Ubuntu 12.04 LTS on a Dell Latitude D430
I received two laptops today from Logmoar: an IBM ThinkPad T42 & a Dell Latitude D430
I’m having a hard time with the ThinkPad due to something related to the CPU called ‘pae’. Basically, the CPU in the ThinkPad is too old for the more recent distro’s of Linux.
So far, I have tried Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, 10.04 LTS, Kubuntu 12.04 LTS, Lubuntu 12.10, and OpenSUSE 11.2. The last one worked, but I didn’t go through with the entire install. I am going to give Fedora 18 LXDE a try tomorrow instead.
As for the Dell D430 I started off with Lubuntu 12.10 just fine, but decided that I want to stick with the traditional Ubuntu 12.04 LTS distro. The only issue with this Dell is that it has a Broadcom WiFi adapter, so the drivers are not picked up right away as they are proprietary.
I had to temporarily use my Panda USB WiFi NIC so that I could get Internet access to install the Broadcom WiFi drivers. Once this was done all is good and I am now connected to the net and typing up this blogpost using the built-in WiFi NIC 
The reason I am doing this is because I want to learn more about Linux, but this time rather than just installing Linux on a VM sitting on my MacBook Pro or creating a partition on my MBP’s hard drive (been through that pain more than once) I am using dedicated hardware.
Eventually, I will remove my personal user profile off my MBP and force myself to use the D430 as my primary computer. The specs of this laptop are:
Installing Broadcom drivers:
My new computer:
Hey.
“I’m having a hard time with the ThinkPad due to something related to the CPU called ‘pae’. Basically, the CPU in the ThinkPad is too old for the more recent distro’s of Linux.”
Pae means physical address extension support in kernel. This means that you will need to have over 4gb of ram or otherwise you might face a problem. Your computer is not too old for sure. Try to see if you find a a new kernel to install via the system package manager that says something like liunux-image-486 or linux-image-686 and your pae problems should disappear.
Once you get your system going, and if you choose to stick with an Ubuntu distro look up remastersys. With remeastersys (using sudo remastersys dist) you can create a live cd/dvd copy of your system to install with all your programs in it from the start (in case your already installed system fails for some reason).
Good luck and keep on learning: Every computer genius starts from the bottom but eventually they will get to the top.
Thank you for not only reading this blog post, but for providing insight as well. I will try the things you suggested and will write a post of my success (or failure)
Good to hear. I have never met a computer that did not work with Linux and I think your computer shall not be the first one