OTA and Linux

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Sun, Jun 04, 2006 at 09:03:04PM -0400, Evan Leibovitch wrote:
> Not my experience.
> 
> Check out the laptops currently available. How many use video that isn't 
> Intel, ATI or nVidia?

Well nvidia is usually easy, but good luck finding a new laptop with
nvidia graphics.  Intel can usualyl be made to work, and ATI is just
plain painful in general if you get a new chip.

> Totally the opposite of my experience. Atheros and Intel, which 
> constitute the bulk of the g-speed cards in laptops, are both well 
> supported. The Atheros g-card in my Thinkpad was immediately seen and 
> supported by the current Mandriva.
> 
> The fact that one vendor -- Broadcom -- is Linux-hostile does not equate 
> to the whole class of hardware being poorly supported. Intel, Ralink and 
> Realtek either actively participate in the development of drivers for 
> their chipsets, or wrote it themselves! Anyone using the Centrino 
> chipset bundle is certainly safe.

Well every laptop I have seen in the last few years has used braodcom or
intel.  I don't think I have ever seen atheros in anything.

> Then use a less-pure distro. ;-)

Some people don't want to.  Adding the firmware yourself isn't a big deal
of course.

> Some of these are indeed oddball hardware. Some -- including CF/SD 
> memory readers in IBM and Fijitsu laptops I have used -- look like USB 
> connections and are supported completely.

The TI based ones (PCI connection not USB) used on many HP/Compaq
systems certain;ly is a pain.  Very dumb design, and doesn't work past
512MB cards (at least on the one I tried) under windows.

> In Linux, sitting back and waiting for hardware vendors to send you 
> stuff can be a very unrewarding tactic. As I said, Mandriva has been 
> proactive in this area.
> 
> As are HP, Fujitsu and Sharp -- between them you have some of the most 
> popular laptop makers worldwide.
> 
> The T43 is newer and just as well supported.
> 
> The Thinkpad R series -- its mainstream units -- are also well 
> supported. I have personally used X and T series with good success under 
> Linux.

I think ibm laptops have in general been the least painful to setup
linux on, until they started using ATI video chips on some models.  Then
I have no end of problems.

> A little research goes a long way. One can search through many different 
> makes and models at http://www.linux-laptop.net/ and find out what 
> others have said about the oddball-level of their hardware.

So you have to hope someone has already tried to make the model you want
work, and that they knew what they were doing and that they wrote a
report?

> Why not?

Because they cost too much compared to the junk sold at
futureshop/bestbuy/etc. :)

Len Sorensen
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