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HP Linux Laptop Is A Winner
minus_273 writes "MSNBC is currently running a story on the front page reviewing the new HP Linux laptops. In a story titled 'H-P's first Linux laptop a winner', the article provides a brief look at the accomplishments and some of the shortcomings of the nx5000; a new inexpensive HP business laptop that comes with SUSE installed. The author seems extremely happy about how everything just works out of the box and mentions the significance of the product. Could HP+SUSE go the way of Apple+BSD and become an option for those that want friendly non-windows laptop? Releasing an easy to use Linux system is a good first step." We mentioned this laptop a few weeks ago.
I am amazingly surprised that an HP Linux laptop would become a sleeper hit like this. I mean, I thought it wasn't going to get much press and that it would only be purchased by people who really want pre-installed Linux.
I work at a major university. I have been trying forever to get my boss to purchase all our machines with linux on them (he kept claiming that HP required us to buy them with windowsm which was true a while back). We went to Novell brainshare and saw SUSe 9.0 in action and linux has come a long way. SUSE 9.1 "looks even better (more eye candy at least)
It wasn't ready for my laptop about a year and a half ago but maybe now it is.
It's for real. I normally don't go for these things but...Free ipods (click here to get yours) .
Much can be said for how far Linux has come, but there's a long way to go, especially where finding and configuring hardware is concerned. (Don't reply with the sycophantic "Have you seen how good kxxxawsum is?"; yes, I have.) This looks like a major step.
I'd like to especially commend Hewlett-Packard for including LinDVD playback software with this machine. It, too, works right out of the box. When I install Linux on my personal laptops I usually have to buy software to watch a movie.
Is it just me or did this guy's credibility just take a hit? There hasn't been commercial DVD software for Linux for that long and I've certainly never heard of anybody using it over mplayer or xine. I guess he'll be the one linux user (other than all the folks who bought this laptop) who the MPAA won't sue when they get around to stopping us from viewing our own DVDs with our own software.
Mind you, I have never yet managed to get acpi working for Linux on that laptop (Packard bell iGo 4450, really a rebadged NEC Versa E400), but maybe that's because I'm scared of having to recompile my kernel... when the heck will the major distro vendors supply their distros with a precompiled laptop kernel??? or is this just too difficult an option
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
Don't forget that is just the OS. There's hundreds of $$$ worth of software included with Suse that you would have to go out and buy to be productive with a new win computer.
Does anyone else see this as extrodinary that MSNBC did not spin a story towards microsoft for the first time. Its a good step for them, perhaps I should start looking at their news coverage again.
(honestly im not troll hunting here, being serious)
Victory is gained, not in knowing your opponents next move, but in preempting them.
I've got a PB iGO4450 too!! :-D
I have SuSE 8.2 Pro installed on it, and I thought the same thing about have to recompile (I think one of the messages implies this). You don't have to. My notes (for SuSE linux btw) are:
"After installing SuSE 8.2 on the PB iGo 4450, ACPI is not enabled. To enable it, simply to into YaST2-->System-->Runlevel Editor-->Runlevel Properties and enable ACPI and check the runlevel 5 box. AFAIK the battery monitor is the only service currently working-- the suspend functions have not been implemented yet."
HTH!
ps. I've also got the modem working... say if you want the notes on how to do this.
Yeah, I understand that. But I still end up asking myself, why bother with all that when there's MacOS, which does everything I need, natively.
I'm not saying much here, remember. All I was saying is, none of these systems are perfect, and some of us find MacOS the best choice. Just the best choice for us, the ones who are choosing it. I use Linux in other places. I have my desktop at work and my FTP server running Gentoo. But for my personal computer, my laptop, I'm just looking for certain functionality with the fewest headaches, and for what I want, I chose a Powerbook, in what the OP called a "negative choice". Windows isn't what I'm looking for. Linux doesn't fit the bill. MacOS comes closest, I'll go with it for now.
They get it home, and then they realize that they have to jump through hoops to play this game or open this document from work.
It only takes a bit of education. I mean, i rememeber when i switched my mother's PC to Windows 95 from Windows 3.11, she constantly complained because of the new setup ("Icons are out of place!", "What is this taskbar thing?"). People are lazy, and PC users are the laziest of them all - i don't expect users to become software engenieers, but you can't treat you new laptop like a toaster.
In any case, a well thought desktop distro like SuSE or Mandrake is as easy to use as Windows, if not easier. As long as people isn't expecting a "cheaper Windows" (and i think HP would be smart enough not to publicite it as such), things will work out with time.
You would think that they would be a Microsoft shill given the fact that it's *MS*NBC, but most of the time I hear the exact opposite kind of talk out of them. They seem to be frank about MS product flaws, and willing to praise praiseworthy competitors.
Do they just happen to NOT have their heads up their asses, or is there a more cynical explanation?
The post you responded to mentioned another laptop where one has to manually configure the hibernate function. The post was informative, because it described in detail how to do it. Now, pay attention, here's the one point which you utterly missed:
This is what makes Open Source Software so great
If the hibernate or any other function isn't working correctly in a commercial, closed source, software computer, what do you do? (1) hire a consultant, (2) call 1-800-EAT-SHIT, (3) sit down in a corner and cry? With FOSS, you get other alternatives: (1) Google the error, (2) ask the right on-line forum, (3) read Slashdot. I saved the text of the post you commented to, in my tips.txt file, because even if I don't have a need to configure a hibernate function right now, that's a very informative post. I might need to use exactly those steps or some variation of them in the future.
However, contrary to what FOSS detractor FUD preaches, normal users do not need to perform all those tricky little steps for every small configuration detail. The article itself had some subtle misinformation, giving the impression that there isn't any good package installation system in Linux.
The truth is, installing and configuring most software in Linux is simpler and easier than in MS-Windows these days. Using synaptic to install a package or even typing "apt-get install something" in the console is much easier than navigating through a maze of windows, clicking on all those buttons, accepting license agreements, filling in all your life's details in the on-line registration form, etc, etc... Then in the end, where the fsck did the files go? Are they under C:\Program Files, or in C:\My Documents? Or maybe in C:\Windows\System? And, God forbid you having any non-English character in your file names, because then you have to configure the right Code Page! And don't forget to update your anti-virus, because your newly installed software requires the latest anti-virus system to work reliably.
A positive example of good moderation in Slashdot, I was just browsing the story and found that post, correctly modded to +5, Informative.