Hello,

I am wanting to buy a new laptop primarily to move away from PowerPC so that my
machine is better supported by a default Debian installation.

I really like the look of the VAIOs but wanted to know if anyone has any
feedback on how well supported they are. I don't want to be patching kernels or
hacking my xorg to get things running smoothly.

Wireless would be nice too, preferably without using non-free software.

Thanks,

--
Noah Slater <http://bytesexual.org/>


--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org

Noah Slater <nslater@bytesexual.org> writes:

> Hello,
>
> I am wanting to buy a new laptop primarily to move away from PowerPC so that my
> machine is better supported by a default Debian installation.
>
> I really like the look of the VAIOs but wanted to know if anyone has any
> feedback on how well supported they are. I don't want to be patching kernels or
> hacking my xorg to get things running smoothly.
>
> Wireless would be nice too, preferably without using non-free software.

I have an older model, VGN-N11S and it works fine, but it heavily
depends on the model. What you need is a somewhat recent kernel for
stuff like the backlight.
At least in my toaster wireless works fine too (with the
iwl-module). The driver is in the kernel, what you do need is the
firmware though.

> Thanks,

Tom

--
Then I drew in a breath, and my renewed will with it, lifted the rod
in my right hand, murmured a phrase in a language I didn't know, and
blew the tires off his fucking truck.
-- Harry Dresden


--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org

On Wed, Apr 02, 2008 at 03:32:49PM +0100, Noah Slater wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am wanting to buy a new laptop primarily to move away from PowerPC so that my
> machine is better supported by a default Debian installation.
>
> I really like the look of the VAIOs but wanted to know if anyone has any
> feedback on how well supported they are. I don't want to be patching kernels or
> hacking my xorg to get things running smoothly.

Huh? I think you might be using the wrong distribution. Are you
confusing hacking with configuring?

> Wireless would be nice too, preferably without using non-free software.

That depends on the chipset. Maybe look for a laptop without built in
wireless and buy a "supported" pcmcia card?

There are some websites which can you decide whether a particular
laptop has any gotchas with Linux, google on "laptop linux"

--
Chris.
======


--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org

On Wed, Apr 02, 2008 at 03:32:49PM +0100, Noah Slater wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am wanting to buy a new laptop primarily to move away from PowerPC so that my
> machine is better supported by a default Debian installation.
At present, Debian supports PowerPc. Have you check the BTS for possible
issue? What have you had issues with? If everyone who had a PPC did not
participate in its upkeep, there will be none. So if you want it
supported, do give Debian a change to . Just a thought.
-K
--
| .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux == | my web site: |
| : :' : The Universal |mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/|
| `. `' Operating System | go to counter.li.org and |
| `- http://www.debian.org/ | be counted! #238656 |
| my keyserver: subkeys.pgp.net | my NPO: cfsg.org |
|join the new debian-community.org to Debian! |
|_______ Unless I ask to be CCd, assume I am subscribed _______|


--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org

On Thu, 3 Apr 2008 07:59:09 +1300
Chris Bannister <mockingbird@earthlight.co.nz> wrote:

> On Wed, Apr 02, 2008 at 03:32:49PM +0100, Noah Slater wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I am wanting to buy a new laptop primarily to move away from PowerPC so
> > that my machine is better supported by a default Debian installation.
> >
> > I really like the look of the VAIOs but wanted to know if anyone has any
> > feedback on how well supported they are. I don't want to be patching
> > kernels or hacking my xorg to get things running smoothly.
>

I don't know how the modern ones are. Had one bought about five years ago and
everything was supported at the time.

On the other hand the customer support was the worst I ever ran into. I got
better support for no name mp3 players bought in the flea market.

It had a bad cpu which burned out, after assuring me three times that there was
not problem to get warranty repair they charged me 250$ to get a warranty
repair and all this time the support shift supervisor constantly avoided me.

Couldn't get a single non template reply from the support.

A company my dad worked for had an even worse experience with a 5000$ video
camera.

