Advice for Linux on a Laptop? 276
Trillian_1138 is seeking your advice on the following: "So I'm looking at replacing my aging laptop. I have a desktop running Ubuntu, which I use as a primary, and it is more than adequate for my needs. However, I'd love a small, portable laptop to use in class and on trips. I've been looking at the MacBook Pros and, more recently, the MacBooks, and was almost ready to buy the low-end MacBook and be done with it. I liked its ability to dual-book to Windows for a couple of school-related programs, but the more I thought about it the more I like using Ubuntu at home and the less reason I saw to buy a Mac if I could use Ubuntu on a laptop. This brought me to the idea of buying a laptop to use as a dual-boot Linux/Window machine, either with Linux or Windows pre-installed, and setting up a dual-boot with the other OS. Might any of you have advice, anecdotes, success stories, horror stories, or general input?"
"Please note I am not looking for a discussion on whether Linux is 'Ready for the Desktop'. I switched over to Ubuntu earlier this year and haven't looked back. As far as I'm concerned, Linux is ready for *my* desktop, which is all I really care about. This laptop is for me, not my mom. I'm not a command-line guru by any means and likes having a nice GUI, but am comfortable Googling when my DVDs stop playing after an update or poking around in configuration files to get things working. What I'm now curious about is what to expect - positive and negative - with Linux on a laptop.
I know a quick Google search yields lots of information on laptops running Linux, and I am continuing to use Google to look at information on running Linux on laptops which came with Windows, buying OS-less laptops, and buying laptops with Linux pre-installed, but I'm curious what the Slashdot crowd thinks. Is it even worth the bother? Would I be better off buying a Dell and installing Linux or buying a laptop with Ubuntu pre-installed from somewhere like system76.com or Linuxcertified.com?"
Advice (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Advice (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Advice (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Advice (Score:5, Informative)
There are a large number of cards based on atheros chipsets, i have several myself...
My experience is that the d-link one (650G or something, i forget the model number, it has 802.11a disabled) is very flakey, while my cisco cards (also based on the same atheros chipset, but with 802.11a still enabled) work perfectly.
If you ever want to do anything "dodgy" with wireless, like sniffing or packet injection, atheros cards are the ones to go for and i would recommend the cisco ones.
Re:Advice (Score:3, Informative)
Newer Intel-based laptops almost always come with an Intel PRO/Wireless chipset, all of which are rather well supported. The 3945 isn't in the kernel yet and can be a bit of a pain to install due to dependency on a newer version of the 802.11 stack than what is in the kernel, but once installed it works GREAT in my Dell Inspiron E1705.
Re:Advice (Score:5, Informative)
IIRC they dont ship anything that has any problems with linux that arent easily fixed. Add to that the fact that they are just damn good laptops.
Re:Advice (Score:3, Interesting)
I got a T43 with the aformetioned display. It does not come with Windows install media. You can create a restore DVD. This DVD is only capabale of wiping the hard drive and making 1 partition with Windows on it. Numerous calls to IBM have gotten me only "That is the only supported configuration, you must buy a retail copy of Windows if you want any other configuration." The retail copy DOES NOT WORK. I don't know if its just the SXGA+ T43 or all SXGA+
Re:Advice (Score:2, Informative)
Re:ThinkPad, ThinkPad, ThinkPad (Score:5, Informative)
EmperorLinux [emperorlinux.com] specializes in configuring Linux laptops. And, they maintain a good stock of IBM's.
Their markup is a little high, but their support is excellent.
I haven't purchased from them, yet. But, I bought a support agreement and a depot install from them. I shipped them a latop, and they shipped it back with a fully configured Redhat. Very nice, very easy.
D.
PS - No, I do not work for them, and no they are not friends of mine.
Re:ThinkPad, ThinkPad, ThinkPad (Score:3, Informative)
I bought a T-42p from EmperorLinux last fall with Ubuntu Breezy installed. Some things worked pretty well, like the wireless, but they didn't have a 3D driver for the ATI Fire GL card that supports suspend and hibernate. I have to reboot my machine everytime I need 3D hardware accelaration or use the non 3D accelarated driver.
