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| 12/24 |
| 2004/6/27-28 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Recreation/Humor] UID:31033 Activity:nil Cat_by:auto Edit_by:auto |
6/27 The ultimate PB accessory:
http://www.humanbeans.net/powerpizza/index.html
\_ pizza box for your power book powerbook powerpizza notebook |
| 2004/6/2 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/CPU] UID:30551 Activity:high |
6/2 I'm curious about ideas for computer naming schemes. Please suggest
a few.
Fish (Freshwater and Saltwater)
\_ http://www.vleonica.com/ship_cap.htm
I used "happy delivery" on my mail server, and adventure on my
laptop for example. - pst
Roman/Greek Gods
\_ We've used norse gods as well
Alcoholic Drinks
Full House cast members
\_ That invites the regretable mary-kate and ashley
Famous Scholars
Actors/Actresses
Body Parts
\_ uvula!
Starship names from Star Trek
Famous disasters
TV Shows
Sherlock Holmes characters
Japanese Monsters
State Capitals << Major Cities around the world
\_ Please stop deleting people's suggestions -op
Porn Stars
\_ Only if you have loads of cash for harassment lawsuits.
\_ Maybe it's his home computers.
\- ucb cs or eecs had a number of p0rn star named workstations.
i dont recall which research group. --psb
\_ maybe the one doing vision research on pr0n images?
\_ Just name them after the type of machine. Best way to do it since
then you don't have stupid shit like "oh, is Styx supposed to be the
Athlon XP box running BSD or the Sun Blade 1500"?If you have a large
room of similar type of machines name them in an approximate
grid-like fashion, i.e. "box-1-7".
\_ Ugh, no. This is horrible. "Hey, Bob, can you log into
hba742db-prod1 and let me know if it's down?" Kill me now.
\_ but everybody knows what smvcjg01 is!
\_ We usually have two names for a system, the real name
(something like u60-s9-[rack]-[room]-[bldg]-[sys num])
and a human friendly c-name. This lets people refer to
systems by name and you can always get the real name
(hence the hw, os and location) using dig.
\_ Who is the poor SOB who has to change the name when it
moves to a new rack/room/building? Ridiculous!
\_ hear hear!!! -tired sysadm
\_ My ex-company used chemical elements. They even tried to match
element names or symbols with the engineers' names. However, when
the elemens ran out, they had to use particle names. --- yuen
\_ How many machine names do you need and what is the function of
the machines and their type [OS]?
\_ We used to use the following convention:
Famous scientists and mathematicians for SGIs workstations
Star Trek characters and ships for Sun workstations
Greek/Roman Philosophers for SGI/Sun servers
Rivers for routers and other network systems
\_ Lord of the Rings characters, you'll never run out.
\_ although not particularly original, this wins.
\_ Members of the Bush administration..
\_ I use famous conquerors and sites along the silkroad
eg. attila, genghis, gobi, talas, samarkand
\_ Put a name sticker on each case. for ATX cases, use
the square-inch case-badge area for the name-tag.
\_ Popes! http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12272b.htm
or Roman Emperors. http://www.roman-emperors.org/impindex.htm
Those guys went on for quite a while. Names get a bit long though.
or Roman Emperors. |
| 2004/5/24-25 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:30392 Activity:low |
5/24 Any laptops other than Dell offering 1920x1200 resolution screens?
\_ 320x200 is the most anyone should ever need!
\_ Toshiba had one. I can't find it on their web page
though, so it may be EOL. -ax |
| 2004/5/21 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:30340 Activity:insanely high |
2/21 I just upgraded a very old PIII to an AthlonXP. I used the cheapest
CPU and a rather cheapie MB with only 256 megs of RAM (I just wanted
to do something with the extra box and drives I had lying around.)
It seems to run a LOT faster than my laptops running a Celeron 1.5
gigahertz with 256 megs of RAM and seems comparable with a 3.2
gigahertz P4 laptop with 512 RAM I have on loan from the company I
work for. It's especially noticable when running stuff like 3D games
(I'm not a gamer so the stuff I run is 3 years old). I stuck in a
cheapie Radeon 9600 and it seems to run a lot faster and smoother
than even the higher rated laptop (which has a mobile Radeon builtin).
Has anyone had similar experiences
before? Do laptops really suck that much vs. desktops? The memory and
the drive I suppose really do affect performance (I turned off cpu
throttling on the mobiles but it didn't make much difference).
\_ You're looking at a few things here. 1) the bus speed on the
laptops is probably dirt. 2) celerons suck. 3) mobile video is
always "teh suk!". mobile video vs desktop: even when it has the
same model # is never as good as the desktop version. they cut
out extra performance bits and often lower the clock to save power
and heat. 4) laptop video is lcd and probably set to a lower
refresh rate than your desktop default on a crt. 5) the bus speed
and ram on your desktop is also probably set lower than desktop.
6) the laptops probably have some power saving mode on which is
keeping your cpu from burning itself up and not telling you. this
is all in no particular order, btw, and without knowing more about
your particular setup it could be any or none of these. -amc
\_ oh yeah, the hard drives in laptops are usually slower, too. -amc
your particular setup it could be any or none of these.
\_ I am a EE idoit, so, forgive me. Does LCD has "refresh rate"
as well? For CRTs, I can literally see the electron guns
and imagine it sweeping back and forth 60 times a second.
\_ Systems have refresh rates that determine how often updates
are sent to the monitor. Refresh rates for LCD monitors
usually don't mean too much, though; there's no electron
gun for LCDs, so there's no flicker, which is usually why
people want high refresh rates in the first place. LCD
monitors do have response times though, which is the amount
of time it takes for a pixel to completely change states. A
high response time leads to ghosting.
\_ In effect, yes. The on/off time for an lcd pixel can be
mostly equated to the refresh time on a crt.
\_ I have an Alienware 51-m laptop (for work). It has a 3.2 GHz HT
CPU, 1 GB RAM and a 7200 RPM drive, Mobility Radeon 9600. It's just
as good as a desktop (with the possible exception of the video--I
have a Radeon 9800 at work, so I can't easily compare it to the
Mobility). It also has a 8.8 Amp-Hr battery and 160 W power supply,
and weighs 10 lbs. But it's a pleasure to use. |
| 2004/5/19-20 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:30307 Activity:nil |
5/19 Does anyone besides Dell make a laptop with a WUXGA+ (1920x1200)
screen? |
| 2004/5/6 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:30064 Activity:high |
5/6 Can a laptop (IBM thinkpad 600) go through the airport Xray
in suspend mode (NOT hibernated) without having problems?
If so, how does RAM not get corrupted?
\_ I don't know. But if the Customs person decides to pop the battery
to inspect it, RAM still gets corrupted.
\_ I've done it with various thinkpads over the years, with no
problems. I've also wondered whether laptops in suspend (vs
completely shut off) would still interfere with airplane
electronics?
\_ Why not just hibernate and be sure?
\_ It's old and I don't have linux configured for hibernate. |
| 2004/3/31-4/1 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:12957 Activity:moderate |
3/31 FYI, for those with the 60GB Hitachi 7200rpm 2.5" mobile hard drive,
there are issues with this in the ThinkPad R50 and T41. From the
URL it also looks like these ThinkPad models are built by LG in Korea.
http://www.leog.net/fujp_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4973
\_ Return of the Deathstar?
\_ The URL suggests that it is a ThinkPad issue. Don't apply the
firmware if you don't have the above models or bad things may
happen. |
| 2004/3/25-26 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/CPU] UID:12863 Activity:kinda low |
3/25 Don't forget, bring your laptop to SF April 3rd and be part of
a supercomputer experiment! It should be cool.
http://www.flashmobcomputing.org
\_ Oh, you should register on the website if you're planning to go.
\_ make sure it's "a 1.3 GHZ Pentium III Celeron/AMD equivalent or
better with at least 256MB of RAM." --above url |
| 2004/3/12-13 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:12647 Activity:kinda low |
3/12 http://home.comcast.net/~groovyr/HELPDESK.WAV (headphones only) \_ and this friends, is why you remove your HD *before* sending it in for service... oh yea... and have backups anyways. \_ Oh my god -- that's freaking horrible! \_ Ha ha! What a dipshit. Is that for real? It sounds like he says "Canon laptop computer"... I didn't know they make computers. \_ He seemed a bit upset. I sent mine in with the drive but I didn't care if I never saw any of the data again. It came back ok. Poor stupid bastard.... |
| 2004/3/5-8 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:12543 Activity:nil |
3/5 I meant to follow up on someone's comment from 3/2 but forgot:
quote: Don't get the Inspirons. My co-worker has a D800 which
stopped working. Whatever you do, get the 1024x768
XGA screen (not 1400x1050 or higher). I believe all 14"
notebooks you find will weigh at least 4.5 lbs. (unless
it's a Mac notebook).
So... what's with that screen comment? Why not the high res? If it's
because things get tiny, you can just change the DPI setting in Windows
I think. Eh?
\_ Even if you change the DPI setting, certain things (balloon tips
for one I believe) stay at the original pixel size. Images in
the browser look terrible when interpolated, and you need to mod
the registry to keep them at the original size. Then the pictures
look too small. Summary: having the 1400x1050 screen isn't as
terrible as I made it sound, but it's annoying at least.
