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Dell Vostro 3550
Introduction
The Dell Vostro 3550 is supported by current Linux distributions out of the Box. It's running smooth. Video, OpenGL and Compositing work very well. Power consumption with Linux is round about the same as with Windows.
This page is just for discussing using Linux on the Dell Vostro 3550. For a general discussion about this laptop you can visit the Dell Vostro 3550 page on LapWik.
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Specifications
For full specifications see the Dell Vostro 3550 specifications page.
| Name | Dell Vostro 3550 |
| Processor | Intel® CoreTM i5 (2410M) Intel® CoreTM i3 (2310M) |
| Screen | 15.6” (1366×768) Widescreen |
| RAM | Up to 6GB |
| HDD | to 500GB |
| Optical Drive | DVD+-RW Blu-ray |
| Graphics | Intel® HD Graphics 3000 AMD Radeon™ HD 6630M |
| Network | 10/100/1000 Ethernet 802.11 b/g/n |
Linux Compatibility
| Device | Compatibility | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Working | |
| Screen | Working | |
| HDD | Working | |
| Optical Drive | Working | |
| Graphics | Intel Working | |
| Sound | Working | |
| Ethernet | Working | |
| Wireless | Working | |
| Bluetooth | Working | |
| Modem | Not Included | |
| USB | Working | |
| Card Reader | Working | |
| ExpressCard Slot | Not Tested | |
| Fingerprint Reader | Not Working | |
| Webcam | Working |
Notes
The Intel GPU supports C6 sleep states wich is currently disabled (3.0 and some before). To save energy put i915.i915_enable_rc6=1 to the boot options of your Kernel.
The Touchpad currently isn't working with Kernel ⇐3.1. Patch is already avaible https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=590880. Somewhere in there is a link to Ubuntu launchpad where a package for Ubuntu is avaible.
Summary
You can enter a summary of how well the Dell Vostro 3550 works with Linux here.
Discussion
Hello, A close firend of mine installed for my Dell Vostro 3550, linux debian OS, and I think is a very seepdy, stable and good OS and I am migrating to it. Unfortunately not all things work well but essentianls for me, yes, and I still searching programs I had before to linux versions. I miss from the other OS, the finger print reader, the programed funtions keys and for skype the 1mwm9 integarted camara that works only to take pictures but never again as video, and Van Basco karaoke that have no equivalent in linux.
The other hardware is working perfect.
Can someone guide me to find some help for make the machine completely usefull?
Thanking in advance
Sicerely
Claudio
My Dell Vostro 3550 has a big issue with Ubuntu 12.10, Linux Mint 14 Mate and Cinnamon, Feodora 18. I attached an external monitor to it and unfortunately because of the internal and the dedicated graphics card - the OS is almost unusable! It can not decide which graphics card to use and thus it keeps switching from one graphics card to the other, resetting main displays, messing up the resolution or switching off completely one of the screens. This seems to be a known bug for many distributions so far and I really hope for a fix!
As a workaround I tried to disable in BIOS one of the graphics cards, but there seems to be no option for that under Dell Vostro 3550, which is disappointing.
Overall I think that dual monitors is a big headache for some Linux Distributions.
Hello friends,
i'm also using the Dell Vostro 3550, with i3 and Intel-Graphics. Most works fine, the battery can live about 5 1/2 hours. My Vostro runs Debian wheezy/sid with the 3.2.0-1-amd64 Kernel. Touchpad works, can scroll with two-fingers, but cannot click by pressing the touchpad. The FN-Keys doesn't work for me out-of-the-box, because i'm using a special desktop-environment/window manager. But with gnome, some FN-Keys worked out-of-the-box.
With a little bit effort, you can program the FN-Keys with acpid.
Best regards,
me
I have a Dell Vostro 3550 laptop, and i am running Fedora 15 on it. Everything is working fine, HD videos, OpenGL, desktop effects are smooth, wireless works fine etc. The only thing which does not work is the fingerprint reader. The touchpad started working properly after the 2.6.41.9-1.fc15.i686.PAE update. Before this update, the touchpad was detected as a PS/2 mouse.