Re: [Dorset] New laptop
Sorry about the double posting. The first one was sent from an email address that I don't use for the LUG, and I didn't expect it to get through. And T-bird lets you send emails from any of the address accounts that you have. I didn't check before posting. peter M -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2022-11-01 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] New laptop
On 20/09/2022 17:26, Peter Merchant wrote: A friend of mine is wanting a new laptop and asked if I would post his request here - Yes he uses Linux. Does anybody know of a good source for him? I've looked at Linux built laptops including Dell and all seem to be overpriced compared to popular Windows orientated companies. I had a beautiful Huawei Al chassis, fingerprint and a good spec at a marvelous price from Amazon under £500. I dual booted Ubuntu 22.04 but could not get Sound, microphone or fingerprint to work! All I got from Ubuntu was criticism of my post and no solutions offered. I tried at least a dozen links from Google and made no progress, I returned the laptop on the last day of returns and got refunded 2 months later. I've looked at reconditioned from Amazon sellers but reductant to trust their service/guarantee. I wonder if you could ask the group for any suggestions around ,£500. 256 /512 SSD 8GB memory i3/5 or AMDr3/5, Al chassis, 14"+/- , fingerprint and backlight UK keyboard. Over to you guys. Peter Thanks everybody for your help and advice. Here is a response to me from Walter, which he says he has posted here, but I didn't see it. Thanks for keeping me on the mailing list which I gladly receive. I have not posted for a long while so i thought I should get back on stream and clear things with yourself first. Peter kindly put my request up recently Under "New Laptop" attached below, and I would like to reply to that stream. Would you kindly assist and post this for me and I'll follow the procedure thereafter, Thank you kindly, Walter Reed "New Laptop" Thanks all the contributors to this thread which Peter kindly posted. I looked at the various options and after my first and only disappointment at not getting the Huawei Matebook D15 to fully install so I had to return back to seller.. I had looked at a couple of suitable offers and decided I better choose an option that I could readily return locally if I was out of luck again. I decided an on-line order at Argos and have since managed the get this Asus Vivobook fully installed and running merrily. I had read up various articles an believed they claimed were mostly compatible and I was warned about a possible wifi problem. Well, I took the risk and this was my progress:- Wifi driver for Asus VivobookA516JA My trouble installing Ubuntu on new Asus Vivobook-15 A516JA" was with a missing wifi driver. 'lspci' showed the Network controller was Realtek but no correct driver was installed. This is a serious lack of external communication needed during installation. I overcome the lack of ethernet or wifi connection using a USB cable hotspot tethered to my mobile phone. This idea which was new to me and it took sometime to resolve but immediately connected to the internet and allowed me to fully tweek a new installation (also thanks to Youtube) however still no wifi! I installed and updated Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and knowing the driver was missing went to Software Updater/Settings/Additional Drivers and and there it was waiting for me to accept a restricted driver for Realtk rtl8821ce-dkms. Reboot and all sorted. Thanks again for all your help and suggestions. Cheers Walter. -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2022-11-01 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] New laptop
On 20/09/2022 17:26, Peter Merchant wrote: A friend of mine is wanting a new laptop and asked if I would post his request here - Yes he uses Linux. Does anybody know of a good source for him? I've looked at Linux built laptops including Dell and all seem to be overpriced compared to popular Windows orientated companies. I had a beautiful Huawei Al chassis, fingerprint and a good spec at a marvelous price from Amazon under £500. I dual booted Ubuntu 22.04 but could not get Sound, microphone or fingerprint to work! All I got from Ubuntu was criticism of my post and no solutions offered. I tried at least a dozen links from Google and made no progress, I returned the laptop on the last day of returns and got refunded 2 months later. I've looked at reconditioned from Amazon sellers but reductant to trust their service/guarantee. I wonder if you could ask the group for any suggestions around ,£500. 256 /512 SSD 8GB memory i3/5 or AMDr3/5, Al chassis, 14"+/- , fingerprint and backlight UK keyboard. Over to you guys. Peter Thanks everybody for your help and advice. Here is a response to me from Walter, which he says he has posted here, but I didn't see it. Thanks for keeping me on the mailing list which I gladly receive. I have not posted for a long while so i thought I should get back on stream and clear things with yourself first. Peter kindly put my request up recently Under "New Laptop" attached below, and I would like to reply to that stream. Would you kindly assist and post this for me and I'll follow the procedure thereafter, Thank you kindly, Walter Reed "New Laptop" Thanks all the contributors to this thread which Peter kindly posted. I looked at the various options and after my first and only disappointment at not getting the Huawei Matebook D15 to fully install so I had to return back to seller.. I had looked at a couple of suitable offers and decided I better choose an option that I could readily return locally if I was out of luck again. I decided an on-line order at Argos and have since managed the get this Asus Vivobook fully installed and running merrily. I had read up various articles an believed they claimed were mostly compatible and I was warned about a possible wifi problem. Well, I took the risk and this was my progress:- Wifi driver for Asus VivobookA516JA My trouble installing Ubuntu on new Asus Vivobook-15 A516JA" was with a missing wifi driver. 