Linux Laptops
in [UK Linux]
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From: Will Kemp on 15 Jun 2008 03:59 Trevor Best wrote: > On Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:36:54 +0100, Will Kemp wrote: > >> Nemo wrote: >>> I am considering a laptop for my grown up daughter, Dell Inspiron 1525 >>> seems to manage to do all she needs for Googlemail, web browsing and a >>> little word processing. It's also got a 160gig harddrive so I can get >>> it to dual boot whatever form of Microsoft it comes with, although I >>> went straight from windows to Slackware 7 and never went back so I >>> might need help in getting something to dual boot. >>> >>> All comments, alternative recommendations, and suggestions welcomed. >> I'd suggest looking out for something that comes with XP - not vista! > > Why? HP Pavilions come with Vista and Linux runs on them no problem. I think linux will run on pretty much everything nowadays. But that's not the issue. The OP wants to dual boot windows and linux - and vista's a dog, so they'll be better off with XP if they want to use windows. I've been using linux exclusively on my laptops for well over a decade, but occasionally it's useful to have windows available. These days i use it all the time - for testing web designs on IE6 and IE7. I don't dual boot, i use virtualbox - but the installation of XP i use is the one that came with my laptop. I'm glad it's not vista! -- http://SnapAndScribble.com
From: Will Kemp on 15 Jun 2008 04:03 Martin Gregorie wrote: > On Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:36:54 +0100, Will Kemp wrote: > >> I use a Thinkpad R61 (which i can thoroughly recommend, by the way) - >> and it works fine, but when i bought it (in November last year) the >> architecture was still quite new and it was a bit tricky getting >> everything to work on it. >> > Thanks for the recommendation - I'd been thinking if going for an > R.61. Unfortunately, due to the impact of work on free time it looks like > I'll have a new laptop before diving into the mini-ITX adventure. I hear > that R.61s now come with pre-installed Vista, but that's no problem - it > can be reformatted as easily as any blank disk. You can still get some R61 models with XP. I'd recommend hanging on to the windows installation in case you ever want to use it - you've paid for it, after all, and it can come in handy for some things. VirtualBox is great for keeping the monster under control! ;-) If you get a Thinkpad, you should find that the installation files are all in c:/windows (i think). It's possible (with a bit of googling) to make a bootable installation CD from them. -- http://SnapAndScribble.com
From: Will Kemp on 15 Jun 2008 04:05 Martin Gregorie wrote: > On Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:36:54 +0100, Will Kemp wrote: > >> I use a Thinkpad R61 (which i can thoroughly recommend, by the way) - >> and it works fine, but when i bought it (in November last year) the >> architecture was still quite new and it was a bit tricky getting >> everything to work on it. >> > Thanks for the recommendation - I'd been thinking if going for an > R.61. Unfortunately, due to the impact of work on free time it looks like > I'll have a new laptop before diving into the mini-ITX adventure. I hear > that R.61s now come with pre-installed Vista, but that's no problem - it > can be reformatted as easily as any blank disk. By the way, i installed Fedora 8 on this laptop when i got it last November and i had a bit of work to do getting everything to work. But when i did a clean install of F9 a few weeks back, everything "just worked". -- http://SnapAndScribble.com
From: Martin Gregorie on 15 Jun 2008 05:35 On Sun, 15 Jun 2008 09:03:22 +0100, Will Kemp wrote: > > You can still get some R61 models with XP. I'd recommend hanging on to > the windows installation in case you ever want to use it > I won't, but thanks for the suggestion. I'd prefer a no-OS machine to avoid paying the M$ tax, so I may try claiming the non-use refund from them. The only 'doze software I use is old (95/98 vintage) and specialised (TrueCAD, GPS waypoint uploads, soaring flight recorder downloads and trace analysis). Currently my old K6/266 + W95 handles it OK, so I've been too idle to look into moving it over to WINE. Thanks for the F8/9 comments. I'm currently running F8 on my house server. The R.62 will go straight onto F9 as a preliminary to shifting the server over. -- martin@ | Martin Gregorie gregorie. | org | Zappa fan & glider pilot
From: Will Kemp on 15 Jun 2008 06:28
Martin Gregorie wrote: > On Sun, 15 Jun 2008 09:03:22 +0100, Will Kemp wrote: > >> You can still get some R61 models with XP. I'd recommend hanging on to >> the windows installation in case you ever want to use it >> > I won't, but thanks for the suggestion. I'd prefer a no-OS machine to > avoid paying the M$ tax, so I may try claiming the non-use refund from > them. Fair enough. I didn't know you could get a refund from them. > The only 'doze software I use is old (95/98 vintage) and specialised > (TrueCAD, GPS waypoint uploads, soaring flight recorder downloads and > trace analysis). Currently my old K6/266 + W95 handles it OK, so I've been > too idle to look into moving it over to WINE. It's probably worth doing that - it's amazing what works with wine nowadays. Not everything, by any means, but a surprisingly high proportion of things i've tried lately have worked! Having said that, the only time i've tried to use wine since i installed F9, the system froze! But i think there's been an update since then. I can't remember what i was trying to do now though... ;-) -- http://SnapAndScribble.com |