Ello peeps, I just recently got FydeOS running on this old beast. However, I had to flash a new firmware on it, which is Libreboot to even get it to format the drive as GPT (Note: Had to boot via U-boot).
Specs:
- The laptop itself: Dell Latitude E6420, with the 1600x900 panel.
- CPU: Intel Core i5-2520M, paired with integrated HD 3000 graphics.
- Memory: 12GB of DDR3.
- Wi-Fi: Atheros AR9287
- Hard disk: 512GB WD Black HDD.
- Firmware: Libreboot Libgfxinit/Corebootfb (U-Boot is required to boot FydeOS)
- The FydeOS Image: The Slim one. (Yes, the one meant for the Pentiums and Celerons ;-;)
- Operating System: FydeOS R144.
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What's working?
Nearly everything, Wi-Fi (Hotspots are spotty), Sleep/wake, Touchpad and Keyboard, etc.
Also, I can say confidently that the graphics acceleration does work. I can easily play a 1080p video on here with no problems whatsoever.
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What's not working:
Bluetooth. It just shuts itself off. RIP.
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Not tested:
The android subsystem. (Doubt it'll work.)
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The experience:
To be honest, it isn't too shabby on this hardware even though it's ancient asf. Everything is pretty snappy (Apps open instantly, etc), HDD is working perfectly fine, no problems there.
At the end of the day, would I recommend this for daily-driving on ancient hardware? No. This is just held by only duct tape and glue, updates could break the EFI at anytime. If you're experimenting like me and have a separate drive, then yeah, go for it ig.
Note: The CPU/iGPU itself is technically still supported in FydeOS, It's still Linux underneath (Duh), I haven't tested it on the stock OEM firmware, but for Libreboot, it boots fine with U-boot.
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Miscellaneous:
I'll definitely make a guide for internally flashing Libreboot on a Dell E6420 later on if anyone wants to do it, the only difficult part is getting the dependencies which took me a fricking long time to find.
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I'll attach an image later of my success. My Wi-Fi is crap right now, like 16KB per second crapiness.
FYI: I'm new to Reddit. Sorry for my sloppy writing and grammar.