HP Mini 311 running F13... Never been so happy!

[jonrpick]

wow.... Wow... WOW!!!

I'm LOVING it!

I've never really been compelled to write a review of anything, but I had to comment that this combo is *really* working well, so far...

Two days ago, I got an a steal on the HP Mini 311. It was open-box, and there was a sale going on. I ended up paying $266 USD + another $75 for an LG USB DVD burner and Casetronics neoprene bag. It came with XP installed.

So last night, I sat down and downloaded F13 from the Fedora site and started the installation process. I shrunk the existing partition down using Gparted on a Puppy Live CD. The F13 installer was easy to deal with and I had zero issues getting dual-booting working. No additional configuration on my part. Grub just did its job and lists the XP partition as an option upon bootup.

Upon the 1st boot, the only things I saw that didn't "just work" immediately were the proprietary Nvidia drivers and the wireless (BCM4312). After enabling the RPMFusion repos, I did a "yum update" and then got the Nvidia and BCM drivers working. I've never successfully been able to get BCM wireless working under Fedora, and the Nvidia drivers required NOTHING on my part.

It JUST WORKS.

A little while ago, I plugged up the HDMI port to my 55" Sony TV (older DLP) and was surfing on the big screen! The configuration process was painless and simple. The only issue there was sound not coming through the HDMI port on Youtube vids, but I know that's a driver issue, and it's honestly not THAT big of a deal.

So, as I was browsing this forum, I saw mention of a webcam problem. I then remembered that this HP does indeed have a webcam. I never have had a need for one, but what the Hell...? I loaded up Cheese, and to my surprise, I saw my face pop up on the screen!

I don't know if it's just that F13 is that good, or if it's just a particularly good combination of hardware and software...I'm suspecting that it's a little bit of both...but I'm VERY impressed!


And here's proof that the webcam works!!!

[GoinEasy9]

I just wanted to comment about your HDMI experience. I was really surprised when I plugged the hdmi cord from my Dell Studio 17 and into the Panasonic Flat screen. The TV became the right screen of a dual monitor setup. Fedora recognized the resolution and used the whole TV screen. Since I have Win 7 dual booted on the laptop I tried the same with Win 7. Win 7 caused the laptop and TV to mirror, and the resolution was restricted to the resolution on the laptop. I'm sure if I fiddled with Win 7 I might have been able to fix the setup, but, the point is, Fedora did it automatically, there was no need for further tinkering.
Hey, it's nice when things just work isn't it. Still happy with my move to Fedora.