[TriLUG] Linux Laptop

[Erik Nelson via TriLUG]

On 02/26/2016 11:09 AM, Ken MacKenzie via TriLUG wrote:
> Actually, the hardware compatibility thing is why I started looking at
> chromebooks.  Knowing they were at their core linux and that I could use
> the crouton script allowed me I felt better price points into in theory
> ultralight books.  I don't want to say ultrabook as they really aren't.  I
> got my R11 yesterday and I have a convertible (think like the Lenovo Yoga)
> linux laptop that is about 2 lbs and can run for 9 hours on a charge.
> Touch screen working in crouton although I haven't figured out multitouch
> yet.  Not really tried yet either.  It will get there.
>
> Ken
I've gone through enough laptops in the past to know the pain points.
I avoid anything with broadcom wifi chips in them like the plague. The
reverse engineered b43 driver that's available in the kernel (last time I
tried using it, which was a while ago) did not connect to 5GHz networks
and had inconsistent performance. The proprietary drivers can be installed,
but they drop for me constantly, especially if I'm doing any kind of
video streaming and putting it under load. I've had good experiences 
with Intel chips.

To generalize, Lenovos laptops are usually a safe bet to start with.

I've run into plenty of deal breaking hardware incompatibility issues in the
past, so I'm ultra careful about researching machines if I intend to put
Linux on them. I even struggled with my System76 and Arch
because of its Skylake until 4.4 made it out of the testing repos.
Not entirely unsurprising given it's very new hardware, as someone
else pointed out.

- Erik
>
> On Fri, Feb 26, 2016 at 11:05 AM, Scott Chilcote via TriLUG <
> trilug at trilug.org> wrote:
>
>> On 02/25/2016 04:35 PM, Aaron Cody Weaver via TriLUG wrote:
>>> So I am trying to find a laptop that will be a good portable for linux
>>> sysadmin work.
>>>
>>> I don't want to pay crazy money for a linux laptop like system76.
>>>
>>> I just need a laptop that will handle normal sys admin stuff and will
>> have
>>> everything work correctly not like ones that have bluetooth or webcams
>> that
>>> don't work.
>>>
>>> Thanks for the advise.
>> One point I'd like to mention regarding this thread overall is that it
>> isn't really that hard to find a compatible laptop.
>> The approach that I took the last time I bought one was to select the
>> features that I wanted, which included a decent amount of power and
>> expansion capabilities, and then narrow down the field based on
>> reviews.  Reviews can be misleading, but if you focus on quantifiable
>> information and discussion of specific issues, you can use them to
>> inform your decision.
>>
>> Once I had narrowed my choices far enough, I began looking specifically
>> for Linux device driver related problems.  I wound up with an ASUS
>> gaming laptop, and it turned out to be 100% supported (with the proper
>> UEFI adjustments).  My point is not that this particular laptop is
>> better than any other choice.  I'm just saying that there are a lot of
>> good possibilities.  You can get a long way just by looking at laptops
>> in general, and then drilling down to see if there are any specific
>> Linux issues.
>>
>> The one place this will not help is if the laptop you find is a brand
>> new product, particularly if it has new hardware devices.  Those are
>> pretty easy to identify and avoid though.
>>
>> Just FYI,
>>
>>     Scott C.
>>
>> --
>> Scott Chilcote
>> scottchilcote at ncrrbiz.com
>> Cary, NC USA
>>
>> --
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