Linux Notebooks, When Netbooks Won't Do
by Kristin Shoemaker - Jan. 30, 2009Comments (1)- Related Blog Posts
- Over 50 Free, Must-Have Open Source Resources
- What Does a User Cost?
- Amarok Refreshed: Better, Stronger, Faster!
- Dell's Multimedia Mini PC Ships With Ubuntu
- What Lies Ahead for Chrome OS?
I like hardware. When I say this, I don't mean gadgets (although I don't turn those away either), I mean hardware. I like to build desktops, from chassis to power supply to motherboard to peripheral cards. I like desktops because I feel I have control over what goes in them, as well as what I run on them. They're easy to upgrade -- and they seem far more durable than their lap-sized peers. I understand this is in no small part due to desktops not being portable.
I made a vow a few years back I would never use a laptop as my primary machine. This was before the advent of solid state disks and netbooks. But because portability has its appeal, Linux is my operating system of choice, and because it fit both the hardware and gadget criteria, I picked up an EeePC a year ago. It works well as a quick way to get online and do basic tasks. Who needs a full-sized notebook?
I do. I've found I need to break my vow, even, and use it as my primary work machine. It needs to run Linux, and what's more -- it needs to be pre-installed. Fortunately, I have options.
Purchasing a bare laptop -- one configured without an operating system -- was an option, but not an ideal one (for me) this time around. Fortunately, there are some useful sites for ferreting out full-sized notebooks -- built with the same components as "brand" manufacturers -- with a Linux distribution already installed, configured, and tested.
LXer has a detailed database of system builders, their locations, and the distributions they offer on their builds. The vendor entries offer basic contact information as well as comments on vendor idiosyncracies (from one notebook vendor's entry: "You can avoid the 'Microsoft tax' with select versions of their 'Toucan' models, based on the Lenovo T60 and T60p with no windows and the distro of your choice pre-configured and supported.")
TuxMobil has a list of vendors who offer laptops, PDAs and mobile phones with open source software onboard. This list isn't as comprehensive as LXer's database, but is a clear, very visual overview of the larger vendors and what they offer.
Purchasing a full-sized notebook without a proprietary operating system is more complicated than you might think, however. Bob McElrath has a good overview of the relationships between component manufacturers, equipment manufacturers and how some Linux laptops get their start in life with Windows onboard. Performance-wise, this might not make a difference, but it certainly effects the price point (and perhaps how you feel about the product itself).
My new notebook -- with Ubuntu's 64-bit Intrepid installed -- should be arriving in a week. Breaking my laptop vow is easier knowing that the hardware -- and operating system -- is what I want, and not simply what I must accept.
