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gramafonov
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 12, 2003 8:29 pm    Post subject: Most successful laptop configuration Reply with quote

Hi all,

What was the most successful Gentoo laptop install you've ever done/have been made aware of? I have a Gateway Solo 3300 laptop and I'm wondering whether it'd do for a Gentoo system.

Also, what would be my best for a wireless PCMCIA card? I've skimmed through most HOW-TO's on the Web, but there still exists a reasonable amount of controversy inside my mind. What would you guys suggest?

Thank you.
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kres
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 12, 2003 10:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The best? My best came from a Dell Latitude Cpx... Actually all of the Dell Latitude lines have taken well to Linux and Gentoo in particular.

Oh, and as for Wireless cards I've used the Linksys line with great success.
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chefakito
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 13, 2003 3:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Personally I'd go with the IBMs -- nothing but smooth sailing on them for myself. managed to get everything detected and running with a standard gentoo stage 1 on an A31 (including special buttons).

IBM also provides a limited level of driver support for their modem which may not have built in support in linux (possibly other hardware on their laptops as well -- you need to search around on the IBM site)
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morgap98
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 13, 2003 3:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i use a sager notebook, and i'm amazingly please with gentoo on it. i have gotten everything working except my PCMCIA Linksys Wireless B/G card, pry cuz the drivers aren't out yet, but other than that, itz fast and stable.

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Daganoth
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 13, 2003 7:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Although I have only installed Gentoo on one laptop, I've had considerable success with it. I'm using a Fujistu S2110 and have everything worker with the exception of wireless LAN, mostly because I haven't had access to an AP.

Many people have recommended anything with a Prism chipset. I believe that is a relatively expensive chipset, compared with Linksys and the like, but I have heard it is worth the money.
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mpsii
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 13, 2003 7:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Daganoth wrote:
Many people have recommended anything with a Prism chipset. I believe that is a relatively expensive chipset, compared with Linksys and the like, but I have heard it is worth the money.


On the contrary, many of the Linksys, D-Link, and Netgear el-cheapo cards are Prism based and from $25 US and up.

As far as laptops, Dells are the best IMHO. I never liked IBMs becaused of their odd shape eliminating them from fitting into "standard" cases. On the other hand, I have like my Sony and my Fujitsu with various linux versions at work (both are portable test stations).

Try this sometime: go into Best Buy, CompUSA, wherever with a Knoppix CD and see what dmesg tells you afterward. If knoppix can do it, any linux can.
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spooon
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2003 1:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've got an IBM Thinkpad 600e and installed gentoo on it with great success. Everything, including the modem, is supported.

While everyone has their opinions on their favorite brand of laptops, I've got to say that IBMs are among my favorite. They're build like bricks and last forever. IBM's been pouring money into linux support. And, most importantly, the keyboards don't suck. I'm typing on a Dell Latitude cpx and it blows chunks.

I wouldn't recommend a Linksys wireless card. I've used both Cisco/Aironet and Orinoco cards and like them both. Cisco cards are definitely top-of-the-line, but Orinoco cards give you the most bang for your buck.
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snekiepete
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2003 5:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've got my Dell Latitude 2600 working really well. I love it to pieces!!!!!!!!

I'm using the Linksys WPC11 Wireless PCMCIA.
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Xargon
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2003 5:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My Dell Latitude 600 is working great! I use a DLink DWL-650 (not 650+) wireless NIC [Prisim2 chipset].
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checkyoulater
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 21, 2003 2:36 pm    Post subject: Another vote for Thinkpad... Reply with quote

I have Gentoo running on my Thinkpad 770X. Everything works like a charm. It suspends and wakes up perfectly. USB port works perfectly. Don't run X too much on it but when I need to it is fine. It has an onboard winmodem, which does work if you are so inclined. I haven't actually used the winmodem under Gentoo, but I had it working with Redhat 2 years ago.

Only downfall is that my CPU is only a P2-300. Aside from that, I can't say enough good things about thinkpads. I don't have any experience with the brand new ones, but any thinkpad should just work.
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Valorin
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 21, 2003 3:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I also have to say that IBM thinkpads are the way to go. I have a T30 and it worked almost flawlessly, along with my netgear pcmcia wireless card (prism based as well). All the power stuff works as well, suspend and such. I don't think the modem works but I'm not too concerned about that. Also, as mentioned above, the IBM keyboards are the best in the business, they top every other laptop I've ever used. I'm not sure where the above comment about the weird shape of thinkpads, because mine is almost perfectly boxy and fits snugly in every case I've ever had. IBM is also very Linux friendly (compared to the other MS controlled laptop companies).
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chris`
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 21, 2003 11:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Inspirons all seem fine for me, also.

I've ran RedHat, Mandrake, Debian, and also Gentoo now on a Dell Inspiron 8200. Plenty of useful Linux guides for them on the net too.
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pi3k
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2003 12:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have a great Sony Vaio Z505SX that I love! It's amazingly small and weighs nothing, so I can carry it around in my backpack for school. The only issue I had was that the Gentoo 1.4 cd I used didn't support the pcmcia cdrom, so I just used the 1.2 cd and emerge -u system. Worked great!
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wilburpan
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2003 12:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have a Dell Inspiron 5000e that has almost everything running that I could want except for syncing with my Handspring Visor, which I suspect is more of a software issue.

