Dell Inspiron 1546

M

Miles

Hi all,
This is my first post on the forum, I have been reading for a little while now, and have been playing with 8.2 in VM's; really like FreeBSD.

I have been looking all over for information about the Dell Inspiron 1546 laptop, and its components, and have been unsuccessful in finding any information regarding compatibility. So I was wondering if anybody has one of these laptops and can shed any light. I cannot delve straight in and install on a trial and error basis just yet as I am in the middle of a couple of Dev projects.

The sysinfo output is as follows:

Code: 
System information report, generated by Sysinfo: 23/08/2011 20:32:27
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gsysinfo

CPU INFORMATION
	AuthenticAMD, AMD Turion(tm) X2 Dual-Core Mobile RM-74
	Number of CPUs: 2
	CPU clock currently at 2200.000 MHz with 512 KB cache
	Numbering: family(17) model(3) stepping(1)
	Bogomips: 4400.11
	Flags: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nonstop_tsc extd_apicid pni cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy 3dnowprefetch osvw skinit arat

MEMORY INFORMATION
	Total memory: 3962 MB
	Total swap: 11606 MB

STORAGE INFORMATION
	SCSI device -  scsi0
		Vendor:  ATA      
		Model:  Hitachi HTS54503 
	SCSI device -  scsi1
		Vendor:  HL-DT-ST 
		Model:  DVD+-RW GT30N    

HARDWARE INFORMATION
MOTHERBOARD
	Host bridge
		Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Mobile K10 [Turion X2, Athlon X2, Sempron] Link Control
		Subsystem: Dell Device 02fa
	PCI bridge(s)
		Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (ext gfx port 0)
		Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 1)
		Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 2)
		Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 3)
		ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge (prog-if 01)
		Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (ext gfx port 0)
		Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 1)
		Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 2)
		Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 3)
		ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge (prog-if 01)
	USB controller(s)
		ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller (prog-if 10)
		ATI Technologies Inc SB700 USB OHCI1 Controller (prog-if 10)
		ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller (prog-if 20)
		ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller (prog-if 10)
		ATI Technologies Inc SB700 USB OHCI1 Controller (prog-if 10)
		ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller (prog-if 20)
		ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller (prog-if 10)
		ATI Technologies Inc SB700 USB OHCI1 Controller (prog-if 10)
		ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller (prog-if 20)
		ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller (prog-if 10)
		ATI Technologies Inc SB700 USB OHCI1 Controller (prog-if 10)
		ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller (prog-if 20)
	ISA bridge
		ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 LPC host controller
		Subsystem: Dell Device 02fa

GRAPHIC CARD
	VGA controller
		ATI Technologies Inc M92 LP [Mobility Radeon HD 4300 Series]
		Subsystem: Dell Device 02fa

SOUND CARD
	Multimedia controller
		ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
		Subsystem: Dell Device 02fa

NETWORK
	Network controller
		Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g (rev 01)
		Subsystem: Dell Device 000c
	Ethernet controller
		Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)
		Subsystem: Dell Device 02fa
 
Video should work (although others have had problems with the radeon driver and some cards).

The Broadcom wireless is the biggest concern. It might work fine, probably with bwn(4). If it doesn't, it may be possible to fix the driver, or the mini-PCIe card could be replaced with something made by someone other than Broadcom. Atheros b/g cards have the smallest coefficient of suckage.

Installing FreeBSD on a USB memory card or hard disk is an easy way to test without endangering the main hard disk. Still, back up the main drive first with Clonezilla.
 
wblock said:
Video should work (although others have had problems with the radeon driver and some cards).

The Broadcom wireless is the biggest concern. It might work fine, probably with bwn(4). If it doesn't, it may be possible to fix the driver, or the mini-PCIe card could be replaced with something made by someone other than Broadcom. Atheros b/g cards have the smallest coefficient of suckage.

Installing FreeBSD on a USB memory card or hard disk is an easy way to test without endangering the main hard disk. Still, back up the main drive first with Clonezilla.
Click to expand...

Thanks, to be honest I hadn't thought about installing on a secondary drive.
 
Any word on ACPI support? I know its a bit shaky.

Please be patient with me, coming from a Linux background (not a massively experienced one at that).
 
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