\_ i liked it. 1600x1200 was bad, but 1400x1050 was fine by me
(a lot more useful than 1024x768 anyway). otoh, the inspiron
i had felt shoddily constructed (and was!).
\_ I have a D600 from work and I like the 1400x1050 screen.
Some of my friends like 1400x1050, some hate it. Seems
like its a matter of preference.
\_ How can anyone stand looking at 14x10 on a 14" screen? I set my
21" crt to 12x10. Do you guys have enhanced vision or what?
\_ have you gotten an eye exam anytime recently? or maybe you're
just firmly entrenched in the brian harvey camp of font sizes.
\_ 20/20. So how far back do you sit from your screen? I'm
pretty far back. Is your screen 18 inches away?
\_ How can you stand small desktop space when you can have big
desktop space? I use 1600x1200 on a 19" crt.
\_ small is relative. it's the largest desktop that doesn't
make weird fonts and I can read without leaning forward.
i play games in whatever looks best for each game, though.
\_ most Laptop's LCD is optimized to ONE single resolution, and I
usually don't bother with tinkering with other resolution than
the default one. (1024x768 on 12")
\_ I believe LCD's have only one native resolution.
all other resilutions look like crap. |
| 2004/3/5-6 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:12536 Activity:low |
3/5 Anyone have any experience buying a low-end IBM thinkpad? Are they
as well-constructed as the high-end models? Anything I should be
aware of?
\_ I've been using an R30 for 2+ years, and so far it's holding
up well. I use it a few hours a week at home, and
take it out for a presentation once every week, so it's not
very heavy use. The case, etc. feels very well constructed
compared to the lower end models of other brands, some of
which feel really cheap. OTOH, the price difference between
the T and R series seemed to have narrowed a little.
compared to the lower end models of other brands.
\_ which are low-end? coworkers and I have been through various
X and T series thinkpads... the finish tends to wear off
and you might lose a disk now and then without other parts
falling off! after opening/closing the lid on an X22 twice
a day at home (morning and night email runs), the hinge
got soft but still worked fine. one guy seems to destroy
displays some how. i fly all the time w/ mine in barely
padded carryon luggage and have had no problems.
very heavy use.
\_ I'm talking about the cheap ends of the R and G-series. -op |
| 2004/3/2-3 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:12488 Activity:nil |
3/2 I'm looking for a very lightweight laptop that has a decent screen
and is reasonably priced. Recommendations?
\_ Sony Vaio PCG-Z1A? $2K for that 14' LCD 4.5 pound notebook.
\_ i have had 2 VAIOs and know about 10 people in my lab with VAIOs.
The video on the first failed. The PCMCIA slot on the second
stopped working. Others in the lab have complained. On the other
hand, noone has any problems with the IBM laptops, so we're not
just whiners. SHARP has a really nice small laptop for $1500. -ali
\_ I have the Sharp Actius MM10; decent 10" screen (1024x768), 2.1
pounds and very small, $1399 from Amazon. If low weight is your
primary concern, it's hard to beat. -tom
\_ 12" ibook or powerbook.
\_ Ibook is not exactly lightweight but it is not too heavy either.
\_ IBM X20, 21 or 22 from EBay. Why does the AMC hate this entry?
It keeps getting deleted...
\_ Seconded. I had an X20 for a long time--it's a fantastic little
machine. Buy a USB storage key, though. -John
\_ What will you be using it for. How "decent" a screen?
\_ mainly web-surfing, text editing and photoshop and maybe
occasionally running some java stuff for work (which would mean
it would need a good amount of memory). It's not a desktop
replacement so i'm more concerned with portability than having
lots of bells and whistles. the suggestions so far have been
good but I'm wondering if there's anything that weighs around 3
lb and has a 14" screen. (the Vaio is the closest to what i'm
looking for but it's more than I want to spend. I would
consider ebay since i don't particularly need the latest
processor) -op
\_ "Small, large, cheap: pick two." -tom
\_ I'd like it small and large, please.
\_ Go to <DEAD>fujitsupc.com<DEAD> and look at the S series notebooks.
There are cheap ones with AMD mobile CPUs (which suck IMO)
and more expensive ones with Intel Centrinos. 13.3",
4.5 lbs. Buy them at http://laptopinc.com or http://newegg.com.
For 14" at 5.5 lbs., I recommend the Dell Latitude D600.
You can get a D500 or D505 if it's not for gaming.
Don't get the Inspirons. My co-worker has a D800 which
stopped working. Whatever you do, get the 1024x768
XGA screen (not 1400x1050 or higher). I believe all 14"
notebooks you find will weigh at least 4.5 lbs. (unless
it's a Mac notebook).
\_ First of all, using photoshop on LCD screen is simply a
bad idea. Secondly, if you *REALLY* want portability, you
need to give up on that 14" screen. I would recommend the
new IBM X40s. They are tiny. Dell is pretty decent too,
but Dell doesn't have dedicated memory for its video. If
money is an issue, how about looking for IBM X31?
-- the guy who carries his laptop on subways
and buses all the time
\_ I use photoshop on multiple LCD displays. It's better
than a monitor. WTF is up with this comment? |
| 2004/3/1-2 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:12471 Activity:moderate |
3/1 Thinking about buying a Dell laptop from some reseller on eBay. New
unopened box, warranty is transferable, highly rated seller,
and it's a decent price ... anyone have any experience with this?
Thanks.
\_ It's more likely that the guy just bought it to send in the
rebate and is now selling it at the price he paid. You can even
check the rebate sites for the model-- go back 2-4 weeks, see
what deals were available. http://slickdeals.net is one such place.
\_ That kind of makes sense. Anyway, do read the fine print
on transferrable warranties. I have a 1-year-old Fujitsu
notebook and the warranty is not transferrable. An eBay ad
selling the same model said the warranty was transferrable.
Buyer beware.
\_ It's probably bought using a stolen credit card. I wonder if the
warranty is truly transferrable -- check google, or your bud
that bought a Dell notebook from the source. I would guess it
isn't transferrable.
\_ It's more likely that the guy just bought it to send in the
rebate and is now selling it at the price he paid. You can even
check the rebate sites for the model-- go back 2-4 weeks, see
what deals were available. http://slickdeals.net is one such place. |
| 2004/1/28 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:11985 Activity:nil |
1/28 Would you buy/trust a used laptop from ebay?
\_ Yeah probably. I've bought an IBM laptop battery and laptop
keyboard on eBat. They both work great. Soon I will need a new
backlight and I plan on looking on ebay if the official parts
are expensive.
\_ Once upon a time I bought a Toshiba 486 laptop. It worked fine for
a few months, but then the power board shit itself and it wouldn't
stay on for more than a few seconds. Just one data point.
\_ I bought two used IBM thinkpads on eBay. Both worked fine.
I would recommend that you only bid on laptops offered by
people with lots of positive points (like 100+). -ausman |
| 12/24 |
| 2004/1/26-27 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:11939 Activity:low |
1/26 My laptop only has USB 1.1. I'm thinking of getting a PCMCIA card that
has a USB 2.0 port. Question on this thing. Is it slower than
a built-in USB 2.0 port? I'm curious how fast this PCMCIA interface
really is. Thanks.
\_ assuming you really mean cardbus (or pc card) not pcmcia, ~100mbit
\_ I'm seeing CardBus Type II with ~ 50 mebibytes/s.
http://peripherals.about.com/library/glossary/bldefcardbus.htm
On the official web site, I see similar peak transfer rates:
http://www.pcmcia.org/faq.htm
\_ What devices do you plan to hook up that are usb2-only?
\_ I was planning to buy a iomega DVD writer. They recommend
USB 2.0. The bandwidth of the PCMCIA has to be greater than
or equal to USB 2.0 for this to work I guess. Thanks.
\_ USB2.0 = 480Mbit/sec. DVD = ~10Mbit at 1x
\_ Combo PC cards (firewire + USB2.0) are about $50. For CD
\_ Combo PC cards (firewire + USB2.0) are about $50. For DVD
burning I'd recommend firewire. |
| 2004/1/9-10 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:11724 Activity:nil |
1/8 My laptop display appears to be in trouble. After about 18 mos. use, it
all of a sudden looks like every other column has died. Anyone have
this trouble? It's a Compaq laptop with an ATI chipset. I doubt
there's anyone in town (I live north of Sacramento) who can fix it--so
any recommendations on a place that I can send it to for service?
\_ If you're unable to get it fixed, check ebay for laptop displays.
Last time I checked, there were hundreds for sale at pretty
low prices. -John
\_ If it's still under warranty, Compaq can probably tell you
the best "authorized service center" to send it to.
\_ It's definitely not under warrantee. And it's probably the
connection to the screen. It flickered like that when I was
tilting the screen. Also, hooking it up to a monitor shows the
graphics card is just fine.
\_ if you bought it with a credit card, check if your card offers
extended warranty. that'll usually give you an extra year.
\_ I bought it privately from someone else.
\_ A co-worker had a similar problem with a Dell Inspiron a
year ago (video developed horizontal or vertical garbage
suddenly after 1-2 years). He had on-site support, so
the tech guy fixed it, possibly by replacing the LCD half
of the notebook entirely.
\_ FYI, my co-worker yanked a part off her notebook. She called
Fujitsu tech support and they told her the nearest service center,
which promptly declared the problem "not covered under the warranty"
and charged her $13 for parts and $185 labor.
