Laptops

[dragonfly]

I am thinking of purchasing a second hand laptop and would appreciate some advise on which is the easiest or best on which to install the latest version of ubuntu. With this info I will then scour ebay for the best bargain.
Thanks for any info you can give me

[pch.shot]

I would take your live Ultimate 1.8 copy right to the store and try out some different laptops and see which ones are recognized by Ultimate(the hardware I mean video card,lan etc.) If the sales guy won't let you(tell him it loads everything into ram), go somewhere that will. Don't buy anything that Ultimate won't work on(that includes printers and all other hardware). Maybe if enough people started to do that the hardware companies would offer drivers for Linux. I know Xerox printers offer Linux drivers. Good luck!! I would take a few distros with you Slackware Debian based etc. People should have the choice of what operating system they use. That means that the drivers for all hardware should be available for all operating systems. pch

[cowboy]

This is a hard one..will catch flack no matter what you post...if I had to buy..Gateway, Nvidia..card, AMD processor.

Nvidia...there graphic card is more supported
AMD...I am a AMD guy..but there are reports that Intel runs cooler..

Might take a look here.. viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1284&sid=060287f5d45f7bed158e5e2d060ab3c1#p11951

[dragonfly]

Hi pch.shot, I think that is very good advice and I just might go to a computer liquidation store and try it. However, I was also hoping that you might give me some advice in case I wanted to try and get a good deal on Ebay, which means I would not be able to test anything until I received it. I think that now you have mentioned checking it out first, I might just do that. Common sense is always the best route. Cowboy I will keep in mind AMD while I'm testing a laptop out, I just hope they will let me test them with a live CD. The last time I went to Computer Liquidation World I was trying to get them to repair an external CD/DVD reader/writer that I purchased there. When I told them I ran a linux system they insisted it was my system that was causing the problem. It wound up being a bad connection inside the unit. These guys don't understand linux and are afraid if their equipment gets near a linux it will break it.

[SaddleTramp]

Hi pch.shot, I think that is very good advice and I just might go to a computer liquidation store and try it. However, I was also hoping that you might give me some advice in case I wanted to try and get a good deal on Ebay, which means I would not be able to test anything until I received it. I think that now you have mentioned checking it out first, I might just do that. Common sense is always the best route. Cowboy I will keep in mind AMD while I'm testing a laptop out, I just hope they will let me test them with a live CD. The last time I went to Computer Liquidation World I was trying to get them to repair an external CD/DVD reader/writer that I purchased there. When I told them I ran a linux system they insisted it was my system that was causing the problem. It wound up being a bad connection inside the unit. These guys don't understand linux and are afraid if their equipment gets near a linux it will break it.

Maybe take a copy to them & say "hey guys, don't be scared...it's not Godzilla on CD, it's Ultimate Edition, it'll kick Godzilla's ass . Runs straight off the CD in RAM"..give'em a couple of days then go back Here's a couple of sites you might look around in:
viewforum.php?f=18
http://www.linuxcompatible.org/compatcat3-1-1.html
http://www.linux.org/hardware/
Good Luck!!

[vinca]

hp dv9700t: every damn thing works, out of the box. kinda fat and bloated, but just great!

including webcam, wireless, graphics, i'm not kidding the install is so configuration-less all you've gotta do is change ur wallpaper when you get tired of it, 200000 times better than a windows install. windows installs usually go smoothly, downloading all of ur drivers, but they usually stop working after a while including sound and touchpad on that machine but ultimate edition is fine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

[pch.shot]

Every person I have shown Ultimate to is blown away. My cousin wanted me to install it right away. I told him to try the disc for a couple of weeks and then let me know. I guess it is just a matter of showing people how much more logical Linux is than Windows(and how much easier). It's not that Windows is a great operating system(It's not) it's the software and drivers available that still make it somewhat neccessary to some people. I use a handful of software with Windows still. I have been searching the web to find replacements. I really only use Windows to process videos now(it's my work box). All my fun stuff is with Linux(which is 90% of it). I think once you tell the store you won't be spending any money there, they will let you install Ultimate on the computer you are interested in. I would highly suggest not buying a computer on ebay. It's always better to know the people that you are purchasing from. I hope you find what you are looking for. I'm not much of a laptop guy so I won't be of any use when it comes to what to buy. Just remember what it is you want to do with the laptop. The more demanding the task(i.e. gaming or video proccessing), the faster(more ram faster cpu) the computer will need to be. Good luck on your journey, pch

[satelight7430]

mabie this will help,
hello there, i primarly work with laptops.prefer linux over winblows since I've been converted.when i diagnosis
a machine its usually with ultimate,can clamscan from a live disk,can check hd,ect... almost all dells
work with ubuntu(mabie a little wireless problems),hp has some video issues(mostly older models),
but my favorate would be ibm's i have a t42that just fly's no matter what!! its had coffee poured in it.
knocked over,kicked,droped,ect.. you get my drift.my daughter has a t41 that has been threw 2 schools and beat on ,her most recient delema was her dog was running and pulled her laptop off the desk and bounced on the floor!! of corse I got it after that and had to replace the hd, but that was it. so my advice would be go with a name brand(most use commom hardware mabie propritary but common)and make sure its with in the last few years old. good luck on your new purchase. heres some of the models i know it will work on.
dell m60,d800,all latitudes.hp 4000-6000, ibm all t series and netvista. hope that helps

[dragonfly]

Hi satelight, I wrote down your list and will take it with me. Everyone seems to be in agreement that I take an installation cd with me. I went on dell's webpage and they want approx $600.00 for a Ubuntu basic computer, being a pensioner I can't afford that. I belong to the genealogy society and use "gramps". The society uses "Windows" naturally and windows uses "P.A.F." so whenever I am in the society's office I have to copy most things by hand and then come home and transpose them to my "gramps" program. It would be nice if I could do everything right there. It would also give me a chance to introduce the society to Ubuntu.

[satelight7430]

good morning there dragon
hopefully i helped and yes, i would agree with all on taking a live disk with ya.
in doing a quick search of p.a.f. it looks like a online search engine. so you might be in luck also,but alass
things are not all ways what they seem. you might be able to use wine to install some light weight win programs. good luck and happy hunting.
ps ole machines(used) usually go for about 100 to 350 so you might be able to pick somthing reasonable!!
just make sure all works,take it from me.people will try to sell you everything/anything!
drop in disk,use usb ports,smack it around a little. I use to know this guy that would store his laptops in the snow durring the winter!! good luck