Update: Re: [ale] eMachines AMD64 notebook
Dow Hurst
dhurst at kennesaw.edu
Wed Feb 4 11:54:52 EST 2004
Yeah, I understand! $2k is really pushing it for what you
need. $4k would do nicely, wouldn't it?! But, then you
have to spend that much on jewelry for Valentines Day. ;)
Dow
Jeff Hubbs wrote:
> The cheapest Rhino also comes in at just under $1000 more than the
> eMachines M6807: "Rhino D800 7.0 lbs. 1.6 GHz (p-m) 1920x1200 (15.4")
> 30 GB 256 (2048) MB $2,530.00"
>
> One of Emperor's cheapest machines, the Auk G40 at "7.9 lbs. 2.4 GHz
> (p4) 1024x768 (15") 40 GB 256 (1024) MB $1,750.00", is $200 more than
> the M6807 and has half the RAM, has 2/3 the hard drive, is half a pound
> heavier, and has slightly less screen resolution.
>
> What Emperor does is valuable, but I don't know if it's THAT valuable,
> at least not when bang/buck is a big consideration (my spousally-set -
> and spousally-ENFORCED - limit is $2K).
>
> - Jeff
>
> On Wed, 2004-02-04 at 09:39, Dow Hurst wrote:
>
>>Laptops are moving so fast that the hardware really does
>>take a few months to be covered by the kernel and/or other
>>open source projects. The Dell I8500 we purchased almost a
>>year ago still doesn't have full support with totally free
>>software. However, the OpenGL support on the Nvidia Go
>>chipset has made it worth it for when we needed high powered
>>graphics on the road.
>>
>>The Dell high end line would go up to 2Gb RAM and with swap
>>defined for another 2Gb, you would be able to manipulate a
>>+2Gb file. Certainly, swapping is not great but it would
>>make your operation possible. I'd check to see if
>>hyperthreading comes on the Inspiron line in the versions
>>with the Nvidia Go video.
>>
>>If you haven't talked to EmperorLinux about your needs, I
>>would definitely do that now. They might have some options
>>that your not aware of as they write kernel level code to
>>accomodate hardware that isn't supported yet. It would give
>>you a six month edge on supported laptop models. They
>>submit their changes to the kernel development teams but
>>there is a time lag even there. The Rhino from Emperor
>>would work for your needs, I think.
>>Dow
>>
>>
>>Jeff Hubbs wrote:
>>
>>>Chris -
>>>
>>>That's very good to know, because it's starting to look like the
>>>eMachines M6807 AMD64 laptop wouldn't be a bad idea (recall that I am
>>>allowing for the possibility that I may have to manipulate very large
>>>{>2GB} files). High-end P4 laptops are considerably more expensive.
>>>
>>>Granted, I may have to live life as a dual-booter for some amount of
>>>time, but it looks like there's enough forward velocity in the
>>>Linux-on-Athlon64 space that things won't just stagnate (the existence
>>>of this very laptop will certainly help to drive that).
>>>
>>>And, hey, all this Gentoo installation experience may pay off yet,
>>>although it'll be a head trip to be able to do it in an afternoon; I'm
>>>used to doing it on Pentium Classics (P/60, dual P/133,P/166-MMX).
>>>
>>>- Jeff
>>>
>>>On Wed, 2004-02-04 at 07:09, Christopher Fowler wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>It reminds me of the Cablevision guy that came to my house to install my
>>>>cable modem years ago. He saw that I was running RedHat and asked
>>>>questions. I gave him a copy on CD. As a thank you he went out to my
>>>>cable box and hooked me up with all the channels.
>>>>
>>>>As far as BB goes I've been pleased with them. I purchased a ZE1250 HP
>>>
>>>>from them in August of 2002. I usually do not purchase extended
>>>
>>>>warranties on anything but if it is a piece of equipment I carry like
>>>>camera or laptop I buy them. Since then I've only taken my laptop to
>>>>the shop twice. Once was for a new battery. They let me keep the old
>>>>one and it still had 50% of its life. The laptop is now in the shop for
>>>>a busted DVD/CD-RW and the hinges of the LCD are being tightened. So
>>>>far all this has been covered by their warranty. I'll probably end up
>>>>purchasing my next laptop there.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>On Tue, 2004-02-03 at 23:55, Jeff Hubbs wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>Today I took Knoppix and Slax (http://slax.linux-live.org) CDs to Office
>>>>>Depot and Best Buy to evaluate laptops. I wasn't disturbed at Office
>>>>>Depot but a succession of blue-shirted goons stopped me for questioning
>>>>>at Best Buy.
