Are some laptops better suited to Linux than others?

Hi,

I'm buying a new laptop soon, and I'm wondering if I should take my OS into consideration. I intend to delete whatever windows OS is on the new computer (see if I can get my EULA rebate, though I'm not too hopeful), but I wonder if there are some computers which will run Linux better than others.

I use Debian Etch, and I do a lot of music, graphics and video editing. (No gaming). Are there certain computers or components I should look at or avoid? What might make a computer more or less linux compatible?

Thanks

 

laptops with intel wireless cards are better for linux but its not unheard of getting a dell card to work not sure if other brands of cards dont work with linux

 

Try and look for something with an Intel wireless card and an Intel/nVidia graphics chip. These are easiest to setup and have the fullest feature sets for Linux.

 

yeah last i checked the ati linux drivers were still not feature complete.

 

I use openSUSE 10.2 on my IBM Thinkpad(refer siggy) and havent had any problem configuring it(not that it has many features . . .but still)

I am opefully going to buy a Toshiba Satellite X205 when it comes out or an HP 8710p and am not really sure if they are 100% linux compatible. . . card readers and web cams are stil a problem I believe.

 

Toshibas don't work well with Linux, in regards to ACPI or media card readers, in my experience. You won't be able to hibernate or suspend. Please reconsider getting a Toshiba if you are going to run Linux....

 

As far as I know, if you buy a Dell laptop with Ubuntu preinstalled, Dell guarantees that all of the hardware will work right out of the box.

However, the way Dell achieves this is by severely limiting your configuration options so that may not work out for you. It did not work out for me so I went with a Sager NP2090 instead of a Dell. I don't really know what will and will not work right out of the box but heck, that's always been the case with all laptops I've owned... Typically, driver support would materialize a few months down the road.

 

Dell is a good bet. I've also had great luck with my Compal, in my sig, which I got from powernotebooks.com. There are companies like system76.com that will install and configure Ubuntu on a mainstream notebook, but they charge quite a bit for the service.

In general, stay with the business-class machines rather than consumer level (which have Winmodem like features), nvidia and Intel chips, and at minimum stay away from Broadcom for wireless. If you can get an AMD based machine with an Atheros card, you'd be ok. And, google for Linux + the laptop model you're looking at to get an idea of how compatible it is. HP laptops have been sketchy, Dell officially supports (and sells) Ubuntu on a number of models, and Acer has had decent luck. Sager and Compal have had good compatibility from my experience (and that of others here). If you're doing sound editing, you my consider something other than the Compal, as there have been a number of complaints with my HGL30 and HEL80 with noise over the headphone jacks... I don't notice it, but apparently other people get it. That may also be fixed with the new IFL90's and such.

 

The card reader problem is supposedly fixed with kernel 2.6.22 and udev 109 or greater. I'll be finding out soon enough when I get my new Toshiba.

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_Toshiba_Satellite_P200-141

- Trip

 

Well I got a Thinkpad, and I love it. I didn't install anything, just moved my old hard drive over from my Dell, and it worked right away! I'm dead impressed. Haven't configured the wireless card yet, but it's intel so it should work (knock on wood!)

While I was looking around for laptops, I saw that you can buy Dells with no OS (well, with some basic DOS thing that you get to replace). I was very tempted to get the Windows-less Latitude, but they don't deliver to my area. It's not much cheaper than buying one with Windows, but I'd go for it just to support the initiative.

Anyway, thanks again for your help!

 

That's great! Thinkpad has a great reputation in general.

Buying a Dell laptop with FreeDOS (the "basic DOS thing" you talk about) can be a problem for some of us that can get the educational discount. Dell sells computers though multiple "stores" and the educational discount works only through the educational store. I've never seen machines with FreeDOS in that store. (Heck, I don't remember seeing the Ubuntu laptops there either.) This does not mean that it can't be done. Maybe by ordering by phone it is possible.

 

Dell will accept EPP and Education Discount for freeDOS and Ubuntu via phone order.

 

The link I gave earlier had Dell laptops preinstalled with Linux as well, not just FreeDOS versions.

As for your wireless card, I'm assuming you have the Intel 4965 b/g/n card. I believe the current iwlwifi driver should also work for it. I don't think this has been integrated into any distribution yet as it's relatively new, but you can get the driver snapshot here. Congrats on the purchase.

 

I'd say no to the OP's title question in the long run, but in the short term, new notebooks may not be great for Linux due to compatibility/driver issues that prevent the install and/or usage from being dummy-proof. Most Linux people are techies, so it isn't a big deal for me, for example. But if Ubuntu, for example, want's to take a bite out of Windows marketshare in a big way, then it's going to have to learn to preempt some drivers and configs before they hit the market (I mean to say, the people who make the drivers for Linux, no necessarily the people at Ubuntu per-say).

Going back to the short run - long run deal. Eventually, these issues are dealt with, so in the long run all notebooks are the same. The short run is where the differences in notebooks are, and where some notebooks are better suited than others.

BTW, I cannot speak for a MacBook Linux experience.

 

I can't recommend my ASUS Z84JP enough. It runs Kubuntu Feisty virtually flawlessly. Gorgeous 17" screen, great speakers, eSATA port for high speed disk transfer. Virtually everything works in Linux except the camera (and maybe HDMI and Winmodem, not sure). Card reader works. Great multimedia power notebook.

