I’m considering getting a laptop with my tax refund and would like to go with Linux since my experience with Suse on my desktop has been so positive. I have considered just getting a laptop and installing the OS myself but have also looked at some preinstalled systems to. I’m looking at System76 right now but was just wondering if there is an OpenSuse equivalent of System76 since they only install Ubuntu. Not that there’s anything wrong with Ubuntu I have just been very happy with Suse.
I can’t address your answer wrt openSUSE (or SLED (SuSE Enterprise Desktop)) be pre-installed on a laptop, but there are some things you can do to minimize the risk of purchasing laptop hardware that may not be as compatible with openSUSE Linux as you would like.
Please, for starters, take a look at our laptop stickie: WELCOME to LAPTOP thead area - openSUSE Forums
Note it references the openSUSE HCL, and it also provides links to linlap, Tux mobile, and linux laptop, which have user reviews on laptops.
Note also that if you find a laptop being sold with another Linux distribution , the probability is high that the laptop will also work with openSUSE. Simply prior to replacing any existing distribution, check how well it works with hardware, then back up the appropriate configuration files to an external USB stick or hard drive. Then install openSUSE. If you have a problem with openSUSE (where the other distribution worked) you have the configuration files to either help “you” figure out things, or that you can pass in a bug report you may raise on openSUSE for not working with the laptop hardware.
A desktop example is a consideration I had when I purchased the motherboard for my Core i7 PC. I purchased an Asus P6T Deluxe V2 motherboard, and while there were some reports of successful Linux compatiblity with that motherboard, there were also some by users who stated they had problems. It was difficult to determine if those reporting problems were because they did not understand Linux (which turned out to be the case) or if there were real problems. One thing that gave me confidence was the P6T Deluxe V2 comes with something in Firmware called “Express Gate”. That in effect is a minimal Linux version, but that minimal Linux version works well with various graphics, sound / mic works, USB works, etc … That in essence proved to me that the manufacturer of the P6T Deluxe V2 had tested that motherboard with a Linux version (ie Express Gate). Hence I was confident openSUSE would work well, and it did work well.
Another example, this time a laptop, is my Dell Studio 1537 laptop. It was sold with various operating systems at the time, and Ubuntu was one of the operating systems one could by the laptop with. Because Ubuntu worked on that laptop, I had reasonable confidence openSUSE would work also, although I also did some research to confirm that assessment PRIOR to purchasing. In the end my wife and I purchased a Dell Studio 1537 with Vista on it (based on my wife’s instance) and later she had me replace Vista with WinXP on same laptop. But within a week of the Dell Studio 1537 arriving at our apartment, I had openSUSE installed on it (with a dual boot between Vista/openSUSE) and openSUSE worked well. Knowing Ubuntu worked on same laptop gave me confidence that openSUSE would work.
Sound was a problem on the Dell Studio 1537, but within a week after I had raised a bug report, the Novell/SuSE-GmbH packager for sound had fixed the problem, and sound was working properly. The fact sound worked with Ubuntu (albeit not as good as openSUSE after the Novell/SuSE-GmbH packager fix for sound) gave me confidence that a fix for openSUSE was possible, when I did encounter the sound problem.
I don’t think I answered your direct question , but I hope this gives you some confidence and consideration as to aspects that you can think about.
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I have seen laptops Dell and Lenovo with SuSE, my Acer comes with linpus
and I installed openSUSE on it
VampirD
Microsoft Windows is like air conditioning
Stops working when you open a window.
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oldCPU, I saw the sticky your referred to. I have read through it and I kind of figured that a PC that runs another distro would run fine with openSUSE as well which is why I have looked at a lot of Dells and HPs. HP actually has a compatibility list for openSUSE on its laptops which is kind of cool although it looks like most of those laptops on the list are a bit old. Of course Dell has preinstalled ones too but it looks like all they have right now for that is Ubuntu as well and they are only netbooks. I would like something with a little more kick than a netbook.
I just figured if I could get a preinstalled one at, reasonably, close to the same price and I knew that straight out of the box everything would work it might be worth it. The system76 ones are tempting as there seem to be a lot of really positive reviews for them at the Ubuntu forum and they have a lot of different options. I may end up going the other route anyways though since it looks like it may be cheaper to just buy a laptop with windows on it and install linux as a dual boot or just uninstall windows and install linux.
If you do a bit of looking through the posts on this form, you will find that most manufacturers laptops with linux pre-installed are lower spec than their windows offerings on the same laptop.
(Dell’s linux netbooks have less ram and a smaller hdd than the windows ones. If you want to upgrade the linux one to the same spec, you find it costs more!)
It works out that M$ is almost paying the vendor to preinstall windows.
Since every now and then you are forced to use windows, getting one with a windows licence is not a bad idea - you can shrink the win partition and then dual boot linux.
Perhaps a better way to do it is to find what laptops are compatible with linux and then buy the windows model and install linux.
(Don’t be put off about breaking the warranty - Samsung are notorious for their lack of linux support, but they quite happily repaired my nc10 netbook with linux on it when the motherboard died.)
I got my laptop from LinuxCertified. They have several models to choose from, and allow you to choose from several distros. Naturally, I chose openSUSE.
I just set-up (2 weeks ago) an Acer Aspire Netbook for my niece’s daughter (age 7). Netbook’s local don’t come with anything except windows XP home. Tech’s here are out to lunch as they say Netbooks can only run windows XP home ie too small for vista, win 7 and never can or will run Linux.
Took me 45 mins to shrink windows XP and install opensuse 11.2. Sound, video, lan, wireless, external CD/DVDRW, external USB sticks, all work without any tweeking with it’s n270 processor.
She needs Linux for her schoolwork as the school is dumping M$ in favor of Linux and a few MAC OS/X.
On 04/03/2010 11:46 AM, techwiz03 wrote:
>
> I just set-up (2 weeks ago) an Acer Aspire Netbook for my niece’s
> daughter (age 7). Netbook’s local don’t come with anything except
> windows XP home. Tech’s here are out to lunch as they say Netbooks can
> only run windows XP home ie too small for vista, win 7 and never can or
> will run Linux.
> Took me 45 mins to shrink windows XP and install opensuse 11.2. Sound,
> video, lan, wireless, external CD/DVDRW, external USB sticks, all work
> without any tweeking with it’s n270 processor.
> She needs Linux for her schoolwork as the school is dumping M$ in favor
> of Linux and a few MAC OS/X.
Good for her school. It sounds as if they got tired of all the viruses,
Trojans, and other malware. Now all you have to do is educate those
local techs. Of course, I would have taken the machine to them and shown
them the results.
The only unpleasant side effect we have seen on some Netbooks are DMA
errors for some Broadcom BCM4312 wireless cards. You probably have an
Intel wireless card, thus no problem.
Both mine were wiped of pre-installed winders.
Now run openSUSE
And they work much better than winders too. (I mean that)