Linux on Laptops Manufacturer Report Card

Werner Heuser writes "At MobiliX there is a survey of app. 100 laptop manufacturers and their Linux status available now. It contains a list of manufacturers, which are the most popular with Linux users. And some criticism about misleading manufacturer announcements for Linux support. The survey finishes with hints to laptop certifications, independent vendors and how to get rid of the "Microsoft Tax". And finally there is a A-Z list of almost 100 manufacturers and their Linux status. Besides Linux also other UniXes are mentioned and some hints about laptops with other CPUs than from Intel are included."

Comments

Shamless advertisment plugging?

[iamwoodyjones]

Hmmmm, is it just me or does it seem like slashdot is begining to report more and more on almost usless news from sites that just so happen to sell things.
I think it's just me, so don't mod me down.

Anything there?

[Otter]

Maybe I'm missing something, but that page seems almost entirely devoid of content. There's a list of manufacturer's sales blurbs (much of it vapor) and list of laptop makers and their URLs, with esssentially no original information except for a line telling you not to go to some other site.

Compare to Linux.org's laptop page.

Checking back, I'm not surprised to see the submitter is from the site. I couldn't imagine a reader thought it was worth telling anyone about. Give him honesty points, at least.

Maybe just me

[Hacker'sEdict]

But ok alot and I mean alot of the *nix users are techies or are heavy in the computer field. And if you really know anything about computers it is usually cheaper and better if you buy a barebone system with no OS on it so why would you mass produce systems with a *nix OS on it when alot of the pubic *nix users don't by prebuilts? Correct me if I am wrong, please, as I see it there really isn't that great of demand for any *nix OS'on prebuilts.

Re:Maybe just me

[netrunewolf]

There is a major need for *nix on pre-builts. here are a couple of reasons:

• Installing an OS on a system lets you know that the hardware does work, i.e. eLinux.com does a manual install on all linux boxes to make sure components work
• If you are going to throw an OS on a pre-built system, might as well be a real OS like linux
• If there are not pre-built linux boxes on the shelves at your computer stores, only the adventurous and the geeks will be running linux, and M$ will still be the supreme dominant on desktops, and who wants that

If we want to see a more broad adoption of linux, it needs to be easy for your adverage consumer to get an run. I don't particulary like Lindows, but I love the concept, as it will help bring more people into the fold and increase the use of linux in the overall marketplace.

Many people have to e guided, even wal-mart understands this, hence their new line of linux boxes, so why shouldn't the linux world be the ones to do the guiding. Let's face it folks, if it is not us doing the guiding, it will be the evil empire of gates.

Ok, back to work for me...

~~~don't fear the penguin~~~

Amazing!

[teamhasnoi]

If you scroll down the list to NatureTech, you will find that their notebook's SPARC chips are not only powerful enough for Solaris, but good for you too!

Booo! Hiss!!

[Outland Traveller]

Well this link was a lot less interesting than the writeup!

All there is to see here is some guy's web analysis of what type of laptop people on his site search for.

There's a link to the now archaic windows refund site. There's a few blurbs about laptop companies that abandoned linux over the past few years. Finally there are some links to laptop manufacters and related open source projects.

Nothing really special, and nothing that isn't presented elsewhere in a cleaner, more useful format. Good "web-ring" material.

Am I missing something?

[PeterClark]

The "report card" seems to be missing an important aspect: namely, grades! There's nothing here that indicates how "friendly" a company or laptop is toward Linux. This looks more like an attempt to boost page views; or maybe stress-test the server? :)
:Peter

Not too much substance...

[Junta]

The top 20 list admits to being flawed, and the data there is pretty scarce, hardly a story.

To be on topic, I'm using a little Presario 725US w/ 1.4 GHz. Athlon. Pretty good price/performance, and works well with linux out of the box...

Of course, to get the most out of it, I have patched the kernel for PowerNow and ACPI, to extend battery life, reduce heat, and lower fan noise. Also applied a 'kacpid' patch to kernel to recover lost acpi interrupts. Because it has no builtin support for suspend, I also have the swsup patch applied. The sound also required a patch to actually work. The savage chipset driver with XFree I replaced with a more up-to-date version with better performance, but no matter what the driver locks up when xv attributes are set, so I have to patch xine to run it and RealOne is out of the question...

Ok, so it isn't *that* great out of the box but it was a hell of a lot cheaper than the competition out there and the end result is a solid system, at a price of 1200 new (at the time, after rebate).

Even better

[Otter]

...or better yet, compare to linux-laptop.net.

Re:ACPI support

[VP]

There is this technological wonder called Google (I shall keep the exact URL secret, lest the unwashed masses learn about it), which told me that here there be a HowTo...

Wow... that was boring! (Take 2)

[Etcetera]

D'oh... little hasty on the "Enter" key there :)

What I meant to say was, yeah, that was a completely pointless site to go to. Along the theme of it though, if you're (seriously) looking for a *nix laptop of some type, you really, really need to take a look at Apple's Powerbooks.

Feel free to mark me -1, Redundant, but Apple's laptops are probably the best in the industry hardware/design wise, run cooler than most x86 boxes, have faster chips that most PC laptops, and run a full-fledged *nix operating system, with a big giant company and a growing user base to support it.

If you're willing to open your mind (and your pocketbook a little - but come on, you're buying a laptop!) it's hard to go wrong with one of those.

Apple

[maxphunk]

I have a recient iBook that dual boots Debain and OS X. There are a bunch of distros that I can think of off the top of my head that work on it: LinuxPPC [defunct?], Debian, Yellow Dog Linux [Red Hat based], and SuSE. The dual boot setup is pretty easy for those with linux experience, a guid is available here. I have to give Apple props for the case design, among other things. My only complaints are the 8meg ATI Rage 128 Mobility [it lags a bit] and a soft modem which is unusable under Linux. I got the AirPort card to work {kernel compile), but the lack of a modem irks me because in having a laptop portability is a must and that includes having a working modem. Overall I am happy with my purchase, BUT a PowerBook G4 would be nice... Oh yeah, when you buy an Apple you avoid the Microsoft Tax completely (and it comes with a nice *NIX preinstaled too!) =)