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    What to look for?

    Discussion in 'Linux Compatibility and Software' started by psi36, Dec 11, 2006.

  1. psi36

    psi36 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm looking for a notebook to run Linux (Ubuntu 6.10) on. What should I look for? I know suspend to disk and wireless are the things that tend to go wrong. Which brands, which wireless cards, processors, etc. Should I look for?

    I've posted a What Notebook Should I Buy? on http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=89492

    I was thinking of a Lenovo ThinkPad in the first place, because I've heard those have good Linux support. But I can't find any with decent specs in my price range.

    A few people have suggested to look for an HP, 'cause those have quite good support for Linux also. Anyone has any experience with this? And is it only the business line that works good under Linux or also the multimedia laptops?

    I'm looking for a nVidia graphics card. And someone has suggested a Turion X2 CPU is better then a Core Duo, because the first can run 64-bit Linux and the second can't. Core 2 Duo also can apperently, but those are to expensive because I also want a dedicated graphics card.

    Someone also suggested a Fujitsu Siemens AMILO PA1538-B5010 http://www.pixmania.be/be/fr/382095/art/fujitsu-siemens/amilo-pa1538-b5010.html
    I seems to have good specs and the price is very intersting. Anyone have any experience in getting Ubuntu (or another distro) running on a Fujitsu Siemens notebook?

    Any other tips on good notebooks for Linux within my budget and with the specs I'm looking for?
    Any other pointers on what I should be carefull of when buying a laptop for Linux?
     
  2. RefinedPower

    RefinedPower Notebook Deity

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    I noticed in your post in the "what should I buy forum" that you had found a dv6000 series notebook, but since it came with a X2 you had veered away from it. To be honest the X2 is probably more CPU than most people will ever need, really any CPU with 2 cores is more than most will need for the next 3 years.

    The Fujitsu Siemens seems like a very good notebook to, maybe even a little better than the dv6000. Fujitsu has really made a name for them selves at producing durable long lasting notebooks. I am not sure about how Ubuntu runs on them but I will look into it.

    EDIT: Look hear you might find what you want
    http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/fujitsu.html
     
  3. Pitabred

    Pitabred Linux geek con rat flail!

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    I'm running 6.10 with Beryl on the laptop in my sig... I don't know what your budget is, but I paid $1800 for it, and you can get them for as little as $1200 with an acceptable configuration. Runs all graphics and wireless and such natively in Linux, so I highly recommend it.

    Overall, you want:
    Intel or Atheros wireless chip
    NVIDIA graphics card (integrated is fine)

    Other than that, most everything should work peachy-keen fine with the default drivers under Linux.

    You want to stay away from:
    ATI graphics (if you want to run Beryl, games and so on with minimal fuss and the best speed/compatability)
    Broadcom wireless (very common in AMD based machines)

    That's about all I've got for you. Broadcome WIRED (ethernet) chipsets are fine, and usually quite well supported.
     
  4. psi36

    psi36 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I've looked there, but the problem is that the Fujitsu Siemens AMILO PA1538-B5010 isn't on that list.
    I haven't realy found much info on this laptop, it's only sold in France and Belgium apparently.
    It isn't listed on the Fujitsu Siemens website or anywere else but on the sites that sell them.
     
  5. psi36

    psi36 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm gonna buy my notebook this week, these are the options that seems the most interesting for me for the moment.

    Any pointers considering Linux on these laptops? Which seems like the best option to you?

    Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pi 1556-5511 --> http://www.pixmania.be/be/nl/411975/art/fujitsu-siemens/amilo-pi-1556-5511.html#fichetechnique
    Fujitsu Siemens AMILO PI1556-5512 --> http://www.pixmania.be/be/nl/495313/art/fujitsu-siemens/amilo-pi1556-5512.html#fichetechnique
    Toshiba Satellite A100-991 --> http://www.pixmania.be/be/nl/452726/art/toshiba/satellite-a100-991.html#fichetechnique
    HP PAVILION DV9001EA --> http://www.pixmania.be/be/nl/451930/art/hp/pavilion-dv9001ea.html#fichetechnique
     
  6. RefinedPower

    RefinedPower Notebook Deity

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    Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pi 1556-5511 --> http://www.pixmania.be/be/nl/411975/art/fujitsu-siemens/amilo-pi-1556-5511.html#fichetechnique
    Fujitsu Siemens AMILO PI1556-5512 --> http://www.pixmania.be/be/nl/495313/art/fujitsu-siemens/amilo-pi1556-5512.html#fichetechnique
    These two should be fine (I could not quite read the web pages since I am English) but they seem to be about the same thing except for slight differences in the HD size and a few other things.

    Toshiba Satellite A100-991 --> http://www.pixmania.be/be/nl/452726/art/toshiba/satellite-a100-991.html#fichetechnique
    This notebook has a fairly slow CPU even given the fact that it is a C2D, also it is not 64 bit so you might have problems if you ever want to give a 64 bit Linux disto a try.

    HP PAVILION DV9001EA --> http://www.pixmania.be/be/nl/451930/art/hp/pavilion-dv9001ea.html#fichetechnique[/QUOTE]
    This is a 17" notebook which will be near impossible to carry around for more than a few minutes. Other than that, and the fact that it might have a broadcome wireless chip (very difficult to set up in linux) it should ok.
     
  7. psi36

    psi36 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Someone ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=1724329&postcount=2) suggested that ATI graphic cards aren't a problem anymore under Linux.
    Can anyone confirm that? Because this would widen my options.

