[Nelug] Linux on a laptop

Tue Apr 6 13:04:09 UTC 2004

Geof, Martin,

Apologies for not replying sooner, I've been away on
business for a couple of days...

It looks like DNUK have some good stuff in. Obviously
no laptops though and I find it strange about the
"lack of demand". As I write this now, I've got 5
companies, wanting quite a few laptops each, that are
waiting for us to stock Linux only and dual boot
laptops in the last month alone. I find it odd that a
company like DNUK is not experiencing similar demand.

I run a version of Gentoo (GentooX) on my Xbox and
have dabbled with it in the past on desktop machines,
and it seems like a really good distribution for the
home or casual business user. The problem is that
Gentoo themselves are a group of people that offer no
formal support other than the forums. I do work for a
handful of businesses that use only the downloadable
version of Linux and get by just fine, and others who
run Linux for business critical stuff and need a rapid
response if things go wrong. It's up to you to decide
if this is suitable for you and your company. To add
to Geof’s comments, I can’t see Apple supporting Linux
on its laptops as it’s the competition, so you will
probably be caught short if things go wrong with an
Apple iBook or Powerbook running Gentoo. Also you pay
a premium for the Apple brand (and OS X) which you
don’t need (and won’t use OS X). From what I’ve read,
Intel x86 CPU’s offer better performance at a lower
cost than IBM’s PowerPC (the ones used in the Mac),
and would be able to dual boot into both Windows and
Linux. 

We have connections with both Mandrake and SUSE so if
you have a laptop in mind that you like the look of,
then post it here and I’ll do my best to check with
both that the hardware is supported (although a list
should be on the websites for both distros).

All I can say is that it is like drawing blood from a
stone trying to find laptop manufacturers that offer
proper support for Linux; we are making progress
though, and like I said in my previous mail are
planning to begin offering laptops from June. In the
meantime if I can be of assistance in any way then
please feel free to drop me a mail.

Cheers,

Craig.

 --- Geof Cox <geof.cox at economicpartnerships.com>
wrote: > My linux laptop was supplied by Digital
Networks,
> but they have now 
> stopped supplying because of 'lack of demand'! 
> Having said that until I 
> upgraded to RH9 I had no problems with power
> management etc - and thanks 
> to Imitza Systems, the LUG - thanks to all - and
> Digital Networks - who 
> helped despite the laptop being 2 years out of
> warranty - the upgrade is 
> now all sorted out too.
> 
> There have been some reviews of american laptops in
> 'Linux Format' and I 
> notice Proteus Systems www.proteus-systems.co.uk 
> <http://www.proteus-systems.co.uk> are advertising
> Apple iBooks and 
> Powerbooks with Gentoo installed - but does anybody
> know anything about 
> Gentoo?  I assume Imitza's will run Mandrake - and
> cost a less - and 
> have local support!
> 
> GEOF COX
> 
> CBates wrote:
> 
> >Hi Martin,
> >
> >The company that I own (Imitza Systems) is looking
> to
> >supply laptops with Linux pre-installed shortly.
> For
> >all we can currently supply Laptops with Linux,
> some
> >of the hardware is not supported 100%, and they
> also
> >come with a Windows XP license, pushing up the
> cost.
> >If everything goes to plan then we will be
> supplying
> >pre-installed laptops running Linux from the
> begining
> >of June. The problem is that laptop manufacturers
> are
> >not keen on commiting hardware to running on Linux,
> >due to the problems seen in the past around power
> >management, modem, and mobile processors.
> >
> >In the meantime I'm not really sure of any other
> >companies offering it. I know HP are keen on using
> >Linux, but from what I've seen they are only
> offering
> >Linux on desktops in the USA as far as I'm aware.
> >
> >http://www.linux-laptop.net/ is a good source if
> you
> >have a laptop in mind and also have a section on
> how
> >to obtain a refund for your unused copy of XP,
> >although I think that this is a case of proving the
> >point rather than doing any good in practice as it
> is
> >both long winded and I'm not sure how it would work
> in
> >the real world.
> >
> >Good luck with your laptop, and if anyone is aware
> of
> >a laptop manufacturer that offers Linux support I'm
> >interested as well.
> >
> >Cheers,
> >
> >Craig.
> >
> >
> > --- Martin Ward <Martin.Ward at durham.ac.uk> wrote:
> > 
> >  
> >
> >>Does anyone know of any companies that sell
> laptops
> >>with Linux pre-installed?
> >>I want to support a company that supports Linux!
> >>
> >>-- 
> >>			Martin
> >>
> >>Martin.Ward at durham.ac.uk
> >>http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/ Erdos number: 4
> >>G.K.Chesterton web site:
> >>http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/
> >>
> >>
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