August 2006 - WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

Re: [Wlug] Laptop recommendations anyone?

by Scott Venier

Stephen C. Daukas wrote: >> > And they run hot. So hot, in fact, that the one I have now will > periodically freeze (melt?) and I have to cycle the power. To get any > useful time out of it, I have to create an air space beneath the laptop... > I doubt I would purchase another. > Wow. I've heard of them running warm, but never that hot... which model do you have? Scott

Aug. 12, 2006

Re: [Wlug] BBQ

by Andrew Robert

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi Everyone, I was walking my dog this morning and I noticed the chalk advertisement for the WLUG bbq. I've never had an opportunity to attend a meeting but would like to finally meet some in the group. Can anyone attend or should I wait to meet people at the next meeting? Thanks, Andy -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.1 (MingW32) Comment: GnuPT 2.7.2 iD8DBQFE3c8tDvn/4H0LjDwRAn4+AJ9EXstKBW0iN4bHXqDEz8NeBBUhugCfdvtO 3GmSWOwEMJJ31RfkLP7Dzck= =8YQZ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Aug. 12, 2006

Re: [Wlug] Laptop recommendations anyone?

by Stephen C. Daukas

Anyone have thoughts on acer? "Linux on Laptops" lists just about every acer notebook... A consultant friend of mine sells these "on the side" and thought I might be interested in one of these as they are around $1k: Acer Aspire AS5672WLMi Acer Travelmate TM4672WLMi Acer Travelmate TM4222WLMi All are Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology, All have 1gig ddr-2 RAM All have 15.4 WXGA, All have DVD-RW(+/-) dUAL lAYER, All have at least 100gig hard drive (Aspire has SATA drive 120 gig) All have XP Pro The Aspire has 128meg ATI X1400 video card the others have the built in Intel Accel 950 chip Not bad for the money... 1280 x 800 resolution strikes me as "different" though - perhaps for DVD wide screen? Steve

Aug. 12, 2006

Re: [Wlug] Laptop recommendations anyone?

by Stephen C. Daukas

Andy Stewart wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > Scott Venier wrote: > >> I've been looking at picking up a cheap, less then current model thinkpad >> from TigerDirect. The prices are pretty good, and the Linux support for >> ThinkPad hardware is outstanding. Anything that's not a "mobile" P4 will >> have pretty good battery life... just find the most hardware that fits in >> your price range. >> > > Yes, but ThinkPad processors come from the wrong company! :-) > And they run hot. So hot, in fact, that the one I have now will periodically freeze (melt?) and I have to cycle the power. To get any useful time out of it, I have to create an air space beneath the laptop... I doubt I would purchase another. Steve

Aug. 12, 2006

Re: [Wlug] Laptop recommendations anyone?

by Andy Stewart

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Scott Venier wrote: > > I've been looking at picking up a cheap, less then current model thinkpad > from TigerDirect. The prices are pretty good, and the Linux support for > ThinkPad hardware is outstanding. Anything that's not a "mobile" P4 will > have pretty good battery life... just find the most hardware that fits in > your price range. Yes, but ThinkPad processors come from the wrong company! :-) Later, Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFE3S8wHl0iXDssISsRAi23AJ0Tdr43rTpiHbdyMuBx9P1iKzGVUgCdG52Z HwOPAVksZ8/g3ZUcxOiezKQ= =HfAT -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Aug. 12, 2006

Re: [Wlug] Laptop recommendations anyone?

by Robert L Krawitz

Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 10:08:43 -0400 (EDT) From: "Richard Klein" <rich(a)richardklein.org> Lenovo seems like a natural choice because they sell laptops with Linux pre-installed. For those looking at used laptops (Stephen says he's buying new), I installed Ubuntu on my Dell Inspiron 8200 recently. It was painless, and everything seems to work, including the PCMCIA 802.11G card. I've had a pair of Dells (Inspiron 8000 and what I guess is basically a C840, equivalent to the Inspiron 8200). Both work very nicely under Linux without any major problems. I like the 1600x1200 screen. -- Robert Krawitz <rlk(a)alum.mit.edu> Tall Clubs International -- http://www.tall.org/ or 1-888-IM-TALL-2 Member of the League for Programming Freedom -- mail lpf(a)uunet.uu.net Project lead for Gutenprint -- http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net "Linux doesn't dictate how I work, I dictate how Linux works." --Eric Crampton

Aug. 12, 2006

Re: [Wlug] Laptop recommendations anyone?

