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Re: Inexpensive Laptop for Debian



On 05/29/2015 10:38 PM, Robert Crawford wrote:


On May 29, 2015 7:04 PM, "John Aten" <welcome.to.eye.o.rama@gmail.com <mailto:welcome.to.eye.o.rama@gmail.com>> wrote:
 >
 > Hey all,
 > I would like to see if anyone could give some advice or opinions on getting an inexpensive laptop to run Debian. I plan to use the machine for lighter duty functions; writing, web browsing, programming, etc. Basically, I am looking for something with a little more muscle than a Chromebook. Most laptops that I have seen that come with Debian or other distros preinstalled seem to be more expensive than I would like, so that of course leaves me installing it myself. I have researched this, and can never seem to find solid information on the laptops that are currently available; the information is usually a little dated.
 > I have some experience setting up Debian and other distros, but if there are problems with hardware configuration, I get out into the deep end fast. I would like to avoid any problems that are beyond the reach of my very modest skills.
 > I see that Dell offers the Inspiron 14 or 15 3000 series non-touch laptop with Ubuntu preinstalled; this model is around the price/spec range that I would like. I figure, if it runs Ubuntu, then this is possibly a good indication that I could install Debian; I was wondering first, if that is a good assumption, and also if anyone has had any experience with installing Debian on this particular model. (I have an older Inspiron, on which I have had good luck installing several different distros, including Debian, but I don't know that this really indicates anything either.) Second, aside from this particular model, if anyone has recommendations on any other laptops in that price/spec range?
 > I'd appreciate any help and opinions.
 >
 > Thanks,
 >
 > J

John,

I just bought a Dell Latitude D810, I installed 80gb ide hard drive. It came with 512mb ram. I've install a 512 module until my other ram comes in.  I 2gb ordered (total 768mb). I installed Xubuntu 14.04.1 on it. It has a single core CPU.  Ethernet and WiFi works. I got everything from EBay. This was a low cost laptop. I'm very happy with it.

If you want dual core & sata hd, look for a latitude D820-D830 series.

Robert

I


If you buy a Dell with Windows 7 installed on it, you'd better try and use Windows to shrink the partition and make room for Linux. I have a Latitude E6510, and I used GParted. Windows or Dell, one or the other, didn't like
that, and I had trouble with an installation of PCLOS. I wound up with a small partition directly after Windows with a tiny piece of Linux on it, which is otherwise useless, and the real Linux os installed after that partition.
Without that partition, Linux won't play. Actually, that partition started out as a large useless partition, but it turned out OK to shrink it down to almost nothing, but not eliminate it. Screwy, but true.

I would guess (remember I said *guess*) that if you wipe Windows altogether and format the whole drive with ext4 you won't have that problem.

--doug
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