[Compaq Armada M700?]

[Matt Graham]

Ben Pfaff <pfaffben@msu.edu> wrote:
> Hi guys.  I'm considering buying a Compaq Armada M700 laptop from
> a friend of mine.  I'm wondering if any of you have personal
> experiences with GNU/Linux on such or similar laptops.  I've
> already seen some of the webpages on them, which make it sound
> like 'most everything will work, even the modem (possibly).
> 
> Here's the configuration direct from my friend:
> Compaq Armada M700.  Its [sic] the highest model Compaq made.
> 
>     Specs:
>     12GB HDD
>     8MB Rage Mobility Video
>     14.1" TFT
>     PIII 500Mhz
>     192 MB RAM
>     4X DVD w/TV Out
>     Integrated Intel 10/100 MiniPCI Ethernet Card
>     Integrated 56k v.90 modem (Lucent Chipset I believe)
>     2 PCMCIA Slots
>     On the back:  IR, Serial, Parallel, Monitor, USB, and
>     Keyboard/Mouse
>     (ps/2)
> 
> By the way, the price he's offering me for it is $1700.  Does
> this look like a good deal to you guys?  I don't know a lot about
> laptop pricing.

The only things in the spec that would give me pause are the Rage Mobility and
the MiniPCI card.  The video is definitely supported somewhere; I just don't
know whether it's in 3.3.6 or 4.0.3 or both.  The MiniPCI card may require a
2.2.18 or 2.4.3 kernel to work, but that's no problem, right?  I recall seeing
some stuff on c.o.l.hardware regarding these cards--also check c.o.l.portable.
 Ben almost certainly knows about http://www.walbran.org/sean/linux/stodolsk/
for getting a Lucent Losemodem to work under Linux.

The price looks a bit on the high side... I paid $1200 for a Thinkpad 600X
(128M, 6G, P3-450, NeoMagic256 video, 24x CD, 14.1" TFT, Lucent Losemodem,
2PCMCIA+2USB+standard ports on back.  All built-in hardware works great under
SuSE 7.0, kernel 2.2.16/XFree 3.3.6/Lucent driver from above.)  Laptop memory
and drive space are both expensive though, the Compaq has built-in Ethernet,
and the CD-ROM they sold me has decided to die.  

It's unlikely you will find a better deal without a lot of searching around. 
http://www.pricewatch.com/ has a lot of laptops for sale, but the used ones
very rarely have more than the bare minimum of RAM/disk.

-- 
Matt G / Dances With Crows
There is no Darkness in Eternity
But only Light too dim for us to see

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