    From posts in the thread in the What Notebook Should I Buy? forum ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=89492) and above replies I retought my options and I'm now in doubt between:
    I would love to get a Thinkpad, but the only one within my budget has specs that don't come near above models:
    Or some model out of the Lenovo 3000 series, but apperently those aren't that good quality, or at least the 3000 C100 has a crapy screen (according to http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=1676576&postcount=3) If that's only a problem in the C100 models and ATI isn't a problem, this could also be a possibility:

    There are a few major choises that I guess are going to make the difference:
    • Lenovo and HP have good Linux support apperently, would a Fujitsu-Siemens also be a good choise to run Linux on it? Or should I stick to the ones that are known to work well?
    • Core 2 Duo or Turion 64 X2? Is there a big difference in performance (on a 64 bit Linux)?
      And what about Pentium M and Sempron? Would it be stupid to still buy a laptop with a 32 bit, one core processor?
    • Graphics card: integrated (Intel GMA 950) or nVidea or ATI? I'm not going to be playing games on it, but I would like to have decent graphics on an external monitor/projector and also dual screen support.

    edit: corrected links
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 8, 2015
  8. Lysander

    Lysander AFK, raid time.

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    The latest set of ATi cards (the X1K series) only have basic Linux driver support. They will run stuff, but their performance is not as good as nVidia's, nor do they support as many features. The new drivers are easy to set up, however.

    If you can find a notebook with an equivalent nVidia card, take it.
     
  9. psi36

    psi36 Notebook Enthusiast

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    And what if the choice would be between an ATI dedicated card and an integrated?

    I guess even without full support under Linux an ATI Mobility Radeon X300 for example would be better then an Intel GMA950, alsop under Linux.
     
  10. timberwolf

    timberwolf Notebook Consultant

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    The advantage with the Intel GMA950 is that the driver is open source and therefore already compiled into the kernel. Intel also does 3D, it's just not as powerful as Nvidia.
     
  11. psi36

    psi36 Notebook Enthusiast

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    So you'd say that for 3D Intel GMA950 is actualy better then a dedicated ATI card?
     
  12. rockharder

    rockharder Notebook Evangelist

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    In some figure of GMA950 vs. X200M, yes. But they are on the same level. The 3D desktop should be fine on both, however ATI driver is a bit of mess to newbie.
     
  13. timberwolf

    timberwolf Notebook Consultant

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    Sorry, I didn't say that ATI 3D would be less powerful than Intel. What I am saying is that "better" is a relative term and it depends on what you are looking for. Neither ATI or Nvidia is compatible out of the box, both require linux binary drivers supplied from the their respective manufacturer, and you are at their mercy for updates. On the other hand, the kernel has an open source driver for the Intel graphics chipsets, therefore it could be argued that it is the most compatible with linux.
     
  14. Lysander

    Lysander AFK, raid time.

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    Well, the Intel stuff is quite easy to setup, you just need to install one package. 915resolution, to allow resolution switching and resolutions over 1024x768.

    Whereas for the ATi drivers, it takes an extra few minutes to get it working. Instructions are printed here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/B...head-02330ccb580b6a9411d32bf617cc5a82116ba6b9

    and they are easy to follow.

    I would still take an ATi card over an Intel card. ATi's problems are no longer in regards to installation, especially when it comes to Ubuntu. nVidia cards just have much better performance under Linux, and support more features.
     
  15. timberwolf

    timberwolf Notebook Consultant

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    If the OP does not play games, why choose an ATI or nVidia graphics card, when both consume more power (i.e. shorter battery life) and get hotter (i.e. require more cooling == noise) than an Intel?
     
  16. psi36

    psi36 Notebook Enthusiast

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    You've got a good point there timberwolf. I think I'll be going for the HP nx7400. It's got good battery life, I can get an extra battery for it and it works well with Ubuntu.
     
  17. timberwolf

    timberwolf Notebook Consultant

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    http://emisca.altervista.org/nx7400/

    At the moment, for the HP laptops, I'd want to do some more reading into the ACPI and cpufreq issues.

    By the way, I've never worried about suspend and hibernate problems because I've always found them a tricky.
     
  18. psi36

    psi36 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm using my HP nx7400 now, running Ubuntu 6.10 (32 bit version for now).

    Most stuff seems to work, the stuff mentioned belo seem to be the only problems.
    The explanations on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/HPnx7400, http://emisca.altervista.org/nx7400/ and http://home.no/slazz/nx7400/ don't help much, because different problems, specs and bios.

    My system:
    bios-version:68YGU Ver. F.08
    system-manufacturer:Hewlett-Packard
    system-product-name:HP Compaq nx7400 (RH399EA#UUG)
    system-version:F.08
    kernel: 2.6.17-10-386

    When i use Suspend, I can't restart. If I press the power button, the fans start working again and the power light is on, but I get a black screen.
    This doesn't seem to be the "bad state" problem that is mentioned on above websites.

    When I select Suspend in Ubuntu, is that a suspend to disk? And when I do Hibernate is that suspend to ram?
    Hibernate works fine. I sometimes get a message about a synaptics error before I come back to the logon screen, but everything works fine, also the touchpad.

    Also some other small issues: the volume buttons (mute, down, up) and the special keys like fn + f3 for Suspend sometimes don't work. I did a reboot and now the problems gone, but would still like to know the cause of the problem.
    The button to (de)activate WiFi and Bluetooth isn't working at all.

    Got the maximum speed out of the processor, with the explenation on the Ubuntu wiki.

    If anyone knows what could be the problem, please let me know.