laptop

Polanski · #1 02-12-2008, 10:48 AM

To whom it may concern,

Can Anyone suggest a laptop that is out on newegg that I can buy new. Are there any good laptop deals on newegg, laptops that have stable support for any linux os? I was thinking about buying this one:

Acer Aspire AS5520-5579 NoteBook AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60(2.00GHz) 15.4" Wide XGA 2GB DDR2 667 250GB 5400rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce 7000M - Retail

But any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I would like to buy one that is the same size as the one I listed above.

**happybunny** · #2 02-12-2008, 01:31 PM

Short of picking an entire laptop, the two parts that would concern me are the video card and the wireless card.

just make sure those 2 are listed somewhere official as supported and everything else should be fine.

psych-major · #3 02-12-2008, 02:42 PM

I'm currently running a Thinkpad T60P from NewEgg. I dual boot XP and Ubuntu 7.04. I was unable to get Ubuntu 7.10 working due to the ATI Video card and Atheros wireless.

That model appears to be updated to the T61, which I notice has an nVidia video card and Intel Wireless. It should work nicely with about any distro.

Also, check out the Acers. If they look strangely familiar it's because they OEM these to Dell to be Latitudes and Inspirons, the latter of which of course are now shipping from Dell with Ubuntu 7.10, so I'm guessing it would also work just fine on the Acer.

Good luck and happy shopping!

Footnote: Dell is now shipping the XPS laptops with Ubuntu pre-installed...

**ph34r** · #4 02-12-2008, 02:49 PM

Happy user of a Dell D520 (buy it as a small business). Only upgrade I did was bump ram to 1gb and change the broadcom wireless to intel wireless. With Ubuntu 7.10, the change on teh wireless shouldn't be needed.

Or you could buy an Ubuntu laptop direct from Dell - it will let them know that there is demand out there for them so they will continue to support/offer them. I would've done this, but they made the announcement about them 3 days after I got the laptop.

psych-major · #5 02-12-2008, 05:53 PM

I'm getting ready to select a laptop myself, just found some very reasonably priced refurb Inspiron 1420 laptops at the Dell outlet.

These currently have Vista, but are actually the model that Dell sells with Ubuntu 7.10, so obviously should support Linux quite well!
Link

**bwkaz** · #6 02-12-2008, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ph34r

...and change the broadcom wireless to intel wireless. With Ubuntu 7.10, the change on teh wireless shouldn't be needed.

Depending on which Broadcom chipset, anyway.

(There are some chipsets that only support the version-4 firmware, not the version-3 firmware. V3 is the latest that the bcm43xx driver (in Ubuntu 7.10) supports. The new b43 driver in kernel 2.6.24 supports the version-4 firmware, but Ubuntu 7.10 won't get an upgrade to that kernel. You can, however, install the newer kernel from the repositories for the next planned Ubuntu release, or you can wait a few months until it actually does get released. Either way, there's a workaround, although neither is the greatest workaround at the moment.)

Alpine CH · #7 02-14-2008, 02:51 AM

Being a Debian/Lenny user with a AMD64 laptop (it's a Dell Inspiron 1501) I have to say Lenny has little problems running it. The only problem I have is the bcm43xx (don't know whether its V3 or V4). At first I used Ndiswrapper since I couldn't get the naive to work. When I had to do a re-install recently, I tried the native linux drivers.

I have to say that I am not really impressed by the native bcm43xx drivers. The speed is not higher then 24Mbps where Ndiswrapper allows 54Mbps. Besides that the connection to the wireless access point is more stable with Ndiswrapper. I had to reconnect while sitting in the next door room way more times than with ndiswrapper. So I was forced to use ndiswrapper instead of the native ones.

Does any one have similar experience, actually?

Cheers,
Bart

psych-major · #8 02-14-2008, 12:49 PM

I had good luck with Ubuntu on my previous Dell Latitude D820 that had the Intel 3945 wifi and an nVidia graphics adapter...

**bwkaz** · #9 02-14-2008, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alpine CH

The only problem I have is the bcm43xx (don't know whether its V3 or V4).

If it's bcm43xx, then you must be using v3 firmware -- because that's the only firmware that the bcm43xx driver supports. And if your wireless is working at all, then the firmware is fine (or at least supported). So, I'd say it's v3.

Quote:

The speed is not higher then 24Mbps where Ndiswrapper allows 54Mbps.

I suspect, but don't know for sure, that this may be due to the fact that the bcm43xx drivers were reverse-engineered, and weren't actually written to the hardware specs (because Broadcom is dumb enough to think that keeping their hardware specs secret actually helps them). The b43 driver was also written that way, but since it's a second-generation reverse-engineering, it's probably going to work at least a bit better. (Plus it has the benefit of the DeviceScape (mac80211) stack, that the bcm43xx driver had to do on its own. I'm not sure if that will speed it up much, but it may.)

irlandes · #10 02-15-2008, 01:41 PM

>>I'm currently running a Thinkpad T60P from NewEgg. I dual boot XP and Ubuntu 7.04. I was unable to get Ubuntu 7.10 working due to the ATI Video card and Atheros wireless.

Gasp. I just posted another thread, asking about an Atheros card, which 7.10 did not recognize, and I wondered if the card was bad. Perhaps you have given me a major clue!

Also, I have purchased a Dell Vostros 1000, and I think it has ATI card. I probably should not try 7.10, huh?

psych-major · #11 02-15-2008, 01:47 PM

Well, the major point of 7.10 was built-in restricted drivers, ironically.

I know a lot of people have 7.10 working with no issues, but on my Thinkpad, I'm staying with 7.04, because frankly it works and I'm happy with it.

For the Atheros card you mention, install the Ubuntu restricted kernel headers, the build-essential package and SVN, and then manually install madwifi from the SVN repository.

irlandes · #12 02-15-2008, 02:05 PM

I will note this, as well. Will try Mepis, but may take a look at this.

I had tried madwifi on my Kubuntu 7.04, but it would not compile, and I bet that stuff you said to get is why. I will look into it as soon as I get back with more CD's and groceries. Thanks, I will try to give feedback, and mark solved if I do.

Polanski · #13 02-20-2008, 02:27 PM

I am now looking for a pc laptop that can run macosx leopard or can run it flawlessly straight out of the box as close as possible. The price I am aiming for is $450-500 and would like a webcam to come with it if that is possible. Are there any pc laptops out there that can run macosx leopard straight out of the box without any problems?

JayMan8081 · #14 02-20-2008, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polanski

I am now looking for a pc laptop that can run macosx leopard or can run it flawlessly straight out of the box as close as possible. The price I am aiming for is $450-500 and would like a webcam to come with it if that is possible. Are there any pc laptops out there that can run macosx leopard straight out of the box without any problems?

Legally you can't run Leopard on a PC. Only Apple hardware can run Mac OS X. If you're interested in finding an Apple laptop then your best bet would be Apple forums or eBay.

Polanski · #15 02-20-2008, 03:02 PM

I am still looking for a laptop between $450-500 that runs centos 5.1 flawlessly straightout of the box. Preferably the size of the one I posted in the beginning and also with a webcam if that is possible?