Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with laptop and linux

What lightweight but powerful laptop should I buy?

bkudria — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:36:10 -0800

Which light-weight yet powerful laptop should I buy? I like the Sony Vaio Z, followed by the MB Air and the Thinkpad X200. Am I missing any models? I'm looking to replace my current work laptop - I use it for web development, so I need to be able to run Apache, MySQL, PHP, and some other stuff. I also use Chrome pretty heavily, and of course I watch a DVD every now and then, play music, etc. I don't run an office suite or play any games.

I carry my laptop to and from work every day, and my current HP is pretty heavy, so I am looking to buy the lightest laptop possible that still has a real CPU (e.g. no Atom, ULV, etc). I don't want anything at all resembling a "netbook". What I'm not considering at the moment is price - I'm happy to pay extra for a nicer, lighter, laptop.

At the moment, the best option I could find is the Sony VAIO Z-series. It weighs 3.3 pounds, not the lightest on my list, but it has a nice CPU (a T9900 @ 3.06 GHz). The MB Air is 0.3lbs lighter, but the CPU clocks in at 2.13 GHz and as expected does slightly worse in benchmarks. The Z also has a higher-res screen. I use an additional external monitor, but it is a nice extra. The Lenovo Thinkpad X200 and X200s are lighter even than the MB Air, but have even smaller screens and slower CPUs.

(Note: I am aware of the Z's in-BIOS VT block. I have no problems with patching the BIOS to work around this. I don't consider it a downside.)

Additional details: I plan on running Linux, so gross Linux incompatibilities are a no-go, but I think I can handle anything merely pedestrian. Also, I plan on swapping out the HDD with an SSD some point in the future, so if that has any bearing on anything, I'd love to know. I'm still in the research phase for that.

In short: I want a light yet powerful high-quality workhorse laptop. The VAIO Z looks to be a good balance.

My question: Am I missing anything in my analysis? Do any of these laptops have any glaring flaws? Are there any other models that have solid build quality and similar or better specs?

Thanks!

Which distro of Linux should I try?

n3rt — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:20:04 -0800

Which one of the multitude of Linux distros should someone who's never used Linux before give a go? I''m by no means a PC-phobe [or a Windows-phobe for that matter] but I've just done a couple of system backups and reinstalls of Vista, and am looking at my laptop [Acer Aspire 720Z with 2GB RAM, Intel Core-Duo] with a "hmm, what if eye, and wonder whether I should finally give a Linux distro a try.

My computing background was initially Amigas [hey, configuring Ami-TCP by hand was fun! To a certain extent... :) ] and I'm a graphic designer by profession. I already use a fair bit of Inkscape / GIMP so I'm not scared of new apps to replace anything, I'm just stumped at what to try from the various advice proffered by various techy-types here.

Any advice greatly appreciated - and play nicely! :) [Remembers the Amiga vs PC debate years ago...]

Re-purposing laptops: I want more than a picture frame.

alexherder — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:30:15 -0800

When it comes to re-purposing old laptops, it seems like the only option people really talk about is to turn it into a picture frame. There's got to be more that an old iBook can do... right? My girlfriend has a 5-year old iBook G4 running OS 10.3 (Panther) which has simply outlived its usefulness as an every day, primary computer. It's got 256mb RAM and a small-ish hard drive but can't handle Office, iTunes, or Firefox (let alone any 2 of those at once) without breaking out the color-wheel-of-death.

I bought her a new MacBook last month which she loves but she is refusing to get rid of her old iBook. I have a slightly newer (about 4-years old) iBook of my own that I am selling on eBay but she is not interested in parting with her "old friend." I don't understand her need to hold onto this old laptop, nor do I seek to dissuade her of the notion. I asked her if we could possibly try to figure out some way to re-purpose it rather than let it sit on a shelf gathering dust and she agreed, now the question is, what to do with it?

I've seen threads about this in a number of places (including here and on lifehacker) but it always seems to come down to file server or picture frame. Our house has a server (Ubuntu 8.04, reasonably speedy) and we have no need for a digital picture frame. I was thinking about using it as a firewall (but it only has one NIC) or as a thin client but I'm not sure where to start. I used to run Ubuntu PPC on my old iBook but kept running into issues due to the x86 vs PPC architecture. The other idea I had was as a "kitchen" computer for recipes and watching TV/streaming radio while cooking, but we already use her new MacBook to do this and that seems to work fine.

