On Thu, 25 Apr 2002, Ricardo Campos wrote:
Has anyone got any tips? Should I go for a second hand laptop instead and struggle with the install myself? (yes, I DO know about www.linux-laptop.net)
you can shoehorn Linux/BSD onto most (all) laptops, if you go for a new one then i would go for something light with a decent screen and battery life. Try and make sure weird things like the Cardbus/PCMCIA controller is supported under linux and try and go for something that someone else has got working before (fiddling with modelines to get your TFT screen working is not fun, especially as you can damage them!).
Personally I would be thinking more about the overall usability of the laptop than specific linux compatability, i.e. what do you want to do with your laptop? do you want to take it on the train? will you have to carry it lots? (a heavy laptop more often than not will get left at home) how long do the batterys last for? I have a nice Sony Vaio picturebook with Transmeta Crusoe CPU and a screen resolution of 1024x480 and i love it as it isn't heavy and is a nice size to put into a rucksack etc and everything works under linux including the camera and jogdial!.
Oh and one other thing if you buy a secondhand laptop be careful in case the battery is knackered and you need to get a new one, although old IBM stinkpads are always a good buy as the better ones (T series) are much more robust than other laptops and you can always get spares for IBM kit.
HTH Adam