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 Summary

Introduction

This is a guide to running Linux with the Dell Latitude D531 laptop.

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Specifications

Name	Dell Latitude D531
Processor	AMD Turion 64 X2 TK57 1.9GHz
Screen	15.4" WXGA Widescreen
RAM	1GB
HDD	120GB
Optical Drive	DVD+-RW
Graphics	ATI Radeon Xpress X1270
Network	Ethernet, Dell Wireless 1390 802.11bg

Linux Compatibility

Device	Compatibility	Comments
Processor	Yes
Screen	Yes
HDD	Yes
Optical Drive	Yes
Graphics	Yes	See notes
Sound	Yes
Ethernet	Yes
Wireless	Yes	See notes
Modem	Not Tested
USB	Yes
Firewire	Not Tested
PCMCIA	Not Tested

Notes

Most (all?) Linux distributions do not yet properly support the ATI Radeon Xpress X1270. In this case you will need to install the proprietary ATI driver.

The wireless controller doesn't seem to work properly with the (still being developed) bcm43xx driver which means you will have to use ndiswrapper. You can find the Windows drivers that are required here.

For most current distributions you may need to install ALSA version 1.0.15 or higher to get functioning sound support.

Summary

The installation of Linux on the Dell Inspiron D531 is not the easiest process. You will need at least medium level Linux knowledge to fix the issues above.


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