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cwr
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 1:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I find Gentoo a very good idea on my elderly Thinkpad, since I can set it up
to do exactly what's needed, without a lot of superfluous stuff. I've had no
problems with any drivers (including wireless) but the hardware is pretty old,
and pretty common, so drivers are well-used and debugged.

The only question I'd have on your hardware is the Nvidia drivers; people
complain about them, but I don't know the exact state of current play.

Will
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BloodyAlice
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 4:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The only thing I know is that ati drivers for the newer models are awful with compiz.... I havn't had any problems with my nvidia drivers, but if compiz has problems with both ati and nvidia, there's really nothing much left to choose from, except maybe to ditch compiz, which would throw the visual experience you get back to 2003 standards...
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appetitus
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

turtles wrote:
Comparison summery:
1) ThinkPad X61 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo L7700. pro's weight 3.1 lbs?? best price on fastest processor (add on $270 to price of dell for same) estimate a 8% speed up in compiling,7 USB ports Hard Drive: 100GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm slightly bigger than dell I priced @ 7200 rpm May be pro or con: slightly smaller battery. NO CD/ROM / DVD.


Actually X61s come with an included docking station, which has the CD/DVD burner. The docking station also has the parallel printer port and a DB-9 serial port. My X61 had a T8100 Duo in it, means full Xen virtualization and 64 bit.
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uxbod
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Personally never had a problem with Nvidia drivers, but will find out again tomorrow when my T61P turns up :D
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temper
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 2:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Have you guys heard of clevo or compal laptops? They sell laptop barebones, which you can build yourself. I have one myself and Gentoo works great on it. I bought this barebone without wifi and bluetooth modules, and I don't know if it work, but I think it will.
They have many resellers in the US and Europe, like sager, rjtech, alienware, voodoo.
rjtech have really good prices. http://rjtech.com/
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tylerwylie
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 4:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ThththththththththTHINKPAD

With extra big-ass fries.
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HeXiLeD
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 12:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Recently i have been thinking about getting a Dell. What are your thoughts about it ?
Any of you guys have a full working one with linux ?

What can you say about Dell models and linux support?
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ppurka
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 1:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Drone1 wrote:
I did notice the T61 series have an Nvidia chipset available now, so graphics tweaking should be simpler that what we had to do.
What wishful thinking! Try getting reliable hibernation! Or even good 2D performance!
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d2_racing
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 1:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi, I have a T60P and everything is working like a charm :

Code:

gentootux ~ # lspci -v
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT
 Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
        Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2015
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information <?>

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT
Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: 00002000-00002fff
        Memory behind bridge: ee100000-ee1fffff
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000d0000000-00000000dfffffff
        Capabilities: [88] Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2014
        Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2
        Capabilities: [90] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0
Enable-
        Capabilities: [a0] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
        Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel <?>
        Capabilities: [140] Root Complex Link <?>
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Aud
io Controller (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Lenovo ThinkPad T60/R60 series
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
        Memory at ee400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
        Capabilities: [60] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0
Enable-
        Capabilities: [70] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00
        Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel <?>
        Capabilities: [130] Root Complex Link <?>
        Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
        Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (r
ev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: 00003000-00003fff
        Memory behind bridge: ee000000-ee0fffff
        Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
        Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0
Enable-
        Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2011
        Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 2
        Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel <?>
        Capabilities: [180] Root Complex Link <?>
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver

00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (r
ev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: 00004000-00005fff
        Memory behind bridge: ec000000-edffffff
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000e4000000-00000000e40fffff
        Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
        Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0
Enable-
        Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2011
        Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 2
        Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel <?>
        Capabilities: [180] Root Complex Link <?>
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver

00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (r
ev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=04, subordinate=0b, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: 00006000-00007fff
        Memory behind bridge: e8000000-e9ffffff
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000e4100000-00000000e41fffff
        Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
        Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0
Enable-
        Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2011
        Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 2
        Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel <?>
        Capabilities: [180] Root Complex Link <?>
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver

00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (r
ev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=0c, subordinate=13, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: 00008000-00009fff
        Memory behind bridge: ea000000-ebffffff
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000e4200000-00000000e42fffff
        Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
        Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0
Enable-
        Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2011
        Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 2
        Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel <?>
        Capabilities: [180] Root Complex Link <?>
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controll
er #1 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
        Subsystem: Lenovo ThinkPad T60/R60 series
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
        I/O ports at 1800 [size=32]
        Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controll
er #2 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
        Subsystem: Lenovo ThinkPad T60/R60 series
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
        I/O ports at 1820 [size=32]
        Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controll
er #3 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
        Subsystem: Lenovo ThinkPad T60/R60 series
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
        I/O ports at 1840 [size=32]
        Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controll
er #4 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
        Subsystem: Lenovo ThinkPad T60/R60 series
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
        I/O ports at 1860 [size=32]
        Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Control
ler (rev 02) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
        Subsystem: Lenovo ThinkPad T60/R60 series
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
        Memory at ee404000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
        Capabilities: [58] Debug port: BAR=1 offset=00a0
        Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2) (prog-if
01 [Subtractive decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=15, subordinate=18, sec-latency=32
        I/O behind bridge: 0000a000-0000dfff
        Memory behind bridge: e4300000-e7ffffff
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000e0000000-00000000e3ffffff
        Capabilities: [50] Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2013

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (re
v 02)
        Subsystem: Lenovo ThinkPad T60/R60 series
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
        Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information <?>

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (re
v 02) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
        Subsystem: Lenovo Thinkpad R60e model 0657
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
        I/O ports at 01f0 [size=8]
        I/O ports at 03f4 [size=1]
        I/O ports at 0170 [size=8]
        I/O ports at 0374 [size=1]
        I/O ports at 1880 [size=16]
        Kernel driver in use: ata_piix

00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA AHCI
Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 01 [AHCI 1.0])
        Subsystem: Lenovo Thinkpad R60e model 0657
        Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 218
        I/O ports at 18c8 [size=8]
        I/O ports at 18ac [size=4]
        I/O ports at 18c0 [size=8]
        I/O ports at 18a8 [size=4]
        I/O ports at 18b0 [size=16]
        Memory at ee404400 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
        Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0
Enable+
        Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 2
        Kernel driver in use: ahci

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Lenovo ThinkPad T60/R60 series
        Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 11
        I/O ports at 18e0 [size=32]

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M56GL [Mobility FireGL V
5250] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
        Subsystem: Lenovo Device 20a4
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
        Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
        I/O ports at 2000 [size=256]
        Memory at ee100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        [virtual] Expansion ROM at ee120000 [disabled] [size=128K]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
        Capabilities: [58] Express Legacy Endpoint, MSI 00
        Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0
Enable-
        Kernel modules: fglrx

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82573L Gigabit Ethernet Controlle
r
        Subsystem: Lenovo ThinkPad T60
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 217
        Memory at ee000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
        I/O ports at 3000 [size=32]
        Capabilities: [c8] Power Management version 2
        Capabilities: [d0] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0
Enable+
        Capabilities: [e0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
        Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting <?>
        Capabilities: [140] Device Serial Number 76-9c-35-ff-ff-6b-1a-00
        Kernel driver in use: e1000

03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Conne
ction (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 1010
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 216
        Memory at edf00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Capabilities: [c8] Power Management version 2
        Capabilities: [d0] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0                                                                                                                                                            Enable+
        Capabilities: [e0] Express Legacy Endpoint, MSI 00
        Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting <?>
        Capabilities: [140] Device Serial Number 1a-4b-4f-ff-ff-77-1b-00
        Kernel driver in use: iwl3945
        Kernel modules: iwl3945

15:00.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1510 PC card Cardbus Controller
        Subsystem: Lenovo ThinkPad T60/R60 series
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168, IRQ 16
        Memory at e4300000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Bus: primary=15, secondary=16, subordinate=17, sec-latency=176
        Memory window 0: e0000000-e3fff000 (prefetchable)
        Memory window 1: 88000000-8bfff000
        I/O window 0: 0000a000-0000a0ff
        I/O window 1: 0000a400-0000a4ff
        16-bit legacy interface ports at 0001
        Kernel driver in use: yenta_cardbus
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gforum
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 7:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i recommend you build a custom laptop.
maybe from power notebooks?
i have a compal fl-90, and its great, plus when you build ur laptop you get to choose what you have inside(to some degree anyways ^^).
in my case i got core2duo, gforce 8600m gt, 2gb btooth, the new wifi card, all the figures.
and gentoo works on like perfectly.
the only thing i havent tested so far, fully, is bluetooth. but it is recognized so it should be working.

