Re: Best laptop brand for Linux.
unruh
> I'm considering purchasing a laptop to run Linux (by prefer Ubuntu or
> openSuse) on it, but I do not know what brand to choose.
> I intend to run basic applications (internet, office, TeX, multimedia
> playback, home networking, ...) and VirtualBox, but NO gaming.
> I've searched on the internet (a.o.
> http://www.google.com/cse?cx=002683415331144861350%3Atsq8didf9x0&q=linux+certified+laptops&ie=utf-8&sa=Search),
> but unfortunately my searches did not yield consistent recommendations
> ('best buy'). Candidates seem to be Dell and Lenovo. My preference
> goes to laptop brands which are fully Linux Certified (allowing to run
> Linux out of the box).
> What laptop brand would you recommend me?
The items that might be problematic for Linux
a)Graphics. In particular some systems use Intel graphics and for some
of them, they do not understand VESA modes, and thus cannot install or
boot up. ( you need to put something like vga=0 into the kernel
parameters and then they work)
b) wireless-- There are some wireless chipsets which have been very
difficult for Linux people to support ( no info from the manufacturers).
c) Occasionally hard wired internet. The Marvel chipsets used to be
problematic, but seem to be OK now.
The best thing to do is to burn the Live CD for the distro you are
interested in, bring it to the store and run it on the laptop (It does
not do anything to the hard disk, so you can calm down the store
salesmen when they worry that you will destroy their windows demo system
with linux) and try all of the things-- ie try the graphics, the
wireless, the wired internet. That way you will know if your favourite
distro actually runs on it.
Note that "certification" is a pretty casual thing, and will only be
there for older equipment. This year's latest laptop will not be in
there.
Also if someone says brand X is great with Linux or does not work at all,
the model you buy may have been changed sufficiently that the
recommendation is useless.
>
> Regards.
> --
> MarkQ
Eric Valette
> Also if someone says brand X is great with Linux or does not work at all,
> the model you buy may have been changed sufficiently that the
> recommendation is useless.
Hardware support is important be it only for bios, or if you use dual
boot or if something breaks.
I bought a Fujitsu siemens amilo xi 3650, last year and managed to
install linux without too much problem. The hardware is great, linux
runs fine on it but Fujitsu support is non existent.
They are unable to provide a recent, hardware accelerated nvidia driver
for their 9600m chipsets, and seven is unsupported!!! Ther is almost no
driver update since a year...
I asked the support for removal of the tools partition and they have
been unable to answer...
In the past I used to buy asus laptop and the support was much superior.
--eric
TheGunslinger
wrote:
>I'm considering purchasing a laptop to run Linux (by prefer Ubuntu or
>openSuse) on it, but I do not know what brand to choose.
>I intend to run basic applications (internet, office, TeX, multimedia
>playback, home networking, ...) and VirtualBox, but NO gaming.
>I've searched on the internet (a.o.
>http://www.google.com/cse?cx=002683415331144861350%3Atsq8didf9x0&q=linux+certified+laptops&ie=utf-8&sa=Search),
>but unfortunately my searches did not yield consistent recommendations
>('best buy'). Candidates seem to be Dell and Lenovo. My preference
>goes to laptop brands which are fully Linux Certified (allowing to run
>Linux out of the box).
>What laptop brand would you recommend me?
>
>Regards.
I suspect reliability is probably the greatest concern. I usually buy
a Toshiba for reliability issues. Typically, Toshiba is rated close to
numero uno for customer satisfaction and reliability of hardware.
As for what version of LINUX, I d/l'd Redhat RHEL 6.0 and let the
installation program do all the work.
Fedora is Redhat's OpenSource and testing distribution. AND free.
Also, I installed LINUX onto a portable harddrive so I didn't have to
lose my pre-installed operating system and software.
Since I am new to LINUX myself, not wiping my existing operating
system and software was a real plus while I learned the ropes of
LINUX. I am taking a UNIX/LINUX class next year.
The installation went well and was easy. RHEL did all the peeking of
my hardware, and partitioned/formatted the portable harddrive. Took
about an hour. I set it up during the lecture portion of the class I
am taking, and it was finished shortly after lecture ended.
All hardware seems to have been correctly recognized, and basic
drivers installed. I haven't checked for any hardware specific drivers
yet. That's a project for Christmas Break. I did get direct internet
and wifi installed with minimum issues. I was able to check for and
install package updates right away.
IMHO,
MJR
Stefan Patric
> On Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:00:19 -0700 (PDT), MarkQ <mar...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>>I'm considering purchasing a laptop to run Linux (by prefer Ubuntu or
>>openSuse) on it, but I do not know what brand to choose. I intend to run
>>basic applications (internet, office, TeX, multimedia playback, home
>>networking, ...) and VirtualBox, but NO gaming. I've searched on the
>>internet (a.o.
>>http://www.google.com/cse?cx=002683415331144861350%3Atsq8didf9x0&q=linux
+certified+laptops&ie=utf-8&sa=Search),
>>but unfortunately my searches did not yield consistent recommendations
>>('best buy'). Candidates seem to be Dell and Lenovo. My preference goes
>>to laptop brands which are fully Linux Certified (allowing to run Linux
>>out of the box).
