This is a guide to running Linux with the HP-Compaq 530. The 530 is a cheap laptop with some low end components.
There are various SPUs of the 530. The wireless network interface is either a Intel 3945 (fully supported) or a Broadcom BCM4310 (no native Linux support) which is conntected to the usb controller internally. Ndiswrapper is needed in order to use the Broadcom BCM4310 wireless interface.
| Name | HP-Compaq 530 |
| Processor | Intel Core Duo T2050 1.6GHz |
| Screen | 15.4” WXGA |
| RAM | 1GB |
| HDD | 80GB |
| Optical Drive | DVD+-RW |
| Graphics | Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 |
| Network | 10/100 Ethernet, Intel 3945 or Broadcom BCM4310 802.11abg Wireless |
| Other | 2 x USB2.0 |
| Device | Compatibility | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Yes | |
| Screen | Yes | |
| HDD | Yes | |
| Optical Drive | Yes | |
| Graphics | Yes | See notes |
| Sound | Yes | Use the snd-hda-intel module |
| Ethernet | Yes | |
| Wireless | Yes | Use the ipw3945 module or ndiswrapper for BCM4310(usb) |
| 56K Modem | Not Tested | |
| USB | Yes | |
| PCMCIA | Not Tested |
The Broadcom Wireless Interface is only avaible under Linux with a special Windows driver using ndiswrapper. I found that only one specific driver available from Dell is working with ndiswrapper. See also this thread in the ubuntu forums. Direct link to driver
The 530 notebook uses a screen resolution of 1280×800 but due to the way the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 functions this resolution would not be available right away. You will need to use the 915resolution tool to fix this. For a guide on how to solve this issue please follow our Configuring the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900-950 for Linux guide.
Some minor configuration work was required for the HP-Compaq 530 laptop to work properly with Linux but all the major components work fine.