NotebookForums.com › Forums › General Notebook Discussions › Linux & Other OS's › I need a laptop. Yet another help me pick thread (even though I'm new) :)
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

I need a laptop. Yet another help me pick thread (even though I'm new) :)

post #1 of 7
5/28/06 at 4:01pm
Thread Starter 
I need a laptop that can run GNU/Linux pretty well. At this point Xgl is only running on non-free binary propreitary drivers AFAIK. So I don't believe I will be shelling out any extra dough for the video card to be nice because I don't want to use the non-free drivers. Its probably safe to say I won't be using xgl at all, unless free drivers are release that supports it, which doens't look likely. Thats okay, because I'll remain free without those features, and still have a damn nice desktop.

So I what I want you to help me with is picking out a $900 computer that can run X. It doens't have to have a cd burner but a bootable dvd drive would be nice. 1024x768 is minimal I would say, higher would be nice (never actually used X out of this range). Used/refurb is okay with me, as long as it comes with a decent warranty. USB would be nice. Firewire is okay to leave out.

If you guys could name a business that specializes in selling refurbs that would be cool.

If the price goes up a little bit I think i could swing it with a summer job or something. I would prefer to save money rather than get a uber machine, which is why I need you guys to help me feel out what exact hardware requirements I need. My philosophy is why spend more on hardware than you need to?

I think the biggest hurdles are video and wireless drivers.


I should probably add that I favor the old thinkpads because the keyboard is so nice (NO WINDOWS KEY )
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 7
5/28/06 at 7:23pm
Sager 9750 running Suse 10.1 here
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 7
5/28/06 at 7:45pm
Well, if you want to save money, you probably don't want to go with the thinkpads. BTW, I believe that thinkpads include the Windows key, at least since Lenovo acquired them.

For any computer around $900, you will get a laptop with an integrated GPU. These are pretty well supported under linux (without proprietary drivers). For wireless, you will have to be careful, or you might have to end up having to use ndiswrapper. As for suggestions, just look in the general notebook discussion forum and you will see a load of threads from people asking for budget laptops. Once you find a few configurations you like, go online and see what other people had to do to get linux working on them.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 7
5/28/06 at 10:53pm
thinkpads are pretty good on linux. i gave ubuntu a run on my T23. I think that most any modern laptop will run modern linux (read: kernel 2.16+ and udev) quite well. some things that would be nicer are an nVdia graphics, Intel AC97 sound, and Atheros wireless, but just about anything else will work too. Get a laptop you love first, then build your linux around it, not the other way around
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 7
5/30/06 at 11:27pm
Someone in another forum recommended a thinkpad 240 off of ebay to me and i bought one

It runs kubuntu decently, but i had to get a ram upgrade(new ram should be here tomorrow) cause 64mb just wasnt cutting it. I also bought a wifi card for it(not here yet either) and the total came out to 200 bucks including shipping and taxes.

What exactly are you going to be using this laptop for? there are a ton of different laptops that run linux well and other than for basic stuff, the 240 just doesnt cut it.

I havent tried to do any webbrowsing on it yet cause i dont have internet, but i can use it for typing and hte sound card in it is really nice. Honestly, i bought the wifi card more so that i would be able to use apt than to be able to browse the web. KDE is a little heavy for it so i want to try playing with enlightenment 16 as well as some boxes and maybe even E17.

As far as xgl goes, you can get a lot of laptops that will run XGL that have free drivers. All intel centrino laptops without a dedicated video card use an opensource driver thats part of x.org. Not to mention, all centrinos have integrated wifis that also use OS drivers that are in the kernel. Most centrino laptops will work 100% out of the box in kubuntu dapper with no non-free software.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 7
5/31/06 at 12:32am
xgl will run on just about any modern ati / nvidia card very well. wireless will almost 100% work, just to be sure ipw2100 and ipw2200, atheros (madwifi), and prism2 all deffinatly work with native linux drivers. broadcom card support is limited and will most likely require ndiswrapper.

drizek, as for your ibm... if i were you i'd install an ubuntu server from the cd, and then connect to a network and install xubuntu-desktop. xfce4 will most deffinatly solve the slow issue you have with kde without having to worry about setting up e17 through svn or whatever.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 7
5/31/06 at 1:36am
im looking more at e16 because i need the stability, but i want to wait till my ram arrives to see if KDE improves with that. Right now its sluggish even with openbox. It makes sense because every time i open a new program, it would have to offload something else into swap to make room for the new one in ram, which makes it very slow no matter what DE im using. If all else fails, i can always just install DSL. AFAIK, it is debian based so i will be able to install all the apps i need from it.

And just to clarify, even intel integrated graphics can run xgl(aiglx would be a better option though). he doesnt want ati/nvidia cards because they use non-free drivers, so intel is the best choice(it also gets better battery life this way, and is cheaper, thinner, lighter and runs cooler).
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Linux & Other OS's
NotebookForums.com › Forums › General Notebook Discussions › Linux & Other OS's › I need a laptop. Yet another help me pick thread (even though I'm new) :)