'lspci' showed the Network controller was Realtek but no correct driver was installed. This is a serious lack of external communication needed during installation. I overcome the lack of ethernet or wifi connection using a USB cable hotspot tethered to my mobile phone. This idea which was new to me and it took sometime to resolve but immediately connected to the internet and allowed me to fully tweek a new installation (also thanks to Youtube) however still no wifi! I installed and updated Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and knowing the driver was missing went to Software Updater/Settings/Additional Drivers and and there it was waiting for me to accept a restricted driver for Realtk rtl8821ce-dkms. Reboot and all sorted. Thanks again for all your help and suggestions. Cheers Walter. -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2022-11-01 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] New laptop
Copy to list because my email client sent it direct to John On 21/09/2022 10:28, Terry Coles wrote: On 20/09/2022 18:42, John Carlyle-Clarke wrote: I think it's a case of "you get what you pay for" to some extent but the machines that are sold as supporting Linux like Dells and Thinkpads do tend to be aimed at software devs and therefore in a price bracket alongside Macs. It would be nice if more of the mid-range machines were also sold as Linux compatible (since many of them are to a large extent). The XPS was £1100 but it's a top spec little machine. Definitely the most I ever spent on a laptop (or any other computer come to that) but I can't fault it I went round this loop around 6 1/2 years ago and eventually plumped for the Dell XPS 13 DE (9350). It set me back £1228 and was initially a bit of a pain because it came with Ubuntu 14.04 (which was already 2 years out of date). I put Kubuntu 16.04 on it and the performance dropped through the floor owing to the 'specially crafted kernel' for the Intel i7 processor. Dell's support at that time was non-existent as they 'didn't support Linux', even though they sold it with Linux. Eventually I obtained an installation image from a sympathetic Dell Support Rep (only Windows images were available) and lived with it until the official Ubuntu kernel caught up. Having said all that, the machine has performed flawlessly ever since. The i7 processor isn't going to run out of steam for some years and the memory is an entirely adequate 16 GB. So it may be worth investing in a more expensive model to get the longevity. -- Terry Coles -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2022-09-06 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] New laptop
Hi, On Tue, Sep 20 at 05:26, Peter Merchant wrote: > I wonder if you could ask the group for any suggestions around ,£500. 256 > /512 SSD 8GB memory i3/5 or AMDr3/5, Al chassis, 14"+/- , fingerprint and > backlight UK keyboard. I used PC Specialist [1] for my last laptop a few years back, their front page prices include windows so go into configure and select No OS and watch the price drop. Their Pre-Sales support were most helpful confirming the Ubuntu/Mint would work with every thing and even pointed meot the OEM manual for the underlying hardware. The hardware warantee doesn't evaporate if you open the box either. Never had to call Post- Sales support. Intergrated fingerprint will be the sticking point with linux and many laptops. I've used a Yubico key for 2FA and login with Ubuntu before so what about using the later YubiKey Bio Series with built in scanner. [1] https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/laptop-series/14/ -- Bob Dunlop -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2022-09-06 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] New laptop
I would tend to agree with John, look at getting a a new or second hand Thinkpad, I have an old single core R51 (proper IBM 2006 vintage) which I upgraded with a new battery and some more memory, for less than £80, it runs AntiX without issue. The other Thinkpad is a T530 (IBM designed badged Lenovo), this is my main machine, added 8GB to make 16GB memory, swapped out the hard disk for 500GB SSD, picked up a full docking station from ebay, quite happily runs two 24" screen plus the laptop screen and runs Linux Mint XFCE Hope it helps Tim H On 20/09/2022 18:42, John Carlyle-Clarke wrote: On Tue, 20 Sept 2022 at 18:14, Hugh Frater wrote: On Tue, 20 Sep 2022 at 18:26, Peter Merchant wrote: A friend of mine is wanting a new laptop and asked if I would post his request here - Yes he uses Linux. Does anybody know of a good source for him? I've always seen refurbished Thinkpads come up whenever this is discussed. I had a new X1 Carbon at my previous job and it was a lovely machine: everything worked well on it with Linux. When I wanted a Linux laptop recently I looked at them and there's a big range of specs, conditions and prices. In the end I splurged on a new XPS 13 though. FWIW I’ve never had much luck getting fingerprint readers to work on my laptops when dual booting - the current Machine (asus g14) is no exception. Everything else works fine though. I do remember the fingerprint sensor as being the only thing that wouldn't work on the Thinkpad initially. I think it would read with Linux but you needed Windows to train it. At some point that changed and I got it working properly. I've looked at Linux built laptops including Dell and all seem to be overpriced compared to popular Windows orientated companies. I think it's a case of "you get what you pay for" to some extent but the machines that are sold as supporting Linux like Dells and Thinkpads do tend to be aimed at software devs and therefore in a price bracket alongside Macs. It would be nice if more of the mid-range machines were also sold as Linux compatible (since many of them are to a large extent). The XPS was £1100 but it's a top spec little machine. Definitely the most I ever spent on a laptop (or any other computer come to that) but I can't fault it. The only thing I haven't tried to set up yet is the fingerprint sensor! But that's pure laziness (I found I rarely used it) -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2022-09-06 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] New laptop
