Advice on getting a gentoo laptop

Elsipkitch9809 · Apprentice Joined: 21 Jul 2002 Posts: 186

Hiya,

The title sums it up well I guess

The next computer I get I want to be a portable one, and I was previously thinking about getting a mac iBook because of their great software/hardware integration--plus a BSD underlayer

. Then this weekend, I finally managed to get all the way to X and beyond with the gentoo installation, and I love it!

I've had such frustrating experiences with X's black screen of death, from 3d crashing. Then, while doped up on percocet this weekend, I thought to myself, why not try out my old HP's Nvidia Riva TNT2 card that I still have? And wouldn't you know it, it works flawlessly! I can play anything 3d I throw at this machine now, and since I've been using Gnome2, I've been really impressed with how well it looks and works. So it gives me hope again for getting x86 hardware as my next computing tool, especially since with x86 I have access to more software (from what I hear) on gentoox86 than on gentooppc.

Now, the problem I have is deciding which laptop I want to save towards. Obviously, either ppc or x86 will get gentoo (much faster downloaded from my school's internet laptop jacks). And if I choose PowerPC, I know it will be an ibook simply because of how cool (and affordable) that is. But on the x86 side, I'm totally clueless as to where to look.

I know I want a nice Nvidia card to be part of the laptop, that's for sure

But where can I get a really nice x86 laptop for around 1500? With hopefully some customizability. Here are the thigns I'm looking for in a laptop so far:

Athlon processor
Nvidia graphics card (I'm guessing a geforce 2 or something)
256 DDR ram (DDR if possible)
DVD/CD-RW drive
Ethernet (and maybe wireless 802.11b) support
20 Gig hard drive
USB ports preferable over ps2
Audio out (and hopefully video out)

That's about it as far as I can remember. If anyone can direct me to a laptop website where laptops like this are sold, that would be great!

Many thanks

P.S. Gentoo rocks!

Elsipkitch9809 · Apprentice Joined: 21 Jul 2002 Posts: 186

I forgot to mention why exactly I was doped up on percocet (for those morbidly curious people out there...

).

I got all 4 wisdom teeth pulled on friday and now I still look like a chipmunk..

Thank gods those evil :evil:

teeth are gone though!

pilla

You can go to http://www.linux-on-laptops.com, my favorite link about GNU/Linux on laptops.....

Mine is a Thinkpad T23, everything works but the video card is not that good (SuperSavage IX).

Probably a Dell should do if you are budget consumer =)

I don't think I'd buy an Athlon in a notebook, I trust more Intel when it comes to heat management.

OdinsDream · Veteran Joined: 01 Jun 2002 Posts: 1057

Just thought I'd post... i successfully installed gentoo 1.2 on a Dell Inspiron 6100 (if thats not right, maybe it's 1600)...but, yeah...

everything worked great, and it wasn't hard to get any of the hardware working, except for the wireless card...but that's optional anyway. If I were to do it all over again, I'd get a well-supported wireless card after I purchased the system...something like the Cisco Aironet.

raziel · n00b Joined: 28 Sep 2002 Posts: 38 Location: CO

I've got Gentoo Linux running on my Vaio R505EL. Every piece of hardware on here is finally working well (with the exception of suspend, but the laptop boots in less than 30 seconds anyway). Probably wouldn't meet the 3d acceleration requirements you're looking for, but in general, if you're willing to be a little patient there's a lot of great resources for getting every little hardware device working on the Sony laptops.

I would probably advise against an AMD processor in a laptop. I still don't see them as very mature on the mobile platform.