>>>>>
>>>>>I didn't have time to try Knoppix on the AMD64-based eMachines laptop
>>>>>but the Slax one booted up only so far and froze.
>>>>>
>>>>>At Best Buy, concern was expressed that they have to keep their demo
>>>>>software on the machines; once I assured them that I wasn't affecting
>>>>>the hard drive, they were cool. Actually, there was a blond fellow
>>>>>(Mike?) who actually spoke with me with interest about what I was doing
>>>>>and what I was having to deal with in selecting laptops. He said he had
>>>>>messed with Linux a tiny bit and he had a roommate who messed with Linux
>>>>>some. I gave him my CDs. :)
>>>>>
>>>>>Knoppix seems to ignore the "screen" parameter when you pass it at boot
>>>>>time (I've had this happen on other machines too) but Slax believed me
>>>>>when I told it to give me 1200x800 and it gave me a
>>>>>properly-proportioned display on a Compaq at Office Depot, and
>>>>>touchpad-tapping and touchpad-scrolling both Just Worked. This at least
>>>>>gives me hope.
>>>>>
>>>>>It is SuSE that offers an AMD64 Linux distro that is anything like ready
>>>>>to roll. Gentoo support seems to be underway
>>>>>(http://dev.gentoo.org/~brad_mssw/amd64-tech-notes.html). None of htese
>>>>>efforts, I believe, specifically address the eMachines M6807. For the
>>>>>time being, at least as far as the aforementioned Gentoo link says,
>>>>>accelerated video for the built-in Radeon 9600 can't be had.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>On Mon, 2004-02-02 at 06:04, Geoffrey wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>Jeff Hubbs wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 - Linux-usable? Closed driver?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>For laptops, ATI generally refers you to the manufacturer of the laptop,
>>>>>>but this link might provide some hope:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/linux/radeon-linux.html?type=linux&prodType=graphic&prod=productsLINUXdriver&submit.x=11&submit.y=10&submit=GO%21
>>>>>>
>>>>>>It's long and ugly, but a link to ati closed driver for the non-mobility
>>>>>>9600. Also check out the gatos project.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>1280 x 800 screen - how sucky? I can dig the aspect ratio, but not
>>>>>>>because of DVD-watching - it's more a matter of having things like a
>>>>>>>browser window up on one side and an OO window up in the other.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>It says "Built-in high-speed wireless networking (802.11g/b-compliant);
>>>>>>>integrated 10/100 Ethernet LAN; V.92 high-speed modem" - can I expect
>>>>>>>that none of these will necessarily work under Linux? I do plan to use
>>>>>>>the 802.11 part of the time, even if I need to buy a known good PCMCIA
>>>>>>>802.11 card.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>the nic and modem could well work, the wireless is more likely going to
>>>>>>be an issue. It all depends on the chipsets.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>"Pointing Device: Touchpad with vertical scroll zone" - I'm likely to
>>>>>>>pick up a real mouse (awesome if there's a way to do that wirelessly)
>>>>>>>for my laptop but it'd sure be nice if this functioned, especially the
>>>>>>>scroll pad and the tap/double-tap for mouse clicks.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I've seen a couple of different wireless mice designed for laptops,
>>>>>>haven't tried one yet though.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Related questions:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Would I be happier if I got one of the hyperthreading P4s instead, to
>>>>>>>include one with better screen resolution even if it's 4:3 ratio?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Can't help you with that one. :( Although I think the need for a 64 bit
>>>>>>processor is still questionable.
>>>>
>>>>_______________________________________________
>>>>Ale mailing list
>>>>Ale at ale.org
>>>>http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
--
__________________________________________________________
Dow Hurst Office: 770-499-3428 *
Systems Support Specialist Fax: 770-423-6744 *
1000 Chastain Rd. Bldg. 12 *
Chemistry Department SC428 Email: dhurst at kennesaw.edu *
Kennesaw State University Dow.Hurst at mindspring.com *
Kennesaw, GA 30144 *
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