Re: [ubuntu-uk] Linux on the cheap?
Depends on what formfactor you're after. There should be plenty of options if you'll consider secondhand/refurbished. The Thinkpad X series is good. My X220 is still chugging along. I have a Samsung Chromebook that I bought to run Arm Linux on, but it was never fantastic. When my Pi-Top arrives, I'll let you know how it is, but I'm guessing Xubuntu should run well enough. Hmm, more options than answers, I'm afraid. Older MacBooks might also be worth a look, but storage could be an issue with smaller SSDs. T > On 22 Sep 2015, at 20:36, Simon Greenwood wrote: > > > >> On 22 September 2015 at 19:49, Steve Mynott wrote: >> Anyone any recommendations for very cheap laptops (ideally netbook >> like form factor) with good linux support? >> >> I assume netbooks themselves are pretty dead (which is a pity since >> some had decent keyboards). >> >> Has anyone found anything similar? I suppose a chromebook running the >> libfakeroot linux might be the closest although most of them have very >> restricted SSD space. >> >> Any suggestions? >> >> -- >> 4096R/EA75174B Steve Mynott >> >> -- > > Some of the Windows with Bing laptops might be worth a punt, as far as I can > see they're just regular laptops with what used to be known as Windows Home > on them and there a few netbook factor models around. > > s/ > -- > Twitter: @sfgreenwood > "TBA are particularly glib" > -- > ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/ -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Linux on the cheap?
On 22 September 2015 at 19:49, Steve Mynott wrote: > Anyone any recommendations for very cheap laptops (ideally netbook > like form factor) with good linux support? > > I assume netbooks themselves are pretty dead (which is a pity since > some had decent keyboards). > > Has anyone found anything similar? I suppose a chromebook running the > libfakeroot linux might be the closest although most of them have very > restricted SSD space. > > Any suggestions? > > -- > 4096R/EA75174B Steve Mynott > > -- Some of the Windows with Bing laptops might be worth a punt, as far as I can see they're just regular laptops with what used to be known as Windows Home on them and there a few netbook factor models around. s/ -- Twitter: @sfgreenwood "TBA are particularly glib" -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Linux on the cheap?
On 22 September 2015 at 19:49, Steve Mynott wrote: > Anyone any recommendations for very cheap laptops (ideally netbook > like form factor) with good linux support? > http://www.ebuyer.com/ubuntu One of those perhaps. Cheers, Al. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Linux on the cheap?
On 22/09/15 19:49, Steve Mynott wrote: > Anyone any recommendations for very cheap laptops (ideally netbook > like form factor) with good linux support? Refurbished Lenovos. I got an X61 a couple of years ago for £60 and it's (still) excellent. You should be able to find some X201 for around £150. J -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] Linux on the cheap?
Anyone any recommendations for very cheap laptops (ideally netbook like form factor) with good linux support? I assume netbooks themselves are pretty dead (which is a pity since some had decent keyboards). Has anyone found anything similar? I suppose a chromebook running the libfakeroot linux might be the closest although most of them have very restricted SSD space. Any suggestions? -- 4096R/EA75174B Steve Mynott -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] . Re: Twin DVD drives not mounting
Vinux is going to be the best you get if you want something purely Ubuntu based using Unity. Whatever derivative of Ubuntu that uses Gnome 3 may also work as the Gnome Accessibility team is much larger & active than anything we've ever been able to gather for Ubuntu. I attempted to get life into the Ubuntu Accessibility Team several years ago, but when my own health became too poor for me to run things, it disappeared again. As far as I know, there's still only one person, Luke Yelavich, actively working on Ubuntu accessibility coding & it's not what he gets to work on (he's a Canonical employee, but does much of the accessibility work on his own time). As of several years ago, Luke was planning on using Vinux to test work for all accessibility features so it may be better than you expect. Despite the inactivity as an overall team, you may want to post some of your questions/feedback to the Ubuntu Accessibility mailing list ( ubuntu-accessibil...