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This is a guide to running Linux with the HP Pavilion dv2940se laptop. I can tell now that this is an almost complete success story. The same day the laptop arrived I partitioned the hard drive to host Ubuntu 8.0.4.1 amd64 desktop edition. And surprinsingly, almost everything worked with little tweaks.
| Name | HP Pavilion dv2940se |
| Processor | AMD Turion™ 64 X2 TL-62 |
| Screen | 14.1” WXGA |
| RAM | 4GB |
| HDD | 320GB |
| Optical Drive | DVD+-RW with DL and Lightscribe ™ support |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce Go 7150 |
| Network | 10/100 Ethernet, Broadcom 4310 802.11g Wireless |
| Other | 3 x USB2.0, 1 x Firewire. Ricoh Multicard Reader. ExpressCard/54 Slot |
| Device | Compatibility | Comments |
| Processor | Yes | |
| Screen | Yes | |
| HDD | Yes | |
| Optical Drive | Yes | |
| Graphics | Yes | |
| Sound | Yes | |
| Ethernet | Yes | |
| Wireless | Yes | |
| Bluetooth | Yes | |
| 56K Modem | Yes | with some tweaking |
| USB | Yes | |
| Firewire | Yes | |
| Card Reader | Yes | |
| ExpressCard Slot | Not Tested | |
| Camera | Yes | |
| Remote | Yes |
The Tweaks for making it work:
First: Take care of making the recovery disk set with the HP utility, don't play with your hard disk until you do so.
Second: Boot the laptop with Ubuntu 8.0.4.1 64 bit desktop edition. Once installed, you'll notice that it will start with a low resolution mode, and that wireless is not enabled. DO NOT ENABLE THE PROPIETARY DRIVERS AT HIS TIME NOR TRY TO INSTALL THEM FROM OTHER SOURCES.
Connect you computer to a wired internet connection, and then in the Synaptic package manager, activate “Hardy-Proposed” in the updates tab.
After that, reload the repositories and make a full update. Include the 2.6.24.21 kernel, with its headers, modules and restricted modules.
Reboot the laptop, and then in the Restricted Drivers Application, activate the NVidia graphics driver and the wl driver (which is the Broadcom supplied driver for the BCM4310-4312 chipset).
Reboot the laptop again and you will find that almost everything is working ok, except the modem, for which you need to download third party drivers that interfere with the HD Audio driver. (Actually…do you USE a modem these days?). You can download the LightScribe ™ driver and software at http://www.lightscribe.com/downloadSection/linux/index.aspx; note that the driver and software are 32bit, so you will need to install the x86 32bit compatibility libraries for this to work.
I successfully installed Ubuntu 8.04.1 amd64 Desktop Edition in my HP Pavilion 2940se, with just a few little tweaks.
By Ronald Muccioli
rmuccioli@gmail.com
Linux Mint is based off Ubuntu so compatibility is the same as above.
Installed easy and quickly highly recommend it for any new comers to Linux. The Start bar is similar to Windows..
After downloading the ISO form the Linux Mint web site. http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php burn it to disk and reboot. (note back up HD)
This is a live CD and it will come up with the desk top of Mint there will be a install icon and double click. From this point it will walk you thru the install process and it takes about 40 mins. It will ask you to end the live CD and reboot do so.
Once you boot Mint up the 1st time you have to update the wireless drivers and the Video Card drivers. Mint has a program called Hardware Drivers that will do this for you. It will walk you thru what to do and then you need to reboot. Done you have Mint 6.9 installed.