[linux-laptop] A notebook for Debian and Mandrake

[John Jordan]

> > Going around the shops I saw a certain number of notebooks,
> > that I'm reporting below. I couldn't find any of them listed at:

> > Compaq HP R3425EA
> > Compaq HP R4017EA
> > Compaq HP R4115EA

I can't speak about any of the others on your list, but I do know 
something about the above three. 

The R3000 series uses nVidia. For the R4000 series HP switched 
to ATI. If you want to run Linux, ATI sucks. 

I had a brand new R4000 ordered directly from HP. This machine 
has the 15.4 inch widescreen and is capable of 1680 x 1050. Spent 
almost the entire 30 days of their no-hassle return policy period 
trying to get anything better than VESA 1024 x 768. Eventually I 
gave up and returned it. 

Subsequently I got an R3240, also brand new, but from someone 
on eBay. I installed several distros and all recognized the video, but 
didn't auto-configure it. Then I installed 64-bit Ubuntu Hoary (5.04). 
It not only recognized the video, but automatically configured it for 
1680 by 1050. 


I did have to fiddle a lot with the Broadcom wireless, but eventually 
got it working with ndiswrapper. It took a lot of people helping from 
this list to do it, but only because I'm such a n00b at Linux. I 
should add that I recently upgraded to Breezy (5.10), and it 
recognized the faxmodem, which Hoary did not. Haven't tried to 
use it yet, though. Unfortunately Breezy broke ndiswrapper, but 
with help from here I got it back again, and even better than before -- 
previously I had to type ifup wlan0 after booting before it came up. 
Now it's just "there." 


I haven't tried the memory card reader, the PCMCIA slots or the 
firewire port because I don't have any such devices. However, I can 
attest that the four USB ports work perfectly. I bought a small 
Logitech wireless optical USB mouse. I can plug it in any time -- 
even long after booting, and it works instantly. 


The only other glitch with Linux is that for some reason X won't 
start if I "restart" the computer. If I "shutdown" and then power it 
back on it works perfectly. 


Other problems have nothing to do with the machine or Linux. I 
insist on running 64-bit Linux, and sometimes programs won't run 
or install. Can't fault the machine for that. Also, it weighs over 8 
lbs. And I get only 1.5 hours out of the original 8-cell battery, so I 
bought a couple of 12-cell batteries that give me 2.25 hours each. 
Now I'm up to nearly 12 lbs. Add a few textbooks and notebooks 
and when I go to the university it feels like my backpack weighs 
more than I do. Nevertheless, I totally love this computer and 
Ubuntu. Debian distros rock.