Coincidentally, another co-worker had a problem with his Toshiba.
It turned out it was the same place that did repairs, and they
determined it was a bad CPU fan, that it was covered under warranty
and they also told him he was using a 3 Amp AC adapter when
it should have been a 5 Amp and it was probably causing his
heat problems. This place is in Venice, CA -- Galaxy Computer
Center or something.
\_ buy a new laptop since they're cheap now. Or if Compaq is a
cool company, they offer parts, so you can fix it yourself.
I try to only deal with Toshiba and IBM and even then, only
with the higher-end business laptops -- better service/quality.
\_ Glad you're made of money, but I'm not. A laptop with the
features I need costs well over $1000.
\_Since the display is probably the single most expensivve
part of your laptop, you are going to need to bite the
bullet and shell out some cash
\_ Wow, glad you are made of money. I'd be happy
to even have a laptop, broken screen or not.
\_ It's still under warranty, right? Call Compaq. They'll
probably tell you what's the best "authorized service center"
to send it to. |
| 2003/12/19-21 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:11535 Activity:nil |
12/19 People who use laptop as a destop replacement for all/most of their
time, do your wrist, back, and/or eyes hurt over time?
\_ A lot of laptop keyboards have shitty give so it's like typing
on a board. I never had this problem with my Thinkpads, although
I've heard from consultant friends who spend 10 hours a day
typing that they have problems. 5 minute break away from your
PC (i.e. walking around) every hour, straight back, correct
height chair and desk and not resting your wrists on your keyboard
works miracles. -John
\_ if you plan to do this I'd be sure and get a laptop with 100%
keyboard and a large screen (15+"). Alternatively, get all
external peripherals to use when you are at home.
\_ I have a notebook with a 13.3" 1024x768 screen where the keyboard
is full-size (key width and spacing). The keyboard's fine, but
my eyes get tired mid-week.
\_ I've been using a laptop as my primary computer for 10 years
and I haven't had any problem. I've made sure to get laptops
with reasonable size keyboards and the best screen.
\_ Mine has a 15.1" screen, with 1400x1050 resolution, and I find it
easier to read than a CRT. Also, the smaller keyboard is easier on
my hands.
\_ Everytime I switch from a PC to a laptop when I go on biz trip, it
takes me two to three days to get used to the keyboard. After that
it's fine. However, I can't stand any pointing device on a laptop,
so I carry a regular mouse. |
| 2003/11/19 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:11134 Activity:nil |
11/17 What's the difference between high density and low density
laptop memory. Will my laptop really not work if the chip
is "high density" and my laptop wants low? If so, why the
hell doesn't my laptop specs say whether it takes high or
low density memory? sheesh. Tnxs (i know the motd knows)
\_ the high density is heavier per volume unit. |
| 2003/11/17-18 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/SW/OS/OsX] UID:11112 Activity:nil |
11/17 Audio engineering on the cheap: Mbox with ProTools vs. M-Audio
with Cubase or something else? What should I made sure to look
for in buying a laptop that can handle this? Will I need a
firewire drive? Is a Centrino better or worse for this?
\_ I can give you lots of advice. I do electronic music production
and I have records coming out. Send me email. --lye@csua
\_ dude, other people are interested. why not enlighten us masses
with a few pointers? -!op
\_ Are you considering a Mac too, or just PC? If you are considering
a Mac, I would advise against the Mbox. I personally don't see
any important differences between the major multi-track
sequencers -- go with whatever you feel comfortable with, unless
you *need* to run some particular plug-in format (e.g., TDM). But
the Mbox has notoriously bad drivers on the Mac, so i'd advise
against that. |
| 2003/10/24-25 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/SW/OS/Windows] UID:10779 Activity:nil |
10/24 I'm going to be getting a low-end IBM thinkpad that comes with Windows
XP. I know that XP is just one big spyware and so I'm thinking of
installing windows 2000 on it. Laptops tend to have customized
drivers and such. Anybody tried installing an off the shelf version
of windows 2000 on an IBM laptop? Any gotchas I need to know?
\_ Just go to IBM's site and download all the drivers. Burn it on a
CD, then install win2k. C'mon, it's not that hard to figure out...
\_ one big spyware? uhm ok.
\_ you're going to be using Windows Update anyway, just use XP.
\_ It's not as if you're going to have trouble with product activation
on a notebook, where the hardware is fixed.
\_ I did exactly this on a dell laptop, and sold the unopened, unbooted
XP on ebay. No problems so far (1 year).
\_ what did you do with the cd key? it's usually stuck to the
bottom of the notebook on Dells
\_ peeled it off (very carefully) with my fingernail and slapped
it on the plastic wrap around the install disc.
\_ I had 2k on a Thinkpad x20 for a while. I didn't like it. There's
nothing wrong with XP if you set it up right. -John |
| 2003/10/11 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:10592 Activity:nil |
10/10 My laptop hd is having problems. Won't boot. Plugged into USB hd
caddy, and see the two partitions on it from my desktop. (Both
running XP). Both partitions show up as drives from an explorer
window on the desktop, but accessing the second partition gives
errors like "incorrect parameter" or "drive not formatted." Tried
using Partition Magic 8 to copy the whole laptop hd to my desktop
hd, but it returned "Error #56, Can't read sector" or something to
that effect. Suspecting physical error, but software still seems
to detect the partitions. Can't afford to go to data recovery
specialist. What tools are there (Windows or Linux) that can help
me recover data off laptop drive?
\_ linux: dd each partition to a file on another drive
then try mounting file as a loopback device.
with like: mount -o loop -t type filename /mnt/tmp
"type" depends on the filsystem type. win98 is vfat. donno XP.
\_ restore from tape. you made backups, right? |
| 2003/10/2-4 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:10420 Activity:moderate |
10/2 Time for laptop opinions again--I'm looking for something lightweight
and solid that will let me run FreeBSD and VMware/WinXP nicely.
I don't need a CD drive. Main conditions are trackpoint rather than
trackpad, and weight less than 4 lbs/2kg. I'm considering an IBM
X31; only problem is that it's "only" got a 1.4 PIV. Any opinions
on similar laptops from personal experience would be greatly
appreciated. -John
\_ I'm using Virtual PC 5.x. Works way better than the crap VMware is
pushing. I don't know of any decent laptops that still use the
old style thumb breakers.
\_ Side note: on the video card comments from a while ago...I'm
currently playing Halo on my laptop (Radeon 7500M chipset). I have
to turn off many of the features (and it's not a DX9 chipset) but it
plays great. Mostly I'm missing the eye candy (which look great on
my Radeon 9800 at work).
\_ GFX card doesn't have to be stellar--I have a good home
machine for games. Virtual PC is nice, agreed, but it
does not run on top of FreeBSD. -John
\_ Why make your life so complicated? Get a Macintosh. You'll get access
to the majority of dekstop applications that the majority of users
care about and you still will maintain full compatibility with unix
apps which, using tools like fink, are trivial to install on OS X.
\_ Because it costs about $1000 more for similar hardware?
\_ Apple's low-end hardware is pretty competitively priced,
but none of it is under 4 pounds. -tom
\_ Nonsense. Please show me a Powerbook comparable laptop priced
at $1000. or iBook class laptop sold for $300.
\_ Only if your benchmark is crap that Dell mostly makes or
similar.
\_ Couple things: 1. IBM X-series, as far as I know, never equipped
with P4 CPU. I think it has something to do with how much heat p4
dissipated. X-series went from P3M straight to Pentium-M.
2. There is a Pentium-M version of X31. I am not sure can it
support booting from an external, USB CD writer or not.
3. Dell has something that is similiar in spec. I vaguely remember
it is called X300. Pentium M/12.1" screen. Dell is lighter
1.7kg vs IBM's 2.2 kg. The down side, if you call it, is that
Dell doesn't have dedicated video memory.
4. Personally, I prefer IBM's build quality and its keyboard.
\_ why do you like the keyboard? I hate the ibm keyboard.
I am still not used to the the left control key.
\_ personal choice. "Personally I[he] prefer[s] ..."
Having said that, IBM recently moved the notebook production from
Taiwan to the mainland China. Not that I have anything
against China, but I heard their first couple batchs was not up
to the par (common issue when one moved its manufacturing
facilities). So, when you are hunting for bargain, becareful.
email me if you have more questions. -kngharv |
| 2003/9/28-29 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Display] UID:10357 Activity:nil |
9/28 Sun carries LCD monitors. Anybody know from which vendor they OEM
the product? I'm trying to get compatible LCD monitors for my
ultra 5. Thanks.
\_ Samsung |
| 2003/9/26-27 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Display] UID:10339 Activity:nil |
9/26 LCD monitor question for Suns. I remember hooking up a nokia
LCD display to an ultra 5. But I can't seem to get that working
anymore. I think ultra 5's graphics card is just a standard PC
graphics card isn't it? I'm trying to replace my 21" tube monitor
at work with two 17" LCD displays. Thanks.
\_ in a similar vein, have a sparc 20 with cgsix I want to hook up to
pc-style monitor. Have an adaptor to get the physical connections
right, but there are some sync issues as I've only gotten one
(borrowed) flatscreen to work with it. What are my monitor
requirements so I can get a working monitor on this sparc??