In the end, I think we've got enough computers in our house, but she wants to keep this one. So... I turn to you, dear readers. What possible use can we squeeze out of my girlfriend's "old friend"??

This is not my beautiful OS.

tmcw — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:59:40 -0800

My fantastically unstable IBM T42 (which is on it's 3rd, soon to be 4th, life) died a little while ago, no longer booting into Ubuntu. However, it loves to boot into Windows. How do I nuke both? I'd like to run Ubuntu on this computer for another few months until it takes all of my vital data with it again. I've tried running LiveCDs to fsck the primary drive (ubuntuforums didn't care, apparently), but all of these failed. I can boot into Windows and it works fine - and I can even run some ext3 drivers/wrappers and access my linux partition from there (I have, so all of my data is now backed up). However, what I can't do is boot into any OS other than Windows. I'd like to basically wipe drive and boot partition so that I can put a new install of an OS on it - and I'm considering DBAN, although wondering if that's A) recoverable, in that the drive will still be usable B) going to fail like LiveCDs did.

Plan 2: I can get this laptop fixed under a very good warranty. Good enough that I've already gone through two hard drives and an LCD on it. However, they believe that a Windows installation is enough for any student. Not this student. So if I can just botch it up tremendously, I can get a clean slate by that method.

Thanks for any help. I'm getting a mac, and backing up my data, but to have a formerly high-end ThinkPad running XP is just a loss of potential.

Bluetooth Automatic Syncing Between Laptops

0bvious — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:35:59 -0800

Syncing between laptops: How can I easily and automatically sync files and documents between two laptops using Bluetooth? Ideally I want to load up one machine in the vicinity of the other and have all my recent data (documents/data/RSS feeds etc.) syncronised with NO hassle. Any good apps out there? I already have a not-very-portable WinXP laptop, with bluetooth. I am also awaiting arrival of a new ASUS EEE PC. I will probably end up installing Windows XP on it, but might opt to stick with Linux.

The internal Bluetooth was a key component of my purchase.

I am interested in using the Asus as a portable addition to my writing and reading routines. I'd love to load it up and have all my recent file changes synced on both machines without me doing anything. Just like the way iTunes syncs my iPod, but with Bluetooth as a sweet bonus.

I would also LOVE for all recent RSS feeds to be downloaded in FULL and sent to the Asus, ready for me to read on the train.

Any hints would sure be grand

Best OS for an Older Laptop?

Otis — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 07:41:24 -0800

What's the best-performing OS for a Toshiba Satellite 2595 CDS with 64 MB RAM and a Celeron 400 MHz processor? Just picked up this laptop. It's in pristine shape and I'd like to get some use out of it...Internet, maybe MAME or NES emulation, watching some AVIs. Here are the specs:

Trident 9525DVD Video with 2MB RAM
TEAC CD drive
V.90 Modem
USB
Two PCMCIA slots (I have a Motorola WN825G Wireless Card)
64 MB RAM
4 GB Hard Drive
Intel Celeron 400 MHz

It's currently running Windows 2000 Pro. Is this the best choice? Would 98SE be better? Can this hardware run XP? How about Linux? I'm a Linux virgin, but would love to give it a try. Is there a distro that will work with these specs and the Wireless PCMCIA card and a complete Linux NOOB?

I'm open to any suggestions. What would run the smoothest and make the most of this hardware?

Thanks!

So what's the current scoop on Linux on a laptop?

nebulawindphone — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 20:25:42 -0800

It's that Linux/laptop question again. Desperate geek seeks cheap, durable gear. I've read back through the archives, but things change quickly and many of the relevant posts are a few years old.

I need to replace my old laptop on short notice and a small budget. I've always owned macs, but I simply can't afford one now, and I've become fond enough of the UNIX-style command line that I can't imagine switching to Windows. I'll be using it to write code, work with small audio files (I'm a linguistics student), run LaTeX and browse the web. Provided it can do all those things, my biggest priorities are batshit low price (<$700 would be ideal) and durability.