by Jared Greenwald

I've had some problems in the past with wifi hardware. I had one laptop (Compaq Evo N600c) where the wifi driver worked, but is not maintained and only available from svn (orinoco_usb). My newest laptop that I got last week (Dell D620) is too new for the driver to have been well tested (ipw3945) and I'm only getting about 20K/sec throughput (vs my normal 180K/sec). Its a good laptop other than this one issue - and since the driver is maintained by Intel directly I imagine that it won't be too long before this is fixed. Needless to say, one thing I would recommend is finding a laptop with wireless hardware that has a driver that's well tested and well supported. You might be better off just buying from a place that pre-installs Linux. http://www.pcsforeveryone.com has a Thinkmate Z33A that they will install Fedora Core 5 or Suse 10 on for no extra charge. Also http://linuxcertified.com/linux_laptops.html has some custom built Linux notebooks and offer a variety of distro choices. -Jared On 8/11/06, Stephen C. Daukas <scd(a)daukas.com> wrote: > I forgot to bring this up at the cookout last night... > > I have decided to purchase a new laptop (a first for me - always used > older equipment) and was wondering if anyone had recommendations for a > model that plays well with Linux. I'm not interested in a laptop with > the latest whiz-bang features, just the basics of wireless networking, > ability to play/burn CDs/DVDs, enough horsepower & disk to run > forecasting models, GIS, database, etc., and a battery that will last > for several hours. (My guess is any laptop these days would be > sufficient.) I want to avoid having to add drivers or other support for > some whiz-bang hardware when something "vanilla" would work just as well > for me, and I would prefer a distro that supports the various standard > laptop features (e.g., power management) and typical peripherals like > DVDs/movies, Burning CDs, etc., "out of the box". Again, this is > probably a non-issue, but there could be a laptop using hardware known > to be problematic (remember "winmodems"?)... > > I use several apps that only run on windows (probably forever), so > another first for me will be dual-boot. I have done this before on > others' systems, but I mention this just in case there is a awareness of > issues with certain laptop models. > > Anyway, thanks in advance for your help! > > Steve > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

Aug. 11, 2006

Re: [Wlug] Laptop recommendations anyone?

by Richard Klein

<quote who="Stephen C. Daukas"> > I forgot to bring this up at the cookout last night... > > I have decided to purchase a new laptop (a first for me - always used > older equipment) and was wondering if anyone had recommendations for a > model that plays well with Linux. I'm not interested in a laptop with > the latest whiz-bang features, just the basics of wireless networking, > ability to play/burn CDs/DVDs, enough horsepower & disk to run > forecasting models, GIS, database, etc., and a battery that will last > for several hours. (My guess is any laptop these days would be > sufficient.) I want to avoid having to add drivers or other support for > some whiz-bang hardware when something "vanilla" would work just as well > for me, and I would prefer a distro that supports the various standard > laptop features (e.g., power management) and typical peripherals like > DVDs/movies, Burning CDs, etc., "out of the box". Again, this is > probably a non-issue, but there could be a laptop using hardware known > to be problematic (remember "winmodems"?)... > > I use several apps that only run on windows (probably forever), so > another first for me will be dual-boot. I have done this before on > others' systems, but I mention this just in case there is a awareness of > issues with certain laptop models. Lenovo seems like a natural choice because they sell laptops with Linux pre-installed. For those looking at used laptops (Stephen says he's buying new), I installed Ubuntu on my Dell Inspiron 8200 recently. It was painless, and everything seems to work, including the PCMCIA 802.11G card. -- Rich

Aug. 11, 2006

Re: [Wlug] Laptop recommendations anyone?

by Scott Venier

Stephen C. Daukas wrote: > I forgot to bring this up at the cookout last night... > > > I have decided to purchase a new laptop (a first for me - always used > older equipment) and was wondering if anyone had recommendations for a > model that plays well with Linux. I'm not interested in a laptop with the > latest whiz-bang features, just the basics of wireless networking, ability > to play/burn CDs/DVDs, enough horsepower & disk to run forecasting models, > GIS, database, etc., and a battery that will last > for several hours. (My guess is any laptop these days would be > sufficient.) I want to avoid having to add drivers or other support for > some whiz-bang hardware when something "vanilla" would work just as well > for me, and I would prefer a distro that supports the various standard > laptop features (e.g., power management) and typical peripherals like > DVDs/movies, Burning CDs, etc., "out of the box". Again, this is > probably a non-issue, but there could be a laptop using hardware known to > be problematic (remember "winmodems"?)... > I've been looking at picking up a cheap, less then current model thinkpad from TigerDirect. The prices are pretty good, and the Linux support for ThinkPad hardware is outstanding. Anything that's not a "mobile" P4 will have pretty good battery life... just find the most hardware that fits in your price range. Scott

Aug. 11, 2006

Laptop recommendations anyone?

by Stephen C. Daukas

I forgot to bring this up at the cookout last night... I have decided to purchase a new laptop (a first for me - always used older equipment) and was wondering if anyone had recommendations for a model that plays well with Linux. I'm not interested in a laptop with the latest whiz-bang features, just the basics of wireless networking, ability to play/burn CDs/DVDs, enough horsepower & disk to run forecasting models, GIS, database, etc., and a battery that will last for several hours. (My guess is any laptop these days would be sufficient.) I want to avoid having to add drivers or other support for some whiz-bang hardware when something "vanilla" would work just as well for me, and I would prefer a distro that supports the various standard laptop features (e.g., power management) and typical peripherals like DVDs/movies, Burning CDs, etc., "out of the box". Again, this is probably a non-issue, but there could be a laptop using hardware known to be problematic (remember "winmodems"?)... I use several apps that only run on windows (probably forever), so another first for me will be dual-boot. I have done this before on others' systems, but I mention this just in case there is a awareness of issues with certain laptop models. Anyway, thanks in advance for your help! Steve

Aug. 11, 2006