[ale] Linux on Laptops

[John LaPierre]

Geoffrey's Omnibook post prompted me to post this message - 

Last December I bought a Toshiba Satellite 5005-S504 notebook. And for the 
stock XP Home Edition it worked OK. But of course I had to put a real OS on 
it. Well, I did not do my homework. A simple Google moment would have steered 
me away from the Toshiba Satellite 5000 series altogether. They are 'legacy 
free', read "no bios access". The only bios access is through an applet that 
will only run in Windows XP. How convenient for M$. So just to install linux, 
I have to download several patches, compile my kernel a certain way, and then 
I get almost full functionality. 

To make a long story short, if you are looking for a Linux friendly laptop, 
look beyond the Toshiba 5000 - 6000 series. There is also a class action suit 
being brought against Toshiba for a flaw in the design of this series that 
causes overheating and shutdown every few minutes. I thankfully have not had 
that problem, but many hundreds have and they're organizing now.  

http://putland.linux-site.net/mailman/listinfo/toshiba-5005
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/toshiba5005/

I will be giving this laptop to my daughter when she leaves for college this 
August, so if anyone can recommend of a Linux friendly laptop that I can 
replace it with, I'd be grateful. Thanks...

jj

-- 
Cost of having peace of mind from virus and crash worries? $0.00
Cost of using software better than Microsoft's for free? PRICELESS
Open Source - Embrace the Future today.     www.linux.org

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