Some things that came broken:
WiFi AND Graphics (Score:2)
Besides that I AM a Mac user, I prefer Linux the OSX to use GNU apps, not everything Linuxy works on OSX.
Now with Glare (Score:2)
I tried to buy one of these last night instead of a new MacBook because the MacBook has the "glossy" screen.
It turns out the new Asus models do as well. They even have enough honesty to call them "glare-type" screens on their website. The biggest problem was finding a dealer who could easily customize these things. I tried most of them on Where to Buy page and none were easy or had the options listed on the Asus site. If anyone can fin
hw (Score:5, Informative)
if you need good 3d performance go for nvidia
if 3d gaming is not what you need go for intel integrated graphics as they
have released their drivers opensource iirc and it's in the kernel as we speak
Re:hw (Score:3, Informative)
In desktops, we prefer nVidia cards, but the latest AMD-64 ATI mobile chipsets are clearly the best in our e
Funny You Mention Dell (Score:3, Informative)
Re:hw (Score:2)
Re:hw (Score:2)
Re:hw (Score:2)
My point is that it doesn't Just Work. If your goal is to put yourself in a position where you will try to make a different - that is, to get it closer to Just Working - then I encourage you to go for it. If on the
Re:hw (Score:2)
If you want hardware/software support, why stop at MacBook and just run any of the bajillions of Windows notebooks?
Re:hw (Score:2)
Despite multiple fixes to the nvidia drivers, I have never gotten my laptop to successfully resume from suspend to ram or from suspend to disk.
Buy a Thinkpad. Suspend/resume works flawlessly on all of the ones I've had for the last six years (I work for IBM, so I get a new one every 18-24 months).
mandrake (Score:3, Informative)
My sugestion, look for a laptop that isn't bleeding edge and maybe go for somehtign a year or so old. Use a current version of your brand of linux, and increase the memory as much as possible. Look at even getting a larger drive so you can make a plain fat32 partition that can be use form both XP and linux. I made the mistake of not doing this and then i was left with getting NTFS working in linux and installing a ext3 driver in windows. the 98 partition wasn't large enough to be effective in sharing files between operating systems.
Oh yea, Take a reletivly current bootable linux CD with you when your looking at the laptops. It should give you a decent idea of everything that would work or not. It make take some adjusting but if it works on the cd, you should be able to get it working on a local install. If somethign doesn't work, google around a bit, there maybe a fix that just wasn't included on the CD.
Research! (Score:2, Interesting)
Afterwards you might want to visit Ubuntu's forums [ubuntuforums.org] and run a search on them to check out how current users of those laptops are faring with Ubuntu at the moment. There's usually quite a bunch of threads discussing the graphic drivers to use, how much of the system is working perfectly etc.
And c
what happened to me (Score:2, Insightful)
After buying a researched and compatible machine the drivers worked and wireless/video were possible. Problem is that linux on a laptop for anybody that pokes and tries new stuff means that you're constantly fixing and researching. I'm not upset but you must be aware that you're not go
vmware (Score:4, Interesting)
I've done many dual boot laptops, but the last laptop I bought I wasn't in the mood for jumping through all of the hoops (especially wireless drivers).
On a whim I downloaded the vmware virtual machine software, and in less than an hour had a fully functional full color, wireless working, all peripherals working, full Xserver resolution laptop. It was WONDERFUL. And worth every penny!
What started out as an experiment for another way yielded other unexpected benefits. Suddenly I could run a fully loaded linux in the vmware server, and communicate with it from XP! Suddenly what used to require two machines I was able to do on the one.
Some of the configuration required some good indepth linux knowledge and a few google visits. If you can tweak, it's worth the investment.
Good luck. (And feel free to send e-mail if you have specific questions, I'll gladly fill you in on some of the tweaks)
Re:vmware (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, VMWare, a thousand times yes. All you need is enough memory to run both OSes. First, the bad news:
Now, the good news:
That's my suggestion. It may sound weird if you're used to a one-OS-at-a-time machine, but I swear, once you try it you'll never go back.
Re:vmware (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:vmware - Linux as host, XP as guest (Score:2)
Re:vmware (Score:2)
Personally I prefer to run the OS which crashes in VMware, and the OS which doesn't native...