I would suggest avoiding them like fire in a swamp full of acid. Go with
thinkpads (X or T series, not lenovo c or n series) or dells.

> Huh? I think you might be using the wrong distribution. Are you
> confusing hacking with configuring?
>
> > Wireless would be nice too, preferably without using non-free software.
>
> That depends on the chipset. Maybe look for a laptop without built in
> wireless and buy a "supported" pcmcia card?
>
> There are some websites which can you decide whether a particular
> laptop has any gotchas with Linux, google on "laptop linux"
>


--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org

Noah Slater wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I am wanting to buy a new laptop primarily to move away from PowerPC so
> that my machine is better supported by a default Debian installation.
>
> I really like the look of the VAIOs but wanted to know if anyone has any
> feedback on how well supported they are. I don't want to be patching
> kernels or hacking my xorg to get things running smoothly.
>
> Wireless would be nice too, preferably without using non-free software.
>
> Thanks,
>

Does http://www.linux-laptop.net/ in any way?

raju
--
Kamaraju S Kusumanchi
http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/kk288/
http://malayamaarutham.blogspot.com/


--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org

I'm guessing that this was intended for the least, redirecting.

On Thu, 3 Apr 2008 20:54:02 +0530
L.V.Gandhi <lvgandhi@gmail.com> wrote:

> I have vaio FE series. I could install etch in addition to Vista. Of
> course it needs tweaking. It is available in the net.
>
> On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 5:29 PM, Micha <michf@post.tau.ac.il> wrote:
> > On Thu, 3 Apr 2008 07:59:09 +1300
> > Chris Bannister <mockingbird@earthlight.co.nz> wrote:
> >
> > > On Wed, Apr 02, 2008 at 03:32:49PM +0100, Noah Slater wrote:
> > > > Hello,
> > > >
> > > > I am wanting to buy a new laptop primarily to move away from PowerPC so
> > > > that my machine is better supported by a default Debian installation.
> > > >
> > > > I really like the look of the VAIOs but wanted to know if anyone has
> > > > any feedback on how well supported they are. I don't want to be
> > > > patching kernels or hacking my xorg to get things running smoothly.
> > >
> >
> > I don't know how the modern ones are. Had one bought about five years ago
> > and everything was supported at the time.
> >
> > On the other hand the customer support was the worst I ever ran into. I got
> > better support for no name mp3 players bought in the flea market.
> >
> > It had a bad cpu which burned out, after assuring me three times that
> > there was not problem to get warranty repair they charged me 250$ to get a
> > warranty repair and all this time the support shift supervisor constantly
> > avoided me.
> >
> > Couldn't get a single non template reply from the support.
> >
> > A company my dad worked for had an even worse experience with a 5000$ video
> > camera.
> >
> > I would suggest avoiding them like fire in a swamp full of acid. Go with
> > thinkpads (X or T series, not lenovo c or n series) or dells.
> >
> > > Huh? I think you might be using the wrong distribution. Are you
> > > confusing hacking with configuring?
> > >
> > > > Wireless would be nice too, preferably without using non-free software.
> > >
> > > That depends on the chipset. Maybe look for a laptop without built in
> > > wireless and buy a "supported" pcmcia card?
> > >
> > > There are some websites which can you decide whether a particular
> > > laptop has any gotchas with Linux, google on "laptop linux"
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
> > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact
> > listmaster@lists.debian.org
> >
> >
>
>
>


--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org

On Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:32:49 BST, Noah Slater wrote:
>Hello,
>
>I am wanting to buy a new laptop primarily to move away from PowerPC so that
>my machine is better supported by a default Debian installation.
>
>I really like the look of the VAIOs but wanted to know if anyone has any
>feedback on how well supported they are. I don't want to be patching kernels
>or hacking my xorg to get things running smoothly.
>
>Wireless would be nice too, preferably without using non-free software.

I've had my tx17 for 2 years, spending 10+ hours/day on it, running
debian unstable. Kernel & X are standard debian. Wireless just worked
(it has a debian sid/i386 mirror updated nightly via wireless).

Brian Keck


--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org