This is a compatibility guide to running Linux with the MSI X-Slim X340 laptop.
This page is just for discussing using Linux on the MSI X-Slim X340. For a general discussion about this laptop you can visit the MSI X-Slim X340 page on LapWik.
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For full specifications see the MSI X-Slim X340 specifications page.
| Name | MSI X-Slim X340 |
| Processor | Intel Penryn Core 2 Solo SU3500 CULV : 1.4 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 3MB On-Die L2 Cache |
| Screen | 13 WXGA (1366×768) |
| Graphics | Intel GMA 4500MHD |
| RAM | Up to 2GB |
| HDD | 250GB to 500GB |
| Optical Drive | No |
| Network | 10/100/1000 Built-in 802.11b/g/n |
| Device | Compatibility | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Yes | |
| Screen | Yes | |
| HDD | Yes | |
| Graphics | Mostly | Many things work, see notes |
| Sound | Yes | Output and input using built-in microphone |
| Ethernet | Yes | |
| Wireless | Yes | |
| Bluetooth | No? | Doesn't appear to work out of the box – see notes |
| USB | Yes | |
| Card Reader | Not Tested | |
| Webcam | Yes | |
| Touchpad | Partial | Scrolling is painful, see notes |
Nearly everything works flawlessly, including 3D Effects (compositing), but the built-in keyboard shortcuts for screen brightness do nothing.
I haven't gotten bluetooth to work, and based on this thread I'm not alone: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1218679&highlight=x340+bluetooth&page=3
Basic mouse movements with the touchpad work, but the motion is not always fluid; while moving my finger across the touchpad at a constant speed, the pointer on the screen is occasionally jumpy, which can make precise clicks very difficult. Additionally, tap-to-click is turned on by default with no GUI way to turn it off, and the sensitivity is high, which causes frequent accidental clicks while typing. What's worse, vertical scrolling is limited to repeatedly tapping the top- and bottom-right corners of the touchpad. It is impossible to define a region of the trackpad to swipe to scroll, and horizontal scrolling or multi-touch scrolling are non-existant. Touching the touchpad while the computer is waking up from sleep can cause the mouse to completely stop working until restarting. Some partial solutions may exist, see the bug report for more: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/311869
On the plus side, sleep works perfectly, Ubuntu feels snappy, and most things work out of the box. The laptop itself is wonderful – enough power for everything I've tried (watching movies, listening to music, basic programming, no gaming or video editing), it's extremely light, and the battery usually lasts all day.
Michael Martin-Smucker
Discussion
I recently installed 10.10 on a partition and it works nicely, especially with LXDE.
There is 1 problem though, and its somewhat annoying. When I unplug the power supply when the computer is not shut down, hibernating or sleeping, I get this message:
Low battery bla bla…..
When I check the time left, it is indeed 2 minutes.
However, this corrects just before the laptop goes into sleep mode (my critical battery setting) to at least 2 hours. This isn't a problem of the battery because in windows, as wel starting or awakening in ubuntu, I usually get at least 2 hours of battery time.
I read somewhere about pm-utils creating problems, but installing different versions did'nt work.
i have Ubuntu 10.10 on my x340 and it works wonderfully. When I ordered my first MSI i had a dream of making it a hackintosh. However many things wouldn't work by doing this so i turned to Linux, now my MSI looks and acts like a mac. it is by far the best choice for this computer.
the only thing I'm not too sure on as of right now is how to make the sd card reader work. i have found many ways around this so its not that big of a deal, i would like it to work though.
as a new Linux user I'm still trying to figure the new os out but im more than happy with it.
i installed ubuntu 9.10 and everything works fine
Have you also tried 10.04 LTS (lucid lynx)?