I would suggest a good starting place is the dell or ubuntu sites. At the very least it will give you a list of components that work in linux. Ubuntu's site: http://www.ubuntu.com/dell Dell's site (US): http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs If you're more interested in seeing what others have gone through you may want to check the following websites out: http://www.linux-on-laptops.com http://tuxmobil.org/mylaptops.html Thanks, Sacha ----- Original Message ---- From: Allan Fields <afields [ at ] ncf [ dot ] ca> To: OCLUG Technical <linux [ at ] lists [ dot ] oclug [ dot ] on [ dot ] ca> Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2007 1:11:57 PM Subject: [OCLUG-Tech] Linux Laptop Recommendations While X-Window shopping for laptops, I've come to some conclusions: There are two target laptops: 1. Mini/mid-sized business laptop (12" screen, long battery life w/ power-saving) - Suitable for lower-power/low-heat computing on the go - Used to work on documents, presentations and browsing/email/SSH mostly - Powerful enough to support decent multimedia playback, but not content creation - Small profile, light-weight 2. Enterprise ready desktop/workstation replacement (15"-19" screen, high-speed processor, extra RAM, fast HD) - Suitable for compiling code and Linux packages/kernels - Used to run virtualized (Xen and/or VMWare, etc. guest VMs), supports multiple Operating Systems - Excellent for heavy disk IO, CPU and memory intensive tasks - Suitable for tasks such as heavy office/document processing, graphics and video editing (nice to haves) - Multiple battery packs - Multiple Hard-drives (RAID?) - Rugged construction While I'm not a fan off small screens on a laptop and so am pleased at the 15"-19" models on the market, I think each size has its specific niche/fit and it would be nice to have the best of both worlds: power-savings and large display/resolution. The following must be true. * The Laptop must run recent Linux kernels and have half-decent driver support (no broken hardware), ongoing support in recent kernels would be nice; * full power management/ACPI support, suspend/resume (suspend-to- ram, etc.); * supported WiFi and ethernet; * fully supported video with proper graphics chipset support and X.org configs for all supported resolutions/modes * preferably able to use internal and external video (for presenting) with minimal hassle (like Apple laptops) * audio and capture devices (pre-installed and properly configured drivers); * able to close the laptop lid and re-open it, with appropriate power-management. Way back when, there was a presentation by a local computer company selling Linux installed machines. Can someone please confirm the name, I believe the present was from Mooney's Bay, though I see nothing on their website indicating they sell pre-configured Linux laptops or systems. (http://www.mooneysbay.com) A google search for companies selling Linux Laptops turns up: * http://www.system76.com/ (USA) * http://www.linuxcertified.com/linux_laptops.html (USA) * http://www.emperorlinux.com/ (USA) * (the one canadian online retailer I found was a tad dated: System500 or something) What I don't want is a laptop I end up spending hours/days screwing around with, as that is not my primary motivation. The primary goal being to use the machine in production to get actual work done vs. meta-work. IT management at a large company, would/should roast Hardware Vendors / Microsoft if they ship broken base Windows install/ drivers and they needed to outfit their employees with laptops for critical business on which significant contracts/deals were dependent on. A general consensus seems to have been reached that Lenovo models are the most tried and tested Linux Laptops (IBM ThinkPad line). The following URL was suggested: * http://www.google.com/products?q=sxga%2B+thinkpad +x61&hl=en&client=iceweasel-a&rls=org.debian:en- US:unofficial&um=1&sa=X&oi=froogle&ct=title I was actually looking at Eurocom (http://www.eurocom.com), for flexibility of hardware choice, however I didn't get a final/official word on Linux support. Their line looks nice (comments?) and they are a local/Ottawa-based retailer. So it would be really nice, if they could sell Linux Laptops w/ full support through some sort of an arrangement with local Linux skilled worker knowledge base/local support companies. From the looks of it, support is not full, and in many cases the official vendor word is unsupported: [ http:// www.eurocom.com/support/linux/comchart.htm ] No sound, or video in generic VESA only, isn't reassuring to someone who is going to ostensibly cough up $2k-3k for a Linux laptop. I would more likely laugh in their faces if they claim that is a Linux- supported laptop. The following are informational URLs: * http://tuxmobil.org/ (Hardware compatibility and HOWTOs) * http://www.linux-laptop.net/ Here are some flash based light-weight Linux (sub-)notebooks with custom pre-installed OS (availability?): * http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS9292516116.html * http://www.olpc.com Aside: The thing with true to blue Linux techs, is they'll get it running even if there was no support previously, a little proprietary hardware cannot frighten anyone, right? Well it helps when you have vendor backing and a team of programmers working on the inside. And then there is the Make It Work option:. That's when they cheat on you and, you don't care, you take the abuse and continue writing yet another proprietary video driver and hack up a kernel patch in two nights. But the price to be paid: your life temporarily goes from, hmm.. I think I'll use this machine for __ to; look <IrcBudy> I finally made this obscure chipset work and it only took 3 weeks, it'll only take another month to get the rest working! (Congrats to you, a superb hack which deserves just reward, but I'm not so easy sold on this plan, myself hacking it would be the wrong domain of pursuit in many ways.) Thanks, Allan Fields <afields [ at ] ncf [ dot ] ca> Tel: 613.825.8658 _______________________________________________ Linux mailing list Linux [ at ] lists [ dot ] oclug [ dot ] on [ dot ] ca http://oclug.on.ca/mailman/listinfo/linux