This guide is intended to provide you details on how well this laptop works with Linux and which drivers you need to configure. For details on how to actually install and configure the required drivers have a look at our guides section for distribution specific instructions.

Page Contents Introduction Editing This Page Specifications Linux Compatibility Notes General Graphics Wireless Sound Infrared device Summary

Introduction

This is a guide to running Linux with the Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop.

Editing This Page

View our Editing Guidelines

Specifications

Name	Dell Inspiron 1720
Processor	Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 2.0GHz
Screen	17" WXGA+ Widescreen
RAM	2GB
HDD	320GB
Optical Drive	DVD+-RW
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
Network	Ethernet, Intel 3945 802.11abg

Linux Compatibility

Device	Compatibility	Comments
Processor	Yes
Screen	Yes
HDD	Yes
Optical Drive	Yes
Graphics	Yes
Sound	Yes
Ethernet	Yes
Wireless	Yes	Use the iwl3945 driver
Bluetooth	Not Tested
Modem	Not Tested
USB	Yes
Firewire	Not Tested
Card Reader	Not Tested
ExpressCard Slot	Not Tested

Notes

General

Kernel version 2.6.22 or higher is recommended as some of the hardware in the 1720 requires at least this kernel version.

Graphics

The Nvidia 8600M is not properly supported by the open source Xorg 'nv' driver and so you will need to use the proprietary NVIDIA driver. Some distributions (such as Ubuntu 7.10) include this driver however for others (Fedora, Debian) you will need to install it manually

Wireless

Some models of the Inspiron 1720 come with a Dell branded Broadcom wireless controller. If you are ordering the laptop it is recommended to get an Intel based wireless controller as their Linux drivers are far superior. You can follow Dell's guide at http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Tech/Wireless/Truemobile_ndiswrapper for details about using the Broadcom controller.

Sound

Sound require the lates alsa driver.
On ubuntu I got it by:

sudo apt-get install module-assistant
cd /usr/src
sudo module-assistant update
sudo module-assistant prepare
sudo module-assistant auto-install alsa
sudo shutdown -r now

Infrared device

If you know how to setup irda the please write it here.

Summary

The Dell Inspiron 1720 works just fine with Linux with a recently release Linux distributions. On some distributions you will need to manually install the NVIDIA driver but this typically isn't difficult.


Have you installed Linux on this laptop? If so how about leaving a comment about your success in the comments section below.