Re: Where to start: hardware and reading material

On 7/10/2011 15:46, Robin Paulson wrote:
> On Fri, 7 Oct 2011 14:54:51 +1300, BigNosed UglyGuy wrote:
>> I'm a Linux beginner.  Have dabbled a little with trying on my eeepc
>> 701, I'd like to pick up a cheap laptop so I can delve deeper on a
>> larger machine. So I have two requests for suggestions:
>>
>> Are there any laptops that are easier for a newbie to play around with
>> and get conversant with the basics (i.e. without major config
>> /hardware issues to overcome)?
> 
> the laptop you buy will be relevant to a certain extent, however the two
> areas which generally cause most problems hardware wise are wifi and
> accelerated graphics.
> 
> for the former, atheros have long been a recommended brand, as their
> drivers are open. ditto intel
> 
> more info:
> https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Comparison_of_open-source_wireless_drivers
> 
> 
> for the latter, if acceleration matters for you, there are multiple
> options. intel provide good open drivers, but their cards don't
> generally have the technical capabilities of say nvidia and ati/amd
> 
> ati/amd have recently started with open drivers i believe, but they are
> not available for all cards and may not provide access to all features
> 
> last i looked, nvidia don't provide open drivers or decent documentation
> 
> both the latter companies provide closed drivers which access the
> majority of/all features, and they may or may not work well with the
> kernel/distro you choose.
> 
> there is also the nouveau project, aiming to provide accelerated drivers
> for nvidia cards, although progress is slow and there is only meagre 3d
> acceleration, 2d acceleration is better. nouveau is now the default in
> major distros such as fedora, opensuse and ubuntu
> 

This is about right. ATi free drivers are good if you don't expect to
watch 1080p videos or have a CPU strong enough to compensate.

http://www.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature

Nouveau is ages behind the proprietary drivers and Intel has lousy
hardware. My recommendation is either go 'ATi + free' or 'Nvidia +
proprietary'

You can look at http://www.linux-laptop.net/ but remember to check the
date of the articles. Some of them are really old.

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