Re:vmware for windows development (Score:3, Informative)
For each of my active projects, I clone a new virtual machine (or machines in the case of servcer projects). I never have to worry about one customer's configuration or third party tools corrupting the environment of another. I keep all my business critical applications running on linux (e-mail, web, IM, Word Processing, Spreadshe
Laptop Linux (Score:2, Interesting)
Considerations: (Score:5, Informative)
Wifi - Both card and encryption mechanism. (Again, this is getting better and WPA support is becomming well integrated)
Graphics - Mobile Nvidia usually has better support then ATI.
Function Keys - There is fairly good toshiba support for function keys, but it's always nice to have the LCD bright/dim, mouse lock, etc. work correctly.
Re:Considerations: (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Considerations: (Score:2)
ThinkPad T-series (Score:4, Informative)
There are other good notebooks which can often be just as good. Just figure out what hardware you want to run and how much you're willing to pay for it. If you are tech-savy, install it yourself (sadly, you'll probably have to pay the Windows tax (though you may find some bare notebooks, sales on a win32 laptop will often be cheaper than a notebook with no software)). If not, get it from LinuxCertified.
If you don't get something mainstream, be sure to try a LiveCD in it first & dig up as much dirt on it as possible.
Re:ThinkPad T-series (Score:2)
My only advice: the more complex the setup, the more tweaking you'll have to do. I have an external monitor (attached to my docking station.) I found some docking/undocking scripts that worked well online. Had to customize my xorg.conf file to have my external monitor supported. There is lots of documentation on this kind of stuff, though, online.
I recommend the x series. Ultralight, good battery, sufficiently fast
Re:ThinkPad T-series (Score:2)
As far as l
IBM Certified Used. (Score:4, Informative)
I've used Thinkpads since 1997 or so. They are well designed tanks. If you do a lot of text input, you will want the joystick mouse control. Touch pads, drive me bats now. Over the years, they have gotten a little less sturdy but they are still very good. My favorite is still a 600 [thinkwiki.org] for it's small size and reliability. My current model is a poorly kept T23 [thinkwiki.org], which I did not buy from Certified Used. Power management works flawlessly on all models, with some tweaking - usually as simple as turning off ACPI and using APM for sleep.
The only strenuous advice I have is to avoid "desktop replacement" pigs. All computers look "obsolete" in a few years. The small difference in performance between small, cute laptops does not justify the extra weight. You might think it does today, but two or three years from now, when clock speeds have doubled again, you won't. As an extreme example consider two 10 year old laptops, a 560 and a 380 thinkpad. Today, the 560, is still cute but a technically superior 380 [thinkwiki.org] is an ugly brick. At the time, the 380 was 50% faster and had twice the memory and a much better screen. The screen is still better, but the fan is loud, the case is huge, the 16MB of RAM is laughable and it's just too heavy. Unless your hands are unusually large, consider an X series.
Avoid high school castoffs and other poorly handled and maintained notebooks. Screws should be replaced every time because they depend on a nylon coating to work. When you take them out, you mess that coat up and things get loose. Really badly maintained models will have missing screws and broken structural parts. They are not reliable and you might have to boot them daily like a Windoze machine. Yes, that's the worst I've ever seen in a Thinkpad. Lesser computers might not boot at all after such bad treatment.
Re:IBM Certified Used. (Score:3, Insightful)
That's not as true for any machines created in the last few years (anything after 2000 that shipped with Win2000 is my cut-off). Performance gains have slowed quite a bit in the past few years. Not including the dual-core improvement, CPU speeds have only been doubling every 3-5 years instead of every 12-18 months.
As an anecdotal example, my current laptop is a Tecra 9100 (built in early 2002, ~1.6Ghz CPU, 1GB RAM, WinXP Pro, 100
Ubuntu on a MacBook is my "ideal" system (Score:2, Interesting)
My Thoughts (Score:5, Interesting)
What I'm trying to say is, there's something about linux that just lends itself to a self-initiated install. You'll have an easier time of it if you have to go through the grunt work on your own. You'll know where things are, what you changed, and you get a better pick of distros than you will probably find pre-installed.
