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Dell Latitude E5500
Introduction
This is a guide to running Linux with the Dell Latitude E5500 laptop.
This guide is intended to provide you details on how well this laptop works with Linux and which modules you need to configure. For details on how to actually install and configure the required modules have a look at our guides section for distribution specific instructions.
This page is just for discussing using Linux on the Dell Latitude E5500. For a general discussion about this laptop you can visit the Dell Latitude E5500 page on LapWik.
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Specifications
For full specifications see the Dell Latitude E5500 specifications page.
| Name | Dell Latitude E5500 |
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 2.0GHz |
| Screen | 15.4“ WXGA Widescreen |
| RAM | 1GB |
| HDD | 80GB |
| Optical Drive | DVD+-RW |
| Graphics | Intel 4500MHD Graphics Accelerator |
| Network | Ethernet, Intel 5100 802.11abgn, Bluetooth |
Linux Compatibility
| Device | Compatibility | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Yes | |
| Screen | Yes | |
| HDD | Yes | |
| Optical Drive | Yes | |
| Graphics | No | |
| Sound | Yes | |
| Ethernet | Yes | |
| Wireless | No | |
| Bluetooth | Not Tested | |
| USB | Yes | |
| Firewire | Not Tested | |
| Card Reader | Not Tested | |
| ExpressCard Slot | Not Tested |
Notes
Graphics
The Intel 4500MHD Graphics Accelerator in the Dell Latitude E5500 is not yet supported in Linux. This means that you will be forced to use the slow “vesa” driver for support which is far from ideal. It is expected that proper support will be available by the end of 2008.
Wireless
The Intel 5100 wireless controller is also not yet supported by Linux. Support for this controller will be available in the upcoming kernel version 2.6.27.
Sound
For audio support you will need to install ALSA version 1.0.17 or higher. Since most Linux distributions do not include this as standard you will need to install it manually. See our guides section for installation instructions on several distributions
Summary
As it stands at the moment the Dell Latitude E5500 is not suitable for Linux. The current issues with the graphics and wireless makes this laptop nearly unusable but it is likely that we will start seeing Linux distributions supporting this laptop by the end of 2008.
Discussion
I have used the Dell Latitude E5500 with Linux since October 2017 – first with Linux Lite, then with GeckoLinux (a spin of openSUSE 42.2). Everything (video, sound, Wi-Fi, suspend mode) has worked extremely well. I haven't tested Bluetooth.
I have spent a couple of days getting Ubuntu Hardy Heron going on the e5500 and have the video, wireless and audio working successfully. Briefly you need kernel 2.6.27, the latest xf-86-video-intel (2.5.1), the latest www.baidu.com(2.4.1), the latest Mesa(7.2), the latest alsa(1.0.18). Fairly easy to configure - just compile from source(./configure –prefix=/usr;make;sudo make install) for most of the packages. For the kernel build start with your existing .config and switch on the new stuff for the intel wireless card. You need to get the firmware for the wifi card from intel and put it in /lib/firmware.
I'm running Fedora 13 on my E5500 and still no support for wireless. I have sound and running an external bluetooth adapter that works. The screen is running at 1440×900…which is great, but the acceleration is not there.
I have a Latitude E5500. I have just installed Ubuntu 9.10 after uninstalling Debian 5.04.
The Broadcom lan and wlan device is not working properly, there is only closed/proprietary driver for them, but when I activate the “Broadsom STA wireless driver”, it crashed, I had to turn off and on, this is the first time I had to do this after 10 months using this machine as a developer. The Intel graphics card is not working properly, I can not set the native resolution of the screen, I'm stuck with 1024*768. After the crash I wanted to do a complete update, but this failed too.
Running Debian squeeze/testing (as of 2009-10-15), I'm able to get the native resolution of 1280*800 with xserver-xorg-video-intel-2.9.0 on Xorg 7.4. Wireless LAN works fine with the iwlagn module of kernel 2.6.30. Also, sound is working. Unfortunately, Bluetooth is still broken.
Forgot: Card reader works also (tested with 2 GB SD card)
I would like to buy the Dell E5500 in order to install Fedora9 , who did anyone have experience to install it ? I do not sure if the dell E5500 can install Fedora9 successfully and work .If I want to install Fedora9 ,then do I need to prepare extra driver after installing Fedora fully ?
Would you please let me know ? thanks
Running FC11 64bit on my E5500 with no problems except internal SDHC card reader fails to detect new media (and is apparently a known bug).
Otherwise, smooth sailing.
I have Ubuntu 9.04 running on the e5500;everything worked fine out of the box except ACPI. If I close the lid with the power plugged in and let it sit for a while, the screen will not come back on and I have to alt+sysrq+reisub – there's no other way to get it back.
Hope I can solve this one, everything else works great!
Less than an hour to install Ubuntu 9.04 on a new E5500. Graphics, wireless and sound all working seamlessly so far with no extra downloads, drivers or tweaks.
This is the easiest install of an operating system I have ever experienced (my first Ubuntu experience was with Feisty Fawn after dumping Suse).
Congratulations to the Ubuntu team!
I have latitude 5500 running Slackware 12.2:
graphics ok
wireless ok
bluetooth ok
This link is a good reference:
http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Dell_Latitude_E6x00#Bluetooth
I have spent a couple of days getting Ubuntu Hardy Heron going on the e5500 and have the video, wireless and audio working successfully. Briefly you need kernel 2.6.27, the latest xf-86-video-intel (2.5.1), the latest libdrm(2.4.1), the latest Mesa(7.2), the latest alsa(1.0.18). Fairly easy to configure - just compile from source(./configure –prefix=/usr;make;sudo make install) for most of the packages. For the kernel build start with your existing .config and switch on the new stuff for the intel wireless card. You need to get the firmware for the wifi card from intel and put it in /lib/firmware.
Wireless and Graphics
I use SUSE Linux but, my wireless and Graphics not functional… very sad.. please solve this problem as soon as possible coz i need it…^^
it worked with ubuntu 8.10
I tried ubuntu 8.10 and it recognizes the video card, and using a proprietary driver for the wifi I can use the wireless adaptor
I have a Latitude E5500 running SuSE 10.1. It's usable, but there is no sound, wireless or bluetooth and the screen is limited to an annoying 800*600. On the plus side, at least it's not running Vista.