Dell Latitude

English Install/Boot/Login
1

I’m having all kinds of problems trying to install openSUSE on a Dell Latitude. Does anyone successfully install on a Dell Latitude using a DVD? In each case I told it to use the whole 60 GB disk. I verified the checksum and media for each of these.

  1. 13.2 install

Had to use F3=text mode. The gui mode ran so slow it took almost an hour just to bring up a screen. The mouse was so slow it was not useable.

When it got to the point where it started downloading the packages for install, it just blew up. No messages. Just gone.

  1. 13.1 install

Same as 13.2.

  1. 12.3 install

F3=800 X 600 is available in this one, and it works well.

The install completed. But when I try to run openoffice writer or firefox, it blows up the user session. The user has to log back in. The only message in /var/log/warn or messages is X server for display :0 terminated unexpectedly.

  1. 12.2 install

F3= 800 X 600 available here.

Got a message that the install of some packages failed.
manufacturer-PPDs
oxygen-icon-theme
vim-data
xorg-x11-fonts-core
xorg-x11-fonts

Then the system locks up.

2

How much memory and what video card??

3

I’m running openSUSE 13.2 on a Dell Latitude E6420. Faultless install from DVD no issues whatsoever here. Very happy.

4

“Dell Latitude” gives zero information. There are many models and hardware varies even between different variants of the same model. Tell your exact model (or better service tag) or your hardware. My Latitude E5450 works fine with Ubuntu or Tumbleweed.

5

Thanks for the replies. It gives hope when others have succeeded.

There is 256 M. I ran the memory checker from one of the installs. I had to press F1 for it to start. Otherwise it would lock up. But with F1 it ran through all the tests once and found no errors.

It’s a CPx H500GT. Model PPX.

I’m not sure where to find the video information. Under Kinfocenter all I see is
Vendor VMware,Inc.
Renderer Gallium 0.4 on softpipe
OpenGL/ES version 2.1 Mesa 9.0.2

6

In 12.3 I uninstalled firefox and the opensuse firefox facelift. Then I reinstalled firefox. There were a few messages about some unknown media type files. But they didn’t seem important.

It still blows up the user session and the user has to log back in. Anyone know how to fix this?

7

12.3 is past it’s end of life.

Try 13.2 using the “No KMS” option from the Video selection.

8

Out of curiosity, are you installing the OSes in a virtual machine (as in, VMware)?

9

256 meg is marginally enough memory. Use a lighter desktop both Gnome and KDE require far more for stable running

10

Try 13.2 using the “No KMS” option from the Video selection.

I’m trying to update 12.3 with 13.2 now with F3=Text Mode. It installs some packages and either hangs or crashes. I then restart the update and it installs more packages before crashing. Will keep trying the updates until there are no more packages.

Out of curiosity, are you installing the OSes in a virtual machine (as in, VMware)?

These instals or updates are just plain selections after booting from the DVD. I’m not using any virtual machine.

Use a lighter desktop both Gnome and KDE require far more for stable running

KDE is the only desktop I know. What is a lighter desktop and how would I select it?

11

If the machine only has 256 meg of memory then it does not have enough to run a full modern GUI. Install and use one of the lighter ones. Anything other then gnome or KDE should work even if with only 256 meg it will still be slow.

If the machine has that little memory maybe try a Linux version designed for smaller memory like Puppy or D.A.M.N. small Liinux