[ILUG] Linux Laptop

[Michael Watterson]

Josh Glover wrote:
> On 02/07/07, ollie at eillo.org <ollie at eillo.org> wrote:
>
>> Im planning on buying a laptop. Spending about €1000 give or atke a 
>> bit. I dont particularly care which brand it, though id prefer to 
>> aviod DELL. It will need to dualboot windows and linux. Ill be 
>> running Arch Linux which leans toward the DIY side of things so id 
>> prefer one that has reasonably standard set of hardware thats not 
>> going to break my heart trying to get everything working.
>
At that price range I would not avoid Dell. Avoid their cheapest (too 
cut down) and most expensive (overpriced). I'd avoid Toshiba and Sony 
:-) Too many new models have shiny screens.

A new Core Duo 1.6GHz Toshiba is slower than my old Inspiron 8200, 
running Vista, or wiped and XP installed.

I have an old Dell latitude D505 and everything works on it from the CD 
default install of Fedora core 6, Centos, Ubuntu fiesty Fawn and Kbuntu 
Fiesty fawn.

My Inspiron 8200 is over 5 years old and still a good laptop, never had 
to reinstall its XP pro and it runs Linux via VMplayer. I gave up dual 
boot years ago, though needed if you are developing device drivers. The 
Debian running on the VMplayer is fine for everything except device 
drivers (LAN, CD/DVD drive, copy/paste).

For DirectX games, XP rather than Vista is still the way to go. Avoid 
buying anything with Vista unless you know all the XP drivers are 
available. It's only the MS Direct X 10 games that need Vista. Other 
Direct X 10 games support DX9 as game developers are not entirely stupid.

Running Linux as Host and Windows as Guest in VM player will not let 
DirectX or Dirtect3D work in any sensible fashion.

Acer are OK and competitive.
> Burn yourself a KNOPPIX or Gentoo LiveCD and take it to the store. Ask
> permission to boot off the CD. Make sure all of the hardware works.
>
> In the States, at least, salespeople are usually cooperative once you
> make it clear that their only chance of getting a sale is to let you
> check out the hardware your way. In Japan, things are harder, but
> smaller hobby shops and even some of the big boys in Akihabara will
> let you have at it.
>
> Anyone tried this in Eire?
>
Only with DVD players and a homemade SVCD.

Most Retail in Ireland have a poor selection IMO.

-- 
Mike