[CALUG] Linux Friendly Laptops

[Assad Khan]

Just a few days ago I bought an HP Pavilion dv6174cl. It's a very nice 
Core 2 Duo laptop with an Intel 3945ABG chipset. So far it's worked 
without problems in Ubuntu Edgy (though you need to install Network 
Manager to get wireless working, which for some reason was installed by 
default in Dapper but not in Edgy...). Everything else works great out 
of the box.

HP is one of the major Linux supporters, and Intel makes some of the 
best supported hardware on any operating system. I've only had the 
laptop for a few days, but if you're in the market for a 15.4" laptop, I 
highly recommend the dv6174cl, and at Costco I was able to get it for $1149.

-Assad


James Ewing Cottrell 3rd wrote:
> Anything that says Intel Centrino Mobile has an IPW2200 in it, as does 
> the IBM ThinkPad T42, which I used at my last job. And altho Broadcom 
> cards have been tradionally unsupported, people have recently written one.
> 
> I would burn a copy of Knoppix, and boot that in anything you are 
> considering buying.
> 
> As mentioned by others, (K)Ubuntu or SuSE tend to have better wireless 
> support than most.
> 
> Several distributions have a "rescue" mode, and some of them will offer 
> to start the network interfaces. If you can get an address via DHCP then 
> you can load a working system.
> 
> Finally, if you want to cheat, you can do what I do with my desktop 
> systems at home. I buy "gaming routers", which have an ethernet and a 
> wireless card in them. A bit unwieldy for a laptop, but it gets you 
> connected.
> 
> JIM
> 
> Eric Gosnell wrote:
> 
>> I am saving up to buy a laptop.  I want to use Linux as my primary OS.  (I will
>> dual boot so I can still have Windows based games, Visual Studio, etc.)  Are
>> some laptop manufacturers better at providing Linux drivers for their hardware?
>> What do you recommend?  Second, are some distributions better for laptop
>> support than others?
>>
>> (I am only slightly better than a novice at Linux administration.  I am a
>> developer and I use it frequently at work.  This is my attempt to force myself
>> to become more adept at it.)
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Eric