Linux Laptop

Dpk dpk@egr.msu.edu
Tue, 13 Mar 2001 08:33:54 -0500


On Tue, Mar 13, 2001 at 04:38:14AM +0000, Tim Schmidt wrote:

   [snip]
   Just wanted to give a heads up to the GLLUG for anyone who's
   looking for a nice laptop...  Have fun.
   
I second this for the Dell Inspiron 4000.  I have Debian "Woody"
running on my 4000 without problems:

    - Pentium III 700 MHz
    - 256 MB SDRAM
    - 8 MB ATI Rage Mobility
    - Maestro3 sound card
    - 8X DVD 

I did not get internal modem or network card.  I use a Linksys
56K+10/100 PCMCIA card on mine.  Both dialup (@home) and Ethernet
(@work) work great.  The free software available for DVD doesn't
handle video/audio syncing very well so I haven't used it much.

It is very light (even lighter than the Sony Vaio I spect); however,
it accomplishes this by having the DVD/Floppy using the same bay.
Supposedly it is hot swappable in Windows, not yet tried it in Linux.
This setup does not bother me because floppies are for mortals :)

The only downfall that does bother me is it will not run at full speed
(runs at 550 MHz) when booted off the battery, despite the BIOS
settings telling it to do otherwise.  Could be fixable, but I haven't
investigated any further.

The battery lasts a *long* time. Considerably longer than the Inspiron
5000 I use to have.

Dennis