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[soulnet]

Edit: I think the biggest problem is that you have to run some obscure script for some video codecs because of some patent issues before you can view all videos.

It's been a long time since I had to do that (~5 years). I still haven't found a video I could not watch by installing VLC and its default set of codecs.

[Davio]

I understood that VLC was having some problems with patents and what not?

But you could always get an earlier version.

[eHalcyon]

Thanks for all the suggestions.  I will keep them in mind!

[Polk5440]

I installed Ubuntu into a brand new Acer Aspire S5 and everything worked with minimum effort. The computer is great, incredibly light and it absolutely flies with the Linux (it also worked with that ugly Windows it came with, although it took a little longer to sleep and wake up and I've only used it for an hour to try everything before formatting). Battery seems to last 4+ hours while using wifi.

Suppose one wants a new computer with a Linux distribution on it. Some questions:

1) Which distribution?
2) How to buy the hardware? It seems a waste to buy a computer with an operating system pre-installed because you pay for that operating system (and the work to install it) then delete it.
3) Do Linux distributions play nice with other (Linux or non-Linux) operating systems? For instance, co-existing on a home network, reading files created on other operating systems, sharing or syncing, etc. Or are you forever consigned to a system that works great, but not with anything else?

[DStu]

1) Which distribution?

For starters I probably would say Ubuntu because it seems the most common at the moment, for example Steam exists (or will exist) for Ubuntu.  Also, that's the one I know [edit so well that I would give recommendations], but I don't think the alternatives are much worse.

2) How to buy the hardware? It seems a waste to buy a computer with an operating system pre-installed because you pay for that operating system (and the work to install it) then delete it.

Probably just keep the Windows with dual-boot (is configured automatically if you install a modern Linux on a Windows machine, in case you need it for something.  I don't think you get much benefit of a windows-free Laptop, as the retailers don't pay much for the Windows, and the market is quite small.

3) Do Linux distributions play nice with other (Linux or non-Linux) operating systems? For instance, co-existing on a home network, reading files created on other operating systems, sharing or syncing, etc.

[/quote]
On different machines it is no problem at all, network shares are usually samba which can also be read by Windows.  On the same machine, Linux can read and write the windows filesystem ntfs (to some extend), but afaik the other way round is more difficult, so files written in ext3/4 can not be read by Windows, at least not without installing additional drivers.  So keep a partition with ntfs around if you have files that you want to access from both OSs.

[soulnet]

1) Which distribution?

That depends highly on your usage, but for an average non-expert I would say ubuntu, kubuntu or xubuntu are best, depending on your preference for x-system (how would you like your windows and menus to look like). If you want maximum performance, xubuntu is best, or lubuntu for really old hardware (uses less resources on fancy stuff like windows animation).

2) How to buy the hardware? It seems a waste to buy a computer with an operating system pre-installed because you pay for that operating system (and the work to install it) then delete it.

In general the manufacturers include the OS. You are not really paying for it, MS wants the manufacturers to put it in so that people in general still consider windows "the" OS. There are some Dell computers that come with some Linux, and I guess if you want a desktop, you can ask for everything separately, including OS. In any case, I just look at the final price, regardless of what the OS contributes to it. My computer was still cheaper than any model I've seen without OS (the fact that it is rare for models to come without windows pre-installed also makes them more expensive, less likely to have special offers or sales, etc).

The only recommendation I have here is to search the internet to see if people already tried linux (preferable, if someone tried the particular distribution you want, which is likely for ubuntu and its variants) and which problemas they had and how hard was it to fix. I knew beforehand that bluetooth was not going to work without some extra configuration work OR wait until next release (end of april). I thought, since I never use it, I can wait a few months, but other hardware can have other problems that are important to you.
[/quote]

3) Do Linux distributions play nice with other (Linux or non-Linux) operating systems? For instance, co-existing on a home network, reading files created on other operating systems, sharing or syncing, etc. Or are you forever consigned to a system that works great, but not with anything else?

Both over the network and on the same computer, Linux is way nicer to other OSs than Windows and Mac are. It definitely shares files and printers easily with Windows computers through Samba. I've never tried with Mac, but I understand is the same (and printers are currently installed directly into the network anyway, so its mostly files).

[Davio]

What a lot of my colleagues do (software developers) is install a Linux distro as their main OS and host Windows in a virtual machine.

That way you can use Linux as your default Operating System, but if you still need to use Windows for some things, you can just install the software into the virtual machine. Of course this doesn't offer the same performance as using Windows natively, but the virtual machine world has come a long way.

You can pretty much safely run one VM inside your host without a lot of noticeable performance hits, as long as you don't do video-intense stuff like watching movies or gaming inside the VM.

[qmech]

At the very low end computers sometimes come without an OS.  I recently bought a brand new desktop machine for around £120 that had nothing pre-installed.  It also turned out to have no internal speakers and sound like a jet engine, but they're separate issues.

[enfynet]

That must be one heck of a fan.

[Davio]

That must be one heck of a fan.

[Drab Emordnilap]

How can he talk? He's not plugged in!

[soulnet]

How can he talk? He's not plugged in!

Which one?

[Davio]

Sorry to hijack your topic, but it seems better than creating a new one.

I'm currently in the market for a new work laptop myself and have the following wishes (they're general ideas, not technical specs):

- Video performance is not that important, nor is gaming, but day-to-day performance should not be sluggish
- Audio performance likewise, I will most likely plug in headphones anyway
- Connectivity should be Wireless-N, Bluetooth, USB 3.0 at minimum; more USB-ports is better since I usually have external keyboard, mouse and phone plugged in
- Screen should support 1920x1200 pixel resolution (is this 17" minimum or 15.4" as well?)
- I will mainly use it for work which is computer programming with a lot of things open at once (dev-IDE, PDF's, mail, browser with a gazillion tabs, etc...) so 8GB minimum I think
- Likely I will install Ubuntu on it with Windows XP and/or 7 as a virtual machine for programs that require it
- It should be sturdy as I will always carry it to and from work in a bag, but doesn't need to survive 6 foot falls

That's about it I guess.

I'm currently using a Dell, but I'm not that brand-dependant, I don't know much else about other brands.
So the main focus should be high productivity and performance to support that. Multimedia and gaming performance is secondary. I've looked at HP Envy, but it seems to "gamey", Panasonic Toughbooks seem too tough, etc..

Oh, for argument's sake money is no issue (although there are always limits).

[Qvist]

You didn't inlcude your price range, but it sounds like a typical business computer. How about Lenovo T530?

[Davio]

You didn't inlcude your price range, but it sounds like a typical business computer. How about Lenovo T530?

Price range would be $500 upwards to about $1500, is that reasonable?
Just a typical high-end business laptop without too much bells and whistles I don't need is what I'm looking for.

[Polk5440]

When someone says sturdy business laptop, I also think Lenovo.

[mcmcsalot]

You didn't inlcude your price range, but it sounds like a typical business computer. How about Lenovo T530?

Price range would be $500 upwards to about $1500, is that reasonable?
Just a typical high-end business laptop without too much bells and whistles I don't need is what I'm looking for.

Hmm reasonable, yes but that would be more of a "never by a laptop for anything but that range"
I mean any computer for less than $500 just won't be worth it, on the opposite end anything over $1500 your either getting ripped off, paying for a brand name(Alienware/Mac) or your a professional gamer.

Personally I don't like dell but I don't know much about Ubuntu and what your looking to do so I'm not sure I can be much help.

[Watno]

I think my laptop i bought 1.5 years ago for €250 is sufficient for the needs people described here. The only thing I'm unhappy with is the Graphics chip.

[soulnet]

Sorry to hijack your topic, but it seems better than creating a new one.

I'm currently in the market for a new work laptop myself and have the following wishes (they're general ideas, not technical specs):

- Video performance is not that important, nor is gaming, but day-to-day performance should not be sluggish
- Audio performance likewise, I will most likely plug in headphones anyway
- Connectivity should be Wireless-N, Bluetooth, USB 3.0 at minimum; more USB-ports is better since I usually have external keyboard, mouse and phone plugged in
- Screen should support 1920x1200 pixel resolution (is this 17" minimum or 15.4" as well?)
- I will mainly use it for work which is computer programming with a lot of things open at once (dev-IDE, PDF's, mail, browser with a gazillion tabs, etc...) so 8GB minimum I think
- Likely I will install Ubuntu on it with Windows XP and/or 7 as a virtual machine for programs that require it
- It should be sturdy as I will always carry it to and from work in a bag, but doesn't need to survive 6 foot falls

That's about it I guess.

I'm currently using a Dell, but I'm not that brand-dependant, I don't know much else about other brands.
So the main focus should be high productivity and performance to support that. Multimedia and gaming performance is secondary. I've looked at HP Envy, but it seems to "gamey", Panasonic Toughbooks seem too tough, etc..

Oh, for argument's sake money is no issue (although there are always limits).

I've already posted my good experience with the Acer Aspire S5 family (now there is an S7 which probably works better) and Ubuntu. The only downside for your specs is the Bluetooth, but that is supposed to be corrected in 13.04, which is already out (I'm not going to install it on that laptop until I come back home from a trip in two weeks).

[qmech]

I've already posted my good experience with the Acer Aspire S5 family (now there is an S7 which probably works better) and Ubuntu. The only downside for your specs is the Bluetooth, but that is supposed to be corrected in 13.04, which is already out (I'm not going to install it on that laptop until I come back home from a trip in two weeks).

For what it's worth, the 7 year old machine I mentioned earlier is an Acer Aspire 1640Z running Ubuntu.

[Davio]

Okay, I'm listing suggestions here for myself to look at later:

- Lenovo (T series)
- Acer (Aspire series)

How about HP?

[soulnet]

How about HP?

HP is not good at lightweigth machines, so I would not buy HP for carrying it to work everyday. I have an old HP that I bought to use for everyday home machine and its great for that, but once I started carrying it around more and more, I had to buy another one.

[Qvist]

How about Lenovo T530?

- Lenovo (which series?)

Obviously T-series. 

[Davio]

So I'm looking at the Lenovo T530 and I'm wondering which models of other brands are comparable to it.

Dell Inspiron? HP Elitebook?

I'm often finding myself wanting a bit more than the default Net/Ultrabook options, but significantly less than the overpowered pricey Mobile Workstations.