On 10/23/2014 04:47 AM, Nico Kadel-Garcia wrote:
On Thu, Oct 23, 2014 at 1:07 AM, Yasha Karant <[email protected]> wrote:
Is anyone running SL 7 on a Dell Latitude E6540? My institution is
considering this unit over the equivalent HP unit, to replace the five year
old laptop that I currently use, because of the net lower cost of the Dell.
Dell claims that it will run Linux Ubuntu 12.04 -- but I do not know if this
enthusiast Ubuntu has more "secure boot", etc., capabilities than SL7x.
Any information, on or off list, greatly would be appreciated.
Yasha Karant
I'm afraid I don't have one in hand myself. Have you considered
burning a live CD or USB bootable image, visiting a computer store or
someone in your IT group who has one, and taking a test drive with it
with their permission? Laptop support for Linux can sometimes be
tricky as vendors use slightly cheaper, newer chip sets that no one in
th eLinux world has had a chance to test with, but I find that
technique very useful to ensure basic bootability and X windows
operation and peripheral operation.
Thank you for your suggestion. Unfortunately, this Dell model that
claims to be engineered and built to meet
FIPS 201-certified smart card and fingerprint readers and RSA SecurID
along with a MIL-STD-810G-tested chassis typically
is not available in the local mass merchandiser computer laptop stores
(Office Max, Staples, etc.). When my wife's laptop was stolen and we
had to replace it out of our personal budget (her department had no
funds to buy a replacement Faculty laptop because the university is
"self-insured" for many situations, including that one), I did take a
SL6x bootable DVD and found a machine for which SL6x would boot and that
had sound, 802.11 WNIC, video card, DVD drive, pointing device, etc.,
fully supported by SL (not requiring proprietary MS Win drivers). The
first several low priced laptops did *NOT* meet this criterion, but a
Lenovo did. Unfortunately, consumer (low price) Lenovo is of poor
mechanical quality (hinges/chassis already fatigue fractured), and
unlike Dell or HP, Lenovo refuses to supply the service manual and full
parts list, nor will it sell parts. Also, several stores would NOT let
me do a DVD boot and run (not install) -- and thus i could not test
which, if any, machines for sale would work. i suppose if we buy the
Dell and it does not work we could attempt to return it, or I could be
forced to switch to Ubuntu (not appealing).
