eMachines M6809 Linux Compatibility

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Tue, Dec 28, 2004 at 04:18:08PM -0500, Paul DiRezze wrote:
> I'm thinking of buying this 64-bit notebook, but only if I can get 
> Gentoo Linux on it.  However, I'm unable to find out technical specs on 
> the eMachines web site.
> 
> Here's the vendor's page:
> http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1034849&Sku=E400-M6809&CMP=EMC-TIGEREMAIL&SRCCODE=CANEM275
> 
> Here's the support page at eMachines
> http://www.emachines.com/support/support_info.html?prodName=M6809
> 
> and the user guides.
> http://downloads.emachines.com/ug/notebook/en/M2xxx_M6xxx_notebook_UG_Online_030804.pdf
> http://downloads.emachines.com/ug/notebook/en/Wireless_Supplement_AACR53700002K1_Online.pdf
> 
> Here's what passes for an OS-FAQ
> http://www.emachines.com/support/view_faq.html?faq=1004997538
> 
> Is this a bad idea?
> 
> paul
> 
> p.s. If you know of a 64-bit notebook that's Linux-friendly, let me know.

One major problem with many 64bit laptops is the lack of drivers for
broadcom wireless adapters built into a whole lot of different laptops.
The way they are used with 32bit linux is using ndiswrapper and the
32bit ndis driver.  They did just announce that version 2.20 of
driverloader can now use a 64bit ndis (or similar I guess) driver that
is now available, and some people have posted that they now have
wireless connections running 64bit Debian using that driver.

So far my wife's Compaq R3240 has been pretty durable and worked rather
well, although it hasn't had 64bit linux on it yet.  Other people have
successfully run 64bit linux on this model (except for the wireless of
course until a few days ago).  I saw it yesterday (on I think it was
clearance of the model) at Staples for $1699.  That's only slightly less
than the sales price we bought this one at.  Seems new models are coming
out all the time.  This model has nvidia chipset which works great with
linux, nvidia video (only one to have 3D acceleration in Linux with
64bit so far on a laptop), Athlon 64 3200+ cpu, 512M ram, 60G disk,
DVD+RW writer, nice touchpad (which should work with synaptic driver in
linux too), and one of those WXGA 1280x800 displays.

Just thought I would add my experiences so far.

Lennart Sorensen
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