[LAU] query re: HP notebook

[Robin Gareus]

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Mark Knecht wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 7:49 AM, Dave Phillips <dlphillips at woh.rr.com> wrote:
>> 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 ?
> 
> Yeah, that's what I've done. First look at dmesg to figure out how the
> distro is identifying your drive - hda, sda, etc., and then hdpam -tT
> /dev/hda, etc.

Check if you can re-assign PCI IRQ's in the BIOS and have a look at `cat
/proc/interrupts` & compare with `lspci -v`, `lsusb` - you'll want to
have a dedicated IRQ for your external audio-device(s). ieee1394 is easy
enough, USB requires a bit more digging:
Some laptops have internal USB-hub(s) rather than multiple
controllers/busses. If you can boot the laptop in the store, also take
eg. a memory stick with you, plug it into all ports and check the
bus&device id with `lsusb`.

Wifi is sth. to test as well..  I'd not recommend nvidia but that's a
whole different story..

robin


> Note that if you don't get full speed operation it doesn't mean Linux
> doesn't support it - just that the boot kernel on your CD didn't do
> it. At that point you probably have to do some study to determine how
> to proceed. This is all chipset stuff so jot down some PCI ID's and
> chip name/numbers and retire to Google or the LKML to get more info.
> 
>> 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
>>
>>
> 
> You're welcome,
> Mark
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