Enigma III 540

[pr1s0ner]

Ubuntu Studio 11 installs perfectly, everything detected. Wont detect DHCP during install (fairly typical) but working on first boot.

 

[candtalan]

What choice of processor, (I see they are all intel)?
oh, and webcam ok?
thanks

 

[pr1s0ner]

Webcam works fine, and spec is;

Chassis & Display
Enigma III 540: 15.6" Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080) Matte

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2630QM (2.00GHz) 6MB Cache

Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 4GB)

Graphics Card
nVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M - 2GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

2nd Graphics Card
NONE

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
250GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD2500BEKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)

Memory Card Reader
Integrated 3 in 1 Memory Card Reader (SD, MMC, MS)

Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack

Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1102 WIRELESS 802.11N - IDEAL FOR ONLINE GAMING

USB Options
1 x USB 3.0 PORT + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD

 

[candtalan]

thanks!

 

[ubuntu-user]

did you manage to get hibernate and suspend working pr1s0ner? What did you do regarding the nvidia drivers?

With a similar spec I installed 11.04 from a live usb, full credit to Canonical and their partners as nearly everything was recognised correctly. However I have since installed 10.04.

It's great that pc-specialist supply machines with no OS but some people may want some reassurance the hardware will work effectively under linux. Would anyone be interested in writing up a guide for others to assist them installing ubuntu (or other distributions)?

cheers
Stephen

 

[pr1s0ner]

Ive just seen your other post!
Unfortunately I dont have the laptop anymore to check if hibernate and suspend were working and I don't think I ever tried!!!
I just used the opensource drivers for the graphics, which loaded with the install. It was set up as an audio workstation, so 3D rendering etc... wasn't that high on the list

 

[ubuntu-user]

thanks Pr1sOner, I'm not too bothered about hibernate and suspend either - just wondered if there was a quick fix. With another machine it was a case of tweaking pm-utils as I think a version of that conflicts with laptop-mode-tools. As usual I got that working somehow on another laptop but can't remember how

 

[pr1s0ner]

something about installing s2ram???

 

[ubuntu-user]

Thanks for the pointer will follow up later

 

[orbstacle]

did you get suspend/hibernate working ubuntu-user? how's the laptop for you (especially in linux/compiz)? i'm not sure between this or xps 15 with i7 740qm + 425m, they are both very powerful, but this is better value for money and the xps does not have a vga port, also, does the enigma have a multitouch pad?

@PCS: will i be able to return the laptop if it doesn't work well with linux for me?

 

[ubuntu-user]

hibernate and suspend

Hi
I haven't installed hibernate/suspend functionality yet, though I have it on my to do list based upon what I found at this link http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=471855&page=21

Sorry if its too late, if not I could have a go at this over the weekend and let you know on Monday.

As for the general performance - I'm happy with this machine over my four others, mainly because of the good battery life and 8Gb ram/750 gb HDD (with i7 dual core 2.7Ghz processor).

The one thing that did create a minor panic was when I tried to install from a live usb, turned out it wouldnt work on the usb 3.0 port but was fine on usb 2.0

cheers
Stephen

 

[n3hima]

Suspend works perfectly for me, I'm running Arch Linux. I can't seem to get half the hotkeys working though... they don't seem to be detected even at the kernel level. Do they work in Ubuntu? Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

 

[ubuntu-user]

hotkeys

hello
the hot keys seem to work fine in ubuntu, though I have had to adjust settings on other machines. I don't have any arch linux experience but perhaps this link might still be of use to you

http://blogarchiv.4momo.de/?id=show_db&ca=other&ct=104

cheers
Stephen

 

[bellerophon]

Can anyone tell me the situation regarding the graphics drivers with this laptop?
Did anyone have to install bumblebee or a similar hack to be able to access the GT540m?

Cheers

 

[pr1s0ner]

Ubuntu auto detected the drivers when I installed 11.04. Generally speaking if you want to use any of Nvidia's advanced card features then you need to install Nvidia's proprietary drivers

 

[bellerophon]

Thanks, that sounds promising.
I'm worried because these cards are known to have problems in linux because nvidia doesn't make the drivers that switch between the integrated and dedicated gpus.
Do you know if the auto-detected drivers that were installed ran the card or the integrated gpu? (I hope that makes sense)

 

[pr1s0ner]

I think I get what you mean but not 100% sure of the answer
The open source drivers are basic and don't give any 3D acceleration, there is an alternative open source driver (nouveau) that does but it is a bit buggy. For basic use I'd stick with the open source drivers, if your gaming or need to make use of the cards features then grab the nvidia drivers.

 

[bellerophon]

Cool, that sounds ok, I know how to get the nvidia drivers installed.
How sure are you that it was the card being used and not just the integrated gpu? I'd really like to buy this laptop if I can make linux run on it with the dedicated graphics

 

[pr1s0ner]

When I was using this laptop it was only for audio work so I didn't bother changing the drivers from the open source ones. I would assume though as the propriety ones are made by nvidia that they are using the card