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Re: [LUG] Linux Laptop

 

On Wednesday 26 January 2005 8:45 pm, Julian Hall wrote:
I bought the HP Compaq 3307EA from PC World (

Mandrake 10.0 installed sweet as a nut (dual-boot for the moment with
Windows XP ).

Could you write this up on the website? Go to the members area, click on 
Review:
http://www.dcglug.org.uk/members/#review

Start a Mandrake review.

Your review should then show up on the News and Reviews page.

(Note that reviews created elsewhere on the Wiki are not assured of such a 
listing.)

I know others on the list will have their own favourite 
distros, as is their right :)

A majority would agree that Mandrake is a good recommendation for a new user.

However for a newbie such as your brother I 
think MDK10 would be the fastest and easiest conversion to Linux.  After he
is converted you can slip Debian on while he's not looking *g*

Debian on a laptop can be a bit of a challenge - you should get a full set of 
configs stored, maybe on a USB stick or on the network somewhere. Whichever 
you choose, print out the instructions / settings for getting that device 
working first!

I don't have any PCMCIA cards myself to test that functionality, but the
rest including USB (which played silly sods in XP) worked first time.

Depends on what the card is doing, I've found adapter cards like CF work fine, 
cards for networking can be more troublesome and are prone to breakage.

I would say steer clear of Sony.  Overpriced junk.  Their so-called
"technical support" are totally useless

Most laptop support staff are lacking in knowledge of Linux.

, and were borderline - no they 
*were* - insulting when I emailed them with a problem I had.

Not surprising, you aren't supposed to wipe Windows from their system - they 
won't support you afterwards.

Oh and a friend of mine spends most days reinstalling - or more accurately
fixing - Packard Bell PCs other people bought at Christmas, all from PC
World.  Maybe a bad batch, but..... I'd steer clear of that brand too :)

Anyway, I'm sure there are other opinions :)

Stay away from Advent. It's cheap hardware that gives up the ghost early - if 
you can get it working at all.


-- 

Neil Williams
=============
http://www.dcglug.org.uk/
http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/isbnsearch/
http://www.neil.williamsleesmill.me.uk/
http://www.biglumber.com/x/web?qs=0x8801094A28BCB3E3

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