On Wed, 23 Dec 2009, Daniel Feenberg wrote: > > > On Wed, 23 Dec 2009, David Allan wrote: > >> Having run Linux on laptops for a decade there's only one strategy that >> has worked reliably for me, and it results in very, very stable operation: >> >> Go through every hardware component and make sure that it has support in >> the kernel.org kernel. In particular, you are interested in wireless >> network support and video support. You will no doubt be able to make > > HOw do you find out what the components are? Only the processor and > (sometimes) the video are mentioned in sales literature I see. Is there a > website with information about wifi, ethernet and ACPI?
The manufacturer's website will usually have the full specs, and you have to make sure that there aren't options for different cards. I won't buy a laptop unless I can get the full specs, and I'd be very wary of a company that didn't supply them, regardless of what OS I was going to put on the machine. I'd assume an unspecified component means they used the cheapest one available, which isn't going to be reliable under any OS. Manufacturers often ship two different wireless cards in the same model laptop. I make sure to get the Intel chipset, which usually adds $10 or so to the price, but gives me a better experience all around. Dave _______________________________________________ bblisa mailing list [email protected] http://www.bblisa.org/mailman/listinfo/bblisa