This coming from a Debian-addict. I haven't looked at Ubuntu yet. I go vanilla Debian and add what I need for the machine I am using. I also still use windows on the desktop, but all the servers I operate run Linux. I go for flexibility. Yeah, you could use Wine or VMware as someone already mentioned, but what else am I going to do with that Windows license that came with my laptop?
What I'm running (Score:2)
Only major problem was getting the NDIS wrapper to work. Took a couple tries, but now it work gorgeously.
If you need to dual-boot and read the Windows partition, I'd advise against Fedora since it does not come pre-built with FAT32 mounting.
Re:What I'm running (Score:2)
The MacBook [Pro] (Score:2)
First, there is OS X. Even if you don't think you're that interested, just give it a try. You might like it. You could also keep it around for media purposes (iDVD, etc).
You can run Windows, Linux or OS X. You can run virtualization software (Parallels Workstation is the name of the main one right now, and some say Leopard will have it built in) so you can run multiple OSes at once with better performance than VMWare (just make sure to put a ton of RAM in). My understanding
Re:The MacBook [Pro] (Score:3, Informative)
Re:The MacBook [Pro] (Score:2)
Well I would say don't.
1) Most of the hardware is not supported.
2) You have too pay for OS X.
They look like nice machines, but suggesting them in this discussion reeks of fanboism.
MacBookPro wireless card (Score:2)
There are currently no Windows drivers for the built-in webcam, the backlit keyboard, the automaticly adjusting backlight, or the sudden motion gyro sensor.
Re:MacBookPro wireless card (Score:2)
Posting from one... (Score:2)
some random advice.. (Score:3, Informative)
Nowadays, if I was buying one, I would carefully look at the competition, as everyone has good screens and there are really only few actual manufacturers that make notebooks - everyone else just sells a branded solution (Dell included).
So, in no particular order:
I have heard that Intel has open source drivers for some of their shared memory chipsets, so this might be a reasonable choice, especially with higher memory speeds being available.
(My personal preference is to try to avoid binary drivers as these tend to break when upgrading compiler versions of glibc library. Don't know what I'll be doing in a few years when I start looking for a new notebook.)
Re:some random advice.. (Score:2)
Thinkpads, whoohoo. (Score:4, Informative)
The only real trouble area for me is being able to effectively use dual monitors (the laptop LCD + an external VGA). It's easy to set up dual monitors, but not so easy (not so possible?) to have your desktop be aware of when you disconnect the external VGA monitor (to, say, go to the coffee house) and know not to pop up new windows on the screen that's not there anymore. This is an area that Windows does a lot better in, and as far as I know this is an issue with running Linux on most laptops.
IBM has recently sold their Thinkpad line of laptops to Lenovo, and I'd be rather cautious about these new Lenovo-produced notebooks. Not because Lenovo is a Chinese company, but because it seems that in many acquisitions quality goes down as the new company discovers corners to cut. The Lenovo Thinkpads may be great for all I know, though.
Another poster commented negatively on Thinkpads and Linux, but I think he was looking at it from a "what OS to run on your notebook" point of view, and not a "what's the best notebook for Linux" point of view. If your work requires Linux, like mine does, I'd definitely look into a Thinkpad.
I'd be very interested in hearing about Linux compatibility with MacBook hardware. If Thinkpads start to suck, I'll probably take a serious look at MacBooks.
powernotebooks.com (Score:2)
However, I'm getting a Mac. I've concluded that OS X is simply a "better UNIX than Linux" on laptops. Suspend/resume and Wifi just work, and wo
I've it easier (Score:5, Informative)
Better yet, a live Knoppix DVD [softpedia.com].
Unless, of course, you're a perfectionist that you believe Linux must be installed natively, but I beg you try it and examine its features before judging it. There's no harm in trying.
And you'd find it surprisingly featureful.
Re:I've it easier (Score:3, Insightful)
I can speak on this, I guess. (Score:2)
Battery life is sucktastic, and I'm not sure if that's a hardware or a software problem. It's a fairly old computer, and it's been through a lot. It also refu
I have two Dells (Score:3, Interesting)
My previous linux laptop ran Mandrake until the hard drive crashed due to the sudden deceleration after a 6 foot drop. I ran it just fine with a Knoppix CD for over two years, until it stopped working piece by piece. The built in keyboard, touchpad, and battery all died one by one until I finally had to stop using it when the CD-ROM drive gave out. Call me stingy, but being able to run Linux on that laptop when I was a poor college student really saved me some money.