BLASTER_ · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 7:21 am Post subject:

my advice? dont do it. my Compaq 1600s runs like durt. (with any linux distro) fact is that laptop hardware is so weard and tweaked, (and cheep as in my Compaq system) that its but not worth it.

however.

http://www.emperorlinux.com/ sells preinstalled systems. so.. THEY can have the headake of installing it. (ill be getting my next one there someday soon)

skeletal29 · n00b Joined: 07 Oct 2002 Posts: 39 Location: Nyc

check out

http://www.powernotebooks.com

perticulerly the "SAGER" notebooks.
I had one totally rocked!
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Os: Gentoo Linux.

amasidlover · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 11:46 am Post subject:

I've got a generic laptop based on the sis630 chipset. Everything works except the built in modem. There are lots of clones based on this chipset so its worth looking out for.

pilla · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 2:33 pm Post subject:

If I hadn't got my Thinkpad in a refurbished sale at IBM, I'd buy a Dell. A 4150, which is not that heavy

(like the annoying guy in Dell marketing, here in the USA)

Lovechild · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 2:40 pm Post subject:

Word of the possibly wise.. Some Toshiba laptops have problems with the current verison of ISOLINUX used on the gentoo install cd - so ask to do a test boot before you buy it to make sure the laptop isn't borked that way.

Anyways, I really recommend Intel CPUs for laptops as they have CPU scaling so when you're idle you throttle the CPU speed down to save powa.. I don't know if AMD has affordable CPUs out there with that feature (For desktops AMD CPUs kicks A** - price vs. performance wise at least).

My Toshiba Satelitte 4270 runs Linux just fine - but it can't install Gentoo on it due to the isolinux issue.

Lovechild · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 2:40 pm Post subject:

Word of the possibly wise.. Some Toshiba laptops have problems with the current verison of ISOLINUX used on the gentoo install cd - so ask to do a test boot before you buy it to make sure the laptop isn't borked that way.

Anyways, I really recommend Intel CPUs for laptops as they have CPU scaling so when you're idle you throttle the CPU speed down to save powa.. I don't know if AMD has affordable CPUs out there with that feature (For desktops AMD CPUs kicks A** - price vs. performance wise at least).

My Toshiba Satelitte 4270 runs Linux just fine - but it can't install Gentoo on it due to the isolinux issue.

plate · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 2:50 pm Post subject:

If you do decide to stick to your original iBook-idea, you may not need to look any further than here... Dual-boot OS X and Gentoo, what more could you possibly want?

koala · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 6:53 pm Post subject:

I have installed Gentoo succesfully on a Dell Inspiron 2650, which has a 2650. I have nearly zero problems (and I have posted a little howto in this same forum).

According to Nvidia's website, their chips are found principally in Toshibas and Dells, although I've seen little brands delivering laptops with Geforces here (Spain).

Ah, BTW, apparently the linux-on-laptops site doesn't get updated now... For a good Linux on Dell laptops guide: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-dell-laptops/

pizen · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 6:56 pm Post subject:

I say go with the iBook. I have a bunch of friends who dual boot OS X and Debian/Gentoo and I think it doesn't get much better than that. I wish I could afford an iBook.

kraylus · l33t Joined: 07 Jun 2002 Posts: 648 Location: ft.worth.tx

dont get an ibook. i bought one for my mom and the thing had problems. little hardware glithces now and then. eventually it wouldn't even boot anymore. the lights would go on but the screen remained dead. then the light stopped turning on.

getting support from apple was impossible. their support sucks ass. we bought a brand new ibook, got the 1 year of apple care and the bloody piece of shit breaks down after 2 months and apple won't even talk to us.

ibooks suck. sure, i base this on one (personal) experience, but how many times do you have to kill someone before you're labeled a murderer?

ibooks suck.

ryan
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hmontclair · n00b Joined: 09 Oct 2002 Posts: 1

N.B.: Poster (that's me) Doesn't Know What He's Talking About.

Nah, you want to get an x86 laptop. :twisted:

The iBook uses an ATi chip, but I'm not sure if OpenGL acceleration for PPC Linux is possible. It's not listed on the DRI homepage , so ymmv. Since, afik, all Apple portable products use ATi graphics chips, you're kinda stuck there.

I'm not really sure about the number of software, but I've also heard that there's more stuff for Linux X86. Besides, there's always Wine right?