Ordered from http://powernotebooks.com which I highly recommend, as a PowerPro A 2:38.

 

There were also the T60 thinkpads which came with Novell SLED preinstalled

 

I don't think I'd buy a laptop with Linux pre-installed. To me, that kind of defeats the point of Linux, which is to be able to really control the OS, what programs you get, what distribution you use, etc. My computer is configured just perfectly for me, down to the partitions on the hard disk, and the custom kernel (which I should probably recustomize for the new wireless card) but anyone else would probably find it strange and annoying. I'd much rather get a computer with no operating system, than something running Ubuntu or Suse which I'd just have to delete.

 

I understand the feeling but there's also a demographic aspect to this. I don't need someone to install Linux for me but everything else being equal (yes, I know this is a rare occurrence but anyway) if I had to chose between a laptop without OS or with Linux preinstalled, I'd get the one with Linux. Why? Because I want people who care about evaluating the market to get a little blip on their radar that would contribute to making them care about Linux. Basically, I'd want to be part of the statistics of "those who bought a computer with Linux installed". I'd be willing to pay a *reasonable* premium over the no-OS version of the same computer just to get my choice registered.

As I noted earlier "everything else being equal" is rare. When I recently selected my next laptop, "everything else" was too unequal to satisfy me so I bought a Sager NP2090 without OS. At least I did not buy another Windows license. If the reseller had offered it with Ubuntu installed, I would have taken that option.

 

i think the thinkpad would be a good option. simply because

intel graphics/nvidia, intel wireless , thinkpad quality. need we say more.

broadcom wireless cards are a ***** to get going... been there, managed it, but phew, what a mess

 

Everything works on my Toshiba except for the memory card reader and the ACPI services. Of you are running a Toshiba, add this to the end of the boot command:

pci=acpi

Then try booting.

 

HP's business line is fairly Linux friendly. The only things that don't work are the SD card reader for some reason (never bothered to investigate that) and the FingerPrint Scanner (couldn't care less about that one either).

The only thing I don't particularly care for is their use of ATI cards in the models I like, but I deal.

 

I like Thinkpads, at least the IBM labelled units. I have a T20 oldie that runs Kubuntu 6.06 LTS quite well. The T20 doesn't have built in wifi, but after some effort, and a lot of good assistance at the Ubuntu forums, I got my Broadcom-based Buffalo cardbus wifi card to work quite well.

The T20 is not a sprightly platform with a P3 700mhz, but it is very stable and so far does what I want it to do.

 

The only thing that doesn't work on my Acer using Ubuntu is the built-in Cam.

Everything else works Flawless.

I did have a bit of trouble setting up the Touch Pad scroll, but I eventually resolved that issue.

 

I bought a PowerPro A:238 based on your comments. The 4965AGN wifi card in my A:238 doesn't work with Ubuntu 7.0.4 (64-bit), however.

Since you've got wifi working with Kubuntu I wonder which wireless card you have.

I can switch to Kubuntu if Kubuntu supports the 4965AGN, but I don't know why Kubuntu would work if Ubuntu doesn't unless the 32 bit versions support the 4965AGN but the 64-bit versions don't.

Have you tried WPA2 security with Kubuntu on the A:238?

 

Have a look here: http://tuxmobil.org/mylaptops.html

Find the model you're interested in, and see exactly how compatible or not Linux is with it! Easy!

If your laptop is not listed, create a small web page with all the installation notes and submit it to them. I did that for my dv9500t: http://home.earthlink.net/~george164/dv9500t/dv9500t.html

You'll be doing a big favor to the next guy who's considering that notebook with Linux.

 

dwschulze -- yeah, PowerNotebooks changed from the 3945 to the 4965 a month or so ago. Perhaps a better card, but it definitely isn't supported well in Linux yet. It will be, but a little waiting might be in order.

Congratulations on the purchase though -- you'll love it. It's by far the best computer I've ever had.

 

The driver for 4965 is now available, see:

http://intellinuxwireless.org/?p=iwlwifi

 

Oh, and avoid ATI Video Cards like the devil. Their linux drivers are terrible. =(

 

Somewhat of an unfortunate fact really. They've been promising to fix it for ages and ages now, and finally they've gotten around to replacing the old ATI control panel, which looked like a VB program for the mid 90s, to the new control center, which is a nice thought, but isn't all that helpful if your card doesn't work anyway to begin with.

Top marks to Nvidia though. Playing WoW on Cedega with a 6800 card, the only way I could convince a few people that it wasn't windows was to spin the cube around 90 degrees show off Gnome.

 

Hold on, I have an ATI Radeon which works fine. I guess it's a graphics card, not a video card. (Is there a difference?)

 

no same thing

 

A Radeon will work fine with the drivers you get by default with Xorg.... except that you can't use your card to its fullest capabilities with those drivers. Forget about 3D acceleration for instance. If you want to fully use your card you need the fglrx driver. This driver allows to unlock much of the power of the card (but still not all of its power) but it is unstable. There was a period of time during which I used the fglrx driver. I had to keep two configurations for X: one for the base drivers bundled with X and one for fglrx. I switched between the two as needed which was a major pain in the ass.

ATI is crud crud crud crud crud. I took that into account in my choice of laptop to buy this summer: no more ATI hardware for me!