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I recently tried running Fedora 16 on my laptop and had problems with the fan. In particular, the fan would start, run at full power, and never turn off. I spent a few hours online looking for solutions but didn't find any. I then reverted back to Ubuntu and had the problem disappear (after some minor configuration).

I would really like to try different distributions, but I'm afraid that the hardware on my laptop would not be supported. Is there always a fix to these kinds of problems or should I just stick to what works?

I have a Toshiba Satellite L305-S5945.

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Most distros provide a Live CD. I'd say it's the safest and easiest way to try a distro compatibility with your hardware. –  rahmu Feb 15 '12 at 20:50
This is almost definitely a matter of the software installed and default configuration rather than anything specific to the distribution. –  Chris Down Feb 15 '12 at 23:35
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2 Answers

The brand does not matter. The hardware does. Your distribution has to load the right drivers that support your hardware (in a correct way).

If you can`t get it running in the first try there are ways to come around the problems. It depends on the problem how fast you can get all up and running.

The simplest solutions just require some config-changes or additional options set.

If it comes down to manually recompiling kernel-modules on every new kernel-patch that is the point where I normally give up, if I can't automate that.

The most important part is that your boot device has to be supported. If it is not, things get tricky - but even that problem can be solved (if you are willing to spend enough time on the problem).

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Try to use the official driver of the video card. The open-source driver is unbelievable..

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You should provide a bit more details. –  Karlson Feb 16 '12 at 17:39
Besides, this laptop has (according to Google) Intel video card, for which the official driver IS open-source. –  Renan Feb 22 '12 at 23:21
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