[RLUG] Linux on a laptop

[William Roddy]

christopher baus wrote:
>>I just got my new HP laptop, don't know if any of you noticed it
>>lastnight. I would like to turn it to a linux box, Gentoo most likely.
>>This will be my first install of linux on a laptop. It there anything that
>>I should be aware of that is different from a desktop install?
>>
>>Damon
> 
> 
> I've had a couple issues.  X still doesn't automatically detect screen
> resolutions and even common ones like 1640x1080 aren't in the defaut
> x.conf.  I've had to manually hack the x.conf to get RedHat to run
> correctly on all 3 of my wide screen monitors.
> 
> Wireless support IMHO is joke on linux.  I've gotten it to work, but not
> without major headaches: iwlist, iwconfig, edit
> /etc/sysconfig/networks-scripts/ifcfg-x to add WAP keys, compiled drivers,
> and use windows drivers on Linux.  I've wasted hours of my life on this
> stuff.  This type of stuff might be fine for servers that don't change
> configs often, I find it to be hell on a laptop where you are constantly
> changing networks.
> 
> I ended up maxing out my RAM and installing VMWare on XP, and that's the
> config I'm using most of the time now.  I know a lot of people here will
> probably disagree, but is my opinion that XP is far better than Linux on
> x86 Laptops.  And I spend a lot of time keeping Linux boxes running in
> production, and have been very happy with its performance in that domain.
> 
> Unless you are developer interested in improving Laptop support for Linux,
> I say save yourself the hassle, max out your RAM, and take a look at
> VMWare.  BTW, VMWare won't solve your problems with X resolutions.  Still
> requires manually hacking the config file.
> 
> Just my experience.
> 
> 
> 
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I've always been able to solve my wlan card problems easily with 
ndiswrapper.

When I have problems with my screen resolution by slight edits to the 
/etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file.

I have run Linux on laptops for years, with minimal problem. I currently 
have a Dell Inspiron 1150 but also have run it on a couple of ThinkPads.

One way to check to see how your laptop responds to Linux is to download 
and burn one of the free live-CD additions. I suggest KANOTIX. In fact, 
I have it installed on a couple of machines. I have also run quite 
successfully Scientific Linux on this laptop, which is (Red Hat 
Enterprise 4.1, rewritten from source by the scientists at Fermilabs and 
CERN. It's also a free download with excellent support through e-mail lists.

I hope this adds to your decision-making process.

Bill