Fedora 17 on the Samsung Series 9 2012 (NP900X3B)
Just a quick update to my previous post about Linux on the Samsung Series 9 2012. I have now upgraded the laptop to Fedora 17 and most things that were a problem are now working.
I have had this laptop for 3 months now and use Linux on it almost everyday. I only ever boot into Windows 7 to watch Netflix. It is an absolutely amazing laptop: fast, brilliant screen, easy to type keyboard and it looks great.
Trackpad
Works out the box in FC17. No changes required. Right click works perfectly now and so does two finger scroll.
Keyboard backlight
The keyboard backlight now turns on when the laptop is in low light conditions. However, the function keys don’t work to adjust the brightness. So if you do want to do that you have to use the command line (must be run as root):
echo N > /sys/devices/platform/samsung/leds/samsung\:\:kbd_backlight/brightness
Suspend
There is a still sometimes a problem with the brightness when resuming from suspend. I have just got used to it and enter my password to a black screen and alter the brightness.
I think the latest kernel update to F17 fixed the suspend problem
smaug, yep the suspend issue is fixed for me in kernel 3.5.0.2
Hi. I tried your command line as root, with and without the backslashes, and the terminal returns:
-bash: echo: write error: Invalid argument
What do you think is the problem?
Thank you!
What’s the Battery life like with all the latest patches?
@Jay. Replace the N with a number from 0-8.
I just got a series 9 and have connected a CD-ROM drive via USB and in BIOS told the system to boot from it. But it refuses to boot from the netinst or desktop CDs (my older computers will — so I know it’s not a CD burning issue).
On the other hand, it boots into the Debian CD installer just fine.
How did you install Fedora 17 on this computer?
Nevermind. I just now learned about UNetbootin, etc. All’s good. THANK YOU for posting all of this helpful info.
Two questions:
1. What sort of battery life do you get? I never get much more than 3 hrs, using powertop and powersave profile.
2. Suspend doesn’t work for me, running kernel 3.6.6 (on F17), but I don’t know what to try to fix it… When suspending, it throws me right back to the lock screen. Does anybody else have trouble with suspend?
On the plus side, sleep works perfectly, Ubuntu feels snappy, and most things work out of the box. The laptop itself is wonderful – enough power for everything I’ve tried (watching movies, listening to music, basic programming, no gaming or video editing), it’s extremely light, and the battery usually lasts all day.