[KLUG Members] New laptop on the way...advice

[Bruce Smith]

> I have a new laptop on order. It's an IBM R50. I have not tried Linux on 
> a laptop and I know it can be more of a struggle. Basically I am looking 
> for any tips/links anyone has for getting this to be a Debian/Windows XP 
> dual boot. I am even thinking of trying out Libranet instead of stock 
> debian.
> 
> Things I am worried about working:
> Radeon 9000 video

You really should investigate Linux compatibility _before_ ordering or
selecting a laptop model.  Good luck!!!   :-)

> Centrino Wireless
> 1400 x 1050 resolution
> Audio listed as "AC '97, DirectSound, SoundMAX"

No idea on the video.  You will _probably_ need ALSA for sound (as most
modern laptops do these days).

> From what I have been reading I should really get the 2.6 kernel on 
> this for best power management support and to get the centrino working 
> without the wrapper software that is out there.

Not exactly.  You need 2.6 or a very late 2.4 kernel to get the _free_
wrapper software working.  Otherwise you can pay $20 for the commercial
wrapper software.  AFAIK, IBM still hasn't released native Centrino
wireless drivers yet.

The free wrapper software works fine for me, but postings show people
having problems who are using WEP with it.  So if you need WEP, you may
end up paying for the commercial driver, or using a PCMCIA card.

> Does anyone know if the Debian beta installer is running 2.6? Any 
> suggestions for getting this up and running dual boot with XP smoothly? 
> I tried once to get debian and XP together on a desktop, but I blew it 
> because once I installed debian I could never get back to the winodws 
> partition.

I dual booted a XP laptop with SuSE 9.0, and it was the easiest install
I ever ran.  The SuSE installer automatically shrank the NTFS partition
as part of the stock GUI installer, no special work needed.  I've never
seen another installer do that before (but I've never seen the new
Debian installer either, so YMMV).   :-)

SuSE 9.0 also supports ALSA out of the box, which is another very nice
feature for laptops.  I'm also using a SuSE-people-compiled 2.6 kernel
on my (Toshiba) laptop with the free Centrino wireless driver.  FWIW.

 - BS