On Tue, 20 Sept 2022 at 18:14, Hugh Frater wrote: > > On Tue, 20 Sep 2022 at 18:26, Peter Merchant > wrote: > > > A friend of mine is wanting a new laptop and asked if I would post his > > request here - Yes he uses Linux. > > > > Does anybody know of a good source for him? I've always seen refurbished Thinkpads come up whenever this is discussed. I had a new X1 Carbon at my previous job and it was a lovely machine: everything worked well on it with Linux. When I wanted a Linux laptop recently I looked at them and there's a big range of specs, conditions and prices. In the end I splurged on a new XPS 13 though. > FWIW I’ve never had much luck getting fingerprint readers to work on my > laptops when dual booting - the current Machine (asus g14) is no > exception. Everything else works fine though. I do remember the fingerprint sensor as being the only thing that wouldn't work on the Thinkpad initially. I think it would read with Linux but you needed Windows to train it. At some point that changed and I got it working properly. > > I've looked at Linux built laptops including Dell and all seem to be > > overpriced compared to popular Windows orientated companies. I think it's a case of "you get what you pay for" to some extent but the machines that are sold as supporting Linux like Dells and Thinkpads do tend to be aimed at software devs and therefore in a price bracket alongside Macs. It would be nice if more of the mid-range machines were also sold as Linux compatible (since many of them are to a large extent). The XPS was £1100 but it's a top spec little machine. Definitely the most I ever spent on a laptop (or any other computer come to that) but I can't fault it. The only thing I haven't tried to set up yet is the fingerprint sensor! But that's pure laziness (I found I rarely used it) -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2022-09-06 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] New laptop
FWIW I’ve never had much luck getting fingerprint readers to work on my laptops when dual booting - the current Machine (asus g14) is no exception. Everything else works fine though. I had an aluminium chassis’d huawei that worked well with mint. I believe their 14” matebook series actually have some usable ports too. My matebook x pro had just two usb-c, one of which was thunderbolt and was annoyingly unreliable. On Tue, 20 Sep 2022 at 18:26, Peter Merchant wrote: > A friend of mine is wanting a new laptop and asked if I would post his > request here - Yes he uses Linux. > > Does anybody know of a good source for him? > > I've looked at Linux built laptops including Dell and all seem to be > overpriced compared to popular Windows orientated companies. > I had a beautiful Huawei Al chassis, fingerprint and a good spec at a > marvelous price from Amazon under £500. I dual booted Ubuntu 22.04 but > could not get Sound, microphone or fingerprint to work! All I got from > Ubuntu was criticism of my post and no solutions offered. I tried at least > a dozen links from Google and made no progress, I returned the laptop on > the last day of returns and got refunded 2 months later. > I've looked at reconditioned from Amazon sellers but reductant to trust > their service/guarantee. > > I wonder if you could ask the group for any suggestions around ,£500. 256 > /512 SSD 8GB memory i3/5 or AMDr3/5, Al chassis, 14"+/- , fingerprint and > backlight UK keyboard. > > Over to you guys. > Peter > > -- > Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2022-09-06 20:00 > Check to whom you are replying > Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk > New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk > -- Sent from my iPhone -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2022-09-06 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
[Dorset] New laptop
A friend of mine is wanting a new laptop and asked if I would post his request here - Yes he uses Linux. Does anybody know of a good source for him? I've looked at Linux built laptops including Dell and all seem to be overpriced compared to popular Windows orientated companies. I had a beautiful Huawei Al chassis, fingerprint and a good spec at a marvelous price from Amazon under £500. I dual booted Ubuntu 22.04 but could not get Sound, microphone or fingerprint to work! All I got from Ubuntu was criticism of my post and no solutions offered. I tried at least a dozen links from Google and made no progress, I returned the laptop on the last day of returns and got refunded 2 months later. I've looked at reconditioned from Amazon sellers but reductant to trust their service/guarantee. I wonder if you could ask the group for any suggestions around ,£500. 256 /512 SSD 8GB memory i3/5 or AMDr3/5, Al chassis, 14"+/- , fingerprint and backlight UK keyboard. Over to you guys. Peter -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2022-09-06 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