@lists.ubuntu.com ). It's actually still somewhat active & there are users who can answer some of your questions specific to how to maximize accessibility and feedback in general. Several of the users also use other Linux distros so may be able to help you look at what distros might work better for you. Vinux has its own list, but I don't have the address at hand. Unfortunately, Windows and MacOS are far ahead of Linux when it comes to operating system accessibility, at the moment. I don't know about Android (I've heard mixed reviews on accessibility & don't use it myself), but iOS is also substantially better. The problems catching up mostly come from lack of people working on it & different things that are harder to create in an open source environment (trying to get a large enough open source database to use for voice dictation, for example). I think accessibility is one aspect where the idea of scratching your own itch hurts projects; accessibility features don't become someone's itch until they or someone they know needs them. With Ubuntu, specifically, it can be difficult for volunteers to be able access/work on the code before a release comes out. The work I tried to do with the accessibility team was more about community, trying to get more people interested in contributing (in a variety of ways), & creating tools to make it easier for developers to understand what needs people with a variety of impairments needed. I do think eventually Ubuntu & other Linux distros will improve their accessibility to at least become equal with Windows & MacOS (there was a time when Ubuntu/Gnome was actually slightly ahead in some ways). I just don't know whether that'll happen in 3 years or 10. In the meantime you have to figure out what will work best for you. Good luck! Penelope On Tue, Sep 22, 2015 at 9:59 AM, David Goldsbrough wrote: > Many thanks for all the contributions to date. I have learnt a great deal > from these and my further researches. > > When it comes to LUG I tried to involve myself years ago but sadly I live > too far away in Wiltshire to involve myself with that one which is largely > defunct now I think and the ones nearer to me in Somerset don't seem to be > too active either. In any case I cannot drive now due to my vision > issues. I am now in my early 60s and have vast IT experience including a > former HP-UX systems administrator - quite some years ago now. > > Back to the problem. I failed myself here. My initial problem was my > failing eyesight. I tried a few things in Ubuntu including screen readers, > magnifiers etc but with little satisfaction. Then I came across Vinux > distro and thought I would give it a whirl. I downloaded the ISO onto the > machine previously stated and tried to burn it to DVD ROM. > > This is when I discovered the 2 drives were not working yet they were fine > in Windows. I have then spent too much time trying to fix this rather than > my original problem! > > The funny thing is I don't expect the distro to be much better than I have > already tried. Sadly, I have found windows much better when it comes to > making changes to mouse pointers/cursors and ones which don't only work > inside a browser. And my android tablet is much better again enabling me > to do voice to text input and using gestures. IMHO Linux has a long way to > go to catch up with android/windows when it comes to assistive features. > > > capacity: 960KiB > capabilities: pci pnp apm upgrade shadowing cdboot bootselect > socketedrom edd int13floppy360 int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 > int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer > int10video acpi usb ls120boot zipboot biosbootspecification > *-network > description: Ethernet interface > product: MCP73 Ethernet > vendor: NVIDIA Corporation > physical id: f > bus info: pci@:00:0f.0 > logical name: eth0 > version: a2 >
Re: [ubuntu-uk] . Re: Twin DVD drives not mounting
On 22 September 2015 at 15:59, David Goldsbrough wrote: > I am now in my early 60s and have vast IT experience including a former > HP-UX systems administrator - quite some years ago now. In that case, you should know your way around the Unix shell. Perhaps the path to happiness doesn't lie in Linux with a GUI and accessibility tools, but in sticking to the shell. There is a GUI-less distro designed especially for this: http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-adriane/index-en.html On a large screen, 80*25 text is pretty big and might be readable enough without further magnification. Modern Linux tools let you do a lot from the shell -- email, web, chat, music, video, image viewing, etc. -- Liam Proven • Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk • GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lpro...@hotmail.com • Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Cell/Mobiles: +44 7939-087884 (UK) • +420 702 829 053 (ČR) -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] . Re: Twin DVD drives not mounting
Many thanks for all the contributions to date. I have learnt a great deal from these and my further researches. When it comes to LUG I tried to involve myself years ago but sadly I live too far away in Wiltshire to involve myself with that one which is largely defunct now I think and the ones nearer to me in Somerset don't seem to be too active either. In any case I cannot drive now due to my vision issues. I am now in my early 60s and have vast IT experience including a former HP-UX systems administrator - quite some years ago now. Back to the problem. I failed myself here. My initial problem was my failing eyesight. I tried a few things in Ubuntu including screen readers, magnifiers etc but with little satisfaction. Then I came across Vinux distro and thought I would give it a whirl. I downloaded the ISO onto the machine previously stated and tried to burn it to DVD ROM. This is when I discovered the 2 drives were not working yet they were fine in Windows. I have then spent too much time trying to fix this rather than my original problem! My 2 drives are physically on top of each other in the tower case. All the time I was trying the top drive because it was easier for me to feel where the tray button was. I assumed(wrongly) the lower one was also not working. From the contributions here and some of my own researches I discovered the bottom drive was in fact working ( /dev/sr1 I think ) but it only seemed to be recognised as a CDROM drive. I then woke from the nightmare and placed the ISO image on a USB stick and then burnt Vinux to a DVD-R disk on my Ubuntu laptop. Mistake number 2 or 3! When I then booted it from my Ubuntu laptop I realised it was not a live-dvd and as such could not access a writeable file system! The funny thing is I don't expect the distro to be much better than I have already tried. Sadly, I have found windows much better when it comes to making changes to mouse pointers/cursors and ones which don't only work inside a browser. And my android tablet is much better again enabling me to do voice to text input and using gestures. IMHO Linux has a long way to go to catch up with android/windows when it comes to assistive features. I wrote the above on my android tablet, then went to the offending machine so I could extract some of my findings and paste them. I don't know what I did yesterday but they both now appear to be working but with some odd results. If I place a music CD in either drive the system does not recognise it as an audio CD. Whenever I eject CD or DVD with the right click eject command it only opens the empty top tray even though its the bottom tray that holds the medium. Anyway here are sone techy extracts – thanks again for some tips on how to obtain and make of them what you will. using dmesg and grep reveals [1.966370] sr1: scsi3-mmc drive: 48x/48x writer dvd-ram cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray [1.966438] sr 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr1 [1.963550] sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 48x/48x writer dvd-ram cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray [1.963624] sr 3:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0 searching /dev for dv reveals nothing but other searches as follows [0.105704] pci :00:01.0: [10de:07cd] type 00 class 0x05 [0.741466] ehci_hcd: USB 2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver [0.752080] usb usb1: Manufacturer: Linux 3.13.0-63-generic ehci_hcd [0.752419] ohci_hcd: USB 1.1 'Open' Host Controller (OHCI) Driver [0.810053] usb usb2: Manufacturer: Linux 3.13.0-63-generic ohci_hcd [0.810379] uhci_hcd: USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver [1.963550] sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 48x/48x writer dvd-ram cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray [1.963552] cdrom: Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20 [1.966370] sr1: scsi3-mmc drive: 48x/48x writer dvd-ram cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray EDITED OUTPUTS FROM OTHER SUGGESTED COMMANDS /dev/sda1: LABEL="Win_RE" UUID="B8F665CDF6658D06" TYPE="ntfs" /dev/sda2: LABEL="WinVista" UUID="ACE864BFE8648982" TYPE="ntfs" /dev/sda5: UUID="76577e65-1d5c-4447-8e5a-df0b3df73d0c" TYPE="ext4" /dev/sda6: UUID="76bf638d-db15-4c38-a1ec-659b5b5fd5dd" TYPE="swap" dave-system-product-name description: Desktop Computer product: System Product Name () vendor: System manufacturer version: System Version serial: System Serial Number width: 32 bits capabilities: smbios-2.5 dmi-2.5 smp-1.4 smp configuration: boot=normal chassis=desktop cpus=2 uuid=4000D811-6E99-DB11-81B3-002215755CA2 *-core description: Motherboard product: P5N-MX vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC. physical id: 0 version: 1.XX serial: MS1C87BX1501065 *-firmware description: BIOS vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD physical id: 0 version: ASUS P5N-MX ACPI BIOS Revision 0202 date: 12/17/2007 size: 128KiB capacity: 960KiB capabilities: pci pnp apm upgrade shadowing cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppy3