>>What laptop brand would you recommend me?
>>
>>Regards.
>
>
> I suspect reliability is probably the greatest concern. I usually buy a
> Toshiba for reliability issues. Typically, Toshiba is rated close to
> numero uno for customer satisfaction and reliability of hardware.
>
> As for what version of LINUX, I d/l'd Redhat RHEL 6.0 and let the
> installation program do all the work.
RHEL isn't free. The OP will have to pay for it unless he's a student.
Some universities have deals with Red Hat. If you want a free version,
then CentOS 6.0, which is created for RHEL 6.0 code under the Open Source
license, is the best bet. However, it won't be available for about
another month.
> Fedora is Redhat's OpenSource and testing distribution. AND free.
Fedora 14 was just release about 3 weeks ago. Most of the start up
glitches have been rectified, and it's running pretty smoothly.
Although, there are still a few problems hanging around. Fedora 13 is
quite stable now. Fedora 12, which I use, is a few days from End of Life
and will no longer be supported, but it is very stable even if it's
classified as a "testing" distro.
TO: The OP
Lenovo, Thinkpads, etc. have always been super compatible with any
version of Linux. I have a 10 year old Thinkpad 240X with a modern
version of Linux on it (Debian) and it works just fine.
These links may help with your decision.
http://www.linux.org/hardware/
http://www.linuxonlaptops.com/
http://www.tomshardware.com/
Stef
patrick013
A new machine, anything over 1.5ghz processor. If you get a netbook
the new external DVD writers all require 1.5ghz at least. I use an
ASUS which used to have LINUX installed, so their hardware should still
be LINUX compatible.
patrick013
F8BOE
> I'm considering purchasing a laptop to run Linux (by prefer Ubuntu or
> openSuse) on it, but I do not know what brand to choose.
> I intend to run basic applications (internet, office, TeX, multimedia
> playback, home networking, ...) and VirtualBox, but NO gaming.
> I've searched on the internet (a.o.
>
http://www.google.com/cse?cx=002683415331144861350%3Atsq8didf9x0&q=linux+certified+laptops&ie=utf-8&sa=Search),
> but unfortunately my searches did not yield consistent recommendations
> ('best buy'). Candidates seem to be Dell and Lenovo. My preference
> goes to laptop brands which are fully Linux Certified (allowing to run
> Linux out of the box).
> What laptop brand would you recommend me?
>
> Regards.
> --
> MarkQ
Mine is the best! Hohoho!
--
Ciao @+
< Sony VGN-FW54M powered by Mandriva-Linux 2010.1 >
F8BOE
> I'm considering purchasing a laptop to run Linux (by prefer Ubuntu or
> openSuse) on it, but I do not know what brand to choose.
> I intend to run basic applications (internet, office, TeX, multimedia
> playback, home networking, ...) and VirtualBox, but NO gaming.
> I've searched on the internet (a.o.
>
http://www.google.com/cse?cx=002683415331144861350%3Atsq8didf9x0&q=linux+certified+laptops&ie=utf-8&sa=Search),
> but unfortunately my searches did not yield consistent
recommendations
> ('best buy'). Candidates seem to be Dell and Lenovo. My preference
> goes to laptop brands which are fully Linux Certified (allowing to
run
> Linux out of the box).
> What laptop brand would you recommend me?
>
> Regards.
> --
> MarkQ
No! It's my combo that is the best!
--
Ciao @+
< Sony VPC-W11S1E powered by Mandriva-Linux 2010.1 >
Rex Ballard
Most Lenovo Thinkpads, for example will run nearly any version of Linux with no special drivers required.
Watch out for "Bargain" PCs, especially those who have come down significantly in price since their introduction. Often the reason for this fall is that they are not even "Linux Friendly" - and contain hardware for which hardware drivers are not only not available, but the device makers have agreements to prevent the release of drivers for a short period of time, usually 3-6 months after the release of the laptops containing the new hardware. This is designed to keep new buyers of the new hardware from just putting Linux on it immediately. Some of the Lenovo IdeaPads, for example, didn't provide fully functional Linux - especially WiFi connectivity and 3D graphics acceleration, until more than 6 months after their initial release.
In most cases, Laptops are at least "Linux friendly" - which means that they will run the standard functions using standard drivers. This might be a subset, for example, without 3D graphics acceleration, WiFi might only run in A/G but not A/G/N mode. Sound cards might not drive all speakers. Express cards may not be detected or may not function properly.
The "Linux Ready" devices are often purchased in bulk quantities by corporate customers and value added resellers such as Emperor and Penguin Computing, who shrink the Windows partition and install Linux or just install the user's choice of 2-3 of the most popular Linux distributions.
If you really want the best possible Linux experience, getting it from one of these vendors is the closest to the experience that Windows users get, a Laptop that is fully configured to provide the highest levels of functionality running Linux.