>From: Donald E Haselwood <dhaselwood@verizon.net>
>Reply-To: slug@nks.net
>To: slug@nks.net
>Subject: [SLUG] Cheap'n good laptops for Linux
>Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2006 21:31:40 -0500
>
>What is a good used, cheap laptop that will run Linux? I vaguely remember
>that there were some laptops that gave all sorts of problems getting Linux
>up
>and running (was it Dell because they were cutting corners on hardware to
>keep costs down?). So, more importantly than what is the best, what should
>be avoided.
>
>Don
If you are seeking a laptop with a built-in wireless adapter, try to find
out which wireless chipset is used before you make the purchase. The Atheros
chipsets have good support and will work out of the box with many distros. I
believe that the Intel wireless chipsets also works well with Linux.
Broadcom chips (which are *widely* used) do not have decent Linux support
yet and you may end up pulling your hair out trying to get one to work. Yes,
there is a reverse-engineering project underway (bcm43xx) but it is still
far from mature. While it certainly may be possible for you to get this
chipset working, at this point in time it is in your best interest to go
with something else that has better Linux support.
If Free Software is important to you and/or you don't want to have to deal
with proprietary video drivers then get a laptop with Intel, VIA, or ATI
(Radeon drivers for models up to 92xx work well, newer Radeon models have
experimental 3D support so avoiding cutting edge ATI) video. _Avoid NVIDIA_.
I'm using an IBM Thinkpad T42 laptop here with Ubuntu and everything (sound,
video, wired adapter, wireless adapter, CD-RW/DVD-ROM, special laptop keys,
suspend-to-HDD, suspend-to-RAM, lid close) works beautifully. I have never
tried to use the modem so that's the only part I'm not sure about.
Jonathon
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