\_ Not sure if it's a std pc graphics card (pgx24?), but it sucks.
I think you may have to configure its use for resolution/refresh
rate. I forgot which command you use to do this, though. Not sure
if your LCD is multisync, or it's multisync range might not be
compatible with the graphics card current settings. so this might
be the issue.
\_The command is nonstandard and varies from computer to computer.
If you have an Ultra5 and you just have the regular built-in video
then I think the command is m64config. If you have a Creator it's
a different command, and you may have to install the program for
it. Do a google for your vid card and you'll probably find it.
Solaris 9 has a lot of the stuff bundled with the distro.
As for the LCD issue, you basically need to find one that is
right for your ultra5. Not all VGA monitors work with Sun boxes,
and not all LCDs will therefore work.
-williamc |
| 2003/9/26 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Display] UID:10337 Activity:nil |
9/26 Hi, I need LCD advice. I use a 19" CRT at work at 1024x768. My CRT
at home is on the fritz and I'm looking to get one. I want to continue
working at 1024x768, but LCDs only go up to 15" at that resolution.
How do 17"-19" LCDs do if you tone down the resolution to 1024x768?
Does it interpolate pixels, or just use less of the screen?
Any recommendations on brand/models? Thanks in advance.
\_ Any LCD not run at its native resolution just looks like crap.
Its not as bad if you're running it significantly lower than its
native resolution, but its still ugly. |
| 2003/9/15-16 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Printer] UID:10203 Activity:moderate 53%like:10194 |
9/15 To those with digital cameras: How many memory cards do you have?
what capacity? Do you have a device to download your pictures
to? A portable one aside from a laptop?
\_ can't believe my post on http://www.image-tank.com got censored
\_ not everything that disappears is censorship. i'll bet you
posted while some other person was editing at the same time
and they simply overwrote your version without a thought.
stop playing the victim. no one cares.
\_ 1 card, 128 MB. No separate device.
\_ A single 128MB CF. I usually connect the camera by USB, although a
couple of times I've put the CF card into a printer and printed
directly.
\_ 1 128mb card and a 32 mb card that came with the camera. I bought
a 10 dollar card reader and it makes dling pictures a lot easier.
Plus now I can use the card as a large floppy drive if I need to.
\_ 1 card, 1GB. No separate device. Only issue is my battery doesn't
last long enough to occupy even half the card at max res / no
compression. But 1GB suits vacations quite nicely without access to
computer for downloading.
\_ 32meg included, purchased 128meg after. I just use the usb cable
and software included and dl straight to a desktop PC.
\_ 2, 32 MB, 1GB. I put the CF card in my PC, or print straight
to a Canon CP100 dye-sub 4X6 printer. -ax
\_ aren't dye-sub's expensive? how much was it?
\_ The printer was $199, then $.50 per 4X6 print.
\_ 1 128 MB (not using 8MB came with camera).Only using laptop.
2 batteries
\_ 3 cards, all smartmedia, 8M, 64M, 128M. Unfortunately, smartmedia
doesn't come larger than 128M, seemingly. I use a card reader
as well as a digicam, but that's mostly for data transfer. --PeterM
\_ 2 cards - 256M, 32M (came with). pcmcia CF adapter, great for
transferring things around too... Playing with pictures (time
exposures/etc) tends to fill it up quickly though, cycled through
the 256M twice on a 10-day trip of late.
transferring things around too...
\_ Camera came with 8 (enough for 7 photos!), bought 128MB, have never
\_ 1 card, 1GB. No separate device. Too bad my camera battery doesn't
last long enough to occupy half that card at full resolution / no
compression (4 Megapixel)
filled in a single vacation. (Low-res cam, though) |
| 2003/9/15 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Memory] UID:10194 Activity:nil 53%like:10203 |
9/14 Digital camera users: how many memory cards do you have? What is
their capacity? Do you have any device besides a laptop that you
use to transfer memory card data?
\- maybe 5 cf/microdisk. 128 to 1gb. usb1 digital wallet. why? --psb
\_ my college have this. I think it's a godsend:
http://www.image-tank.com/englisch/e_itg2.html
Only thing i bitch about this is that it doesn't use
standard AA battery. |
| 2003/9/4-5 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:10082 Activity:nil |
9/4 Can anyone lend me a compact flash card for the next
few days (this is going out to the soda crowd)?
I need to use Norton Ghost, my laptop has no CDROM or
floppy drive, and it can boot off CF, which seems to me
the best way to go. Also, I could use USB CDROM or fdisk.
Feel free to mail me. Thanks, jhs
\_ Does it boot off net? |
| 2003/9/4 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:10065 Activity:nil |
9/3 My laptop running XP has two build-in mice: a little button on the
keyboard and also the traditional touchpad. The touchpad is annoying
and I want to turn it off. Under XP how can I do this? Thanks.
\_ I'm shocked at this (I love my touchpad). However, it depends on the
device. You should be able to disable the device in the device
manager, but if it simply is a PS/2 interface it may be hard to get
rid of.
\_ I'm not shocked. People have strong preferences when it comes
to their pointer devices. I totally prever the trackpoint,
so I but IBM ThinkPads.
\_ Fascinating. That's why I don't buy Thinkpads. Good point.
\_ Holy shit! people are different??
\_ It's not just a preference issue for me. One minute
using the trackpoint and my RSI starts tingling.
\_ link:csua.org/u/446?arstechnica.infopop.net
\_ You might try downloading manufacturer device drivers for
the pointing device. The driver for my pointing device on my dell
allows me to disable one or the other. |
| 2003/8/31-9/1 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:10025 Activity:nil |
8/31 Is it true that IBM only sells online now? I'm looking for a mini-
PCI ethernet network card for a T21 Thinkpad, and stores like Fry's,
Microcenter, etc., don't carry any IBM products. Any online shops?
It just seems so expensive getting stuff from IBM's site.
\_ don't now, I get my thinkpad stuff on ebay.
\_ have you seen ANY mini-pci cards at fry's or microcenter?
anyway, just about any will do.
\_ I have a few. Drop me a line. --jon
\_ I have a 56K modem in my T21 (Type 2647-87u) but I want to add a
network connection. It seems that I'll have to take out the
modem card and add a combo ethernet+modem card unless it has
space for an additional card. I emailed you, but don't know if
I got the right Jon. If not, shoot me a line back. -donz |
| 2003/8/27 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Printer] UID:29481 Activity:high |
8/26 Would I get the cheapest notebook computer from Dell? Or would I
also need to go to Best Buy and check out similiarly equipped ones
from Toshiba, HP, etc.?
\_ Their specials on the 1100 probably are as good as it gets for
a 7lb, 2ghz+ model.
\_ Dell laptops suck.
\_ did you see the new D series notebooks?
\_ uhh. i don't know what you would do, but there are things you
should do.
\_ You would get the cheapest notebook computer from Dell because
you wouldn't checkout Best Buy and check out similiarly equipped
ones from Toshia, HP, etc.
\_ shop around. Dell is not so cheap anymore.
\_ http://slickdeals.net. right now. Inspiron 1100 for $674
\_ anyone know the weight on this? Video card?
\_ look it up, fucker. try pulling your own weight for once.
\_fuck off. I looked where i knew to look (the dell site)
i pulled up the "system details" that info ain't there.
This is common stuff i'm asking for that every other
Manufacturer shows in the analagous display. I don't
know why Dell is lame or why you are such a twit.
\_ I love you guys! - danh
\_ um, yeah. i guess being such a twit is why it takes me
30 seconds to find out that it starts at 7.22 lbs
and the base model has integrated "Intel Extreme"
graphics. train harder.
\_ cool, put a handle on a brick and call it portable. |
| 2003/8/23-24 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:29448 Activity:high |
8/23 I use my laptop at both school and home. At school, I have
it configured so that it connects via DHCP, and at home I
connect it to my local network, with a FreeBSD server
providing IP masquerading. Is there a way to set up
my laptop so that I can easily switch between being connected
at home or at school? (i.e. is it possible to just have a
command of some sort to switch between either configuration,
as opposed to changing each setting manually every time I
go between home/school?) My laptop has XP. Thanks.
\_ Are you saying that at home you have a static IP? There are lots
of shareware tools that let you switch settings w/ a single click.
\_ Yeah, static at home and DHCP at school. What are
some shareware that do that? Thanks.
\_ It's a windows box? Try http://tucows.com or http://download.com or
whatever and you'll find any number of these network
config switching programs. They've been around for a
very long time.
\_ http://download.com, ip settings... first 5 links.
\_ Any reason not to use DHCP at home also?
\_ You could write a short script. If you wanted to be fancy you
could do something like try your static gateway first and if it
isn't there switch to dhcp or vice versa.
\_ i used to do something like this with my laptop, and i had a bash
script i would run under cygwin. the script would take different
network settings dumps and reload them. this relies on a cmdline
utility that comes with windows, but i forget the name, and my
laptop was stolen so i don't have the script anymore. try google.
\_ Dude, Windows XP already has this feature. Go to where you
set the IP address. In that windows, there will be an
"Alternate Configuration" tab. Enter your static IP address there.
If Windows is unable to obtain dynamic after a certain period of
time, it will use the static IP you configured. |
| 2003/7/17-18 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:29067 Activity:high |
7/16 Opinions on refurbished products such as computers?
\_ I have a refurbished film scanner for four years and it never broke
down, and a refurbished celeron PC that broke down once with a bad
power supply.
\_ I have plenty of refurb experiences. The IBM P70 monitor I got
went out of order in 18 month. The refurb harddrive I got also
died on me after about a year or so (but for some reason, it is
under some sort of warrenty and I got a brand new replacement).
It seems that refurb has a much shorter life span than regular
stuff.
\_ gee, wonder why refurb doesn't last as long as brand new??
\_ IBM Thinkpad X20. Works a charm. Battery was fucked originally,
but once I replaced that it was great. -John
\_ where did you get yours? I am using company's X20 and loving
it.
\_ I looked on zdnet or cnet or something under the 'buying'
or 'shopping' links. There are a lot of companies selling
refurbished laptops--this one was in Oregon or so. -John |
| 2003/7/4-6 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:28927 Activity:very high |
7/4 I recently got a 12 inch notebook and am looking for a good case.
Sadly all the cases I like are made for 15 inch laptops. I want
something small, light, and that has easy access to the computer.
Something like the shaun jackson laptrap would be cool if it was
made for a 12 incher. Anyone have any good suggestions? -aspo
\_ something for a sony laptop?
\_ http://www.timbuk2.com/products/laptopsleeve.html
I have one of these for my thinkpad. It is minimalist.
It fits inside a bike-messenger back, or carry it on its own.
http://www.timbuk2.com/products/laptopsleeve.html
\_ Thank you, anonomous motd editor.
\_ You're welcome. I'm drunk. Happy 4th!
\_ Perhaps one day we'll have laws against drunk computing?
Nah, chaos is fun =)
I don't know if the "small" will work for you.
\_ The following all make bags designed to fit 12" PBs and iBooks:
http://www.jambags.com
http://www.willowdesign.com
http://www.drbott.com
http://www.tombihn.com
http://www.sumdex.com
http://www.sfbags.com
http://http://www.booqbags.com
My sister got a SportFolio for her 12" iBook from an Apple
Store, so if you live near one, that's an option too. -ciyer
\_ some of those willowdesign bags look really nice, but a bit
pricey. Anyone have one know someone with one? -aspo
\_ I have bought one of these for my 12inch iBook. This bag is very
convienient to carry by itself or inside of a backpack or some
other bag. Lots of Mac stores carry them:
http://http://www.drbottkg.com/prod/iceBags.html |
| 2003/6/29-30 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:28858 Activity:high |
6/28 What's a good resource for inexpensive, low-to-medium powered laptops?
(oh and yes I know about eBay and pricewatch)
\_ ask someone at a huge company if they have any surplus their
\_ ask someone at a huge company if they have any surplus they're
getting rid of cheap. I've been really happy with the 100 dollar
thinkpad i got surplus from a huge insurance company.
\_ more detail please? -- someone was looking at lindows
\_ Thinkpad 600. The company was Travelers, via a programmer
who works there. Apparently they were getting rid of lots
of computer stuff, and selling laptops for 100 dollars.
i don't really know the details, and no, i can't hook you
up. sorry. I think this is typical of companies of that
size, and if you ask someone you know who works in computers
at someplace like that perhaps they'll connect you.
\_ How much you willing to pay? |
| 2003/6/23-24 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:28813 Activity:very high |
6/23 I'm thinking of making a big investment in LCD display (20+ inches).
When working from home and using a laptop, I spend a lot of time
moving windows around. It's getting tiresome. Anybody recommend a
particular brand or model? It's a lot of money I know. $2000+
dollars. I figure I'll have the display for at least 5-10 years.
Thanks.
\_ dell 21 inch display. Less than 1000 dollars and 60htz refresh.
\_ i believe dell are really just samsung LCDs, so you can go with
samsung LCDs as well.
\_ yeah but for some reason the dell versions cost a lot less
\_ CostCo has a 19" display with 600:1 constrast ratio for sale for
$600. Buy three of those instead.
\_ I would. But I only have a laptop. I don't think I can add
another graphics card to support a dual-headed machine. Unless
there's some fancy way to do this with one graphics card???
\_ Keep the two spares in case you get a dead pixel. 21" isn't
that much bigger than 19".
\_ 361 vs 441 square inches? That's not much bigger??
\_ Do the math again. It's 173 vs 211 sq. in. Or about 1
inch in the y and 1.5 inches in the x. I switch between
19" and 21" displays all the time, and it's not a big
difference.
\_ I don't think it will last 10 years. Maybe 5. Limited data so far
suggests they will not last as long as a CRT. Dell makes a decent
20" LCD for ~$1200, FWIW. --dim
\_ My Apple 15" LCD has lasted for almost 6 yrs now. It look
just as nice today as the day that I first got it. Can't
say the same for my Sony CRTs (most have died or have
developed color issues).
\_ Hitachi 21" still rock solid after much abuse over 7 yrs.
\_ I've got a few dozen here at work from Sun, HP,
Apple, and Dell. So far they seem to have a higher
failure rate. YMMV. --dim
\_ I wont/cant/dont tolerate a bad screen. If there
was *anything* wrong with the Hitachi I'd have
replaced it the next day. Note that I got it
retail and not as part of a package of throwaway
cheapo crap from an OEM like SunDellAppleHP. |
| 2003/6/10-11 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Display, Computer/HW/Printer] UID:28697 Activity:nil |
6/10 I was thinking of buying a large projection tv (50"+/-). Does
anyone have recommendations or warnings on brands/models? TIA.
\_ Check forums at http://www.hometheaterspot.com . If the setup of your
room is correct, you should consider a LCD/DLP projector.
Check http://www.avsforum.com for projector stuff. |
| 2003/6/7-8 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:28660 Activity:nil |
6/6 Why do I get this message when I starts on my debian laptop?
"warning: process set to nice value 0 instead of -10 as requested"
\_ because XFree86 is trying to set its priority to higher than that
of a standard process, (presumably to make things more reponsive
in X but since you're a non-root user, you're not allowed to boost
the priority of a program to higher than normal -dwc |
| 2003/6/3-4 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/SW/OS/Windows] UID:28619 Activity:kinda low |
6/3 To the person who asked about laptops on wall, go to http://cnet.com and click on Notebooks. I like my Fujitsu S series with 13.3" screen. If you don't mind Dell, the D600/D500 don't look bad. Toshiba and Compaq(HP) are also fine, but I would read user reviews on the particular models you're interested in. \_ why didn't you jsut wall this? or email it to the person since you know who it is. \_ With all the "personalities" in my work, social, and net lives, it's nice to be able to keep a low profile where one can. |
| 2003/5/30 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:28587 Activity:nil |
5/30 Does it take the most or the least amount of power to have a laptop
screen completely black. What about completely white?
\_ doesn't matter |
| 2003/5/23 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Display] UID:28538 Activity:very high |
5/23 I may be offered a very good deal on one of these:
http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/hw/peripherals \
monitors.html#24.1inch -- try: http://csua.org/u/30d
However, it's still a lot of money--I haven't closely looked at any
monitors that size, and I'd like to know whether anyone's seen/used
this one, or what people think of 1900x1200 @60hz with that size.
Also, if anyone's seen it live, what do you think of the brightness
on it? I'm not a videophile, but I do want something reasonably
crisp and clear. -John
\_ Contrast ratio, contrast ratio, contrast ratio. Did I mention
contrast ratio? What's the contrast ratio on this?
\_ A quick search says 500:1. That's damn good.
\_ You can stand 60hz for any length of time?
\_ LCD monitors can run at lower refresh rates without flicker,
due to the nature of the technology. I know a very sensitive
person who uses a Compaq TFT 8000, running 1280x1024 @60Hz.
The only issue is if you are trying to smoothly scroll down
a page of text, the way it re-draws is a bit not-smooth.
But for a stable image, it is quite nice to look at.
Since this SUN monitor has DVI, if you have the right video
card, you should have a purely digital signal, and that
is important, doing a double DA conversion can create
annoying noise in the picture. DVI should be great. -brett
\_ GeForce 4 TI4400--pretty good. I also want to use it
for lots of games. -John
\_ I think a 60Hz LCD would not be good for games,
but I'm not a gamer, so I'm not sure. -brett
\_ Why would you think that and what games would you
think that for?
\_ The whole screen doesn't get redrawn quick
enough. each redraw takes 1/60th of a second,
and LCD pixels take time to change. I think
called "persistance"? For playing games, you
want quick pixel response times and fast
redraws. I think with an LCD, you'd get
ghosting and not-smoothe motion. This would
be for fast-motion games that use a big part
(or all) of your screen. I could be mistaken,
I'm curious if other csua'ers have experience
with games on 60Hz LCD's 'cause I don't. -brett
\_ I play games all the time on my 60Hz LCD on my
laptop. I play Team Fortress, Warcraft III,
and just finished Splinter Cell. It looks
great. Not quite as crisp as my CRT, but not a
problem. -emarkp
\_ I don't know about this particular monitor, but I've gotten
headaches and eye-aches from monitors that have a low frequency
scan. 60 Hz I remember it was. Maybe I'm just overtly sensible.
\_ You are not sensible.
