Ubuntu Wiki

• Contact: WilliamAnderson

• Brand: Dell
• Make : Latitude
• Model: X300

• Website: No current product page (EOL); Dell Press Release

Current Issues

System Info

neuro@melbourne:~$ (cd /var/lib/acpi-support/ ; grep . -r *-*)
bios-version:A08
system-manufacturer:Dell Computer Corporation
system-product-name:Latitude X300
system-version:A08

Hardware details

Notes

Feisty Notes: The volume works but the main volume only controls the speakers, the headphones must be controlled separately. The suspend button works, but because the system cannot resume, so I would not recommend using it.

Previous Data from JeffWaugh and HervéCauwelier

• Dell product page

• The X300 is a rebadged Samsung Q20

Buttons

Laptop:

MediaBase:

Ports

• Modem
• Ethernet
• Power
• D/Bay (USB+Power)
• Firewire
• Microphone
• Headphones/Speakers

• CardBus (one slot)

• SD/MS/MMC
• VGA
• USB
• IR

• MediaBase (docking station), including:

  • Power
  • USB (two)
  • FIrewire
  • Ethernet
  • Serial
  • VGA
  • Parallel
  • PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse
  • Headphones/Speakers
  • CD/DVD module
  • Semi-Quaver port (joke, it's a subwoofer)

Current support in Breezy

[HervéCauwelier] I run the same since Hoary and there is a quick tour. The ACPI DSDT table is broken and report wrong information about the battery. A full battery reports as 0% and when I unplug the cord, it drops (raise!) to 14% and won't change. Also the fan ventilation is bad. I thought it would be handled by the hardware but on Linux it is always too high. I have to run "i8kfan 2 2" to put the fan at maximum and get back to 50°C. Compiling packages or anything CPU-comsuptive rapidly raises the temperature to 70°C. The report could be wrong due to broken ACPI but I trust it since I feel the heat throught the keyboard. The few times I ran Windows, I couldn't get so much high temperatures, even with running software like cpuburn, watching DVD, etc. I saw it open once (changing the hard disk because I thought it was the part "burning"), and the fan is ridiculously tiny, and just below the keyboard panel, parallel to it. Yes! it tries to evacuate the heat through the keyboard! Hopefully, a little hot air evacuates from the grid on the right. I had to buy a tablet with fans at the job to use the CPU all day. At rest, it drops to 45°C instead of the average 50°C.

I installed a fixed DSDT table from the ACPI Sourceforge project and I got back the battery to normal report, but the heat issue. I remember ACPI report at the kernel boot. Checking dmesg... it is full of "ACPI: acpi_ec_space_handler: bit_width should be 8" so I can't report those messages at boot. Will try to capture the screen.

Everything else works as expected. No sudden freeze (expect when over 70°C), no strange behaviour. I haven't been able to use the SD card reader, though. It may only be a missing module but I couldn't find the right one.

I barely use the media base but it a bit broken too. When you boot with it, everything is ok. But trying to remove it while Linux is on will break the Fn keys, so you cannot change the LID lighting, etc. If you booted without it and put it aftewards, the DVD module won't be powered but USB ports do. Maybe another missing module.

I never tried the modem, VGA, FireWire, IR, Cardbus, microphone, parallel and serial ports. Hopefully the Ethernet, USB, PS/2 and headphones plugs work, though I never tried the 1GB capability. the DVD module makes its jobs but makes the computer even hotter. I burnt a few CD-Rs successfully but never tried with DVD-R/RW. I see no reason why it would fail. The Wi-Fi card makes its job. It is a well supported IPW2200. I only had twice in 6 months some crash where I had to rmmod then modprobe all the Wi-Fi related modules to make it work again. Probably a software crash of the driver, maybe fixed now.

Nice laptop... once you patched the initrd image!

Current support in Feisty

[MarkHuguet] Most of the information from Breezy still holds true for this laptop. The only major issue I have experienced is that the suspend/resume (mostly the resume side) does not work.The DSDT table no longer needs to be modified. The battery reports properly, and the DSDT modification does not fix issue with suspend/resume.

The Media Base issues persist in Feisty, exactly as they were in Breezy.

CategoryLaptop