[LAU] query re: HP notebook

[Dave Phillips]

Mark Knecht wrote:
> Dave,
>    I own one but have never set Linux up on it. I have to have Windows
> on it for my options trading and with only 80GB there just isn't
> enough space left after putting some music in iTunes.
>   
:)
>    I will say that I like the screen a lot. It's a 17" wide screen and
> looks quite nice playing movies. It's an AMD/nvidia box like the one
> you're talking about, although likely not the same model as I got mine
> 18 months ago.
>   
Pretty close though. The hd is much larger on the machine I'm considering.

>    I would personally NEVER buy a laptop without first at least
> booting a Gentoo install CD, and likely 2 or 3 others, to ensure that
> it can see all the hardware. Once the install CD has booted you can
> run something like lspci and get readings on what hardware is in the
> box. Check to see that you're getting full speed from the disk drives
> as that's probably the most critical for making the machine useful
> early on. If you don't get full speed disks don't buy it unless you
> are certain you can get chip set support later on.
>   
Ah, that one has me stumped. How do I check for full speed operations ? 
With hdparm  or something else ?

I figured I'd slip a Dyne live disc in the thing to see if everything 
works. I also have a 64 Studio live disc to take along.
>
>    If you want or need clarification on any of this contact me online or off.
>
>   
Many thanks (again), Mark. :)

Best,

dp