\_ I'm sensitive to low frequencies. My monitors are all 75Hz or
above. But I just bought my sister a 19" Sony flatpanel, and
at 60Hz, I could detect absolutely no flicker.
\_ wow, that's pretty sensitive. absolutely no flicker.
\_ 60Hz LCD's don't flicker. see above.
My old Toshiba 460CDX laptop ran a 31Hz;
It had just a little flicker.
\_ *sigh* LCD != conventional CRT.
\_ This is the motd. Please do not bring facts into this.
\_ D'oh. Sorry! Won't happen again. |
| 2003/5/16-17 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/SW/OS/Linux] UID:28454 Activity:moderate |
5/15 Anybody heard any experience about buying the Lindows laptop to
install Debian Linux on?
\_ second that. in fact... is that VIA chip they are using Intel-
compatible? would you guys share the experience using it? thanks
\_ cohorts have freebsd and redhat running on c3 boxes.
\_ Any other recommendations for a nice c3 laptop for
Linux that has an eraser-top mouse pointer? |
| 2003/4/28-29 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/SW] UID:28250 Activity:moderate |
4/27 what's a good 1394 firewire card for under $100?
\_ STFW
\_ firewire cards are cheap
\_ agree. Even PCMCIA ones are under $100.
\_ Pyro. Comes with good software too.
\_ http://pricewatch.com
\_ except for possibly the number of ports and whether they have
internal ones or not, they're all about the same. Just make
sure you get one with a Texas Instruments chipset. |
| 2003/4/24 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:28210 Activity:nil |
4/32 I have two linux computers: a laptop and a desktop. Should
I have a different SSH2 private key on each, or should I use
the same private key on both?
\_ probably different, in case your laptop ever gets stolen or
sent in for service or something. or vice versa...
\_ I like how this one was posted on april 32nd. Good trick! No one
will ever delete this until april 34th at least! |
| 2003/4/18-19 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Consumer, Computer/SW/OS/Linux] UID:28163 Activity:kinda low |
4/18 Toshiba or Hitachi laptop drive?
\_ Hitachi.. they are/were IBM... the quietest and fastest
laptop drives on the market (if you buy the 5400rpm).
IBM sold their whole storage division to Hitachi.
\_ Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I don't see any 9.5mm drives @
5400 rpm though.
\_ Ah, just checked. 60gb drives are about $80 more if you go
from 4200 rpm to 5400.
\_ Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I don't see any 9.5mm
drives @ 5400 rpm though.
\_ Ah, just checked. 60gb drives are about $80 more if
you go from 4200 rpm to 5400.
\_ I bought a hitachi travelstar 30 gb drive last week for
around $90. It has 2 MB cache and is pretty quiet and
suprisingly fast for a 4200 RPM drive. Similarly spec'ed
toshiba's are a bit more expensive and since I had to keep
it under $100, I chose the hitachi. |
| 2003/4/4 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:27995 Activity:nil |
4/4 Anybody know of a specific laptop that Solaris 5.8 installs
correctly. A friend tried installing it on a Dell and the
install process crashes right away. She was told that it might
be a hardware confilct. Anybody install Solaris on a laptop?
\_ http://www.naturetech.com.tw/sparcprd.htm |
| 2003/3/26 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:27852 Activity:nil |
3/25 Barkeep, a vodka martini for my laptop:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993539 |
| 2003/3/24 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:27821 Activity:nil |
3/23 GPG question. I am trying to do the usual GPG on windoze
(don't have choice, use Win at work). The only thing is
I prefer not store my private key on the laptop which I am using
(it belongs to my company). I am thinking of buying one of those
flash-rom drive (thumb drive) and dump my key rings there. Have
anyone done that before? what kind of problem would you encounter
if you do that?
\_ Losing your thumbdrive would be bad. I have an IBM Microdrive
that I use to store all my personal info. The sensitive files
(e.g., private keys) are all encrypted, in case the laptop gets stolen. |
| 2003/3/11-12 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:27647 Activity:moderate |
3/10 Can someone recommend a good distro to put on a Dell laptop for
a FreeBSD guy? I mainly need good ACPI and hardware support and a
decent organization for the file system. Is Gentoo good for this
sort of thing?
\_ FreeBSD?
\_ 4.x doesn't have ACPI and 5.0 isn't really stable yet.
\_ Debian is what I've got on my laptop.
\_ Debian woody is what I've got on my laptop.
It apparently has ACPI, but I don't use it.
It apparently has ACPI, but my laptop is so old ...
\_ 5.0 wont get stable if people dont use it and send in bug
reports. Open Source, ya know?
\_ I downloaded the install, burnt a CD, but couldn't
get past a boot prompt. There's a faq somewhere for
my laptop that says you can put "eisa 0" at boot, but
that was for 4.7 and I couldn't get 5.0 to work. If
you know how, do tell. I asked on the mailing
list, and in fact someone just mailed me asking if
I had figured it out. I haven't. It's a Dell
Inspiron 2650.
\_ just install redhat you dweeb |
| 2003/3/10-11 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/Networking] UID:27646 Activity:nil |
3/10 Just set up a new wireless network, but my ssh sessions all time out
if i'm idle for over 5 minutes or so. This has happened with three
different laptops on two different networks. Anyway to stop it?
\_ if you're lucky, your router will have a way to adjust the idle
timeout. Unfortunately, the open access point above westside
bongo burger (netgear MRsomething) does not. The rest of the AP's
I've been on have saner timeouts. |
| 2003/3/8-10 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:27629 Activity:high |
3/7 Does anyone know of decent places that repair laptops? Specifically,
mine has a line going through the screen. I don't think the lcd itself
is damaged, just the connections between the screen and laptop proper.
\_ you have sony, dont you?
\_ no, actually, it's a dell.
\_ dude, you're gettin' a bill
\_ heh
\_ I though that now its: D00D, UR gettin' a cell
\_ call dell. or check their web site for manual and open it
up yourself.
\_ this is under the extended warranty service
provided by my credit card, so i can go for something
local, and i'd rather not bother shipping it back.
\_ are you sure they'll cover it? the credit card
companies have a lot of ways to weasel out of those
extended warranties
\_ well, you get a quote first, and then they approve
it. but anyway, yeah, they said they would cover. |
| 2003/3/3-4 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/IO, Computer/HW/Display] UID:27589 Activity:high |
3/2 Can I turn off the built-in LCD display of a powerbook connected to
an external monitor without having an external keyboard? I know
it is a possible with an ext. keyboard and I have googled already.
\_ this requires a reboot -- close the LCD immediately after pressing
the power button, when the startup screen appears on the external
monitor, you can re-open the LCD. --jwang |
| 2003/2/25-26 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:27526 Activity:low |
2/25 My laptop died. So I took out its 2.5" hard drive and tried to hook it
to the 40 pin cable in my computer and discovered that the hard drive
< (Toshiba) has 44 pins and is not compatible. Aren't these things
supposed to be standardized and compatible with each other? What
should I do?
\_ Get a 2.5" to 3.5" converter. The extra pins are for power (I
believe). First google search resulted in this :
http://www.cable4pc.com/hard301.htm
\_ I ordered two of these from here and they work fine:
http://66.216.68.88
\_ You pick one up at Fry's for under $10. They are kind of flimsy
Watch where pin 1 is, sometimes it's not facing power (meaning
you'll have ot turn it upside) |
| 2003/2/23 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:27502 Activity:nil |
2/23 We are having a severe laptop theft problem where I work. I have the
authority to spend money and put whatever security I want on rooms and
laptops, but the idiots responsible for changing the locks cannot
be trusted not to give the key out to every janitor and his
crackhead cousin(again). can anyone recomend some product
that is easy to use that will let us record the faces of people
who go in and out of the room? ideally, we would want something
that records for 20 minutes anytime a door is opened. also, can
anyone reccomend other security devices, like those exploding ink
things that stores use? thanks. oh, yeah, we know that the thief has
a key, and they've cut those stupid laptop security cables before.
\_ I remember ages ago Motorola promised something embedding in a
laptop that can dial up satelite phone and report its coordinate.
Never heard about it after the intial publicity.
\_ a simple security camera that records video (a lot more than 20
minute loops!) should be adequate. you might even prevent thefts
with those fake cameras, but i wouldn't stake my job on it. |
| 2003/2/21-22 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:27484 Activity:kinda low |
2/21 Which laptop sleeve do you recommend? This is for a small and
relatively light one (12", 4.6 lb). I saw review for Eagle Creek's
Computer Safe but haven't made up my mind.
\_ My Arkel Briefcase bike bag came with a nice sleeve. The Wetsuit
always seemed pretty cool too.
\_ I've owned two Wetsuits, and was very happy with both. The pull
tabs on the zippers eventually fall off (after ~1.5 years of use),
but the zippers themselves are sound. Both wetsuits I own are very
well constructed. Are these still available? I recall Kensington
bought Silicon Sports (the original manufacturer of the Wetsuit),
and then stopped making them. I bought my second Wetsuit on ebay
because I couldn't find them for sale in stores anymore. These
days I carry my laptop in an incase Moya-Delux pack:
http://stores.yahoo.com/goincase/moyadeluxe.html
A little bit overpriced for what it is, but a nice bag. -dans
\_ what laptop do you have that requires a wetsuit/sleeve?
\_ I had a dream that my laptop was waterproof and I was using it
in the pool... man that would be cool.