The only reason why I'd get use mac is for the Cocoa frameworks (the stuff that hasn't made it to gnustep yet).
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nikai · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 11:45 pm Post subject: Re: Go x86

pizen · Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2002 12:25 pm Post subject:

kraylus, how long ago did you buy that iBook? Was it the new ones or the older clamshell ones?

slikdigit · n00b Joined: 30 Aug 2002 Posts: 73 Location: US

I'm using a clevo 5600 (you can get it from sager, prostar, mtech, etc)
I got it w/out an os from mtech
runs gentoo great- plus there are two websites devoted to setting up linux on this jobee.
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Elsipkitch9809 · Apprentice Joined: 21 Jul 2002 Posts: 186

Hmmm....

I get the vibes that an athlon based notebook wouldn't be the best idea. Indeed, most of the ones that are good and affordable, are intel based.

I saw [url]http://xtremenotebooks.com/index.php?section=specs&model_id=147[/url] this one and it looks pretty good, and at a decent price. This one [url]http://www.powernotebooks.com/specials.php3?model_id=195[/url] also looks pretty nice, most likely the second one on the list.

The reason I originally thought about macs was that I was so disgusted that my supposedly really nice Radeon 64 DDR VIVO works like crap in DRI and windows...well, windows just plain blows chunks. My friend has a Tibook and it has been such a sweet OS to look at and use (especially with the unix underlayer). Now that I finally have gotten a really nice software and hardware (I switched in my old TNT2 card) setup, linux is getting to be really awesome and usable (a good combo to have

). I basically want a portable computer because I want a movable computing tool for programming, word processing, movie watching, and gaming on the go (though I don't really expect HALO or UT2K3 to run on it). I'm on the tip-toe of becoming a full time linux or mac user, and from my successful run this weekend and onwards, it looks like linux might take it

I only have to wait till I get my next few monetary advances in money till I can afford a laptop.

Anyway, its still in the decision process, but thanks a lot for all your input on the subject!

Mnemia · Guru Joined: 17 May 2002 Posts: 476

I'm not sure about this, but I always had heard that AMD was terrible for power consumption and heat, both of which are not desirable qualities in a laptop. I know for sure that the desktop Athlons run very hot compared to a P4. I'd look very carefully at battery life before getting an Athlon-based laptop.

I'm currently running a Thinkpad A30, which is a little slower than most of these machine, but gets decent battery life. It's definitely a whole helluva lot heavier than my old Thinkpad was though

Oh well, at least it seems to be built sturdier (lots of metal) and it's plenty of machine for what I use my laptop for (for UT2k I go to my desktop with a real video card anyway, so I don't see the need for a 2 Ghz chip).

But, whatever floats your boat

nuance9 · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 09 Sep 2002 Posts: 85

I just picked up an old Toshiba laptops, with these kickin' specs:

150MHz
80MB RAM
2GB HD

Took a while to install Gentoo 1.2 - but it runs like a dream. Even with X it runs pretty good. You just have to be careful to keep the packages light - I'm running Ice.

If you are getting a newer laptop I don't imagine you will have any unusual problems.

Also be aware that Gentoo 1.4 is currently missing the PCMCIA packages.

markymark_2k · Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2002 3:30 am Post subject: Dell,

hey, i've got a dell i8200 works awesome, with the new series of kernels (r9) its even started working with acpi which is great because APM caused litlte pauses in movies and games etc, i had to use the vanilla though gentoo series locks up on usb chipset detection and then modules dont install, anyways..... go for the dell i8200 i got the 1.8ghz back in june for AU$7000 but its half that price now,

great, geforce4 go 64mb 512mb DDR dvd/cdrw 40gb, the lot, its really kick ass, you can get inbuilt or pcmcia wireless, i bought myself a Xircom wireless (rebadged cisco 340) and a Xircom access point all work great (though kicking myself i didnt get the internal dell wireless, which would have solved alot of annoyance with the external ant for the the pcmcia... however, i still regret not going for the tibook, but i think i'm better off with the x86, unless you always want to be paying out big bucks... x86 stuff is more available warez, free, open source, more support for it, bigger userbase... okay APPLE comes out with nifty (awesome) GUI, wont be long till we top it again ,

cheers, and kudo's to dell for a great lappie,

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masseya · Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2002 7:43 am Post subject:

Moving to Duplicate Threads because we are trying to consolidate this discussion in this thread: Which laptop?
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