Laptops and linux... I have a humble recommendation if you are going the linux laptop route.... Make sure you get one with an nvidia card... the ati support is weak. Having said that, Nancy's advice is dead on! I have a habit of buying the coolest hardware I can find (or someone gives me) and shoehorning linux onto it. Whether it is a good match or not (and so far only a few complaints).
But, if you are going the laptop linux route. And, you want cprs to work right (completely right) then you may want a large one (memory) and a fast one (cpu), because you are probably going to need to run a virtual machine running windows in which you will run cprs. *blech* my .02 euros Emmanuel On Thu, 2005-08-25 at 11:27 -0400, Nancy Anthracite wrote: > I have to say that it is not quite as easy as putting in the Knoppix CD. We > did that with a laptop I purchased not too long ago and it detected the USB > ports just fine. However, my son, who is no novice at this, could never get > them to function nor could a guru who was posting online about it. He was a > kernel hacker sort. It turned out the bios software in this particular > machine was the problem. It worked with an older bios but the newer machines > were sold with a different bios that appears on first blush to work with the > USB ports, but does not work and the company refused to give us a copy of the > bios software. > > Raymond (my son) usually investigates the chip sets of the components in the > machine online and matches them up with what he discovers about the hardware > after checking the System-Hardware for what the hardware is on a display > model in the store. I is a tedious job, but it works. The other suggestion > he has is to buy a model that is advertised as sold with Linux loaded in one > of the Linux mags, or look online to see if someone else has everything > working on that model. It is far and away best to have components that work > with open source drivers because the experience of many has been that it > things are not working, it is often a closed source driver causing the > problem. Video board and modem drivers have been the two we have had trouble > with that straightened out with open source drivers. > > I believe Raymond was successful within the last month at getting the low > end > Toshiba tablet PC that is being sold with a rebate lately to work, including > the touch screen. If anyone is interested in that, I would suggest you > contact me off list and I will try to get him to send you the details. > > On Thursday 25 August 2005 09:31 am, Bhaskar, KS wrote: > > Ron -- > > > > I have a few minutes while a file uploads, so even though this is not my > > area of expertise, here goes... > > > > There is no *best* laptop. Models and prices change every day. Also, if > > you buy a bleeding edge model, there is no guarantee that you will have a > > good video driver with either XP or Linux (a friend, who, ironically > > subsequently took a job with Microsoft, bought a Dell laptop for which the > > XP driver had not been released yet, and had to return it and buy an older > > model). > > > > I would not buy a laptop over the Internet unless you can buy it with > > something like a 30-day money back (less possibly a restocking fee). Try a > > local store, or a computer show in your area (the latter is where I bought > > my home laptop). > > > > I would look for a laptop with USB 2 ports, rather than USB 1.1 ports. > > Built-in Wifi is desirable, as is Bluetooth if you use it (I avoid > > Bluetooth because of security concerns). Also, make sure that the display > > is physically capable of better than 1024x768 resolution - 1400x1050 may be > > a nice compromise between resolution and price. If you want to use dial-up > > Internet access or fax, make sure the (software) modem is Linux compatible. > > Also, make sure that built-in Wifi is Linux compatible. > > > > It's easy to test hardware compatibility with Linux. Download a current > > Knoppix live CD from http://knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html or the latest > > OpenVistA VivA FOIA Gold live DVD from > > http://sourceforge.net/projects/worldvista and boot it. If it boots and > > runs successfully, the hardware is compatible. You can press F2 at the > > splash screen to explore boot options for higher screen resolutions, etc. > > > > It's not so easy to test hardware compatibility with XP and technical > > support is flaky - my friend was asked by tech support to reinstall Win XP > > from the CD before they concluded that there was a video driver problem. > > But I suppose you can play with the machine at the store. > > > > http://tuxmobil.org has information on Linux laptop hardware compatibility. > > > > Good luck - and be sure to share your experience and advice with the list. > > > > -- Bhaskar > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Ron Ponto > > Sent: Thu 8/25/2005 7:19 AM > > To: hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net > > Cc: > > Subject: [Hardhats-members] Laptop, VISTA and M > > > > What would be the best laptop to use for XP and LINUX for running VISTA and > > M programming? > > > > Thanks. > ------------------------------------------------------- SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members
