I'm thinking of laptops...

[Face1]

Okay, I'm in the market for a laptop for the first time since becoming a linux user (well...maybe the first time ever, personally). I've been looking around, and I've got a choice that I'm pretty confident with. This is the Fujitsu Lifebook E8210 (http://store.shopfujitsu.com/fpc/Ecommerce/buildseriesbean.do?series=E8210). Now, I'm confident with all of its features, specs, etc...but the one thing that I want to look out for is linux (particularly ubuntu, if it is relevant) compatibility. Sure, I can expect wireless issues, as I've noticed tons of threads concerning the topic, but is there anything else I should be looking out for? I really would like to be able to use linux, and not get stuck with a nice, new WINDOWS laptop. I plan to have both on there, for, you know, my windows needs.

So...any advice?

Also: I'm not positive about my forum choice, I hope this was posted in the right place!

Oh! one more thing (sorry....). If you search for this laptop on teh intarweb, you will find a review and a bunch of blog posts that rave about this laptop's 3G wireless connectivity features. Unfortunately, in the US (this is where I am), this doesn't even seem to be offered with the laptop. It appears to me that this will be a feature in the as yet unrealesed UK/Europe version. Long story short, 3G, or any GPRS, etc, connectivity options are of no interest to me (especially since they aren't available), so I'm sure they'd affect compatibility, but it doesn't matter.

[aysiu]

Have you considered a Linux-preloaded laptop?

http://www.system76.com/
http://www.emperorlinux.com/
http://www.linuxcertified.com/

[Face1]

Have you considered a Linux-preloaded laptop?

No, I hadn't. I was only marginally aware that such a thing existed in the first place, and I'm not really to big on the idea. I happen to really like Lifebooks, and, while I'm sure those computers are of high quality, I'd prefer to buy from a company that I know is reliable and will offer the support I need, if I need it (In terms of hardware, etc).

[Engnome]

All I know is that the core of the system is probably gonna work, Its a centrino platform and many (including me) have reported success with it. For me everything worked right out of the box :D

Gotta buy one of these to put next/over the Xp sticker though ;)
http://linux-schlepptops.de/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=28

[mips]

The modem, card slots, fingerprint reader & programmable buttons might cause some problems.

[Face1]

The modem I don't really care about, as I never use dialup. However, I'd love to be able to use the fingerprint reader (although I don't really need it), programmable buttons, and potentially the card slots. Are you saying that I won't be able to use these, or just that it will be some work to get them to function correctly?

I assume that there is at least one linux biometrics program out there somewhere.

[mips]

The modem I don't really care about, as I never use dialup. However, I'd love to be able to use the fingerprint reader (although I don't really need it), programmable buttons, and potentially the card slots. Are you saying that I won't be able to use these, or just that it will be some work to get them to function correctly?

I assume that there is at least one linux biometrics program out there somewhere.

To be honest I'm taking a stab at it and can't back up my statements with fact. Just going on general feel or past experiences.

I know the fingerprint reader on IBM laptops works or can be made to work.
The majority of card reader devices on laptops use chipsets that dont work.
If the modem is a winmodem then some work & others don't.
Programmable buttons might or might not work.

You best bet is to Google for Linux+Laptop Make+Model to see what other peoples experiences are.

http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/
http://tuxmobil.org/
http://www.djablo.de/8010/
http://www.flipsworld.net/notebook/lifebook_e8020.html

Looks like most things will work from the above links.

[Face1]

Okay so, I was thinking all was good because of the above post and other things I have read, but I just stumbled upon this (https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206/0/www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/linux_8.24.8.html).

As far as I can tell, this is the driver I would need to use to support the ATI mobility Radeon X1400 that the laptop comes with (unfortunately there is not an alternative option other than some intel integrated thing--if you click customize on the laptop link at the top of this thread you will see). About a third of the way down the page, there is a section of known issues, one of which says that the system may hang upon resume from hibernation. This being a laptop, the last thing I would want is my system to hang whenever I open the screen. Should I be worried about this? Do I even need to use this driver in the first place, or will I just be able to use the (presumably inferior in terms of power) default driver?

Additionally I will most likely be using kubuntu (or just kde installed on ubuntu), and I think I saw somewhere that there is a problem with transparency on ATI cards. I could easily do without transparency, although it would be nice to have. But if that is the only issue with having an ATI card, then I don't care.

[awakatanka]

All I know is that the core of the system is probably gonna work, Its a centrino platform and many (including me) have reported success with it. For me everything worked right out of the box :D

Gotta buy one of these to put next/over the Xp sticker though ;)
http://linux-schlepptops.de/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=28
Is the sticker from canonical our did they make it? Isn't it a copyright
logo?

[DaMasta]

My wife used to work at Frys. She was the person responsible for shipping off the damaged goods and taking the orders for warranty repairs. She strongly recommends against Fujitsu laptops. Just a heads up.

[mips]

General opinion in Linux circles are that the ATI drivers suck. Their performance & stability are crippled compared to nVidia. Have a look for yourself on these forums.

I don't really like Fujitsu, had a bad experience with it within the first week, swapped it for a no frills HP which I'm happy with.

[Face1]

My wife used to work at Frys. She was the person responsible for shipping off the damaged goods and taking the orders for warranty repairs. She strongly recommends against Fujitsu laptops. Just a heads up.

Why is that? My father has had a lifebook for over a year and it has been great, and everybody else that I've talked to who has one (a surprisingly large amount of people) really loved theirs, and didn't have any problems.

