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coolblue
July 19th, 2005, 06:58 PM
Hi all

I have very little knowledge so I wanted to ask 2 simple questions:
1. What would be the best laptop to run Linux?
2. What would be the best distro for a laptop?

GUIDELINES

The whole idea behind these questions is COMPATIBILITY and EASE OF SETTING THINGS UP (like adsl ethernet broadband, display etc.)

Assume that the laptop would be used for common desktop activities like playing games, watching movies, creating spreadsheets, surfing etc.

The distro should be FREE for download currently. It may or may not be commercial. For example Suse 9.3 Pro is commercial but is FREE for download now.

Let me know the best solutions there are for newbies.
Hope u got my point.

Thanks

coolblue
July 19th, 2005, 07:00 PM
Forgot to ask another important question: Does any laptop company actually claim to support Linux? Bcoz stupid Acer declares "We do not support Linux"!

Thanks

BWF89
July 19th, 2005, 07:31 PM
They sell Laptops with the commercial Linspire preinstalled so it must run on the laptop pretty well. You can download the open source parts of it's code but I don't know if you can actually download and burn it to a DVD or CDR.

http://www.linspire.com/

somuchfortheafter
July 19th, 2005, 07:41 PM
toshibas are pretty linux friendly, what i use, notice the sig lol. I've heard wonderful things of ibms as well.

ninotob
July 19th, 2005, 07:57 PM
....
1. What would be the best laptop to run Linux?
2. What would be the best distro for a laptop?
...
The whole idea behind these questions is COMPATIBILITY and EASE OF SETTING THINGS UP (like adsl ethernet broadband, display etc.)
....
Thanks
Here's my experience w/ Ubuntu on laptops:


Toshiba Dynabook DB65P/4RA. PIII 600, Orinoco Classic Gold PCMCIA. Note: don't follow the model numbers unless you are looking at Japanese info, this is a model marketed and sold in Japan and it doesn't match US numbering. That said, everything works perfectly (I keymap to US keyboard -- makes some interesting hunt and peck sometimes). Sound, eraserhead pointer, usb (keyboard, mouse, HD shell, CF reader), wireless -- all works out of the box (Orinoco drivers need some compiling if you plan on doing special things, but for regular usuage -- it's good to go from the install).
Mac iBook clamshell with original airport card. Works fine -- trackpad is recognized, wireless works, usb works -- Firewire drives work if attached during startup. Alternatively, you can make hotplug "work" by plugging in the device, "sudo rmmod ohci1394" and then "sudo modprobe ohci1394" -- at least the short version worked for me, here's the longer version (http://www.linux1394.org/faq.php#sbp2trouble). I can't remember if sound worked.
Mac Powerbook, 1.5ghz (new model). Only tried the livecd -- trackpad definitely not working out of the box, didn't test sound or hotpluggable devices. Didn't test wireless -- the trackpad issue was a deal breaker for me, although there may be fixes by now.

poofyhairguy
July 19th, 2005, 07:59 PM
Forgot to ask another important question: Does any laptop company actually claim to support Linux? Bcoz stupid Acer declares "We do not support Linux"!

Thanks

There is one very, very good option for you. Look here:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/05/23/21OPopenent_1.html

HP models "nx6110, nc6120, nc6220, nc6230, and nc6000, as well as the nc4200 subnotebook" are made to work good with Ubuntu.

I have heard that its true...even suspend works out of the box. I think this is the best option. Second best is a old Thinkpad (IBM like Linux).

EDIT: The link says this offer does not apply to the U.S., but if you look in Froogle the you will find that its easy to buy these laptops even in the US. I think that means they won't promote it here....

NoTiG
July 19th, 2005, 08:28 PM
It depends on what your doing. are you going to game? then get one with an Nvidia. IF not then ATI is okay... my laptop works great with linux and i wrote an extensive howto to get it working properly:

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=34904&highlight=emachines

Just a couple of things to consider. THe company that made this was NOT the same as their desktop... it is a quality machine with one caveat: the casing has a problem where it developes minute superficial cracks on the hinges. I have had this laptop almost constantly on for over a year with no problems and it works with linux. To get similar specs in a laptop... even a year later... you will have to spend like 1.2k but you can find my latop for like 800 bucks. actually the one for 800 is two levels above mine... an athlon 3400 xp 64 bit processor, 80 gb hard drive and dvdwriter. 15.4 inch widescreen... 512 MB ram. If i was doing it over again i would get that model ... i think its the 6811 .. and upgrade the harddrive to 7200 RPM, and stick a 1GB stick of ram in there. so you would have 1.2 mb of ram. it would cost like 300 bux but.. so 1100 in all for: athlon 3400, 7200 rpm hard drive, 1.2 GB of ram, dvd writer. Its battery life is okay... nothing special, about 2 hours. not as portable as a centrino. its like 7 pounds so its not super lite, its meant as a desktop replacement / take around with you in your house so you dont have to stay at the desk. emachines was bought by gateway btw so its discontinued which is why its so cheap.......