\_ get a life.
\_ the military prob has that already. although, they might
not be lounging in pools. |
| 2003/2/20-21 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Memory, Computer/HW/CPU] UID:27470 Activity:high |
l2/20 http://info.lindows.com/mobilepc/mobilepc.htm Do any of you have one of these? \_ They're not being sold yet you idiot. \_ http://csua.org/u/99b \_ They should really put the Fujitsu S series in the comparison. \_ looks kinda cool, I'd be worried about the display though, and does anyone know how the processor is? |
| 2003/2/4 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:27300 Activity:high |
2/3 I'm not a technical guy, please help out. I pirated the chinese word
processing software and installed it on company laptop. They're giving
me a new laptop different model than what I have but same OS, windows
2000. Since I don't have the disks, I'm thinking of doing a full
backup and full restore on the new laptop. Obviously a lot of things
will stop working since it has different HW. But are those things
easy to fix? Anybody tried this? I use this program every day and
can't afford to lose it. Thanks.
\_ pay for it, you dweeb
\_ Yeah, if you use it every day, buy it. Or find a cheaper package.
Restoring (via ghost, for instance) one machine from another is
asking for trouble, especially on laptops. Things like video
drivers, etc. break horribly (a coworker tried this on a desktop
and the desktop wouldn't boot afterward).
\_ You're screwed. Just re-pirate it. *I* could probably get your
stolen ware to work on the other machine but I'd charge you
$(full retail price of ware + 5) to do it. |
| 2003/1/30-31 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/SW/OS/FreeBSD] UID:27247 Activity:moderate |
1/30 I would appreciate tips on subnotebooks. I need something very
portable to run XP on (yes I need it for work) that I can carry around
in addition to my Thinkpad X20 (FreeBSD). I absolutely want something
the size of a Vaio Picturebook, but would gladly avoid buying Sony
(terrible experiences with customer service.) Any ideas are
appreciated. -John
\_ Fujitsu P-series Lifebook?
http://webshop.fujitsupc.com/fpc/Ecommerce/buildseriesbean.do?series=P2
\_ Not sure if its small enough for you but look at the toshiba portege
series. Roughly 2.5 lbs without the addon junk.
\_ You might want to take a look at the handhelds, if it just for
running Excel, Word, etc. You have the IBM for real work.
\_ You can't make the IBM dual boot? Can the picturebook run freebsd?
\_ Not sure if vmware supports freebsd, but it might be an
option for carrying just one notebook.
\_ Thanks for all the tips--I will look at the Fujitsu, since it's
the right size. I've worked with Porteges, and found them to be
poorly made. I could dual-boot the Thinkpad, but I am usually
using it. VMWare is pig-slow, and handheld screens are too tiny.
(Have tried most of these) :) -John
\_ The Fujitsus are pretty neat, have yet to see about reliability
though.
\_ http://cnet.com User Comments on various laptops are useful |
| 2003/1/28 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:27220 Activity:moderate |
1/27 I installed my own programs on the company's laptop (some chinese
word processing stuff). Problem is, they want to upgrade my laptop
and I don't have the disk for the program anymore. What should I
do? Is there a program that will figure out which DLLs and files
are used by another program and generate a list? I'd like to
back it up and restore it if that's even possible.
\_ if it's windows os change should still be ok
\_ I think they always re-image the hard disk. Standard corporate
image with all the preloaded stuff. Damn.
\_ you pirated software and this is the penalty, sorry.
\_ get a bigger hard disk.
\_ Well you must still have some form of proof of purchase such as the
box, CC receipt or something. Pay the company the 5 bucks they'll
want for S/H a replacement set of disks. (snicker)
\_ Does http://OpenOffice.org support Chinese? (I know it does vietnamese very
well.)
\_ I wouldn't waste your time, with today's programs it's very
difficult to just move the program over. Almost any program in
the last 5 years will make a modification to the "registry".
Like you said, there are dll's which could be in the system32
or system file, and there could be other drivers in various
Windows directories. Some programs also modify your systems
.dat files in order to work. Like I said, you'd be better off
re-installing the programs, and in the future always have a
backup copy of the software.
\_ Registry is the stupidiest thing ever created.
\_ If he had used one of the snapshot programs that watches an
install and tracks all these changes it could be easily done but
since OP didn't, he's fucked and should re-pirate the ware. |
| 2003/1/11-12 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:27066 Activity:low |
1/10 hey laptop boy, you can now get 256MB for $55. you were smart.
\_ it doesn't work with cable modem.
\_ please clue me in to the meaning contained herein. |
| 2003/1/9 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:27052 Activity:nil |
*/* No fucking way is some laptop noise going to be the only thing on
the motd. Tough shit. |
| 2003/1/9-10 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:27043 Activity:nil |
1/9 Good prices for older generation laptops (Thinkpad R31 ($725) and
Compaq N600C ($999)). Both solidly built, especially the Compaq:
http://www.hwextreme.com/deals.shtml |
| 2003/1/8-9 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:27037 Activity:high |
1/8 Slickdeals has a dell laptop available for $850-- 128Mb, P4
1.7Ghz, 14.1 lcd. But I can't find any specs on weight, battery
life, or compatibility w/ non-MS OSes. I figure that for the
price it's going to be pretty heavy, but this would be my first
laptop and I'm rather poor. What is Dell's laptop reputation?
\_ They make nice laptops and I've been able to get Linux to run
on all of them that I've tried. --dim
\_ what dell laptop model? Dell laptops are good. Of course,
the cheaper models like Inspiron 2600 (??) are big and heavy
compared to the more expensive ones.
\_ Inspiron 2650. Here's the link if anyone's interested
($500 laptop for sister guy?). It also includes a free palm
m125: http://slickdeals.net/#p2904 . Another question:
can I use desktop RAM DIMMs in a laptop, or do they require
specialized versions? I'm trying to decide b/w 128M and
256M ($50 more). |
| 2003/1/4 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:26981 Activity:nil |
1/03 Aren't any more companies going out of business? I need a desktop and
laptop and a LCD projector and i am a cheap bastard -crebbs
\_ Hell, I'd settle for a decent desk chair. -mice
\_ http://dovebid.com. no need to ask here. |
| 2002/12/30-31 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:26939 Activity:very high |
12/30 Ok, after much web surfing and ebay searching I'm convinced that I
can't find a decent new laptop for my sister under $500. I'm now
looking at refurbished dells. Anybody bought one of those? Or
general problems with dell laptops? Thanks.
\_ Ask danh for a laptop(tm).
\_ you still haven't answered my question about her fellatio skills
\_ Dell laptops are pieces of junk. Get a Thinkpad.
\_ Yea, and now they have the affordable Thinkpad R series.
\_ can you elaborate on a specific problem you had with dells?
\_ they all break. they have poor heat dissapation.
\_ and they're more like lead bricks than lap tops. I don't
know about your sister but I'm not happy with a zillion
pounds of dell on my lap burning a hole through my flesh.
\_ dude, stop. You're turning me on!
\_ Thinkpads have shitty multimedia ability and are overpriced.
\_ as if she's playing doom3 on it? its a laptop. all laptops
have shitty mm compared to desktops. laptop buyers simply
understand and accept the tradeoff.
\_ well, that's not true. i have used laptops for watching
dvds, playing music, recording music, and playing games.
i generally don't use the batteries but I like the other
aspects of portability. for mm, dell > ibm.
\_ The R series pricing is very reasonable. The dell
lattitudes seem ok to me, but I am not so sure about the
inspirons. And don't buy toshibas. They are horrible
and feel like cheap toys.
\_ my toshiba portege 2000 is sweet.
\_ I guess I shouldn't have made sweeping
generalizations. Just that all the toshibas
(satellites) in my lab are crappy and aging badly.
Also, most compaqs are shitty but the N600C seems
very nice.
\_ Toshiba shares with IBM a price/quality curve that
looks like a step function. The low-end Toshiba
Satellite line is typically junk. The high-end
(arguably overpriced) Portege line tend to be
quite nice. Same seems true of IBMs. When you
start paying out the ass, quality jumps.
\_ I find the low end Thinkpad R series to be of
good quality, unlike low end Toshiba junk.
And I love the Thinkpad T series. If I
have a chunk of dough, I will get it.
\_ I've heard terrible things about Inspirons so I bought
a refurbished Lattitude and it's been ok. The two
problems are that the screen hits the keyboard (so
there's a scratch) and the arrow keys are a bit loose
from lots of use (so they're a bit clicky when you press
them hard). Neither of these bother me, but
others might be.
\_ I have bought two used thinkpads on EBay and both have
served me well.
\_ ditto for me (except I bought 3).
\_ I buy a lot of laptops. Sony has been the worst. IBM is okay, but
overpriced and the "eraser" starts to get erratic. I once bought
2 dozen Thinkpads and within 3 years every one of them had problems.
I have been buying the Dell Latitudes lately without problems. --dim
\_ What kind of problems?
\_ dim, did you buy brand new thinkpads or refurbished ones? This
thread is about refurbished dells/ibms. I'm assuming you mean
refurbished for both?
\_ These were new. If the new ones suck, so will the refurbs.
The IBMs had every sort of problem you can imagine. None
of them are in use now. I thought they were cool when they
were new, but I'm not buying any more. --dim
\_ Wanna sell one of the less broke of them? how much??