Mips, yeah I got that idea about the ATI drivers...is it something I should really be worried about?

[mips]

Mips, yeah I got that idea about the ATI drivers...is it something I should really be worried about?

Depends, if you are not worried about 3d acceleration, games and some eye candy stuff then it should be ok. Personally I would not touch it with a 10ft pole. My previouse pc had a ati card, did not take me long to upgrade to nvidia and give the ati away. I will NEVER buy a ati card again in my life until such time as they make better linux drivers.

[DaMasta]

Why is that? My father has had a lifebook for over a year and it has been great, and everybody else that I've talked to who has one (a surprisingly large amount of people) really loved theirs, and didn't have any problems.

Mips, yeah I got that idea about the ATI drivers...is it something I should really be worried about?
She had alot of returns and warranty claims on them. But, go with your gut.

[Face1]

Well in light of the information about ATI drivers you've given me, I think I've eliminated the lifebook as a potential choice. I looked at the new Lenovo Thinkpads, but they also use ATI mobility cards, and the Lenovo non-thinkpad laptops I'm not interested. So I decided to look at VAIOs, even though I've heard that they're stupidly expensive. So afer a bit of looking at them, the Sony Vaio vgn-FE590 (http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_BrowseCatalog-Start?CategoryName=cpu_VAIONotebookComputers_FEMes senger&Dept=computers) seems like a good choice, and it uses an nvidia card. Surprisingly, similarly configured to the lifebook, it is about the same price, so I don't have to worry about that. So I guess I'll ask the original question again--anyone see anything wrong with this choice of laptop for running ubuntu?

[RavenOfOdin]

If you search for this laptop on teh intarweb

:D :D

ahem . . .I never really thought laptops were all that hot. Can't overclock them, and can't change hardware out of them. That last has the potential to REALLY shorten their life span.

[Face1]

ahem . . .I never really thought laptops were all that hot.
Haha, you've clearly never used a dell notebook on your lap before.

Seriously though, I'm more of a desktop guy myself too, I enjoy my large screen monitor and the flexibility that comes with a desktop. But I'm going to university next year, and I think that a laptop will be much more practical--especially with wifi blanketing the place

[Face1]

Okay so with that Vaio FE590 that I mentioned: Like many computers these days, the vaio doesn't ship with a Windows install CD, or any other backup CD. Instead, it has a recovery partition on the hdd. Now, I primarily use ubuntu, but I want to have windows as well, just in case I need it for anything. So, to install ubuntu, I'd probably have to reformat the drive, because I would need a much smaller windows partition. Additionally, I'd pretty much like to get rid of the recover partition too, although it probably isn't that big. But even if I don't care about removing it, I probably will need to, depending where on the drive it is physically located. Thankfully, I can burn the partition to CD or DVD using software that comes with it. According to the Sony FAQ for the FE590:
The Recovery Discs can be used to restore the entire (C:) drive, remove or restore the Recovery Drive partition, or modify or reconfigure RAID options. The Recovery Discs cannot be used to add partitions or modify the size of the (C:) drive. Follow this procedure to perform a system recovery using Recovery Discs.
So the thing is, I will probably need to reinstall windows, as I'll probably wipe the whole drive, but will I be able to do this if the new windows partition is smaller than the original? I don't have another copy of windows that I could install in its place, and I probably wouldn't want to anyway. Does this pose a problem?

[mips]

Does not sound like the recovery disks can change partittion size or do a normal install. Sounds like it simply restores a drive image.

Could always use a livecd with qparted or one of the many free livecds out there with a partition utility.

[Face1]

Could always use a livecd with qparted or one of the many free livecds out there with a partition utility.
Yes, I thought of this, but I'd guess that it'd come formatted with ntfs, and from what I've heard (and experienced a little bit), resizing an ntfs partition is likely to screw things up.

[benplaut]

personally, i'd go for a nice thinkpad T or Z

[Compucore]

If I had a chance I would have gone with ECS laptop over here. I tried one out over here and It wasn't that bad over here. Or Maybe an Acer. Whichs looks okay too. I haven't tried them.

Compucore

[Face1]

personally, i'd go for a nice thinkpad T or Z
Yeah, so would I, if they didn't only have ATIs for them.

Anyway, I was talking over the issue about the restore partition with a friend of mine, and he had a really good solution: If for any reason I need to reinstall windows, I can simply borrow a copy off someone (Which isn't illegal, it's the licenses, not the CD that you buy), and then install it using the windows xp serial number that came with my computer. Then I might need to download some drivers and such from the sony website, but I can deal with that. So I think that I don't have anything to worry about.

[mips]

The IBM/Lenovo 3000 series uses nVidia.

[newbie2]

Transforming an XP Laptop into a Dual-Boot XP/Ubuntu Linux System
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2006/05/08/dual-boot-laptop.html?CMP=OTC-0O724Z062301&ATT=Creating+a+Dual-Boot+Windows+XP+and+Ubuntu+Laptop
8)

[Compucore]

You could do that too. Or use two seperate 2.5 inch hard drives and just change the drive out. I've done it several times when I was checking out another hard drive from another think pad that was given to me. Leave one with windows and the other ubuntu. Or other unix based os on it.

Compucore
:D

Transforming an XP Laptop into a Dual-Boot XP/Ubuntu Linux System
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2006/05/08/dual-boot-laptop.html?CMP=OTC-0O724Z062301&ATT=Creating+a+Dual-Boot+Windows+XP+and+Ubuntu+Laptop
8)