here is an example of what i meant:
http://www.powernotebooks.com/configure.php?special=558
or here:
http://www.powernotebooks.com/specs/PowerPro/p11-15.php

once you start buying custom, you realize how regular companies overprice their laptops by far...

there are other sources then powernotebooks btw. maybe even locally, in your city there might be such a shop, that builds laptops.
now a days they are just as simple as computers to build, you can even change/upgrade you video cards afterward, if its nvidia anyway(dont think radeon has that yet).(before you could only upgrade the usual stuff, like hd, ram, etc...)


thats my idea. 8)

cheers
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Caldus
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 2:39 am    Post subject: Recommend me a laptop for Gentoo? Reply with quote

Hi,

I am a relatively new Linux user. I have been playing and tweaking with Fedora for about a year now. I started becoming much more interested in Linux while working with it at work. I took some Linux classes that my job offered for free. So for a year I have Fedora on my desktop and been taking various courses like Linux device drivers, Linux administration, Shell/awk programming, etc. and I just adore it all. I don't know why I stuck with Win-doze for so long. I have heard some interesting things about Gentoo, particularly from a friend of mine who is a Gentoo addict apparently. I figured I would give it a shot. Recently, I have decided that the laptop I do have is just total crap now and need something new. It's just too old and I think the hardware is just about giving up. So now I get to have the fun of picking out a new laptop. I want something powerful and something that will run real well with Linux on it.

Now my research so far indicates to me that there are OEM's (Original Equipment Manufacturers) that will sell their hardware to companies like Dell, etc. Dell and such will almost always install Win-blows on their hardware. They will then claim that they support Linux, but what they really do is wipe out Windows and replace it with whatever flavor of Linux. So the various articles I read mentioned to try and grab a laptop from one of these OEM's.

Maybe it doesn't matter too much what the hardware itself is. I will claim complete ignorance on this subject and seek some help on this matter. Any recommendations? What has worked real well? What matters? What doesn't?

Thanks so much!
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 3:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Moved from Installing Gentoo to Gentoo Chat as this isn't a direct support question.
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onefriedrice
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 6:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey Caldus,

If you're looking for a good laptop for running Linux, I recommend this website: http://www.linux-laptop.net/
Click on the brand of laptop you think you want and read some of the entries. You'll probably find one or several that are specifically about running Gentoo on a specific model.

I'm not sure, but I think you will be able to find some fairly new models at that website. If nothing else, you'll get a feel for which devices/drivers work better than others. For example, I checked out that site before buying a used Thinkpad T42 for school. I went with this model because it has intel wireless (ipw2200) which I found out runs very well under Linux without a lot of fudging. I don't have to mess around with madwifi or any of that. The T42 is a fairly old model, but it runs Gentoo like a champ.

The hardware does matter. You should definitely check out what cards, chipsets, or devices are available in the laptop you think you want, and read up about the state of the drivers and the experiences of others who have already been there and done that. The biggest thing to look out for is the wireless support. That's the major thing you want to be sure to get right. Everything else is fairly well-supported across the board; but always check to make sure.

That's all. Enjoy.

PS- Welcome to Gentoo. Your friend is an addict, huh? Be careful... it will probably happen to you, too.
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Akkara
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi!

I don't have a particular answer to "what laptop to get", but I'd like to share some advice on what to do with your laptop, once you get it.

The main thing that distinguishes Gentoo from other linux distributions (and other operating systems for that matter) is how incredibly busy it can keep the machine during install and updates, because of all the compilation.

Many laptops aren't really designed to be that busy that long. They'll do it, but they can get very hot in the process. So keep an eye on that as you become familiar with it.

You'll probably want to use a external fan blowing at it (usually in the back). If you get a dual core, the various manuals suggest setting MAKEOPTS to "-j3" in /etc/make.conf to run extra concurrent jobs and use the cores better. But since it is a laptop, you might want to stay at "-j1" if you need help keeping the temperatures down. It'll take longer to compile but it'll run cooler. Try it in different ways to see which one works best for you, or maybe what I'm saying hopefully won't be a problem for you.


Also, if your laptop has a lithium battery, you can make choices in how you use it that can greatly extend the battery's service life.

