Fedora Core test3 on Latitude D800 [report]

[Lauri Jutila]

Hello folks,

I've recently installed Fedora Core test3 on a Dell Latitude D800
laptop. Here are some of my experiences with the beta:

1) Everything except integrated Broadcom NIC work out-of-box. BCM5700
driver gets network up 'n' running with 2.4.22 series, the driver is not
included in Fedora kernels. Quick module build 'n' install is required
every time a new kernel is installed, but it works.

2) The system feels very stable and responsive, though D800 has some
Linux-unfriendly hardware. No major problems so far.

3) Only bug/annoyance is that kudzu tries to insert floppy drive module
automagically and fails miserably since no drive is present. It prints
an error message and segfaults. Any method to grab those boot time
errors, they won't show in dmesg or /var/log/messages. I could give a
better idea of what's going on if I could get the messages.

Kernel actually gives an OOPS on shutdown when it tries to "unload" the
floppy module which hasn't ever been successfully probed - shutdown
finishes cleanly though.

4) With arjanv's 2.6.0-test kernel series USB mouse and sound (i810)
stop working. Sound modules *seem* to load successfully, but xmms or
mplayer won't play any sound. USB mouse doesn't work at all, it doesn't
even initialize USB interface in boot as in 2.4.22 series. Touch pad
mouse works, though. Any pointers?

5) The cursor in X acts a little weirdly, sometimes not changing the
cursor from resizing cursor to normal arrow. This occurs mostly with
terminals, especially Eterm. In 2.6.0, the cursor doesn't ever change
back to normal arrow after being changed once.

My overall impression is that Fedora is becoming a solid distribution.
At least it works for me, mostly. :) Seriously, I do most of my work
with D800+FCT3 and 2.4.22 series simply works. Keep up good work, guys.

Best regards,

--
Lauri Jutila
Chief Linux Fellow, Reforge
lists at reforge.fi
http://www.reforge.fi