Re: Choosing Hardware

On Tue, 2007-08-14 at 11:19 +0000, Ondrej Balaz wrote:

> I heard rumors that only the new Intel graphics chipset contained in "Santa
> Rosa" isn't supported well. But Intel actively develops drivers for new HW.
>
> The best choice for non-gamers is today imho GMA950. I'm using this adapter
> in my Core Duo Thinkpad X60s. It works well out-of-box. Only small hack to
> get higher external resolution is needed. I'm not Compiz or Beryl fan or
> Quake player so I can't report how good is for that.
>
> Before this X60s I had SIS chipset based laptop and I can't suggest. It's crap.

Ok - the HP I mentioned has the GMA965 chipset, including the X3100 video chip. I assume this is ok? I wasn't familiar with Compiz or Beryl; they look cool but I can live without them. Likewise most games, though some support would be nice. It appears that this chipset does MPEG2 acceleration too; do you know if that's supported by the Linux drivers?

> There are two current Intel wireless chipsets - 3945 and 4965. For 3945 exists
> two driver branches/dists - ipw3945 which is more stable and complete, but needs
> userspace regulatory daemon. Second, iwlwifi wich is primarily developed for
> 4965 (only option here) doesn't need userspace daemon, but for me isn't very
> stable (with 3945), doesn't support killswitch and led. Both drivers are
> opensource with firmware and regulatory daemon (in case of ipw3945) distributed
> in binary form.

Hmm. The regulatory daemon doesn't sound nice, but I guess it's available as a fallback if the iwlwifi solution doesn't work (and hopefully that improves with time)

> I bought IBM Thinkpad X60s because is small but solid and not cheapy-looking.
> Contains various usefull gadgets (ThinkLight - keyboard light in lid) and
> Linux support is almost complete (HDD protection, advanced battery charging
> control, SMAPI, extended ACPI info and controls).
> Visit http://www.thinkwiki.org for more info about these laptops.

Interesting - that's a pre-Lenovo one? My understanding was that Lenovo had publicly declared that they weren't interested in supporting Linux, which was a bit of a turnoff for me. The X60s is small, too - I think I'd rather have a larger screen than that.

> Before this I had HP bussiness class laptop. I can recommend this brand. Only
> reason to sell my HP was high weight. Be warned and buy rather model with Intel
> wireless chipset. Only way to get broadcom in my previous HP laptop to work was
> ndiswrapper (and I heard it won't work on 64bit distros).

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Yes, the weight is a bit of a pain - heavier (and larger) than my current Tecra 8100. I'm hoping it will be sufficiently better that it's worth carrying :-) I think I can cope with a bit of extra weight and size if it means a decent size screen. I intend to get rid of my (home) desktop.

Thanks for your comments.

Richard

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