home | list info | list archive | date index | thread index

Re: [OCLUG-Tech] Linux Laptop Recommendations

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