Linux compatability of a couple of laptops?

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: Walter Dnes <waltdnes-SLHPyeZ9y/tg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org>

|   When I say "netbook", I mean the crippled versions specified by MS and
| Intel; e.g. stuff like a max of 2 gigs of ram.

I've bought three things called netbooks.

Each had low RAM, enforced by Windows.  A new high-capacity SODIMM was
cheap and Linux somehow didn't get the memo about low RAM limit.
Solved.

Two had 1366x768 displays and one had 1280x720.  Each was 10.1 inch.
Not easy to find, but I was unwilling to settle for less.

Two were Atoms.  Slow, but good enough.

Two had weak Intel graphics.  One of those had a Broadcom accelerator
but we haven't used it.  So videos aren't so great.

Bad experiences:

Keyboard stopped working on an LG x120.  Fixed under
warranty (LG paid shipping both ways).

Dell Inspiron Mini 1012 has no fan.  Silence is golden.  But the darn
thing overheats.  We neglected to get it fixed while under warranty.
Maybe removing the unused Broadcom card would help.

The Acer Aspire One 522 has a poor keyboard.  The battery life is
short (AMD processors take more power than Intel).  Video driver
support took much longer to come than it should have.

On balance, these have been good purchases.

|  My old netbook has an
| "embedded" version Atom that does 32-bit only!  Even so, it could've
| easily addressed 3 gigs of ram.

Linux will support almost 4G on these devices.  Most 32-bit x86
processors (since the Pentium Pro) support PAE (Physical Address
Extension), allowing much more than 4G.  The (some?) 32-bit Atoms have PAE but
they don't bring all the address pins out to the bus!!!!  So some
address space must be tied up with video, meaning 4G of RAM cannot be
handled.  Talk about brain-dead.  I couldn't believe it until I read
the datasheet of the processor.  It was *not* highlighted.  Now that's
crippled!

|  If you mean to say this is what
| netbooks should have been like, then that's a different matter.

As I pointed out, there were non-crippled netbooks.

|   I'll try to check a local shop where I bought my "Home Theatre" PC
| from.  The websites I've found are pushing either clearout crippled
| netbooks or highend ultrabooks, and nothing in between.

Future shop has sold a few clearance ultrabooks for $500.  Too few to
count on catching.  RedFlagDeals.com has had a few threads on them.
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