Ideally you want to keep the battery cool, and at around 40-60% charge. The reason is a fully-charged battery degrades faster. A hot battery also degrades faster. A hot fully-charged battery degrades faster still. [reference]

Unfortunately, when compiling, the laptop (and the battery) is hot. And it is usually kept plugged in since it takes a long time, so the battery will also be fully charged. That's the worst possible combination for the battery's service life. If the laptop can work on the charger and without the battery, pulling the battery out while compiling can help -- but then you run the risk of data loss if there's a power failure. If you have a UPS that you can plug the laptop into when running without battery, that's the best. Or you might want to compile on battery and periodically plug the charger in to keep it around 50% charge.

Anyway, those are some thoughts from using Gentoo on my laptop. I'm happy to report its lithium battery still has very good charge capacity after 2.5 years.

Good luck!
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nixnut
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

merged above four posts here
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Akkara wrote:
...
Many laptops aren't really designed to be that busy that long. They'll do it, but they can get very hot in the process. So keep an eye on that as you become familiar with it.


Imho this is nonsense. If a laptop can't "take the heat", then I consider it crap and you should buy a proper one that can. My Lenovo N200 (which can hardly be considered high quality or high-end) with a C2D 1.8G goes up to 60-65 Celsius when on 100%, still, apart from the fan blowing it is still slightly warm to the touch. The only slightly hotter area is above the CPU and the fan (top left).
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 1:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have C2D 2.2Ghz laptop and it's working 24/7 I compile a lot of stuff on it. It gets hot sometimes, but It's completely normal for laptop. I never heard/have laptop brake from overheating. Mine is at 60-70 celsius degree all the time. When gaming it get's to 80 sometimes 8O, but that's just fine with laptops. As for Video Card I have 8600gt, which overheats a lot compared to it's "desktop version". Now it's at 68 celsius degrees, when on desktop it's always between 45-50 celsius and that's completely normal, because It has semi passive cooling. Recent laptops have build-in overheating control mechanism in bios-if it gets too hot, bois underclocks CPU and GPU automatically or shut's down. I had many laptops run gentoo, inluding OEM and ODM versions and never had any problem with drivers or anything else... Wireless drivers is not not problem aswell as a matter of fact everthing worked out perfectly "out of the box" for me, but you can Install Winblowz drivers with ndiswrapper if you want to. I even have battery coservative module in kernel, called "smart battery" wich keeps my 9 cell battery at 50% charge all the time and it's quite cool. Laptos are definetely hotter that desktops, that's true and you should always control you tempsm if you don't want to brick you lappy. If you think it's too hotm than buy some Zalman laptop cooler, which costs around 50$ it will help cool down 10-20 celsius, but I don't think it's necessary, if you aint got some crazy DUAL GTX video card gaming rig you don't need it then. Just remember to clean your laptop every 3-4 month b/c it gets much dust in it accumulated.
It doesn't matter which brand or hardware you buy. Generally they all buy from same manufacturers like, Quanta, Clevo, A-Open, Compal, MSI. So it doesn't matter. But if you buy from ODM you will get it cheaper and quality, build quality and support quality is much, much higher than in Famous brands like...Dell, HP etc....
Usians can buy 1200$ really nice laptops, it will not be beast but which nice configs.
In europe it little more expensive. It starts from 1500$, for arund 2000$ you can get decent fancy laptop :D
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Drone1
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 7:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ppurka wrote:
Drone1 wrote:
I did notice the T61 series have an Nvidia chipset available now, so graphics tweaking should be simpler that what we had to do.
What wishful thinking! Try getting reliable hibernation! Or even good 2D performance!


My comment was with regard to compositing. And, afaik, intel video chipsets are the only 'stable' variety that hibernation plays nice with. Also kindly note that my post was pre- Nvidia chipset snafu.

Presently, Intel is the ONLY video chipset vendor I 'trust' when it comes to open source video drivers and reliability. Nvidia lost me the beginning of 08, and ATI, though they are getting better, still have a way to go before I make an investment towards them.
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ppurka
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 10:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Drone1 wrote:
ppurka wrote:
Drone1 wrote:
I did notice the T61 series have an Nvidia chipset available now, so graphics tweaking should be simpler that what we had to do.
What wishful thinking! Try getting reliable hibernation! Or even good 2D performance!


