-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Mark Knecht wrote: > On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 7:49 AM, Dave Phillips <dlphillips@xxxxxxxxxx> 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 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux) iEYEARECAAYFAkkbHr8ACgkQeVUk8U+VK0JwQACgxiFsbfIvdC9UWiISV5hVR1Bm g7oAnRoN5fLa8gYO2HmJqIP+O3Yc7NHE =FOwE -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________________ Linux-audio-user mailing list Linux-audio-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://lists.linuxaudio.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-audio-user