benplaut
July 19th, 2005, 09:20 PM
first of all, your aren't going to find ANY companies (well, maybe one or two) that support Linux... they aren't allowed to because of their contracts with Microsoft.

thinkpads generally work very well with linux, i have one and know several people who had little or no trouble getting EVERYTHING to work.

as for what distro... you're asking in Ubuntu Forums, so everyone is going to say ubuntu :roll: , although i personally find the likes of SuSE or Mandr___ more suited to new users...


have fun, and try many! :grin:

somuchfortheafter
July 19th, 2005, 09:39 PM
first of all, your aren't going to find ANY companies (well, maybe one or two) that support Linux... they aren't allowed to because of their contracts with Microsoft. :

what are you talking about?

matthew
July 19th, 2005, 10:25 PM
Take a look at this page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupportMachinesLaptops for the thoughts and experiences of some Ubuntu users. You can also take a look at Google: type "linux laptop" and you are likely to find a few more pages that should be helpful.

DarthBagel
July 19th, 2005, 11:55 PM
I use a compaq x1000 (same as a hp nx7000 pretty much) and everything works... well except for the suspend. There used to be an entire forum dedicated to my lappy... but unfortunately its been down for awhile. X1000 Forums (http://www.x1000forums.com) .

benplaut
July 20th, 2005, 12:05 AM
what are you talking about?

i thought i read that somewhere... i guess not :roll:

ProNoblem
July 20th, 2005, 12:19 AM
When I bought my laptop, I first checked http://www.linux-laptop.net/ if there were any compatibility issues.

I've got a Toshiba A10 right now, not so much a powerfull gamesbeast which will stunn you with razorsharp and superfast graphics but more a wordprocessing/surfing and mail-teddybear (to me atleast) ;)

Everything worked out of the box with Ubuntu btw, I was rather bafled that I didn't have to configure everything.. (I had the whole evening/night planned for installing Ubuntu and it was finished within the hour..)
From what I hear from my friends, they're all very satisfied with their Toshiba laptops, also good support on their hardware (don't know the modelnumbers..)

Edit: Forgot the specs of my lappy
CPU: Intel Celeron 2.2GHz
RAM: 512MB (256MB standard in one slot)
HDD: 30GB
Video: Intel onboard 845 with a 1024x768 16bits LCD (Intel 810 driver is working flawless)
Sound: Intel onboard

macgyver2
July 20th, 2005, 02:48 AM
first of all, your aren't going to find ANY companies (well, maybe one or two) that support Linux... they aren't allowed to because of their contracts with Microsoft.

A little more on that...I found out the hard way three years ago when I bought my Fujitsu Lifebook P-2040. I spent a total of three hours or so spread across several phone calls trying to get them to just let me buy the computer with a blank harddrive and give me the credit equal to whatever their price for a windows license was. No go. After several levels of support I was finally handed off to a manager who told me the whole story about not being able to do what I asked because of the contracts...

But anyway, no problems with my notebook and Linux, though I don't think that'll help as much since it's older and Fujitsu isn't using the Crusoe processor anymore (since Transmeta isn't making them anymore after their re-alignment).

poofyhairguy
July 20th, 2005, 07:31 AM
what are you talking about?

The reason HP can only ship you a cd with Ubuntu on it for laptops meant for the OS. The absolute worst thing about MS in my opinion (well...besides the idea to use trusted computing to hold onto marketshare) is their agreements.

The are legal but nasty. Basically if you ship a desktop PC from your company without a MS OS (besides free dos for some reason), then your company loses the right to buy OEM copies of the OS. Since that would double the price of Windows for these companies, none of the biggest sell a desktop Linux solution. It too risky.

My hope is that one day HP will finally get something out of the mistake of acquiring Compaq- use Compaq for Linux machines (all Linux machines, as Compaq would lose access to OEM MS copies) and HP for Windows machines. Keep Compaq far enough away to not break the license agreement with MS on the HP side.

Of course, this plan of action is too smart for retarded HP.

WirelessMike
July 20th, 2005, 02:49 PM
poofyhairguy:
The reason HP can only ship you a cd with Ubuntu on it for laptops meant for the OS. The absolute worst thing about MS in my opinion (well...besides the idea to use trusted computing to hold onto marketshare) is their agreements.

The are legal but nasty. Basically if you ship a desktop PC from your company without a MS OS (besides free dos for some reason), then your company loses the right to buy OEM copies of the OS. Since that would double the price of Windows for these companies, none of the biggest sell a desktop Linux solution. It too risky.

My hope is that one day HP will finally get something out of the mistake of acquiring Compaq- use Compaq for Linux machines (all Linux machines, as Compaq would lose access to OEM MS copies) and HP for Windows machines. Keep Compaq far enough away to not break the license agreement with MS on the HP side.

Of course, this plan of action is too smart for retarded HP.

This would be so excellent... and the ONLY way I would consider purchasing a Compaq laptop.

