[Wylug-discuss] linux laptop

[Gary Stainburn]

I have 6 Sony Vaio laptops in the company, although only mine has Linux.

I can say that you get what you pay for.  One of the laptops had a problem 
withe fascia comping off.  Sony organized the shipment both ways (to France I 
think) and it was back fixed within 10 days.

As for Linux, FC3 and FC4 went on no probs. Sound didn't work with FC3 but 
does now. Wifi works with FC4, using NDISWrappers and a WinXP Althos based 
driver. (I can't get it to work from bootup, and had trouble with HEX based 
WEP keys but it works fine with ASCII ones)

The touchpad works fine and the keyboard is on par with other laptops, but I 
do tend to use a USB cordless Genius keyboard/mouse when I'm tn the office.  
This was auto-detected and just works.

The screen on mine is very easy to work with. The contrast/clarity is as good 
as I've seen on a laptop and it handles 1280x1024 with no problems.

As mine has a large screen battery life isn't brillient, but you can get a 
program called sonypi which is supposed to allow you to change things like 
screen brightness. A laptop with a smaller screen would probably do better.

Also, mine spends 90% of it's time on mains which won't help battery life 
much.


On Thursday 15 December 2005 19:19, Mischa Oliver Altmann wrote:
> Dear Wyluggers,
>
> it happens every now and then: your old notebook (which is dearly loved
> and you may have spent way too many hours in front of) is showing the
> seven signs of ageing...
>
> So what is out there in terms of Linux "compatible" laptops at the
> moment?
>
> broadly speaking what i need is a desktop replacement though my
> power-needs are not exorbitant, what I value most is:
> - clear, high resolution screen (yes, generally expensive -- ouch!)
> - decent battery life (3 hours -- difficult with Linux?)
> - light&small enough to fit into a backpack but large enough to be
>   used comfortably for longer hours.
>
> now, yes, one can put Linux on any laptop but how well does it work?
> Recently Anne (i think) reported that her laptop worked perfectly after
> a standard Fedora(?) install... but i am not optimistic enough to think
> this is the rule.
>
> Also -- I am *not* disinclined to take an Apple -- any ideas?
>
> price wise I'd like to be able to continue eating healthily but i see
> this as an investment (wrong timing?) so around up to the 1000 pound
> mark is possible :-/
>
> I am (still) a student so there might be special offer out there i am
> unaware of (e.g. through NUS Apple offers ~15% discount)
>
> useful:
> - http://tuxmobil.org/
> - http://www.windowsrefund.org/ (well, if i have time)
>
> browsing around brings up a couple of pre-configured linux laptops:
> - http://www.linuxcertified.com/linux_laptops.html
> - http://www.emperorlinux.com/
> - http://partnernet.maxdata.co.uk/download/nb_index.htm
>
> regards,
>   Mischa
>
> P.S.: with the strong EUR/GBP buying in the US might make sense --
> though warranty, etc might be difficult
>
> --
> Mischa Oliver Altmann
> ABCIT Level 5, Elec.Engineering
> Union Council Representative for Ethical & Environmental Issues
> The University of Leeds (United Kingdom)
>
> personal website: http://www.altmann.at/~mischa (in terrible state)
> E: m.o.altmann02 at spam-me-not.members.leeds.ac.uk [remove spam-me-not]
>
> A: 13 Bentley Grove
>    Leeds, LS6 4AT, United Kingdom
> M: +44-7729-841648
> T: +44-113-2302475
>
>
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-- 
Gary Stainburn
 
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