[HLUG] Linux Laptop

[Chris Owens]

  Hi Steve

     It might be good to check whether newer Lenovo machines still use 
the old IBM device of reserving a Host Protected Area at the end of the 
hard drive. It is effectively a Rescue Partition but in the event of 
difficulties can only be accessed by its own tools and if HPA becomes 
unavailable by chance you can't access the tools.  Several posts refer 
to IBM being very picky who they will release repair disks to (and they 
charge) requiring warranty, proof of purchase etc. but there is one open 
source repair package (FIESTA) around though I haven't got it to compile 
properly yet. So I would recommend either making sure Repair Disks are 
supplied with your new machine or make them as soon as practical.

     The HPA idea is fine until the hard drive cracks or it otherwise 
becomes unavailable as I think happened on my T40 with a battery failure 
whilst in sleep/hibernate state which was at the centre of the 'Broken 
Boots' thread some time ago. Further if the HPA does go down you can't 
re-load Windows and lastly there is also as yet an unexplained 
interaction whereby whilst Ubuntu 10.04 can be re-installed on a dual 
boot machine as often as you like, there are some circumstances (I 
suspect around settings for HPA access) where Windows can't if 10.04 is 
still present (and even most likely after it is removed) so the whole 
concept of dual-booting can collapse on a perfectly fit piece of 
hardware which essentially cannot be easily restored to factory-gate 
conditions since most remedies involve removing HPA - I think!!.

Hope this helps a bit and good luck

Happy Christmas to everyone.

Chris

On 11/12/11 15:09, Steve Horsfield wrote:
> I know this is a path well trod, but bear with me. I am trying to buy a
> laptop - not for me I hasten to add. The only suitable offering I have
> found with linux pre-installed is a 15.6" Lenovo from Linux Emporium in
> Coventry for £ 535. Alternatively I could walk into PC World and pick up an
> equivalent Dell, for example, for £400 and overwrite the Microsoft OS. Is
> there actually no way to realize the advantage of an open source operating
> system?
>
> Steve Horsfield
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