The immediate question is, what hardware? Are Thinkpads still a good choice for this now that Lenovo's making 'em? (Is it worth trying to track down a pre-Lenovo one?) What other manufacturers make cheap, solid, reasonably Linux-friendly machines? Should I still expect the problems with hibernation and wireless that I read about a few years back?

For that matter, I'll need to settle on a distribution. That's not as big a deal — the hardware's the pressing problem, and the nice thing about a free OS is you can't have buyer's remorse over it. But if you've got a strong opinion on which distros work best on a laptop, or if the choice of distros makes a big difference on a specific machine you're recommending, I'd love to hear about it.

So many parts, too few ideas. DeadLaptop Filter

cdmwebs — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:40:21 -0800

What do do with all these laptop parts? Knight Rider, perhaps? So, my laptop (Toshiba M45-S359) bit the dust two weeks ago. It seems to be the motherboard, per my *ahem* extensive testing. So, I found one on Ebay which I thought might have a good motherboard, but nope, now I have two broken Toshiba M45-S359s.

What should I do with them? Any ideas for a replacement motherboard that isn't $389 if I don't have to meet the requirements to keep it in the factory case?

I want to build a mobile PC to put in my car and I figured I could use most of the leftovers from these two to build something. OS would be Linux (Debian or Ubuntu) and applications could include, but not be limited to: gpsd, kismet, gpsdrive, some kind of mp3 player, etc.

Parts:
- Intel Pentium 4 @ 2GHz
- 1.5 GB RAM
- 100GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
- Intel 2200BG Wireless Card
- 15.4" LCD Monitor

Linux newb here!....

stevyb — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 14:25:13 -0800

AVI,MPG,WMV video files will only play sound but no video (with the exception of Web based Flash videos like YouTube....they play fine!!??) on my Dell latitude D620 running Feisty Fawn 7.04 when playing to external 1708FP Dell LCD monitor....why?? (see explanation) Whether I'm using VLC or the built in Movie Player same result but when I play to the default screen on my laptop they play fine. Can't seem to find any drivers for Dell LCD monitor or screen settings other than resolution that might affect video playback....weird.

Any help would be appreciated....wow, I haven't posted here in a long time...but I'm glad it's here when I need it...

How would I go about installing Ubuntu Linux to my laptop via PXE or an External HDD?

TrueVox — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 15:17:39 -0800

Installing Ubuntu Linux (or windows, if it's easier) on my Gateway Laptop with a dead DVD Drive. Is it possible to do with PXE? Or from an external HDD (it has working USB ports, and can (theoretically) boot from USB) with the CD image on it? If so, how? See, the problem is that I need a Linux computer to do PXE installs (according to my Google-Fu, yours may be stronger). Sadly, I've yet to get Linux running on my main lappy (an Intel beast), so I'm still running Gates' child. Anyway, just ask if you need more info, thanks!

Is there a linux distro that can run without a harddrive?

miniape — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 10:02:23 -0800

I have a three year old HP laptop with no hard drive. Is there some sort of cd I can pop in it to see if its working otherwise? I don't know anything about Linux, but occasionally I hear people reference distributions that sounds like they'll do this.

Failing that, are there any other options for me to test this without buying a hard drive.

Best Linux Laptop?

jclaborn — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 07:57:53 -0800

What is the best laptop to run linux on? I need it to be fast and to support at least 2 monitors - three would be better.

Linux + college = ?

Blandanomics — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 18:22:05 -0800

I just made the jump to Linux (Ubuntu). Any good note taking software for this strange new beast? Or really any college essential software for my laptop. I checked out/was inspired by this thread but it was more of a windows thing.

Can I "stream" video files from a WinXP desktop to a Linux laptop?

skryche — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 09:44:12 -0800

Can I "stream" video files from a WinXP desktop to a Linux laptop? My computer has many video files. I don't really like to sit in my office chair to watch them. I'm thinking of buying a wireless router and a laptop and watching the files over a wireless connection in another room in the house.
1. Is this feasible?
2. What's the general range of WiFi(g)? Do I need direct line-of-sight to the router?
3. What router should I get? It is a router that I need, right?
4. How much more difficult would this project be if I decided to put Linux on the laptop? I really want to play with Ubuntu.

