This is a guide to running Linux with the Samsung R20 laptop. The R20 is a middle to higher range laptop which provides some good Linux support as well.
This guide is intended to provide you details on how well this laptop works with Linux and which modules you need to configure. For details on how to actually install and configure the required modules have a look at our guides section for distribution specific instructions.
If you would like to edit this page please first view our Editing Guidelines.
| Name | Samsung R20 |
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 1.6/T7200 2.0GHz |
| Screen | 14.1” WXGA - 1280×800 |
| RAM | 1GB - 2DIMM 512M |
| HDD | 100GB - SATA |
| Optical Drive | DVD+-RW-RAM - IDE |
| Graphics | ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 (aka AMD 690g, RS600 series chipset) |
| Network | 10/100 Ethernet, Atheros SuperG 802.11abg Wireless, Bluetooth (optional) |
| Other | 3 x USB2.0 |
| Card Reader | 1 x SD/MMC/MS/Pro/xD (USB based) |
| Device | Compatibility | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Yes | Load kernel with lapic_timer_c2_ok enable_8254_timer clocksource=hpet if you have CPU Celeron 530 |
| Screen | Yes | |
| HDD | Yes | VIA SATA compatible |
| Optical Drive | Yes | |
| Graphics | Yes | ATI Radeon HD compatible, use RadeonHD driver |
| Sound | Yes | Use the snd-hda-intel module |
| Ethernet | Yes | RTL8139 compatible |
| Wireless | Yes | Use the Madwifi module |
| Bluetooth | Not Tested/not present | |
| 56K Modem | yes | slmodem module: snd_atiixp_modem (chip Si3054)install |
| USB | Yes | |
| SD/MMC/MS/Pro/xD Card Reader | Yes | SBP2 compatible |
| ExpressCard Slot | Yes | Tested with BandLuxe C100 GPRS/3G modem |
For the ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 graphic controller used in the R20 you have to use the X.org radeonHD driver included with most Linux distributions.
With the current kernel (2.6.20-15), sound does not work in Ubuntu. You can download these files and copy them to /lib/modules/2.6.20-15-generic/kernel/sound/pci/hda/ to get sound working. It should be fixed in later kernels.
The installation of Linux on the Samsung R20 was a very easy exercise without any unexpected issues encountered at all.