Is my hardware too new?

English Hardware
1

Hi: I am brand new to Linux. I would like to run openSUSE on my new laptop, but I have new hardware technology such as DDR3 RAM, DDR3 VRAM, eSATA, and the like. I am in the process of downloading openSUSE 64 bit, can I expect the install to be successful given my hardware?

Fujitsu Lifebook A6220
Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 / 2.26 GHz
64-bit, 1066 MHz FSB
Mobile Intel PM45 Express Chipset
4 GB DDR3 RAM - 1066 MHz

(2) 500 GB SATA HDD - total 1TB
DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM

15.4" TFT
ATI Radeon HD 3470
Video Memory - DDR3 VRAM - 128 MB
HDMI - 19 pin HDMI
VGA - 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15)

Audio Codec -Realtek ALC269

Intel WiFi Link 5100 - 802.11n

CardBus - type I/II 1 ( 1 ) x ExpressCard

4 x Hi-Speed USB

IEEE 1394 4 pin FireWire
Network 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T - RJ-45
eSATA port
Integrated Notebook Camera

Fujitsu site with specs here.

I look forward to any replies.

Thanks, Bill

2

> Fujitsu Lifebook A6220

have a look at the community maintained Hardware Compatibility List
for Fujitsu laptops, here:
http://en.opensuse.org/HCL/Laptops/Fujitsu

where you will, unfortunately, not find yours listed…so, there is
little we tell you from documented experience, except these two things:

if you go to Google’s special Linux search site at
http://www.google.com/linux and search on “Fujitsu Lifebook” A6220
you get 11 hits (in english)…which i did not read, you should…

if you search at the regular Google site (linux Fujitsu Lifebook
A6220) you get over 200 hits…i didn’t look at those either, you should…

and, by restricting a Google search to the openSUSE site
(site:opensuse.org Fujitsu Lifebook A6220) you get ONE hit, but it is
your question!

finally, you can look closely at the exact specs and then search for
info, like this:

> Mobile Intel PM45 Express Chipset

and, you will find that this search linux “PM45 Express” will
return over 5000 hits…(nope, i didn’t read them)

etc…

now, BEFORE you even attempt an install read this, completely and
follow all the steps: http://tinyurl.com/6jwtg9

look at this, closely too: http://en.opensuse.org/INSTALL_Local

then, before you start trying to add programs, WINE etc, take a moment
to enjoy the what openSUSE is born, before it gets jumbled up
because you didn’t realize you install programs with YaST and not by
downloading from the Flash or Java site…or whatever, read:
http://en.opensuse.org/Concepts

and, the Official openSUSE 11.1 Start-Up guide at
http://www.novell.com/documentation/opensuse110/opensuse110_startup/data/opensuse110_startup.html

and, when you have followed all the how-tos and stickies you will
maybe have a wonderful, stable, fast, reliable, virus free
machine…keep notes on how you get to that stage and THEN go back to
http://en.opensuse.org/HCL/Laptops/Fujitsu and enter YOUR experience
on that page, for the next guy/gal…

by the way, WELCOME to open source in general, and openSUSE Linux in
particular…oh, i guess you are downloading a Live CD…good, if it
runs good you probably will have a good time…if not, you might
wanna consider downloading the DVD, and start by installing 32 bit
Gnome or KDE3…in my opinion that is a LOT easier (for now) than
starting with 64 bit KDE4…it is like this: learn to crawl, walk
then run…if you start with run you probably will have a rough
experience…

ymmv

–
goldie
Give a hacker a fish and you feed him for a day.
Teach man and you feed him for a lifetime.

3

Thanks for all of that info goldie. And thank you for the warning about trying to install software like I’m still on windows machine. It is interesting to actually read documentation and understand what I am doing before I make any install attempts. I’m sure I will encounter some problems, but I am patient, and I really want to learn openSUSE.

Thanks again, Bill

4

Oops, got my specs wrong. I have a single 500 GB HDD, not (2) 500 GB HDDs. My Acer Aspire 9805 laptop has 2 hard drives. I’ll be using Gparted to split the Fujitsu drive into several partitions.

5

goldie wrote:

<a whole bunch - snipped>

Great tutorial but how about the simple brute force method of trying the
live CD first? That will identify most non-working pieces so that one can
concentrate on the few broken parts with some degree of confidence that the
rest works. Not conclusive, but if it works on the live CD you can be
pretty sure it will work on the full install.

