Re: Notebook

[Tass Mailing List <tass@mail.alembic.net>]

Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:49:09 -0600
From: Thomas F. Droege <droege@fastmail.fm>
To: tass@tass-survey.org
Subject: Re: Notebook

Doug,

Well, the last two months I have been bedridden almost all the time.
But now (the doctor used the term mini-miracle) I am up and about a
little.

I am ticked off that I can get a lap top from Best Buy with Windows
installed for possibly $700 that will do what I want.  Going to the
Linux places one quickly gets up well over $1000.  Your suggested place
seems to start at $2000 for almost anything.  I have found lower cost
places but none compare to what I can get with Windows.  Sigh!  But it
is helpful that drivers might be a problem.  I may just chance it and
buy a refurbished (and thus old) lap top and chance it.

Tom


On Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:32:53 -0800 (PST), "Tass Mailing List"
<tass@mail.alembic.net> said:
>
> Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 15:36:05 -0500
> From: Doug Welch <welch@physics.mcmaster.ca>
> To: Tass Mailing List <tass@mail.alembic.net>
> Subject: Re: Notebook
>
>
> Hi Tom,
>
> It is hard to hear that you are near-bedridden some of the time.
>
> A good source of laptops with pre-installed Linux is:
>
> http://www.emperorlinux.com/
>
> I would argue that, despite the premium in cost, this is your best
> route. While you may get lucky and find that Mandriva installs cleanly
> on the laptop you choose, the odds are historically against that.
> Laptops tend to include bleeding edge hardware that the Linux community
> has not always written drivers for (when you need them).
>
> Cheers,
> Doug
>
> Tass Mailing List wrote:
> > Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 13:11:08 -0600
> > From: Thomas F. Droege <droege@fastmail.fm>
> > To: tass@tass-survey.org
> > Subject: Notebook
> >
> > I am thinking of buying a notebook so I can sit in bed and run the
> > telescopes.  There are days when it is hard to get out of bed.  Still,
> > stuff needs to be done with the computers if I have run the night
> > before.  I just want a bare bones notebook that will run well off an AC
> > adaptor.  I will install Linux on it.  It needs an ethernet connection
> > and not much else.  So far I have failed to find a good source for such
> > a thing that does not have Windows installed on it.  I hate to pay the
> > Bill tax.  It needs to be known to work with linux.  I run Mandriva
> > linux.
> >
> > Anyone have any suggestions for a good supplier?
> >
> > Tom Droeg
> >
>
>
-- 
  Thomas F. Droege
  droege@fastmail.fm