[sf-lug] Linux CDs

Sat Mar 3 18:15:16 PST 2007

A favorite of mine is system76 <http://system76.com/>. Ubuntu is the only
distro of choice, but they make sure all the hardware works with linux.

On 3/3/07, jim stockford <jim at well.com> wrote:
>
>
> i get email direct, too, and would prefer to get
> mail via the list so all can benefit (and the
> sender benefit from greater knowledge of the
> whole group).
>
> if i were to pick between advice from jim (me)
> and advice from rick, i'd pick advice from rick
> in a heartbeat.
>
> However, as an example of greater group
> knowledge, the following tidbit is different
> from his and might be helpful:
>
> http://www.shoprcubed.com/
> http://www.rcubedtech.com/
> This company, R Cubed, sells inexpensive
> laptops.
>
>     If you click the URLs, some of you might
> recognize this seeming reprobate from geek
> magazines--my kind of guy....
>     I bought a laptop from R cubed for about
> $1000 and am very happy with it. They give
> good service and the machine still works.
> They provide choices of linux distros, including
> Ubuntu and Fedora.
>     if I remember, i'll bring it to tomorrow's meeting
> (Sunday at the javacat in SF on Geary at 20th
> avenue from 11 AM till 1 PM).
>
>
> On Mar 3, 2007, at 2:10 PM, Rick Moen wrote:
>
> > A list-member wrote me offlist to ask me what laptop I would recommend
> > for Linux use, that ordinary humans can afford, doesn't weigh too much,
> > and has reasonable battery life.
> >
> > (No offence taken, but discussion threads should remain on-list unless
> > you have some reason for privacy.  If you have the latter, please begin
> > by explaining _why_ you've gone offlist into private discussion.  Most
> > of us participate in these public forums to benefit the community.  If
> > you want private help, it's called "consulting":  You should offer to
> > pay hourly consulting rates, and not expect professional work from
> > strangers for free.)
> >
> > I'm not going to give a "buy this" endorsement, but I can help teach
> > how
> > to select hardware (and how not to).  My guiding star in this area is
> > what I call Moen's Law of Hardware:  "Use what the programmers use."
> > http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/lexicon.html#moenslaw-hardware  (Cited URL
> > elaborates on that point.)
> >
> > You are unlikely to _literally_ know what Alan Cox, Dave Jones, Jeff
> > Garzik, et alii are using today -- but you can learn enough about
> > hardware to learn what they probably _would_ consider junk to be
> > avoided (and why), and that is what one should do, generally speaking.
> >
> > For reasons cited at that essay, slightly _older_ gear (especially
> > where
> > laptops are concerned) is likely to be less problematic than new gear.
> > I'd generally aim for a 1-2 year old model.  (To be more clear about
> > that, buying a spanking-new laptop model means you're either a Linux
> > hardware expert, or a masochist, or feeling really lucky.  Smart, lazy
> > people buy used.)
> >
> > You can also benefit from other people's write-ups, based on their
> > experience:
> >
> > http://www.linux-laptop.net/
> > http://tuxmobil.org/
> >
> > It's useful to bring a notepad, pen, and Knoppix disc with you, as you
> > look at laptops.  Boot Knoppix, and jot down significant chipset
> > identities.  What's a chipset?  Let me illustrate using the server that
> > SF-LUG's mailing list runs on.  (Only selected return values are shown
> > for commands below.)
> >
> > # dmesg | more
> >
> > CPU: Intel Pentium III (Katmai) stepping 02
> >
> >    OK, it's a single-proc PIII.
> >
> > ..... CPU clock speed is 498.7724 MHz.
> >
> >    Running at 500 Mhz.
> >
> > Serial driver version 5.05c (2001-07-08) with HUB-6 MANY_PORTS
> > MULTIPORT SHARE_I
> > RQ SERIAL_PCI enabled
> > ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
> > ttyS01 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
> >
> >   Two serial ports.
> >
> > SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00
> > sym.0.13.0: setting PCI_COMMAND_PARITY...
> > sym.0.13.1: setting PCI_COMMAND_PARITY...
> > sym0: <875> rev 0x37 on pci bus 0 device 13 function 0 irq 10
> > sym0: No NVRAM, ID 7, Fast-20, SE, parity checking
> > sym0: SCSI BUS has been reset.
> > sym1: <875> rev 0x37 on pci bus 0 device 13 function 1 irq 5
> > sym1: No NVRAM, ID 7, Fast-20, SE, parity checking
> > sym1: SCSI BUS has been reset.
> > scsi0 : sym-2.1.17a
> > scsi1 : sym-2.1.17a
> >
> >   Symbios model 875 SCSI chip (later revealed to have full model
> > designation 53c875).
> >
> > blk: queue cfe38174, I/O limit 4095Mb (mask 0xffffffff)
> >   Vendor: QUANTUM   Model: QM39100TD-SW      Rev: N491
> >   Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
> > blk: queue cfe38274, I/O limit 4095Mb (mask 0xffffffff)
> >   Vendor: QUANTUM   Model: QM39100TD-SW      Rev: N491
> >   Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
> > blk: queue cfe38374, I/O limit 4095Mb (mask 0xffffffff)
> > sym0:3:0: tagged command queuing enabled, command queue depth 16.
> > sym0:4:0: tagged command queuing enabled, command queue depth 16.
> > Attached scsi disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 3, lun 0
> > Attached scsi disk sdb at scsi0, channel 0, id 4, lun 0
> > sym0:3: FAST-20 WIDE SCSI 40.0 MB/s ST (50.0 ns, offset 16)
> > SCSI device sda: 17783250 512-byte hdwr sectors (9105 MB)
> > Partition check:
> >  /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target3/lun0: p1 p2 < p5 p6 p7 p8 p9 >
> > sym0:4: FAST-20 WIDE SCSI 40.0 MB/s ST (50.0 ns, offset 16)
> > SCSI device sdb: 17783250 512-byte hdwr sectors (9105 MB)
> >  /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target4/lun0: p1 p2 < p5 p6 p7 p8 >
> >
> >   Two Quantum model QM39100TD-SW SCSI hard drives.  And, oooh!  They're
> >   each a full 9 GB -- the very pinnacle of 1997 technology.
> >
> > usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
> > usb.c: registered new driver hub
> > uhci.c: USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver v1.1
> > uhci.c: USB UHCI at I/O 0x10c0, IRQ 5
> > usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
> > hub.c: USB hub found
> > hub.c: 2 ports detected
> >
> >   Two UHCI-type USB ports.
> >
> > Intel(R) PRO/100 Network Driver - version 2.3.43-k1
> > Copyright (c) 2004 Intel Corporation
> > e100: selftest OK.
> > e100: eth0: Intel(R) PRO/100 Network Connection
> > e100: selftest OK.
> > e100: eth1: Intel(R) PRO/100 Network Connection
> >   Hardware receive checksums enabled
> >   cpu cycle saver enabled
> >
> >   A pair of Intel e100-compatible PRO/100 ethernet ports.
> >
> > # lspci | more
> > 0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX -
> > 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (AGP disabled) (rev 03)
> > 0000:00:0d.0 SCSI storage controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic 53c875
> > (rev 37)
> > 0000:00:0d.1 SCSI storage controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic 53c875
> > (rev 37)
> > 0000:00:0f.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557/8/9
> > [Ethernet Pro 100]
> >  (rev 05)
> > 0000:00:10.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557/8/9
> > [Ethernet Pro 100]
> >  (rev 08)
> > 0000:00:12.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA
> > (rev 02)
> > 0000:00:12.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE
> > (rev 01)
> > 0000:00:12.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB
> > (rev 01)
> > 0000:00:12.3 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev
> > 02)
> > 0000:00:14.0 VGA compatible controller: Cirrus Logic GD 5480 (rev 23)
> >
> >    This confirms what we knew before, and gives more detail:  It's an
> > Intel 440BX motherboard (dating from 1998[1]).  We also find out that
> > the integrated video is Cirrus Logic GD 5480.
> >
> > The 82371AB chip is what's termed a "southbridge" chip, the motherboard
> > chip serving most of[2] the I/O ports.  The 82443BX "northbridge" chip
> > is where
> > the CPU and system RAM attach.  (Together, they comprise the bulk of
> > the
> > 440 BX motherboard design.[3])
> >
> > If this had been, say, a laptop you were interested in buying, as
> > opposed to just an old server, you would now be armed with the
> > identities of the constituent chips, and could ask around (or read on
> > the sites mentioned) about likely problem areas.
> >
> > Also, Knoppix's hardware auto-probing is advanced enough that it can
> > tell you a tremendous amount just from seeing what it does and does not
> > support properly, upon bootup.
> >
> >
> > [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_440BX
> > [2] In later Intel designs, _all_ of the I/O ports moved to the
> > southbridge.  In 1998, the northbridge still connected to video,
> > network, and other very high-speed devices.
> > [3] http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardware/mobo-guide-1.ars/3
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
>
>
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-- 
John Lowry
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