What else do I need to consider?

Linux for a web designer! Need advice of what versions to use.

spinko — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 08:05:28 -0800

Linux for a web designer! Need advice of what versions to use. I have just bought a brand new Dell laptop and I thought it would be good to learn other OS's like OsX (x86), Windows XP Media Centre and also Linux. Regarding Linux is where I stumble if you can help that would be great.

1) 12gb for Windows, 10gb for MacOSx and 5gb for Linux, 25gb for software, files to work. Do you think I need more for Linux or would 5gb be enough?

2) The files partition will have 25gb, What standard should I use (fat32, ntfs, etc) so that all of the 3 OS's would be able to see my music and work files.

3) What version Linux (e.g Red Hat, Lindows, etc) should I use. I have never used Linux before, however I was brought up on Dos. I would like a great platform which is easy to use, good looking UI like OSx, able to install Photoshop (through emulator), and be able to run a local host to test out php with apache. I have heard that you can run some windows applications on some versions of Linux.

4) Multiboot menu, what can I use for a multiboot startup? So I can choose which OS to load.

5) Is there any got to have applications that you recommend for both Linux or OsX?

My laptop specs are 1.86ghz centrino, 1gb ram, 60gb hdd and 128mb Radeon videocard. Basically Dell Inspiron 6000.

Thanks for your time

How to give Internet access to my grandparents but not the world

acoutu — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 23:05:30 -0800

How can I safeguard a Linux laptop with dial-up Internet access? I just gave my grandparents my old laptop, along with some pre-paid Internet access. Within moments of them attempting to send their first email, they got a virus. We got rid of the virus, installed a firewall, some anti-spyware stuff and several Windows patches...and promptly got several viruses.

After a few days of frustration, my husband converted the O/S to Linux running Firefox. He feels the chance of getting a virus is much lower. He set it so that the laptop loads Firefox on start-up and there isn't other software (e.g. wordprocessors) to give us tech support nightmares. We have set the email to go through Hotmail so that there is virus scanning and what-not. I imagine my husband has taken some other precautions, being a software engineer. But I worry.

Is there anything else we can do? My grandparents likely don't want to go with cable/DSL. They won't have the computer permanently plugged into the phone jack. But I worry about porn dialers and other 1-900 scams that will leave them with $1200 phone bills. (Happened to a friend.)

My grandparents are:
- in their 80s
- not tech savvy
- somewhat Luddite (they unplug the microwave between uses)
- not well-heeled
- not going to be using the Internet for purchases, banking or the like.
- just looking to send email and look at pics of the great-grandkids and maybe surf the web

Any other tips? I favour free/cheap ideas. :) Thanks.

Great moments in failed endeavors

cloeburner — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 10:32:39 -0800

I recently acquired a vintage laptop with Windows 95 installed on it. I would like to install Linux on it. I must preface this with a caveat: I am a Linux virgin. Saying that, Is there any feasible way to install Linux onto this laptop? The specs are 1 gig HD, 16 mb ram, between 133-200mhz processor. I only plan on using this laptop for word processing, and I want a more stable format than Windows 95. So the main questions:

Is there an appropriate version of Linux to install on the computer? Is it a difficult process? The laptop only has a floppy drive, will that be a hindrance to the installation process? Would an early version of Linux be user-friendly/decent at text editing? Am I wasting my time?

Thanks in advance.

How can I automatically backup my laptop?

handee — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 07:25:27 -0800

I've a dual boot windows/linux laptop which is periodically attached to a novell network. Does anyone know of a utility to copy files from a drive on a laptop to the network, where they'll get backed up, without me having to remember to do it?

Laptop with Red Hat

The Jesse Helms — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 11:28:49 -0800

Anyone know where I can get a nice laptop with linux preinstalled, especially Red Hat Enterprise 4?

Recommend me a laptop for Linux

xpermanentx — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 02:15:25 -0800

LinuxLaptopFilter: Can you recommend me a laptop for Linux? I originally had a ThinkPad 600E. Yeah, the one with the chipset/soundcard/modem problem (I tried SuSE 8.1, 8.2, 9.0 and Ubuntu). Now the battery is as dead as the dodo. And it weighs a tonne. And has only one USB port. Etc.