Also-- No matter how unfair an agreement like this may seem, it pales in comparison to the deals Intel makes in regards to AMD. A laptop with an Athlon XP-M processor AND Linux... Now THERE'S a find!

miscz
July 20th, 2005, 03:14 PM
The reason HP can only ship you a cd with Ubuntu on it for laptops meant for the OS. The absolute worst thing about MS in my opinion (well...besides the idea to use trusted computing to hold onto marketshare) is their agreements.

The are legal but nasty. Basically if you ship a desktop PC from your company without a MS OS (besides free dos for some reason), then your company loses the right to buy OEM copies of the OS. Since that would double the price of Windows for these companies, none of the biggest sell a desktop Linux solution. It too risky.
Intel made companies buy only their processors by using such agreements and now is being accused because of this by AMD. I guess it's illegal.

NoTiG
July 20th, 2005, 03:24 PM
Intel made companies buy only their processors by using such agreements and now is being accused because of this by AMD. I guess it's illegal.

interesting. but who will dare face MS? AMD actually has resources to pull something like that off. Who would face MS? Not mac since they don't apply............ Something IS wrong with the way microsoft conducts its business with OEM's even though its "legal" . just because something is legal doesnt make it right...........

somuchfortheafter
July 20th, 2005, 03:43 PM
i for one have sworn to myself if i am ever near gates, i will kick him in the face for all of us. It't not that I dont like gates, I just think his financial status has somewhat distorted his grasp of reality.....

miscz
July 20th, 2005, 07:42 PM
interesting. but who will dare face MS? AMD actually has resources to pull something like that off. Who would face MS? Not mac since they don't apply............
Notebook manufacturers, it's in their best interest to increase diversity in OSes available for their computers. Somebody could buy a notebook from some other company because they offered Linux based ones. I think it won't be long before it actually happens. It's IMO matter of about 5 years when Linux will be a bit more recognizable among regular computer users and there will be opportunity to make some money.

wrtrdood
July 20th, 2005, 07:45 PM
I have a Fujitsu Lifebook P1120 and everything (except the touchscreen) was configured and worked first time after installing Ubuntu. Hard to beat that.

I've also installed Ubuntu and other distros on an Acer Travelmate 520, Compaq 1230, and a Sony Vaio. I've had very little trouble with any of these.

A lot will depend on what you want to do with the machine. Decide that and then research which unit works the best for you. Be sure to visit http://www.linux-laptop.net. It will save you a lot of trouble.

coolblue
July 24th, 2005, 02:55 PM
I have a Fujitsu Lifebook P1120 and everything (except the touchscreen) was configured and worked first time after installing Ubuntu. Hard to beat that.

I've also installed Ubuntu and other distros on an Acer Travelmate 520, Compaq 1230, and a Sony Vaio. I've had very little trouble with any of these.

A lot will depend on what you want to do with the machine. Decide that and then research which unit works the best for you. Be sure to visit http://www.linux-laptop.net. It will save you a lot of trouble.
Thanks a lot for your all ur advice & suggestions. Thanks:)

coolblue
July 24th, 2005, 02:55 PM
Thanks a lot for your all ur advice & suggestions. Thanks:)

Ubunted
July 24th, 2005, 04:12 PM
I have an older IBM - A22m 1Ghz. Hoary detects everything nicely and while some things like suspend and hibernate don't work out of the box, it runs quite happily on it otherwise.

One of Breezy's goals is to be totally compatible with any laptop sold recently by IBM, Toshiba, HP etc. Clicky clicky. (http://udu.wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopMission) Very interesting stuff.

dmneoblade
July 26th, 2005, 09:25 AM
Dells are very nice laptops... expecially if you want to put Linux on them. And, if you call thier small-buisiness line... they support Linux. o.O
May only be Red-Hat, but, hell, its a start. ^_^

PS: No problems getting Hoary on my Inspirion 1150. Easy to install as firefox. ^_^

bearbigears
July 30th, 2005, 07:04 PM
Ubuntu loaded up very easy and recognized everything on my Dell Inspiron 8200. i cannot beging to tell you my struggles with othe linux distro's. i also can't say enough about how happy i am to be unleashed from windows, it is so much fun.

\\:D/

ComputerGeek31618
June 18th, 2008, 05:10 PM
as for what distro... you're asking in Ubuntu Forums, so everyone is going to say ubuntu :roll: ,

Xubuntu would certainly be good for laptops just because it's fast. As far as I know (which may not be much,) most laptops, unless they have uncommon hardware, should run Linux fine. As for certain ones that don't, I don't know.

damphoud
June 18th, 2008, 05:15 PM
[QUOTE=benplaut;262463]
as for what distro... you're asking in Ubuntu Forums, so everyone is going to say ubuntu :roll: , [QUOTE]

Xubuntu would certainly be good for laptops just because it's fast. As far as I know (which may not be much,) most laptops, unless they have uncommon hardware, should run Linux fine. As for certain ones that don't, I don't know.


I think you may be a few years too late. :)