which laptop for Ubuntu?

hello all!!!

first post. i've used linux exclusively at home on my desktop system for about a year now. i've used ubuntu, opensuse, pclinuxos, and sabayon most recently. i use linux mint on my old gateway laptop. so i'm not too intimidated to try linux on a laptop. i was wondering if i might get some input on which of the following laptops i'm looking at would be most functional with linux.

asus: f3jp, v1jp, w2pb, z84jp

dell: dv9000t

msi: ms-1037

i'd be most interested in whether things like webcam drivers are available for them, if there are sound card issues, if the card readers work, and whether there are tricks to get the wifi working. i'm really stuck on the asus v1jp, w2pb, z84jp and the msi ms-1037 (mostly the asus lappies, though).

any help would be appreciated!!! and any comments in general about the lappies besides linux compatability would be welcome, too

thanks!
nikolaus

 

Well, the Asus models are pretty good. I don't think there are webcam drivers, and the sound and wifi should be running just fine.

 

Integrated webcams are almost all the same chipset on the USB bus, and they aren't supported yet. As long as you get the Intel 3945 wireless chip or an Atheros wireless chip, the wireless won't take any tricks. Sound cards are almost universally supported. I know that the one in my Compal is, and I'm pretty sure the A8JS's card is supported.

I would seriously stay away from any models with ATI graphics. Their drivers are very immature, don't have as many features (especially those supporting Beryl/Compiz), and take much more work to get running correctly than NVIDIA's drivers.

 

Yup, I second Pitabread's post. He basically covered all the Major aspects to look for. Especially the ATI problem.

And whatever doesn't work, like Webcam and any Windows Mobile device(phone). You can easily use it in Windows under VMWare while still on Linux.

 

I am getting a new notebook to run Ubuntu 7.04 and use parallel desktop to run windows.

I was going to get SZ but Vaio Bio visualization is disabled in default...

Here is the list I can think of..

IBM thinkpad X60s
Macbook 13.3"
SZ series Vaio (which disabled on visualization)


Although I am not a gamer, a Intel core 2 duo and 2GB ram is reasonable for me.
Any comment or suggestion will help. thank you

 

Really, the more troublesome parts are wireless cards and GPUs. Intel wireless cards and graphics cards are the easiest to setup.

Here is a site detailing how to get Ubuntu Edgy running on a 13" MacBook. I couldn't imagine Feisty to be any more difficult, if not easier.

ThinkPads have generally always been more Linux friendly than other manufacturers.

I have no experience with Sony notebooks, so I can't vouch for them.

However, with 2GB of ram and the GMA950, you should have no troubles running both OSs at the same time. And the 950 can handle Beryl just fine.

 

If you have the money there are some laptops with ubuntu preloaded. If you buy from them you get all linux tech support and driver updates. Check out system76.com

 

I have a new Asus Z84JP and it works great with Kubuntu Feisty.

Works:
Standard stuff -- processor (Core 2 Duo), USB, DVD drive, etc
FireWire -- I have captured video with it
Bluetooth -- not used but know it was detected and saw a nearby device
SD card reader -- that one was a surprise, but it works!
Ethernet
Intel wireless -- virtually no configuration, it just worked!
nVidia graphics, with the proprietary driver
Sound, though I think it requires kernel 2.6.19+
eSATA port. This, I think, is a killer feature of this laptop. My external SATA drive is huge and twice as fast as the internal!

Does NOT work in Linux:
Camera -- no driver yet. Hopefully someday.

Not tested:
HDMI output
Modem (do people still use those?)

It's large and not particularly cheap, but if you want a power Linux laptop this is certainly it! The screen is big and beautiful and the sound is great too.

 

Mine is V3000Z with Ir remote controller and quick play buttons.

Works: CPU, USB, DVD/RW/DL
Firewire: Work, but utilities are sucks. Linux doesn't have free real time DV stream compression.
Bluetooth: Found my BT headset
Card reader: Work since Dapper 6.06
Broadcom wireless: Ndiswrapper is the only way for any broadcom card.
Nvidia Go 6150: Works perfectively, but higher temp compare to XP
Sound: Brilliant Speaker and Headphone jack after 7.04
Ir remote: Work on arrow button, but not player button. Volume button works. User can customize launch key mapping with media player, but I didn't do that.
Quickplay button: Doesn't work, but you can map the key.
Touchpad: It works even better than in XP. In XP, the touch pad lock reset to unlock every time it come out of standby, but this doesn't happen in Linux.

 

Rockharder did your sound work out of the box? I think we have the same speakers and my won't work. It worked fine with Edgy but with Feisty it won't work? If it didn't work what did you do?
Thanks!

 

Aha, that is a bit of trick. Well, I should say no trick at all.
The default Alsa in Fesity is 1.0.13 which doesn't work with HP/Compaq whatsoever. You are right no sound at all by default. But if you download 1.0.14rc2(not the latest rc3), wawla it works with everything and very stable. You just need to download source code from Alsa project site and compile it.

Now you can enjoy the headphone.

 

Thanks for help. Now to install Ubuntu once again.

I have a feeling this is going to be harder than it sounds. I'm already starting to give up. Tried to install everything. If you have any guides for installing ALSA it'd be a help.

 

You don't have to reinstall everything again and again. Just recompile the Alsa driver lib and util. Compiling option is like this:
For driver:
./configure with-oss=yes with-cards=hda-intel
make; sudo make install
For lib and util
./configure; make; sudo make install
Then don't forget to configure the mixer at least once in command line
alsamixer
use arrow key to trig every bar. reboot and you will get everything you want. In GUI mixer, you may check the line in switch and by this it will detect your jack.

 

Well I got the sound working. Now the volume down and up buttons on the quickplay pad thing doesn't work. It says it goes down on the desktop, but it doesn't lower it.

 

That's odd. I never had any problem with volume bar. It works even from 6.06 Daper. Check your BIOS version may help. Mine worked since F.17. Now it is F.23, but the mute button just doesn't change the light color even the system response correctly.

The funny thing is the touchpad lock never works right in XP after I upgrade to F.23. But in Ubuntu, it works all the way. This even makes me hate XP more.

 

Hmmm. For me the touchpad on and off opens up the help browser.

 

Those keyboard shortcuts can be changed in the keyboard settings tool. Under preferences I believe. I had to configure these to get my media keys working with MPD under Dapper and Edgy. Feisty must have included a Dell specific entry for the media buttons, cause they work in every application. (Except RealPlayer, but they work in VLC!)

 

Lysander, could you list steps of mapping those keys? I kind of lazy to dig out from the sea.

 

There's an applications for it. Go to System>Preferences>Keyboard Shortcuts. You can map any of those commands to the keys as long as they are recognized by the system.

 

No, that won't do much. dude