From: Robert S. Thau (rst@ai.mit.edu)
Date: Wed Sep 20 2000 - 13:00:29 PDT
Lisa Dusseault writes:
>
> I remember a conversation long ago on fork about laptop recommendations, but
> when I searched the archives, I didn't come up with the information I'm
> specifically looking for: in "light" or "ultralight" or "superslim" laptops,
> how well does Linux really work? All the web-pages about linux on various
> laptops are hopeful (as so many linux sites are) and often helpful, but
> there's very little of the negative information I'm watching out for (e.g.
> nobody comes out and says "X does not work on Y".
The canonical linux-on-laptops page has pointers to pretty detailed
pages from individual users of most of the models you listed, which do
describe some glitches (the guy with the Compaq 1700T needed a third
party driver for the sound card, and the graphics chipset for the IBM
T20 also involves some pain); you can email them directly if you
have any particular question. Note that some manufacturers will also
preinstall Linux these days if you ask and pay extra.
That's http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/
Most things usually work these days once you're a year or so off the
bleeding edge, but new sound cards and graphics chips can still be
trouble, so it pays to check. The big exception is winmodems, which
aren't really supported by anything out of the box. Lucent has a
binary driver for some of their windmodems, but it won't work in all
kernels. Also, some Sony laptops have built-in "real" modems, but not
all; again, it pays to check. But your best bet for now is to figure
that you'll need to get a pcmcia modem.
rst
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