[Wylug-discuss] linux laptops

[chek jallaei]

hi folks

i really must recommend you buy one of those pre-installs.
[although the reviews i get form lindengrove et al never appear to be
too well tuned for a pre install and dont seem to install the distros
you want] or one that you know every piece of hardware will work with
whatever distro you want.

you CAN buy barebones kits from ebuyer
and then selecting and installing  every component yourself... the
troublesome bits like gpu are already there though....

**try to avoid ATI although it seems easy to install their closed 3d
drivers. i reckon they also must manufacture the motherboard/chipset in
a few cases**
and it'll probably work out more expensive sourcing componets yourslef
let alone labour frustration etc.
one thing that annoys is that via c3 and transmeta laptops are priced at
around the upper middle end of the market - not rock bottom..


bought my mum an ACER 2702..one of those awful desktop replacements.
shes been afetr one for ages and i know she wont take it anywhere apart
form her bedroom. 

STUPID .. did not do any research. i only looked at the price which
wasnt bad.[chepaest i could find...those dell GBP299 ones you speak do
not seem to be in evidence... though i am the worlds worst shopper..]


anyway


in briefly humoured mr gates and acer and let the laptop boot to see if
it was ok and to see what xp home looked like.

[only ever seen 98se and 200 and now been exposed to gf's XP PRO]

gah!! 
the ati gpu driver install on first boot crashes.
windows, is not staying. i still look around 

ALL the security features are disabled except you can turn the default
fast user switching off! fat32 only...
and you can install the windows firewall and MS spyware BETA. ho ho.



i install ubuntu on it -yes i feel bad for imposing linux on her but now
i got her a dual boot between winxp pro with ubuntu default(!) [luckily
my dad has a site license otherwise she wouldn't have this courtesy]
filled it with the free software she would find on the ubuntu install
and my own copy  CA's truevector firewall   and antivirus software.
decent stuff. unsure if its any good. just know it not does slow down
even slow machines.. 

hence why i bought it if ever my windows using family/freinds call me
[god i hate them. i dont mind they use windows, nosir. beg them to buy
macs esp if they insist on buying  overpriced rubbish form pc world. "i
don't want to be incompatible..." (for what?? msn and email? and media
files?), i install firefox et al,  disable OE and IE.. they NEED it back
cause they dont like any of the alternatives. click on spyware. etc
etc.] 
i just ask CA for a 1 year trial... and after that they have to pay CA..
heheh. 

my mother has not used a computer since ibm pc and whatever they had for
word processor in them days of yore.. dunno why. oh yeah. didn't care.
now you get WWW with the dubious joys that brings. voip, email, IM and
video conferencing with any family member or friend anywhere they are!
[they should really make the beattie BT ads again with her doing
voip/videoconferencing]

so i dont believe its cruel to subject her to the aunt tillie bootcamp
especially with the amazing desktop experience Ubuntu offers -- its
blown me away and she can choose th FISHER PRICE UI on the other
partition if she wishes. and now the gf wants ubuntu - though don't know
if its ubuntu or the default gnome games which thankfully i never
installed!


although nothing really works - tweaking and reading excellent forums
and documentation get me usable. serves me right for buying cheap and a
notorious brand!