I was hoping that I would be able to find somewhere in the UK that sold laptops with Linux pre-installed (partly because I am a novice and partly to make sure everything was working right). I even telephoned Dell and HP to find out if they sold or knew of re-sellers. No joy.

I'm after a new laptop, around the £500-600 mark, that I will be able to install Ubuntu on. It should have a CD-writer, several USB ports, a soundcard that is Linux-compatible, etc. I'm not playing games on it or anything, just running Apache, mysql, PHP, emacs, Perl, etc. I don't mind getting one from PC World if it'll all install OK, and I don't mind buying one second hand (if someone here is selling) if the battery is OK.

Also: I noticed that some laptops on sale list "bright screens". Does this mean a backlit screen so you can see it daylight? (Using the ThinkPad outside was impossible as the screen was almost black!)

Linux without pain?

words1 — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 20:30:31 -0800

I know nothing about Linux but would like to try it on my spare laptop... which is a Dell 266mHz Inspiron, circa 1999, currently running windows 98 (uck). This computer has been sitting unused for several years, and I would like to do word processing and email, etc., nothing fancy. I'm fine with Open Office, Firefox, etc.

Is there a simple, free version of Linux downloadable and installable by the near-clueless? I am particularly concerned about drivers.

Lost Laptop Data

craniac — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 11:15:03 -0800

I'm posting for a friend who was using an old laptop running win95. One day it wouldn't boot, so they took it to "Geek Squad" at compusa or wherever, and they said they couldn't help. 1. Will I do more damage if I look at the drive with a linux boot floppy?

2. Could putting the drive in an external enclosure possibly help us extract data?

3. Is there a way to find which of the zillions of online data recovery services is reliable and fairly priced?

4. I believe the drive contains 20 single spaced pages of a novel in progress. Writers: Should she just try to recreate it?

OSX or Linux/BSD Laptop?

five fresh fish — Thu, 21 Apr 2005 09:10:28 -0800

My laptop is basically toast. I guess I need a new laptop. I was heading toward an iBook/Powerbook, but it suddenly occured to me that a Thinkpad with Linux or BSD might be good. Whatchall think?

Running Linux on an old laptop

Mayor Curley — Thu, 03 Feb 2005 11:29:11 -0800

Laptop from the late silurian period, want to run linux. Specific problems inside.[+] It's a Dell Inspiron 3200 with a 233 processor and 32 megs of ram. It's intended to be the computer that's always in the living room for web browsing while watching tv. Here's the situation:

-distros running the 2.6 kernel will not install because the cd can't be found when the install checks for it (it will boot and then halt when the installation media check arrives. No clue why.)

-kernels after 2.2 don't support the laptop's pcmcia device (TI 1131)

-I am using a a linksys WPC54G wireless card, so I need to use Ndiswrapper. This requires a late 2.4 or a 2.6 kernel.

I'm not going to switch any hardware-- this is to be zero investment and I can run windows 2000 if I have to. But I want linux. Does anyone see a solution to this problem?

Is there a way to get a 2.6 kernel distro to boot and then add support for pcmcia (and possibly my cd drive?) Or is there a better solution all together? Or should I just scrap the idea and install 2000?

If I need it, I have a more robust machine running suse 9.1. Perhaps I can compile stuff there and sneakernet it to the laptop?

help me find a laptop

wanderingmind — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 09:36:33 -0800

So, I've come to the decision that I need a laptop, and I need to get it sometime within the next month. It's not quite as simple as all that, though, because I'm trying to find a good deal... [more inside] I'm only ever going to run Linux on it, so it seems a little pointless to get a new one that has a ton of preinstalled software I'll end up erasing anyway (not to mention I'll be paying for a copy of WinXP I don't need). I don't need a screamingly fast processor or a huge hard drive; some kind of budget machine is all right as long as it's made of good-quality parts. I'm mainly looking for brand recommendations here - I'd really prefer to buy a new laptop than getting one off of eBay. (Also, I'm a grad student, so somewhere that offered educational discounts would be nice...)