[Discuss] Linux on laptops

[smallm at SDF.ORG (Mike Small)]

On Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 09:18:51AM -0500, Kent Borg wrote:
> On 11/12/2015 09:17 AM, Robert Krawitz wrote:
> >Another option is to buy a used laptop on eBay.
> 
> Isn't buying a used laptop a bit like buying a used sports car? Each might
> have had a rough time in its earlier life?
> 
> -kb

I've had very good luck with mine. However I bought them from my
roommate so I had some idea what they'd been through, which was
not awful but also not particularly good. Also I don't use them as
laptops, leaving them in one place most of the time and don't keep
them on more than 10 to 20 hours a week. Nor am I doing anything
particularly intense with them most of the time. 

Depending how old you should count on needing to replace the battery
if you need a battery.

I didn't mention it to Edward assuming this would be too old for him but
I'm very happy with my older laptop and it is light. It's an Asus Z35FM.
It runs OpenBSD flawlessly for my purposes including the wireless. It
does run slightly hot, so you need to wear pants if you're actually
putting it on your lap. Uh, as opposed to shorts I mean! Yeah, that
image right there probably dissuaded him from buying used.

Here's part of a dmesg I have from a version of OpenBSD from a couple years
ago (I'm not at the machine now - if you care what the 5.8 dmesg looks
like I could send that later).  I'd guess it's usually the case that
if driver support is in OpenBSD it will be in Linux, though Theo claims
Linux drivers to be more subject to neglect on older hardware. I
generally go from Linux or another BSD to OpenBSD as drivers get
completed there, so I can't comment on that myself.


OpenBSD 5.4 (GENERIC.MP) #41: Tue Jul 30 15:30:02 MDT 2013
    deraadt at amd64.openbsd.org:/usr/src/sys/arch/amd64/compile/GENERIC.MP
real mem = 1585086464 (1511MB)
avail mem = 1535221760 (1464MB)
mainbus0 at root
bios0 at mainbus0: SMBIOS rev. 2.4 @ 0xfcd90 (44 entries)
bios0: vendor American Megatrends Inc. version "306" date 09/14/2007
bios0: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Z35FM
acpi0 at bios0: rev 0
acpi0: sleep states S0 S3 S4 S5
acpi0: tables DSDT FACP APIC MCFG BOOT SLIC OEMB HPET
acpi0: wakeup devices P0P2(S4) P0P1(S4) P394(S3) LAN0(S4) USB0(S3)
USB1(S3) USB3(S3) EUSB(S3) P0P4(S4) P0P6(S4) P0P7(S4) P0P8(S4) P0P9(S4)
HDAC(S3) SLPB(S4) PWRB(S4)
acpitimer0 at acpi0: 3579545 Hz, 24 bits
acpimadt0 at acpi0 addr 0xfee00000: PC-AT compat
cpu0 at mainbus0: apid 0 (boot processor)
cpu0: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T7200 @ 2.00GHz, 1995.28 MHz
cpu0:
FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,DS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,PBE,SSE3,DTES64,MWAIT,DS-CPL,VMX,EST,TM2,SSSE3,CX16,xTPR,PDCM,NXE,LONG,LAHF,PERF
cpu0: 4MB 64b/line 16-way L2 cache
cpu0: smt 0, core 0, package 0
cpu0: apic clock running at 166MHz
cpu1 at mainbus0: apid 1 (application processor)
cpu1: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T7200 @ 2.00GHz, 1995.01 MHz
cpu1:
FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,DS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,PBE,SSE3,DTES64,MWAIT,DS-CPL,VMX,EST,TM2,SSSE3,CX16,xTPR,PDCM,NXE,LONG,LAHF,PERF
cpu1: 4MB 64b/line 16-way L2 cache
cpu1: smt 0, core 1, package 0
ioapic0 at mainbus0: apid 2 pa 0xfec00000, version 20, 24 pins
acpimcfg0 at acpi0 addr 0xe0000000, bus 0-255
acpihpet0 at acpi0: 14318179 Hz
acpiprt0 at acpi0: bus 0 (PCI0)
acpiprt1 at acpi0: bus 5 (P0P1)
acpiprt2 at acpi0: bus 1 (P0P4)
acpiprt3 at acpi0: bus 4 (P0P5)
acpiprt4 at acpi0: bus -1 (P0P6)
acpiprt5 at acpi0: bus -1 (P0P7)
acpiprt6 at acpi0: bus -1 (P0P8)
acpiprt7 at acpi0: bus -1 (P0P9)
acpiec0 at acpi0
acpicpu0 at acpi0: C2, C1, PSS
acpicpu1 at acpi0: C2, C1, PSS
acpitz0 at acpi0: critical temperature is 105 degC
acpipwrres0 at acpi0: GFAN
acpiasus at acpi0 not configured
acpiac0 at acpi0: AC unit online
acpibat0 at acpi0: BAT0 serial   type LIon oem "ASUSTEK"
acpibtn0 at acpi0: LID_
acpibtn1 at acpi0: SLPB
acpibtn2 at acpi0: PWRB
cpu0: Enhanced SpeedStep 1995 MHz: speeds: 1992, 1660, 1328, 996 MHz
pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0
pchb0 at pci0 dev 0 function 0 "Intel 82945GM Host" rev 0x03
vga1 at pci0 dev 2 function 0 "Intel 82945GM Video" rev 0x03
...


-- 
Mike Small
smallm at sdf.org