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Installing [Linux Distribution] on [Laptop HP Model 6717b]

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General Hardware Specifications of [Laptop]:

Hardware Components
Status under Linux
Notes
AMD Turion X2 TL-64 Works No special procedure required during installation.
15.4 WSXVGA+ TFT Display Works Select Generic LCD 1680x1050 Display in Installer
ATI Radeon X1200 R690 on-motherboard display adapter) Works Only just works, now with latest kernel-2.6.23.1-35+ and xorg-x11-drv-radeonhd - DO NOT Download the buggy fglrx ATI proprietary Linux driver - its module does not compile, its Xorg server components generate SIGSEGVs, and its install script is a work of pure vandalism IMHO. The opensource avivo driver (xorg-x11-drv-avivo), which claims to support the card, does not work (it depends on flgrx) and its avivotool program coredumps. The ONLY open source Xorg / XFree86 server linux driver that worked was the : git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/xorg/driver/xf86-video-radeonhd (h=604bfb02cefa5f56b40aea2dc3256f09836121a4) release of 2007-10-27+ . Once you have downloaded the tarball, with git(1) "clone", build ( $ ./configure --prefix=/usr; make && make install ) and then edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf similar to: 
Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "Monitor0"
	ModelName    "LCD Panel 1680x1050"
	HorizSync    31.5 - 65.5
	VertRefresh  56.0 - 65.0
	Option	    "DPMS" "true"
...
# use ModeLine output from 'X -probeonly' in /var/log/Xorg.0.log:
Modeline "1680x1050"  119.00  1680 1728 1760 1840  1050 1053 1059 1080
...
EndSection
...
Section "Module"
        Load "dri"
	Load "glx"
EndSection
...
Section "Device"
	Identifier  "Videocard0"
	Driver      "radeonhd"
        DefaultDepth     24
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
		Modes     "1680x1050" "1600x1024" "1400x1050" "1280x800" "1024x768" ...  
	EndSubSection    
...
EndSection

The above applies to latest FC-8, gentoo, and suse Linux distros as of 2007-10-27 ,
and to Solaris 11, as I found out the hard way after installing each of them in the
hope that one of them might be able to enter graphics mode; only after building and
installing the above driver on FC-8 with kernel-2.6.23-35+ and 
xorg-x11-server-Xorg-1.3.0.0-33.fc8 was the display able to enter graphics mode.
2GB, SDRAM, 2DIMMs Works No special procedure required during installation
160 GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive Works No special procedure required during installation
Modular Floppy Drive Works No special procedure required during installation
Integrated Network Card Works No special procedure required during installation
Internal 56k Modem Doesn't Work In progress
24X Max Variable CD-ROM Drive Works No special procedure required during installation
Internal miniPCI Dell TrueMobile 1150 Wireless Networking (Wi-Fi Certified) Doesn't Work Given up
59 WHr Lithium-Ion Battery Works No special procedure required during installation
ESS Maestro 3 Sound Card Works

No special procedure required if using Kernel 2.6.x.

ALSA Sound drivers required for Kernel 2.4.x

This laptop is operating under Kernel version [Kernel version number which you are using]

Basic Installation of [Linux Distribution]:
Setting up additional features for [Linux Distribution]
Unresolved issues
Configuration Files
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