New laptop for linux?

Hi all.

Been entertaining the thought of getting a small ,almost ultra-portable, laptop. Found this one: http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/systemconfig.runtime.workflow:LoadRuntimeTree?sb=:00000025:00000166:&smid=D670E9977F234D8197E1A6952DF8E9DF.

In your opinion will this compat well with linux- either Mint or Sidux. I would get the intel wireless 4965N. Is it well supported.

Thoughts. Ideas. Suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

 

Intel has a Linux driver for that card here

The Thinkpad wireless card would work too since they use atheros and Ubuntu has a restricted driver for it that works. Otherwise, Thinkpads are good Linux machines. I know that's what Red Hat corporate gives out for their employees to use.

 

for $1020, you should look for 12-13 inch laptops that have an nvidia card. not sure what the options are for 800mhz fsb but the difference from 667 to 800 seems negligible to me. 1600x1200 on that small of a laptop seems almost overkill. i'd rather have 1200x800 with the best graphics card i could get and skimp on the fsb and resolution. you're best bet is to find several laptops and play around with them and see what differences you notice, like, don't need, etc. you may find you don't need a 2.1ghz and can get by with a 2.0ghz. yeah, bad example, but something to that effect.

 

Thanks for the responses. I need a smaller laptop for traveling about, doing hardware repair. If there are suggestions for a good, small, liunx friendly lappy, let me know. Thanks, friends.

 

Sony TZ

Compatibility with Ubuntu is documented here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=514292

 

You're looking at an X61... I can tell you that a T61 works almost flawlessly out of the box with Kubuntu 8.04, and the X61 should have very similar hardware internally. The X3100 is really a pretty good graphics chip unless you're planning on playing something more demanding than, say, Quake 3 on it. OpenArena runs pretty well on it, all things considered. For basic graphics and even some low-end 3D, the Intel chip is quite good, and has truly open-source drivers.

 

I would get either that Thinkpad or a Dell M1330 or Vostro 1310.

 

What Linux System is best for a Gateway M-1625 series? I was considering Putting Solaris on this, but i really don't know Solaris well. I was also considering Putting Fedora 8 on this but i was concerned about the wireless drivers as to wheither they would support integrated Realtek devices. The main reason I am putting off the switch is the wireless issue. Any input please.

 

One way to research laptop buying decisions, as it relates to Linux support, is to visit some sites dedicated to collecting user install notes for running Linux on many different models of laptops, like this one, or this one. This works well if you have a laptop make or model already in mind.

If you prefer finding support for a laptop from a specific Linux distribution, like Ubuntu, (an excellent "new to Linux" distribution), it's advisable to check out the documentation for the distro to see if they list laptop support, like this. You can also go to the user forums for your specific Linux distribution, like here, and search for your desired laptop model there, or if you find no posts, ask specifically about your laptop model there. You may be able to link up with someone who's already installed your chosen Linux distribution on your chosen laptop.

One of the difficulties with asking these kinds of questions here, is that there are so many different options possible, it makes answering a general, "What laptop's best for Linux", often times difficult. In regards to the Lenovo laptop mentioned, the Linux support should be very good, since they're is one of the few big companies to offer Linux as an OS option on some laptop models, however it still pays to research your choice well. For example the default WiFi choice for the X61, is listed as a ThinkPad 11 a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini Express Adapter, but it's actually an Atheros AR5006EX chipset WiFi adapter. The importance there is that while there is Linux support for this chipset, the Intel WiFi hardware currently has more active Linux driver support from Intel, and it may be worth it to upgrade the WiFi hardware to Intel. In terms of the GPU, you don't have a choice with the X61, but the good news is that the Linux driver support for Intel's integrated graphics is also very well supported. BTW, one of the sites I mentioned previously contains about 16 user install reports for Linux on the X61.

The Gateway M-1625 is a bit different, in that in using an AMD CPU, an ATI GPU, and Realtek WiFi hardware and the Linux driver support for that hardware isn't as active as some of the Intel, or nVidia Linux driver support programs. At least not yet. AMD has made some promising statements regarding future Linux driver support, so it's possible we will see more energetic Linux driver development coming from AMD in the future for both CPU and more importantly ATI GPU hardware. One of the ways to try and minimize Linux installation frustration, would be to use one of the more widely deployed and supported Linux distributions, and trying to use the most recent version available. Ubuntu is again an excellent choice in this category. Finally, you may miss some hardware driver support for your computer "out of the box" with an initial Linux installation, but with a little bit of research you should be able to find the driver support you need. When you get to that point, it can be useful to ask those kinds of "one off" driver support questions here.

Good Luck..

 

Have you check Asus, Compal or Sager for a suitable build?

 

Maybe Off topic But what do you think about KDE for Win and CoLinux. Your Opinion Plz.

 

@jas
I know alot of people endorse Ubuntu For a beginner Linux System and for good Driver Support. What of Fedora? From your experience is the driver support comparable? And would you recommend a Distro with Gnome or KDE? Which is better or does it matter?

 

I've never used either. (Well I installed Ubuntu once, but erased it to install Gentoo almost immediately because I was more familiar with Gentoo) I only offer Ubuntu as a suggestion due to the large number of users here (and elsewhere) who have good things to say about it, especially in regards to being a good distro for people just starting with Linux. Another Ubuntu variant that folks on this board recommend often is Linux Mint. It seems to me from this general reading, that the Ubuntu included hardware detection and driver support is very good.

I frankly think almost ANY distro is worth trying, just to get one started down the Linux path. You can read about Linux distros in general, at this Wikipedia article, and then look at the Wikipedia Linux distro comparison article here. This website is one that's been tracking Linux distros for a long time, and this one is a popular one for ranking Linux distros.

I've pretty much stuck with Gnome, after having used KDE only a little. You'll find lots of opinions advocating either, or for advocating others, like Enlightenment. Again I don't think it's important which you pick now. You can always switch later, or switch back and forth on the very same Linux installation. What's important is that you install one and start learning. A good website to read all about Linux Window Managers, and see screenshots, is this site.

Good Luck..

 

I've adopted a simple rule for laptops and Linux. Get a Centrino laptop. There you go. Wireless will "just work", and kernel upgrades won't cripple the wireless like what happens with patched drivers for oddball wireless cards. Graphics may not set new heights but they'll function.