:30:02

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#956 2011-08-27 14:26:16

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#957 2011-09-02 12:19:53

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#958 2011-09-02 12:28:31

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#959 2011-09-02 19:25:32

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#960 2011-09-04 17:07:22

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#961 2011-09-04 17:12:53

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#962 2011-09-04 23:47:49

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#963 2011-09-05 21:38:45

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#964 2011-09-06 00:03:32

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#965 2011-09-10 16:34:52

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#966 2011-09-10 17:00:35

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#967 2011-09-16 08:59:58

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#968 2011-09-22 04:51:04

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#969 2011-09-22 07:54:52

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#970 2011-09-23 08:18:29

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#971 2011-09-23 08:25:32

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#972 2011-09-28 21:44:33

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#973 2011-09-29 02:38:10

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#974 2011-09-29 04:00:53

Re: Laptops which run Arch

#975 2011-09-30 08:58:43

Re: Laptops which run Arch

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