Re: laptop budget, need advice
> Heather wrote:
> >
> > > Any suggestions for the closest to 100% compatible laptops?
> >
> > Well, NT has fairly stringent hardware requirements, so chances are pretty
> > darn good that if NT can take it, so can we. The main issue will be the
> > video chipset, since evry manufacturer looking to rake in a buck seems to
> > be willing to cough up an MSwin driver.
>
> Watch out about this. I have a Toshiba Tecra 780, with very good
> support from Toshiba for Windows 95, 98, and NT 4.0, but very little
> support for Linux. It runs Linux just fine, but there is a proprietary
> built-in DSP modem (Lucent "mars") and a proprietary video camera.
> Lucent has released a driver, but it's a pre-compiled binary which
> complains about my kernel. I may get it running some day.
Ok, that's a good point. Let me add to the notes:
Don't consider a built-in modem to be worth much - most of them
are winmodems, and we're already seeing on the list how -those-
are doing.
(I had forgotten that I personally disdain builtin modems, enough to not
mention it) Someone earlier on the list was asking after advice on combo
ether/modem pcmcia cards; that's probably a good buy.
> Support for the camera is in the works (according to Toshiba), but when?
> and maybe it has the same "pre-compiled" problems when it arrives.
I think this falls under my warnings about weird video support.
> Alas, NT support is not sufficient as a requirement.
>
> I have read messages here from people using the Lucent driver with their
> Toshiba's, so don't count them out -- my previous (obsolete but still
> running well) Toshiba Tecra 500CDT ran everything great with Linux (it
> came with a real modem built in). Just pin down support before
> deciding.
There's a reasonable note - if the manufacturer is claiming that it's not
the current model anymore, your chances of it being supported under Linux
are much better... our programmers have to have time to geet their hands
on these things.
Otherwise known as "don't slash yourself on the bleeding edge"
> IBM claims to be getting into Linux in a big way, but I don't know what
> that translates into in the real world...
> regards,
> Bret
Well, I suppose that you can take up the "we'll preload with Linux" offer
from one of the big vendors getting into that. Then scrap the base system
because you need to relayout the partition scheme, and run NT under VMware.
(The kind of hardware whihc VMware pretends to be, has excellent support
for NT.) Yeah, that'd work.
-* Heather Stern * Starshine Technical Services * star@starshine.org *-
Reply to: