[clug] Linux Laptop Followup

[David Adams]

Hey guys,

Well, I went out and bought a HP Pavilion dv6000 to replace the one 
which was nicked. Came with Vista- but I promptly blew that away and 
threw on Gutsy install CD. I expected heaps of hardware problems because 
it was a new laptop, but... colour me *extremely* impressed. 
*Everything* worked out of the box, without any configuration at all, 
aside from enabling non-free drivers on the wireless card and nvidia card.

Specifically:

- Nvidia integrated graphics accelerator (non free drivers required for 
acceleration)
- Wireless (non free drivers required)
- Bluetooth
- Integrated webcam (free driver! This shocked me)
- Infrared remote controller (also free driver! I'd dismissed it out of 
hand because it was so obscure, but it works perfectly)
- Volume control/program launch buttons launch their linux equivalents 
(The Play DVD button launches Rythembox, for instance) and work properly 
(adjust sound, screen brightness, etc)
- Sound (had to enable gutsy backports, but once I'd done that it worked 
perfectly)
- Ethernet
- Widescreen with correct, best resolution
- Card reader
- DVD-+ burner (I haven't tested Lightscribe yet)
- SMP support (for dual core duo)

In short: everything hardware-wise worked perfectly. Which really made 
my day.

Software wise, I threw on Wine to run all the applications I ran in 
Windows (including games like Call of Duty). It ran everything 
flawlessly, with no configuration, and with the speed and behaviour I 
expected from a Windows box. In almost every case I couldn't tell the 
difference between Wine and Windows XP. One or two applications used 
different fonts in places, but absolutely nothing I couldn't get used 
to. Bottom line: Everything I threw at it worked in either Dosbox or 
Wine and often (in the case of Dosbox) better than in Windows XP.

Bonus: Ubuntu updates are free and at ethernet speeds if you're on ANU 
campus, using mirror.linux.org.au. Awesomesness!

Very, very impressed.

Cheers,

Dave.