Linux Laptop

[TheFaQQer]

Hi,

Does anyone know where to get a laptop with Linux pre-installed?

I want a fairly meaty laptop (1GB+ RAM, 120GB+ HD) with Linux on it - not really fussed about the variant but gut feeling says SUSE / RH / Ubuntu. I want to run a sandbox environment of some applications on it, which will run better on Linux than on Windows, but can't be bothered to faff about with getting a Windows laptop and then rebuilding it with Linux, finding drivers etc.

I've seen some basic ones like this one but it's nowhere near powerful enough. I've seen a few things online about HP and Dell starting to do them, but I can't see where to buy one in the UK.

Any ideas?

Faqqer

[chubba]

Not sure if many suppliers out there are selling Linux pre-installed. My suggestion is find a few models that would suit your needs and then search of the relevant forums to see how others have got on installing Linux on them and make a choice from there.

You might find this interesting if you are considering a Dell though:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6144782.stm

Some kiddie got £50 a Dell PC as he did not Windows so you might save some cash too!

I have installed Ubuntu on a few laptops and not had problems. With 120Gb you might consider Dual Boot though as sometimes Windows on a machine is handy for error checking etc.

I can recommend Ubunutu, slap the CD in, it boots into Linux and you can have a poke around and see how the machine handles and if you are happy then you can install.

Before install a little partition magic to make some space for the linux install and you should be cool. Might have to reboot with the XP disk after and fixmbr but apart from that it should be pretty painless.

Enjoy your fiddling!

[Cowboy Bob]

The main problem with Linux on a laptop is the esoteric hardware. Thinkpads are certified to be supported (I believe you can get SLED preinstalled if you want). Ubuntu went onto my R51 and everything was detected out of the box including the wireless setup. No additional drivers required.

[NoddY]

Why not run VMWare on it? It can provide the hardware abstraction so you won't have to worry about drivers etc. There's also prebuilt images on their website somewhere.

[ImNotFromIndia]

Hi,

Does anyone know where to get a laptop with Linux pre-installed?

I want a fairly meaty laptop (1GB+ RAM, 120GB+ HD) with Linux on it - not really fussed about the variant but gut feeling says SUSE / RH / Ubuntu. I want to run a sandbox environment of some applications on it, which will run better on Linux than on Windows, but can't be bothered to faff about with getting a Windows laptop and then rebuilding it with Linux, finding drivers etc.

I've seen some basic ones like this one but it's nowhere near powerful enough. I've seen a few things online about HP and Dell starting to do them, but I can't see where to buy one in the UK.

Any ideas?

Faqqer

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11...hows_progress/

[TheFaQQer]

Thanks all - I was hoping to find somewhere with everything pre-done for me, but it seems that the UK doesn't really have much in this respect. I can find US sites that will do it, but nothing closer to home!

I'm downloading SUSE at the moment and I'll try dual-boot on my Acer, and an external USB hard drive, and see how that goes. I tried SUSE 9, but it doesn't detect my network card or sound card, which defeats the object really! Let's see what SUSE 10 holds - if not I think I'll follow Chubba's advice and buy and build one.

That's Christmas Day sorted out away from the kids, then...

[BillHicksRIP]

Would recommend VMWare too. As long as the laptop has enough physical memory, you'll have no probs.

[TheFaQQer]

Thanks!

Thanks to all - I built myself a dual boot Windows and Suse 10.1 system last night, which seems to do the trick (so far). It recognizes my external hard drive, which is where I'll install the main software - which is the next step...

Thanks again,

Faqqer