–
Will Honea

6

> I am patient, and I really want to learn openSUSE.

then you will do alright! it won’t be easy and it will almost
certainly be frustrating…but, with patience and a willingness to
read (and ask questions) you will make it…

it is a pretty steep learning curve…but it WILL get
better…believe me…

BEFORE you get frustrated and throw the machine through a window, (and
go back to something else) read through this:
Linux is Not Windows http://tinyurl.com/8b9s6

and, there are about a trillion bits of info on the net…here are a
few of my favorite mostly generic Linux sources:
http://tinyurl.com/r3wrcr/

for openSUSE questions ASK here if you don’t understand what you can
find in the wiki or using a google search specifying the site, thusly:

site:opensuse.org [your search string]

OH, and unfortunately it is near impossible on the forum to know if
you are listening to some old dude who knows NOTHING, or some young
guy who really knows his stuff (or vice versa)…so, read well and
carefully…

measure twice, cut once.

–
goldie

7

Well, the live CD booted, hooray. I still need to do some reading before I install, will likely attempt an install tonight. There is practically no google info on my model of laptop with regard to linux, so there will be some unknowns in my install. That’s okay, I guess I’ll have to write the first Fujitsu A6220 openSUSE Linux install tutorial (after I figure out what I’m doing).
-Bill

8

There is always a first. By looking at individual components, you are going about it the correct way, which is a pretty darn good approach for some new to Linux.

A couple years back this would be a concern. Not so much today. I have DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800) RAM on my desktop PC, and it works well with a 64-bit openSUSE.

My Dell Studio 1537 laptop has an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 and openSUSE-11.1 (32-bit) installed well on it. I did not install the 64-bit. But I did install the 64-bit openSUSE-11.1 on an Intel Core i7 920 desktop which is SIGNIFICANTLY newer, and it worked well.

Sata should be ok. A few years back it was a different story.

I have an ATI Radeon HD3450 in my Dell Studio 1537. Both the open source free software openGL graphic driver (which comes with openSUSE - called “radeonhd” ) and the proprietary ATI driver (that one must download from ATI - called “fglrx” ) work well. I recommend you stick with the openSUSE provided ATI openGL driver initially, and upgrade to the high performance ATI provided graphic driver later.

On my Dell Studio 1537 with the Radeon HD 3450 I managed to get the HDMI video working, but not the audio (with 1.0.17/1.0.18 of alsa). Its possible this is fixed in 1.0.20 of alsa, but I have not tried.

There is support for this. Searching the alsa web site (where alsa is the sound driver for Linux) I found this: Search results for ALC269 - AlsaProject
I note there is an update between 1.0.18 and 1.0.19 of alsa to the autoprobe, so its possible the autoprobe may fail on boot and your sound may not immediately work. …Did you get sound with the liveCD? Still, I think with some small effort (small for me) the sound should be able to be made to function.

My Dell Studio 1537 has an Intel 5300 AGN wireless and it “just works”. Since openSUSE-11.1 has the 2.6.27 kernel, I think the 5100 should also “just work”. I also note there are supposed to be major improvements in the 2.6.31 kernel for the Intel wireless, and the 2.6.31 kernel comes with openSUSE-11.2 (to be released in Nov) so keep open the possibility to update to openSUSE-11.2 later.

The firewire on all my openSUSE-11.1 PC’s “just works”.

I have an esata port, but I have never tested it.

This could be tricky. It might NOT work.

Boot to the live CD, and then open a terminal and type:
lsusb
and post here what you get. Or alternatively search here to see if you learn about web cam compatibility: HCL/Web Cameras - openSUSE

Please read our stickie on installing openSUSE before you install: NEWBIES - Suse-11.1 Pre-installation – PLEASE READ - openSUSE Forums

Also, since you stated you were new to Linux, here are some basic openSUSE concepts: Concepts - openSUSE

9

excellent point Will!

–
goldie

10

Got openSUSE 11.1 64-bit installed and it is working! I opted for the KDE 4.1.3 desktop. I love the look of the OS, it is clean and streamlined, and it is also fast. Now I need to figure out how to get the WLAN working. The NIC is working, but this computer is going to be used for mostly wireless activity. I can see the WLAN hardware in YAST. So far, it looks like I need to either get a driver for the WLAN hardware, or I need to go into sysconfig editor (in the YaST Control Center) and make some changes. Any ideas? I know, I need to do some more reading!
-Bill

11

Wow, I got the wireless working. For some reason, I didn’t see the wireless network utility at the bottom of the desktop. As soon as I plugged in the SSID and password, bingo. As a matter of fact, I am writing this on my Fujitsu laptop, wirelessly, running on openSUSE 11.1.

I’m really liking this OS more and more.

Thanks for all the help, I hope to return the favor.
-Bill

12

You now know where you can do that. :wink: