I usually keep a USB flash drive in my suitcase, set up with a bootable version of Fedora Linux. This comes in handy if I ever find myself away from my usual Linux laptop, and need to boot into a familiar environment to check email, etc. At my work, I sometimes encounter new laptops that need to be booted, erased, etc. My bootable flash drive is a big help, here.
The other day, I needed to boot an HP Elitebook 6930p laptop, to copy files from it. I used my bootable Linux flash drive. I can report that Fedora 13 runs well on this laptop.
I don't have a spec sheet for this laptop, but it has this basic configuration:
- HP Part #GW684AV (HP Elitebook 6930p)
- Intel Core2 Duo CPU (2.40GHz)
- 3GB memory
- DVD multi-drive
- SD card reader
- Intel 1000 network, and Intel WiFi 5300 wireless
- Intel i915 graphics adapter, with VGA out
- Bluetooth (didn't test)
- Intel audio
- 3 USB ports, and one IEEE 1394 "FireWire" port
Install
N/A in this case, because I had already installed Fedora 13 on the USB flash drive. Installing on a flash drive is no different than installing Linux on a hard drive. Just remember to pay attention during the install, so you install on the correct target, and GRUB gets installed in the right place. When I set up this flash drive, installation of Fedora 13 took maybe 15-20 minutes.
Sound
Sound works fine on this laptop. Here's the output from lsmod:
$ lsmod | grep '^snd' snd_hda_codec_analog 52178 1 snd_hda_intel 20319 2 snd_hda_codec 61515 2 snd_hda_codec_analog,snd_hda_intel snd_hwdep 4704 1 snd_hda_codec snd_seq 41363 0 snd_seq_device 4867 1 snd_seq snd_pcm 59284 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec snd_timer 15063 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm snd 45127 12 snd_hda_codec_analog,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm,snd_timer snd_page_alloc 5877 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
And here's the lspci device entry:
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 30db
Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 31
Region 0: Memory at d8820000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel
Graphics
Fedora 13 recognized the video card, and used the full resolution of the built-in laptop display. This has an Intel video card (i915) which tends to be very well supported in Linux. I didn't have a second monitor to test with, but having tested other laptops, I suspect this would have driven a second display just fine.
Here's the lspci device:
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 30db
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 29
Region 0: Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M]
Region 2: Memory at c0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
Region 4: I/O ports at 7110 [size=8]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: i915
Kernel modules: i915
Webcam
This laptop did have a webcam, and it tested out great using Cheese. I was able to see myself in the video window. So I'd say this works great.
Network
The laptop happened to be plugged into a wired connection, and I used that. Network works fine. This laptop has an Intel wired network card.
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82567LM Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 30db
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 30
Region 0: Memory at d8800000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
Region 1: Memory at d8824000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Region 2: I/O ports at 70e0 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: e1000e
Kernel modules: e1000e
GNOME's NetworkManager applet also scans for wireless networks, and it found the wireless network we have at work. While I didn't use wireless, clearly the wireless card works under Linux. This laptop uses an Intel wireless card.
02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Ultimate N WiFi Link 5300
Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 1011
Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 32
Region 0: Memory at d8600000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: iwlagn
Kernel modules: iwlagn
Bluetooth
I didn't have any Bluetooth devices to test with, but the Bluetooth icon showed up in GNOME, and kernel support was loaded.
Summary
A good laptop to use with Linux. I didn't have much time to experiment with this laptop, but I think it's safe to say the HP Elitebook 6930p laptop would be a good buy for anyone looking to run Linux on a laptop.
