FC1 and Laptops?

[Jay Daniels]

On Thu, Apr 22, 2004 at 09:28:37AM -0400, Ross M Karchner wrote:
> Hello-
> 
> Can anybody recommend any laptops that work well with FC1? By "works 
> well" I guess I mean that things like power management, sleep/awake with 
> the closing of the lid, and (if present) video acceleration are all well 
> supported .
> 
> Failing that, are there any to avoid?
> 
> -Ross

If you can stand 1024x768 on a 15" display, I have installed Fedora
Core 1 on my HP ze4630us and most everything works except the ACPI.

The fan runs constantly and the suspend doesn't function properly
under kernel 2.4.x  Mainly because when I run the suspend script, I
loose my USB mouse.  With the fan running constantly the battery
doesn't last long and I don't see anyway under this kernel to get the
cpu temperature and adjust the fan speed automatically.  Also, Gkrellm
fails to get the cpu temp, fan speed, etc.

note: I downloading and installed this supsend.sh script from another
source.  There is no "suspend" command installed on my laptop be Fedora.

WINDOWS XP
In Windows the fan on this HP never ran!  Of course I only used it
with Windows XP a couple of times before installing Fedora.  It did
seem to get very hot though which I'm told is normal for this laptop.

BACK IN LINUX
With the linuxant driver the modem works.  Full 56K after paying just
$19.xx for the licensed driver.

The soundcard was detected during install.  Although, even with the
altec lansing's built in, sound on a laptop is just that, nothing
fancy - same as any other laptop I have used.

The builtin ethernet device was also detected and setup during
install.

The Gnome desktop looks great and everything was centered without any
hassle.  Maybe I was just lucky and guessed the correct LCD display or
perhaps X is smarter than it use to be when it comes to displays?

I'm holding off until I upgrade to Fedora Core 2 to try the 2.6 kernel
and see if solves my powermanagement stuff.

While reasonably priced, I would recommend a laptop capable of a
higher resolution.  The resolution in these laptops seem are limited by
the bios.  Before you buy, check the maximum resolution the screen can
do and try to get more than 1024x768.

I would rather had a top of the line IBM laptop or perhaps even a
laptop with Linux pre-installed!  On the otherhand, Fedora works great
on this HP and even after adding 512MB of ram, it was fairly cheap.

"The reason I like IBM is that little joystick or trackpoint.  I hate
touchpads!"

Touchpad doesn't work on the HP in Fedora, but I don't care.  I HATE
TOUCHPADS!  The first thing I did was plugin a good USB scroll mouse
which also was detected by Fedora.

Hey, this was the first OS I have ever installed were the USB mouse
was detected during install!!!  Windows XP Pro wouldn't even do that
with a "Microsoft USB mouse"

The real question, do you really need a laptop?  You do not want to
spend the extra money for a mobile if are going to wind up using it as
a desktop pc!

Sorry, I haven't tried the builtin wireless device yet but according
to all my probing it was not detected.

Also, the problem you may encounter with a pre-installed Linux on a
laptop is the laptop is not one of the latest models.  However, I will
probably purchase my next laptop with Linux installed.

As for Windows XP, it's gone.  I wish I had purchased a extra hard
drive for this laptap and kept Windows installed on the old one to
avoid any down-the-road hassles of reinstalling an outdated OS if I
decide to sell it.  I took a big chance installing Fedora on this
notebook with no help and would hate to have gone crawling back to MS
techsupport to get it reactivated.

The Lid
Closing the lid turns the screen off but that's about all it does.

Rumors
I also hear that IBM laptops as well as Dell have better Linux
support, but I have no experience with either and decided to get a
cheap HP for my personal use.  It works and if the 2.6 kernel solves
my ACPI problems, that would really nice.

Summary
Even with the ACPI problem which I can resolve with time I think, I
find my Linux laptop very usable.  I normally keep it plugged in
somewhere and use a small inexpensive power invertor in the van when
traveling.  I am still very statisfied with my cowboy style install of
Fedora on my new laptop!

"I think most of the IBM's have a builtin mic which may be useful."


jay