Debian, laptops, and X
I'm looking at buying a pair of laptops which will need to dual-boot Windows and Debian. I'm not concerned that they be Pentium IV 600 Ghz machines or be huge number-crunchers, but I would like them to run X enough that I can use emacs and font-lock mode, netscape (with something more that 256 colors) ... the standard stuff. 1) Are there laptops which aren't compatible with linux and Debian? 2) I understand that laptop video chipsets are wacky. Which ones work? 3) Are there other compatability issues I should be watching for? I've never touched anything with a PCMCIA card in it ... Will -- | [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | http://www.cis.udel.edu/~lowe/ | |PGP Public Key: http://www.cis.udel.edu/~lowe/index.html#pgpkey| -- | You think you're so smart, but I've seen you naked | | and I'll prob'ly see you naked again ... | | --The Barenaked Ladies, Blame It On Me | --
Re: Debian, laptops, and X
I have a Dell Inspiron 3000. I have 800x600. go to http://ompages.com/debian/laptoptopscreenshot to see for your self. I use the XBF_neomagic xserver from RH. It's pretty nice. I've no problems. Dell laptops kick ass. They are a bit pricy though. I hear IBM thinkpads are nice, and very linux friendly. Steer clear of the ATI-Rage vid cards for laptops, I hear they are unsupported. Since RH has the neomagic xserver, you should get a neomagic 128 card. It's the most supported now. my $0.02 NatePuri Certified Law Student Debian GNU/Linux Monk McGeorge School of Law Sacramento, CA [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Sun, 25 Apr 1999, Will Lowe wrote: I'm looking at buying a pair of laptops which will need to dual-boot Windows and Debian. I'm not concerned that they be Pentium IV 600 Ghz machines or be huge number-crunchers, but I would like them to run X enough that I can use emacs and font-lock mode, netscape (with something more that 256 colors) ... the standard stuff. 1) Are there laptops which aren't compatible with linux and Debian? 2) I understand that laptop video chipsets are wacky. Which ones work? 3) Are there other compatability issues I should be watching for? I've never touched anything with a PCMCIA card in it ... Will -- | [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | http://www.cis.udel.edu/~lowe/ | |PGP Public Key: http://www.cis.udel.edu/~lowe/index.html#pgpkey| -- | You think you're so smart, but I've seen you naked | | and I'll prob'ly see you naked again ... | | --The Barenaked Ladies, Blame It On Me | -- -- Unsubscribe? mail -s unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] /dev/null
Re: Debian, laptops, and X
On Sun, 25 Apr 1999, Will Lowe wrote: I'm looking at buying a pair of laptops which will need to dual-boot Windows and Debian. I'm not concerned that they be Pentium IV 600 Ghz machines or be huge number-crunchers, but I would like them to run X enough that I can use emacs and font-lock mode, netscape (with something more that 256 colors) ... the standard stuff. 1) Are there laptops which aren't compatible with linux and Debian? 2) I understand that laptop video chipsets are wacky. Which ones work? 3) Are there other compatability issues I should be watching for? I've never touched anything with a PCMCIA card in it ... http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/ has tons o' info. You just need to check the PCMCIA drivers list before getting a PCMCIA card - some of them (notably Linksys) even say Linux compatible on the box though. I love my little Panasonic CF-M32 subnotebook. It works great, except for the sound card but that's pretty typical on desktops too. Using the XFree Neomagic X server which is available on www.xfree86.org (copy the server binary over the one in the latest Debian package, until the latest X gets into the official package). Use the tecra boot disks to install. The advantage to this little Panasonic is that it seems to be replaced by a newer CF-M33 so it's only about $850 on the street. Kicks much ass. Small keyboard though. :-) Havoc
