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Re: Linux Help Needed [message #47156 is a reply to message #47134]

Fri, 27 January 2006 09:58

David Fanning
Messages: 11724
Registered: August 2001

Senior Member

Karl Schultz writes:

> I really don't know how much luck you'll have finding a laptop with just
> LINUX on it. I'm sure that there are some out there, but I also think
> that it is safe to say that your choices in the hardware would be limited.

I have been taken aback to receive a number of
private e-mails cautioning against expecting too
much from LINUX on a laptop. This has surprised
me. I guess because I got caught up in the excitement
of the LINUX evangelists. I just *assumed* LINUX
would work well everywhere. I am beginning to
appreciate why the new Mac machines are such a big
deal. It brings Windows reliability to the LINUX
world. :-)

> I ended up getting a Toshiba Satellite with Win XP on it. The first thing
> I did when I got it was to boot it with Knoppix, live off the CD.
> Knoppix, and other recent distros, have a tool that will let you shrink an
> NTFS partition in place without reformatting the drive. This tool let me
> split the internal hard disk in half. I think I also made a small (2GB)
> FAT partition so I have some disk space shared between LINUX and
> Windows. LINUX doesn't *write* to NTFS very well these days.
>
> I then installed Debian on the second half and went ahead and put the GRUB
> boot loader on. That lets me select Win or LINUX at power on time. I
> almost always just close the lid to hiberate Windows, so I don't see the
> GRUB menu very much. It works well.

Well, this sounds like a project I can sink my teeth into,
and I have just the machine to try it out on. I guess I better
go get BitTorrent first, though, or it will be another slow
day in Colorado.

> I think it is probably pretty important to get the features you need/want
> in a laptop purchase and then worry about adding LINUX later. There are
> websites out there that describe how various LINUX distros work on many
> laptops. They might be worth checking as you narrow down your choices.

The thing I am MOST surprised about, is that LINUX users
will pay that extra premium to have Windows installed on
their laptops. I guess they just think of it as an insurance
premium. :-)

Cheers,

David

--
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/

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[Message index]

		Linux Help Needed By: David Fanning on Mon, 23 January 2006 20:17
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: David Fanning on Fri, 27 January 2006 14:00
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: swisswuff on Sat, 28 January 2006 09:51
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: jeyadev on Fri, 27 January 2006 15:17
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: jeyadev on Fri, 27 January 2006 13:22
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: savoie on Fri, 27 January 2006 12:18
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: Michael Wallace on Fri, 27 January 2006 12:05
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: Greg Hennessy on Fri, 27 January 2006 11:47
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: JD Smith on Fri, 27 January 2006 17:55
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: Benjamin Hornberger on Fri, 27 January 2006 11:35
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: Michael Wallace on Fri, 27 January 2006 11:03
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: David Fanning on Fri, 27 January 2006 09:58
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: Karl Schultz on Fri, 27 January 2006 09:19
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: Ken Mankoff on Fri, 27 January 2006 07:50
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: K. Bowman on Fri, 27 January 2006 07:27
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: Nigel Wade on Fri, 27 January 2006 01:45
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: K. Bowman on Thu, 26 January 2006 12:57
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: David Fanning on Thu, 26 January 2006 11:22
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: JD Smith on Fri, 27 January 2006 17:32
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: Sid[1] on Thu, 26 January 2006 11:12
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: Foldy Lajos on Sat, 28 January 2006 02:00
		Re: Linux Help Needed By: Paul Van Delst[1] on Fri, 27 January 2006 18:25

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