[Lancaster] Re: [offlist] Re: Laptop Power Managment

[Ken Hough]

Andy Baxter wrote:
>>>i just found out via do a mini-itx motherboard with built in 12V DC-DC
>>>converter, so you can run it off a lead acid battery (The via EPIA-TC).
>>>could be useful for anyone wanting a pc to use in a vehicle or off
>>>wind/solar power.
>>
>>This mini mobo could have advantages in remote areas. It's unlikely to
>>be cheap and therefore not viable for poorer areas.
> 
> 
> £125, which isn't so much considering what you get onboard:
> 
> Finally available - The EPIA TC is the first Mini-ITX motherboard from VIA 
> with an onboard 12V DC-DC converter, allowing the board to be powered from a 
> regulated 12V supply or silently with an external power brick (up to 60W). 
> The TC 6000E has the benefit of being fanless, allowing for a near-silent PC. 
> 600Mhz Eden Processor and heatsink, onboard Apollo CLE266 graphics with MPEG2 
> acceleration, Stereo Audio, 10/100 Ethernet, 2 x USB 2.0, Serial Port, PCI 
> Slot, 2 x IDE Ports, 12V DC-in Jack. Image is of EPIA TC 10000.
>

Seems like a nice mobo. Could be the basis of a usefull (semi)mobile PC, 
but it's only a mobo. Add the cost of case and other hardware and I 
believe that my point still stands. 2nd hand PCs can start at around £20 
and are more within the reach of poorer communities.


>>>Usually when you install a new package it
>>>gets set up with sensible defaults - e.g. apache is configured to server
>>>pages from /var/www. A good point is the range of packages is greater
>>>than any other distro i think - e.g. SuSE 9.1 has audacity but not
>>>rezound; debian has both. Also apt-get plus synaptic or aptitude makes
>>>package management quite easy.
>>
>>That may be so when you get to know them all, but with 'YAST', you can
>>find practically everything under one UI. SuSE can handle not only RPM
>>packages, but also DEB packages, so with a bit of care (and possibly a
>>bit of head scratching) most software can be made available under SuSE.
>>
>>I looked at the rezound page on sourceforge and found that the latest
>>version is only 0.9.0beta. I have both audacity v1.1.1 and broadcast2000
>>v1.0 running on this SuSE box. I might try 'rezound' as well.

BTW, I've been trying to install 'rezound'. The configure script 
informed me that I needed libFOX and so I sucessfully 
downloaded/compiled/installed FOX TOOLS (3.8MB download). So far the 
configure script for 'rezound' is refusing to accept that libFOX is 
present (paths?), but will try again.

>>
>>It comes down to what you know and this is my point. A newcomer to Linux
>>  will have a tough time finding his/her way into Debian (I did and I'm
>>already reasonably familier with Linux), whereas Fedora, Mandrake and
>>SuSE make life a lot easier without cramping your style later on.
> 
> 
> they do a bit - if you want to change one of the standard scripts you have to 
> hunt round more to see how to do it without interfering with the standard 
> setup.
>

I'm not sure that this is so, at least for SuSE. Where a script (or part 
of it) should not be modified by hand, this is made clear and usually 
instructions are given as to what/where to change. SuSE scripts are 
mostly well REMed.

>>
>>It seems to me that the Debian documentation is more concerned with the
>>philosophy of the Debian project and less with actually how to get into
>>it and do something usefull.
> 
> 
> not quite fair - there's the debian manual, which has pages of hints and tips 
> on how to do various useful things - e.g. running a dual stable/unstable 
> system, with the base system running from stable and the gui and apps from 
> unstable.

I refer only to my own impression as a 'newbie' to Debian. As with most 
Linux distros, information is available. It's just a question of how 
easy it is to find and to digest.

I've just noticed that we are well off the title thread. Perhaps we 
should start a new one.

Ken Hough