My comment was with regard to compositing. And, afaik, intel video chipsets are the only 'stable' variety that hibernation plays nice with. Also kindly note that my post was pre- Nvidia chipset snafu.

Presently, Intel is the ONLY video chipset vendor I 'trust' when it comes to open source video drivers and reliability. Nvidia lost me the beginning of 08, and ATI, though they are getting better, still have a way to go before I make an investment towards them.
8O Sorry, I hadn't noticed the date. I had bought a T61 with the nvidia graphics chip, with the impression that everything will run really nice and I can get good 3D performance when needed. The performance of the nvidia drivers was a very big disappointment,- the performance still is a disappointment even after more than a year. :evil:
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OmSai
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 10:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Akkara wrote:
You'll probably want to use a external fan blowing at it (usually in the back).
It reduces the temperature by 4 degrees C in my experience. This of course only works if you have a bottom fan - IBMs and some other laptops have a side blowing fan so that they can actually be used on laps without the fabric obstructing air flow.

Akkara wrote:
If you get a dual core, the various manuals suggest setting MAKEOPTS to "-j3" in /etc/make.conf to run extra concurrent jobs and use the cores better. But since it is a laptop, you might want to stay at "-j1" if you need help keeping the temperatures down. It'll take longer to compile but it'll run cooler.
But that would affect overall performance. You could force the cpu frequency governor to an appropriate lower value using cpufreqd.

Akkara wrote:
Also, if your laptop has a lithium battery, you can make choices in how you use it that can greatly extend the battery's service life.
The lesser number of times you use the battery, actually, the longer the life. Batteries are reliably rated by the number of charge-discharge cycles they can last. My Dell D610, for example, is rated for 500 times. So keeping your laptop plugged in the the surest way to get the most battery life. There is no downside to not using lithium batteries. Unlike Ni-MH you don't have to drain them every month for them to retain their full charge.
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HeXiLeD
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 1:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

how about batteries ?
What should i be looking for in terms of quality, capacity and type ?

What are your recommendations ?
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d2_racing
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 12:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Go for a 9 cells :P
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efagerho
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 10:53 am    Post subject: What laptop to buy? Reply with quote

Hi,

I'm trying to save me from a lot of googling assuming that someone else has confronted the same problem recently i.e. I am buying two laptops for my personal usage. The first laptop should be a small ultra-portable and the second a "real" portable. I am looking for something where every part would be fully supported by a vanilla kernel and price range would be undefined for the first and maybe 1500€ for the second. One of the reasons for this is that I want to use only open source drivers, so that there's a reasonably probability that any possible problems with suspend would be fixed. The second laptop must also have virtualization extensions in the CPU. The first should probably not have an SSD drive, because my main use for it is to take it with me on trips without having to carry any books with me (i.e. I always scan all my technical books into djvu format and keep them on the laptop) and these take quite a few GB of space.

I previously have a MacBook Pro, but I would like something as robust with more disk space and a better battery. The new MacBook has pretty much the specs that I need, but I don't want to pay the Mac tax for the "coolness". I also want to change the battery, as currently my batteries have lasted for less than a year. A plus would be a possibility to not be forced to pay for windows.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

EDIT: I might add that I am living 50% in London 50% in continental Europe. I have never bought a computer in the UK, so any recommendations of cheap and reliable stores is welcome. I am assuming that the cheap pound might have some affect on bigger brand computers that usually have a fixed price until a newer model comes out.
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dreadlorde
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 3:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thinkpads are nice from what I've read about them, but they're really fucking ugly. There is a wiki for linux Thinkpad's here, apparently they're supposed to run pretty good with linux on them, and have good linux hardware support.
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efagerho
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 8:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Does anyone know about Sony Vaios and Fujitsu's Lifebook P-series laptops? Basically I would like to have something with Intel wifi and graphics and a good ACPI implementation. I really don't care about any other functionality (i.e. fingerprint readers and similar stuff). There seems to be a million models of these, so I wonder which ones have vanilla kernel supported core components? Does anyone have any of the newer models?

How about the Acer Aspire One notebooks. Do they have vanilla kernel supported components? I googled dmesg outputs for these and some NetBSD dmesg seemed to have Atheros Wifi. Somebody also complained about some parts, but those were running older kernels and AFAIK they didn't have support for newer Atheros wifi. Does anyone know anything about these machines?
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