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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

Cookout...

by Stephen C. Daukas

Great fun! Many thanks to our hosts, Jamie and especially Karen, for all the great food! Looking forward to the pictures! ;-) Steve

Aug. 11, 2006