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 Authors Introduction Editing This Page Specifications Linux Compatibility Notes Related Resources Summary

Authors

Bill Giannikos (bill2 at giannikos.com.au)

Introduction

This is a guide to running Linux with the Dell Latitude D620 laptop. The Latitude D620 is a medium level laptop with great Linux support.

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Specifications

Name	Dell Latitude D620
Processor	Intel Core Duo T2300 1.66Ghz
Screen	14.1" WXGA
RAM	512MB
HDD	80GB
Optical Drive	DVD+-RW
Graphics	Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Network	10/100/1000 Ethernet + Intel 3945 802.11g Wireless
Other	4 x USB2.0

Linux Compatibility

Device	Compatibility	Comments
Processor	Yes
Screen	Yes
Optical Drive	Yes
Graphics	Yes
Sound	Yes	Use the snd-hda-intel driver
Ethernet	Yes
Wireless	Yes	Use the ipw3945 driver
56K Modem	Not Tested
USB	Yes
PCMCIA	Not Tested

Notes

As default the native screen resolution of the Latitude D620 is 1280x800, however due to the way the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 functions this resolution would not be usable right away. To get it working you will need to install the 915resolution program and type in:
915resolution 5a 1280 800
This will then allow you to use the native 1280x800 resolution. However this setting will be forgotten after each boot so you will need a way to automatically run this command at every boot. Fortunately most Linux distributions come with the 915resolution program and include a simple way of achieving this. You can view our Configuring the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 & 950 guide for more information.

Some versions of the D620 include the Nvidia Quadro NVS 110M. This has not been tested yet.

Some versions of this notebook have the Dell Wireless 1390 or the Dell Wireless 1490 Dual-Band wireless network card. Neither of these cards were tested.

Thanks to khadgaray for adding this:
Works fine with nv driver provided by FC6 Xorg 7.1 . For dual screen i use nvidia's driver ( build 9625 )
modem - Unable to find any communication device with lspci listing :(

Related Resources

Preparing your laptop for Linux
Configuring the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 & 950
Configuring a nVidia graphics chip
Configuring the ipw3945 driver for the Intel 3945ABG wireless controller
Configuring the ndiswrapper driver for wireless controllers without native Linux drivers
Increasing battery life

Summary

As with all Intel Core based notebooks, it is recommended to use a Linux distribution with kernel version 2.6.16 or greater with the Dell Latitude D620. With a up to date kernel this laptop works well with Linux.


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