Basically, running Linux on a laptop is no different than on a desktop. Just be a little bit careful about checking hardware compatibility and you should have no problem. Enough people run the big names like Dells that finding help should be relatively easy.
No matter which you buy, (Score:2)
Given that, assuming you really need to have a dual boot windows, it doesn't matter what you buy. So, go with a windows pre-install if you're willing to do some hardware compatibility research ahead of time and want an easy oem discount on windows. Go with a linux pre-install if you either want
"No operating system" != Linux friendly (Score:2)
Dual-boot Ubuntu on a Dell Inspiron 6000 (Score:3, Informative)
-Used PartitionMagic to create ext3, linuxswap, and fat32 partitions prior to ubuntu installation (get it OEM v.8.0 for $20 off PriceGrabber.com)
Out-of-the-box:
The screen brighten/dim function keys work
Touchpad works
Everything else, except what's noted in last section
Used info in the Ubuntu forums to set up the following
-fglrx driver for 3D acceleration with my ATI card
-wpa_supplicant for WPA encryption
-ipw driver for intel wireless
Future projects: (free-time dependent)
-built-in SD card reader does not work yet
-after installing the ATI driver, suspend-to-disk crashes on resume
-suspend-to-RAM crashes on resume 1/3 of time
-external monitor port doesn't work w/ projector
I'm really happy with it so far - the few remaining challenges will only give me an opportunity to learn Linux better.
Re:Dual-boot Ubuntu on a Dell Inspiron 6000 (Score:2)
Amazing that even in a university, people don't trust free software.
advice (Score:5, Informative)
first,
avoid GPUs for power management. i have a radeon x1400 in one laptop but when i use accelerated drivers my power management doesn't work. if you want a laptop to just work get an inbuilt intel chipset. neither the ati or nvidia GPU have good power management in linux at this point.
know that your disk drive will be slow and choose packages and distros carefully based on the hardware specs. I use (k)ubuntu and am up-to-date with dapper6.06 and everything works very well on my dell 600m. suspend to ram works well and hibernate works well also, both with some tweeking.
wifi is quite easy now. many devices have inbuilt drivers in modern kernels or can use ndiswrapper and the windows drivers. configuring wireless networks has not gotten as easy as windows on all distros but in *ubuntu it is quite easy. 'network manager' programs makes it EASIER than windows in my opinion.
most newer laptops are linux compatible as far as the other hardware. i have 2 machines with memory card slots and they work well, also pcmcia devices work very well as long as the device is supported.
really, you should have no problems if you buy the right hardware.
i know that:
dell 600m
dell e1505
compaq m2000
emachines/averatek m5105
all work well. the m2000 does not like suspend to ram though.
good luck
for linux on laptops, try www.linux-laptop.net (Score:3, Informative)
It has some very specific info on getting certain things like touchpads etc to work on some models that could save you HOURS of searching.
http://www.linux-laptop.net/ [linux-laptop.net]
best of luck.
HP (Score:2, Interesting)
Ndiswrapper works the Broadcom wireless nicely, the ATI driver gives me 3D screensavers, the sound works, and I even spent a couple of hours getting the modem working just to see if I could.
I sprung an extra $50 for another 512MB of RAM. I'm loving the crap out of this thing...
Buy Old (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Buy Old (Score:2)
My Experience (Score:2)
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument ?cc=ca&docname=c00500901&lc=en/ [hp.com]
As many other posters have said the ipw2200 drivers are open source and in the kernel, though running fedora I know I had to get the actual ipw firmware from livna since it isn't open source. Howver, this didn't appear to be a problem with a live ubuntu cd (I suspect they include them anyway).
The graphics card is a Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900-, again as oth
My experience, Linux vs Mac (Score:2)
I'm now on a Powerbook, running OS X. Noticing the difference, here are some things to keep in mind:
First: Wireless support on Linux is a bit arcane. My wireless on my Mac is easy enough -- all networks in the area are detected automatically and put on the menu, then it asks me if I want to connect to the best open one, unless it finds one I've told it to "trust
Liv CD to test it out (Score:2, Insightful)
Device drivers (Score:2)
For example I have bought an Asus V6J [ubuntu.com] to run Kubuntu.
It took me one day to finish the installation because the ethernet driver was not in the distribution!
This is the real point with LInux distributions: too much fragmentation of efforts and resources.
HP is a safe option. (Score:3, Informative)
Andrew.
Re:HP is a safe option. (Score:3, Informative)
HP is a shithouse option.
I have a HP NX6125 (and I am fairly happy with it as a cheapie [650 euros], don't get me wrong), but:
1) HP sells two very different laptops [gentoo-wiki.com] under the 6125nx model number - one a 32 bit sempron & the other a 64 bit turion. You cannot trust a company that uses such vastly components inside a box with the same model number.
2) Wireless card not supported (at least in 2.6.15 kernel, I use ndis wrapper, but I don't like it)
3) ATI drivers suck.
Everything else is well supporte
Runnign on a Dell Inpiron 6000 (Score:2)
This site http://rtr.ca/dell_i9300/ [rtr.ca] wa
Time (Score:2)
Otherwise, I would generally recommend not
I'm posting from my laptop... (Score:2)
kernel has support for Toshiba laptops but not HP (Score:2)
laptops i have or had run ubuntu on (Score:4, Informative)
everything works out of the box(even rare
things like suspend and temp sensor) hardware
feels like it was meant to run linux,
including things like 3d accel, screen
brightness (better control than windows)
temp sensor, etc. this is my main laptop.
apple ibook g4 1.25ghz
also runs ubuntu, power management works,
but its not as nice. 3d does work. mostly
run it in os x for when i need a mac at
work, i like the u101 better.
fujitsu p2120
runs fine, couldnt suspend then, probably
can now. everything else works, but that
transmeta chip is slow...
thinkpad A21p ran ubuntu fine, everything worked.
compaq m700 everything worked out of the box in
debian, so ubuntu should be no prob.
the only things to watch out for are acpi (make sure
it can suspend if you care about that) and the wifi card,
unless you want to use a pc-card slot. ubuntu is
good about hardware support.
usually laptops are easier than desktops to run nix on
or at least look up. look up linux laptop sellers and
linux friendly ones ( http://powernotebooks.com/ [powernotebooks.com]
http://www.emperorlinux.com/ [emperorlinux.com] etc) along with all the
sites dedicated to linux laptops. also good to check
bsd sites and see if anyone on #ubuntu is using / looking
at a laptop your interested in.
if you just need windows for a couple school apps,
you might want to use qemu or vmware(player and
server are free) qemus performance isnt bad with
virtualization, but you cant like watch movies
in it and stuff like with vmware. but anyway,
its pretty easy to manage a 3 gig win2k partition
and maybe a backup or two, or just run it in snap
shot mode with another virtual disk for data or
just using the included samba (both qemu and
vmware have this) on a host only network so
windows doesnt get exposed at all.
Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pro V2030 comes with Linux (Score:2)
If you want feature richness I'd suggest getting a ThinkPad. I don't know if lenovo is screwing around, but IBM has been supporting Linux on their Laptops for quite some time now. And the hardware and service is good.
HEAT!!! (Score:2)
Heat is the main issue though. Every distro apart from Slackware maxes out my CPU temperature at 70+ degrees. Only Windows and Slackware manage not to, for some reason. So heads up - be aware that you might have to try a few distros (not necessarily Slack)
Wait for the Turion X2 laptops (Score:2)
Fujitsu Lifebook (Score:2)
The only change I made since I got the machine was to upgrade the memory to 512MB.
Linux on Laptops: The Common Pitfalls (Score:2)
Laptop ACPI tables are the buggiest seen. It's quite common that the laptop designers have used the Microsoft com[iler which has let a whole slew of things which should have been syntax errors get through. Because the Microsoft interpretor is as lax as the compiler Windows will work with it but Linux will often barf on it. This can be anywhere from a mere annoyance to making power management or hardwre operation difficult/buggy/broken.
(2) WiFi
MiniPCI cards, even with the same chipset, may not work w
My experience (Score:2, Informative)
I use it primarily for Internet and documents (open office) and use wireless hotspots most anywhere without worry of all the nasty windoze exploits. I
ThinkPad X60 - Linux Drivers for Everything! (Score:2)
So that's a sweet laptop, just over 3lb, good battery life, and Linux drivers for everything. (I want one!!).
Re:Yeah. Buy a Mac (Score:2)
Why?
I have had a great experience with Ubuntu on my laptop. Wireless, 3d acceleration, and even trackpoint scrolling were all enabled during install. Ubuntu even has an on screen display for the brightness and volume buttons on the Thinkpad without any manual configuration.
Re:Yeah. Buy a Mac (Score:2)
I'm looking at an optional extended life batery that is supposed to give more time. I'm wondering if the bateries in the MAC notbooks are already these extended life bateries or if the note book actualy manages the power better? My dell laptop show it has 4 hours charge remaining in windows and usualy lasts around 2 hours. In linux
Unless you want to right click or run Linux 64. (Score:2)
Intel still hasn't made a 64 bit laptop chip yet.
Melissa
Re:Unless you want to right click or run Linux 64. (Score:2)
Middle click (Score:2)
Thinkpads, although I modified mine to work as a scroller instead, I don't have a problem with left+right==middle. But yes, out of the box, Thinkpads have a real middle button that works.
Re:Unless you want to right click or run Linux 64. (Score:2)
Re:Unless you want to right click or run Linux 64. (Score:2)
That's the first thing that comes to mind.
Re:Unless you want to right click or run Linux 64. (Score:2)
Re:Unless you want to right click or run Linux 64. (Score:2)
Re:Unless you want to right click or run Linux 64. (Score:2)
to right lick it's control click,it's just as fast and you can use both hands to do it that way.
Now when my powerbook is on my desk I have a 3 buttons mouse plus a scroll wheel, and I even pack a 3 button mouse portable mouse in my pack just in case I need to do some editing. At first that doesn't make sense
Re:Yeah. Buy a Mac (Score:3, Interesting)
My Dell Latitude D600 is perfectly happy dual booting XP and Linux. Currently SuSE 10 and everything just works. Have had Ubuntu, Debian (Sarge and Etch), and Fedora on it at some point. Fedora works fine, but I didn't care for it. Ubuntu worked well but had issues with the Intel a/b/g card. Debian was great when it was great, a lot of work when it wasn't depending where I was in the sarge/sid the etch/sid cycle. Debian always hated my docking station as well. The current SuSE 10
Re:Yeah. Buy a Mac (Score:2)
Buy a freaking apple laptop and put linux on it. Works great. Intel or PPC, doesn't matter, that's the beauty of free software.
Re:Some suggestions... (Score:2)
Re:Linux on a laptop (Score:2)
I run Tiger on my G4 800 iBook, as my main OS, but I just got an old laptop from a mate. It's an IBM ThinkPad 600e (P2 397Mhz, 96Mb RAM). I've just installed Xubuntu (The same as Ubuntu, but with XFCE instead of Gnome - it's much lighter). It was a piece of cake, and is excellent to use. I don't think I'll migrate away from my iBook, but if it wasn't for Protools (damn you, Digidesign!) I'd
Re:Linux on a laptop (Score:2)
Dear God, what is it about linux on laptops that brings the OS X fanbois out?
The question was linux on a laptop - not unix. Your reply is about as useful as a windows fanboi saying "Have you considered windows XP and cygwin, it makes for a nice cheap & easy desktop experience"
Some people prefer linux to OS X, for its robustness, speed & highly customizable UI.
Re:I hate to say it ... (Score:2)
The submitter wanted advice for running linux on his laptop & you tell him to buy a Mac & run windows on it.
I dub thee "Sir Fanboi", promoter of Apple, no matter how offtopic you may be.
Re:I hate to say it ... (Score:2)
Yes, here a summary:
Paragraph 1: Use OS X.
Paragraph 2: OS X is fantastic, better then linux.
Paragraph 3: If you must use linux *insert very general advice on intel chipsets, but nothing specific*
The macbook is by far the best value Core Duo laptop available at this point, plus it has the advantage of being able to run not only Linux and Windows but ALSO OSX,
Perhaps as the poster wants to use linux as his primary O/S, he should buy a laptop with fully supported linux hardware?
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