[ILUG] Linux Laptop

[Eoin Hennessy]

I've been running Gentoo on a 2nd Gen. Macbook (Core 2 Duo) for a few
months. The hardware is very well supported, and by an entirely free
stack, e.g. Intel graphics so no binary blobs courtesy of ATI, nVidia
(and very good support in Xorg). Wifi (madwifi_ng), suspend/resume,
audio, camera etc.. all worked with only minor hacking.

I dual-boot between OSX and Gentoo, but adding XP to the mix is
straightforward. The only hitch might be that the Intel GPU won't cut
it for gaming. That said, I have seen Halflife2 run very well on the
Macbook.

I decided to go for the Macbook mainly because they're reasonably
cheap, and known to be well supported by all major distributions,
meaning endless support is readily available [0]. It seems to me that
if you want assured, rock solid Linux support, the only other option
is IBM/Lenovo but the price increases dramatically.

Eoin

[0] http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_Apple_MacBook

On 7/2/07, ollie at eillo.org <ollie at eillo.org> wrote:
>
> Hi Guys,
>         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.
>
> Im not fussy about hardaware in general, my only requirement is that it has some kind of a gaming capable graphics card.
>
> 1)      I never had any huge problems getting ATI graphics cards to run on my desktop box (though without 3d support). What is support like for laptop cards, and if its not picked up automatically how easy/difficult is it going to be if I have to do it manually. I realize this varys between manufacturers and models , im really looking for people opinions and in particular experiences.
> 2)      If you have a laptop that falls roughly in the category of what im looking for id like to hear what your experience has been like with that particular make/model. Notably if you would recommend it or warn me away from it!
>
> I have already searched the internet and there is a lot of information out there but id like a few personal opinions / experiences before I buy.
>
> BTW: Gaming will be on windows so full graphics support on Linux is desirabel but not essential.
>
> - Oliver
>
>
> --
> Irish Linux Users' Group mailing list
> About this list : http://mail.linux.ie/mailman/listinfo/ilug
> Who we are : http://www.linux.ie/
> Where we are : http://www.linux.ie/map/
>