Having said that, I would not get another Dell laptop again due to the shoddy construction of my laptop. I wound up having to replace most of the case due to stress fractures, even though I don't travel much with it. My laptop basically sits on my desk. Since it's a work machine, everything is taken care of under the service contract, but I shudder to think what will happen in November when the contract expires.
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dalamarian
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2003 1:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have only setup gentoo on my Mitac 7321 (yeah yeah, it was a good deal when I got it :O) ). But it was really easy to do, much easier and reliable than some of the other bigger distros.

I currently have wireless Inet working, full recognition of my hardware, just need to figure out how to disable tapping.

From my friends I definitely have to say that the del lat's really respond well to Linux in general.

As far as wireless inet goes..... Orinoco all the way! They are high performing, reliable wireless-nics that also have a good price (got mine for 50 about half a year ago). The best thing about Orinoco is I haven't found a sys yet that required much effort to install/configure them.
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2003 3:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just a slight word of caution to any of you looking to buy a new laptop and install some linux distro on it. Be sure you know what the Manufacturers guarentee allows for. In most cases, changing the OS voids it indefinately. I have a Toshiba Satellite 1415-S173 laptop and that was the case for me, which is why i opted to purchase an extended guarentee from my retailer (CompUSA).

As for the success with this laptop I am pretty pleased with the exceptoion of power saving features like i have in windows. I loose rouughly an hour of batter time or more in linux compared to what i would have in windows, and no suspend to disk or sleep states seem to work for me. But other than that, everything but the special buttons (like media control and quick access buttons) works fine, even wireless networking using a NetGear MA401 card.
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2003 4:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i have a sony vaio z1sp and gentoo works great. ok, it is a centrino notebook and until now i cant really use the centrino and pentium-m advantages but besides that, everything worked from the beginning. but they sell these centrino notebooks very good and i think it is just a matter of time until everything is supported by linux.

i have a wireless siemens 11 mbit i-gate pcmcia card because the integrated intel wlan card is not supported yet and it works great. i paid 19€. i think the only important thing is the chip. the manufactor is unimportant. i would look after a prism based card
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2003 12:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Two weeks ago I had a short email exchange with the tech support at Intel about the Centrino's wireless device. Here's what they said:
Quote:
Intel(R) Centrino(TM) Mobile Technology-based systems include integrated 802.11b wireless LAN capability, requiring particular drivers, which currently do not run on Linux. Intel has no plans at this time to write Linux drivers for the Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2100 LAN MiniPCI Adapters.

I've been using Vaios for the past 5 years, but I'm not going to buy a Z1 until further notice... :evil:
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kicker69101
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 15, 2003 12:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have a Dell laptop and I have both a 3com 10/100 (3c575, I think) and a linksys wpc11 (but I had to manually install the driver, the emerge only wanted to do a pci card). Both of these work like champ.
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longodj
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2003 7:37 pm    Post subject: Best experience Reply with quote

Dell Inspiron 7000 with Linksys WPC11...took 7 days for a full install with kde....i learned the hard way how little you get from kde for the amount of work you put in :)
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ScubaStreb
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2003 7:46 pm    Post subject: Toshiba Portege 7200Cte Reply with quote

My most successful was the Toshiba Portege 7200Cte. Everything on this laptop and the DVD docking station worked. It was a one spindle, 650Mhz, 1 inch thick machine. I recently replaced it with a new Pentium-M (it's not a Centrino anymore because I replaced the mini-pci card with one that works!) but still kind of miss that little guy.
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 30, 2003 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Compaq Armada 7800 made in 1999 (I think) with Pentium II 300MHz, bought secondhand a few months back. Everything works except the WinModem, but being a broadband user I don't care about that!
ZennouRyuu wrote:
I lose roughly an hour of battery time or more in linux compared to what i would have in windows

Strange, I've heard from some sources that Linux actually makes the batteries last longer, something to do with processor idling. Never used Windows on my laptop so I can't be certain about that.

Got a brand new battery for it and when fully charged, from mains disconnection to auto-power-off on maximum drain was 3 hours. I don't know if that's good or bad compared to others.
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 01, 2003 2:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I realize that this forum will probably forever keep getting longer and longer, but I just have to add something. I have a Dell Inspiron 8200 and I've gotten everything to work, excepting the buttons and the modem. I use ethernet everywhere I go and I just haven't had time to play with the buttons yet. I highly suggest Dell, especially the I8200. I spilled an entire glass of water on it one time and it's still running perfectly, not even a hiccup. I did yank the power and the batteries as quickly as possible when it happened, but I noticed the LCD flickering before I got to the batteries 8O. I called Dell and they said that since I had CompleteCare I basically had nothing to worry about if it didn't come back up. I guess whatever laptop you get, make sure you get good insurance on it.
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 01, 2003 4:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well I never had problems with the Inspirion 8000 and 8200 I had, both were smooth installs. I just installed Gentoo 1.4 with the 2.6 beta4 kernel and it went pretty good on a Toshiba 1135-S125 Laptop.
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have a gateway 450x (centrino). I've had alot of success with it so far.

Dispite all my "computer savvy" friends laughing at me buying a gateway computer, I've really enjoyed it so far.

Have a look at my howto for more information if wanted: http://tuxmobil.org/gateway_450x.html
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