Re: [9fans] Laptop advice

[Digby Tarvin <digbyt@acm.org>]

I could well believe that Vista would struggle on anything less
than a Cray, but Linux isn't *that* demanding is it?

I had a look at the T22 specs and they seem pretty respectable to
me, at least compared to some of the systems I have Linux running
on (eg 64MB, 266MHz Pentium MMX).

And BSD is still running fine on my 48MB, 66MHz 486dx (although admitedly
its not so good for running netscape or heavy crypto).

Of course it might be different if I were trying to run full blown
KDE or GNOME, but you can't really blame the operating system for that.
(though a T22 looks like it would be able to handle it if necessary)

I do find I tend to need a lot more HDD capacity than comes as
standard on older machines when running a Unix variant. But even
my old 486 was upgradeable from the original 122MB hard drive to a
pair of 40GB drives, so it isn't usually a problem.

Personally I think there is a lot to be said for doing development on
modest spec'd machines, unless (like Microsoft) you have a vested
interest in generating a need for hardware upgrades...

Anyway - I found an old Thinkpad 600 in my junk box. Anyone know
if that would make a useable Plan9 machine?

DigbyT

On Sun, Jun 08, 2008 at 06:47:53PM +0200, Uriel wrote:
> The classic T22 with the SXGA+ screen seem to still be the best (you
> should get an orinoco pcmcia card for wifi, which is the only one
> supported anyway). And they can be found quite cheaply (around 300$ I
> think). Of course, if you also want to run a recent lunix version or
> vista, or whatever, you probably will need something more 'modern'.
>
> uriel
>
> On Sat, Jun 7, 2008 at 1:27 PM,  <lucio@proxima.alt.za> wrote:
> > I'm looking for a laptop that will run Plan 9 native and not sacrifice
> > too many of its features in the process.  High resolution screen and
> > supported Wi-Fi (possibly add-on, in which case, please recommend a
> > product and a source) are particularly desirable assets, audio would
> > be nice.
> >
> > I won't mind using an external mouse, seeing that there is little
> > alternative.
> >
> > And considering that I'm likely to look for a refurbished model, it
> > does not necessarily have to be Intel or AMD, a Mac need not be
> > excluded.
> >
> > Let me know.  I don't have to buy locally (South Africa) or in a
> > hurry, so if anyone has something for sale that will travel safely, I
> > may be very interested.
> >
> > ++L
> >
> > PS: I suspect I'll boot-select (Ubuntu) Linux most of the time and run
> > Plan 9 under VMware server, but being able to boot-select a decent
> > version of Plan 9 is absolutely essential.
> >
> >
> >

--
Digby R. S. Tarvin                                          digbyt(at)digbyt.com
http://www.digbyt.com