\_ okay, flame-on, but I love my Acer TravelMate. The only problems
I have had concern the crappy OS that it came with (Win98). It is
light, usable (keyboard is actually easy to type on), includes
external drives, and is much cheaper than sony and ibm. |
| 2002/12/27-28 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:26921 Activity:very high |
12/26 My sister is looking to buy a laptop under $500. Has to be new
but obviously not top of the line. Anybody know of a good reputable
place that sells NEW but older model laptops? She just need the basic
stuff like built in CD, floppy, modem, ethernet, etc. Recommendation
on brand and model would also help. Thanks.
\_ i think this is impossible.
\_ not bloody likely, but it's possible she could get lucky on an
auction site like ebay or ubid. also check http://techbargains.com
for sales. but ultimately, it's snowball meets hell.
\_ I want world peace.
\_ "Has to be new" and "under $500" is a problem.
Get a USED IBM Thinkpad.
\_ For 500, you can get thinkpads with a year of warranty left.
\_ How about refurbs? You might be able to get a refurb from
Dell, IBM or Apple for ~ $500.
\_ Or a used pismo.
\_ iBooks are quite durable. I just sold one for $400 on craigslist.
\_ The pismo's (PowerBook G3 (2000)) are also quite
reliable.
\_ is your sister hott?
\_ yeah does she give good head? i have extra laptops.
\_ Get a new PDA with a keyboard.
\_ I really think this is a bad idea... even if by some miracle you
were able to find a "new" laptop for this price, all the
technology would be so old, it'd be obsolete in 5 minutes. What's
wrong with buying a refurb'ed one (often come with same or similar
waranties) that has newer features?
\_ How does a Pentium II system get obsolete? Mine has a dvd
player, pcmcia slots for wireless. Unless I want to game,
it does everything.
\_ Just wondering, has anyone here ever bought a refurbished piece
of hardware and not had problems with it? -!OP
anything that is neither here nor there.
\_ Yes. I've bought a refurb macs, suns and sgi's (for home
and work). The only problems I've had was with stuff like
memory and sbus cards that didn't survive UPS/USPS's brand
of tender-loving care. The systems all worked. --ranga
\_ we've set up entire companies with refurb sun's from
recurrent.
\_ Either get something really cheap and disposable like under $175,
or get something decent for like $800 or above. Don't get
anything that is neither here nor there. More precisely,
get something cheap and disposable, or get something that can
run w2k, that is, if you are going the windows route.
\_ I have had a lot of luck with used laptops from EBay.
\_ ObIsSheHot?
\_ ObYou'reAnIdiotSomeoneAskedThisAlready |
| 2002/12/17-18 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:26844 Activity:very high |
12/16 Anyone familiar with the ibuddie laptops by ecs - http://www.ecsusa.com They are cheap and look good (very configurable/upgradeable for a laptop) But sometimes you get what you pay for. Any experienced opinions? \_ You know that it doesn't come with a battery right? \_ neither does an iMac. \_ They weigh a ton. |
| 2002/12/16-17 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:26826 Activity:moderate |
12/15 If before a Motd entry is seen by anyone, it is deleted by someone
using a laptop in the forest, did it really ever exist?
\_ There is a perfect image of every motd entry in the mind of God.
\_ Even those that are aborted! Save the unborn motd entries!
\_ That depends on whether or not there was a tree falling. |
| 2002/12/11-12 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:26791 Activity:high |
12/10 Can anyone recommend any good tests for wireless equipment in a
campus network environment, with a large-ish number of clients?
Everything I come across only does performance benchmarking with
single clients. I'm hoping for some tips on how to go about properly
setting up such an environment. -John
\_ What kind of tests? What are you looking for?
\_ I have an environment with large amounts of very very bursty
traffic (it's a school, with classrooms full of kids all
logging on at the same time.) I'd like to avoid dropping APs
all over the place, although if I have to, I'll consider
citrix. These are Win2k laptops doing domain logins. -John
\_ Write a script that simulates bursty traffic. Put them
on some laptops on a cart and push them around the school.
Add APs where performance is bad.
\_ Wow.. didn't realise the job market in Europe was that bad.
\_ Excuse me? They've got _me_ in as a consultant, trying
to figure out Win2k problems...I haven't seen any
dotcom-dropout breadlines here recently... -John
\_ Agilent. I know a guy who works in their wireless test division if
that helps. |
| 2002/12/9 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:26756 Activity:high |
12/8 I'm building a Quiet PC. Anybody have opinions about the
Seagate Barracuda IV? It's supposedly the quietest drive
on the market. I'm also considering putting a 5400 RPM
Western Digital drive in a SilentDrive enclosure. But
the performance won't be as fast.
\_ Performance is loud. If you want performance you don't get
quiet. Let's be honest here, you don't need performance.
\_ i have a silent pc with a barracuda iv. works fine by me.
it is a little eerie when the computer makes no noise.
\_ Wimp. If it doesn't scream like a banshee it isn't a computer.
If you want quiet get a Palm Pilot.
\_ Hmm, ever used a laptop before?
\_ My laptop sometimes seems louder than my desktop. I *asked*
for a cool and efficient celeron, I *got* a monster that
sucks power and makes noise.
\_ Next time, tell Santa the exact model numbers to get. |
| 2002/11/23 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:26608 Activity:nil |
11/22 "Hot laptop burns scientist's penis"
http://www.csua.org/u/5eb
What kind of dumb scientist is that?
\_ Better question would be what brand of laptop was he
using?
\_ The other friday fun url is:
link:www.csua.org/u/5ec
\_ "named the nation's No. 1 party school". I thought the No. 1
party school is Santa Barbara.
\_ maybe he's been using those new "climax control" numbing condoms
\_ Hmm, makes a lot of sense. Otherwise why didn't he feel anything
before it's too late? |
| 2002/11/11-12 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:26508 Activity:nil |
11/10 Does anyone know anything about IBM thinkpad "bios encryption"? I am
led to understand it does something like munge the boot sectors or
partition table and put them somewhere else on the hard drive, but
can't find any specifics on it. -John
\_ running windows? MS KB #89549104-1376 says to reinstall. |
| 2002/11/8-9 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Memory] UID:26475 Activity:kinda low |
11/7 hola, will going from 512mb -> 1gb of memory in my laptop
significantly affect battery life? 5% less? -10%? --psb
\_ Don't forget that DRAM refresh cycles also consume energy.
\_ it will most likely increase battery life if it reduces swapping.
if it doesn't, what's the point of upgrading?
\_ what if 512 MB is insufficient only 5% of the time?
\_ Depends on what you call significant. If you're on the wire most
of the time, no. If you want to do serious traveling then 512mb
is already too much.
\- re: memory energy consumption [and attendant cooling demands]
is why i asked. in re: swap/no swap ... gee maybe i need
the memory to avoid heavy swapping when plugged in and
doing a lot of photoediting ... and i dont want to take
the extra memory out before going "unplugged". and the
"depends what you call sig" person isnt saying anything
at all. does anyone actually have a sense if memory is
like 5% of total system power demand or more ... vs.
lcd, and cpu. --psb
\_ Dude, look up the power consumption needs of your chips and
do the math. No one is giving you solid numbers because they
will vary dramatically by system. I have a sense you don't
even know what you're trying to ask.
\_ I have a 600MHz iBook with 640MB of RAM. It runs for 4 hours
on battery easily. Decreasing LCD brightness tends to increse the
run time by 25% or so. Does anyone have a similar model with smaller
amount of memory? How much run time do you get on battery power?
\- usually a little under 3hrs. i usually run the screen pretty
bright. 800mhz titanium with 512mb. i am guessing the memory
wont be a big deal then. --psb
\_ Let us know after you shell out a few bucks since you're
unwilling to use google and a 4 function calculator. |
| 2002/10/17 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:26219 Activity:low |
10/16 Just installed a fresh Debian 3.0 onto my Thinkpad 240X.
I'm having problem with suspending using apmd, basically
when I suspend apmd immediatley resumes again.
See ~jhs/apmlog for syslog info. Any ideas? Have googled,
nothing obvious shows up. Thanks! -- jhs
\_ I have problems suspending my Toshiba 460CDX laptop with X
"bios damage" occurs. X is to big to fit into the BIOS memory
somebody told me. I'm curious what you find out what you learn.
\_ I run apmd under FreeBSD 4.6.2 on my Stinkpad X20 just fine;
I barely ever shut it down, instead just closing it mostly. I
think mine's version 1.3.2.1. -John |
| 2002/10/17 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:26216 Activity:high |
10/16 Anyone ever tried one of the thinkpad laptops with higher lcd
resolution? (e.g. T30 with 1500x1400) Is it useful/better, or does
it only cause headaches w.r.t. non-standardness? Thanks - mds
\_ why would it cause headaches? A pixel's a pixel. -tom
\_ Hmm, maybe "hassles" is a better word than "headaches"
Basically, I'm just wondering if it's worth the extra
$$ - mds
\_ Should be fine, really. You'll have to set up your
windows a little differently than usual, but the more
space the better, I always think. -tom
\_ The original poster may be concerned of the
readability of text with increased dots/inch.
if you set the font size larger, the fonts
will be more readable, but end up taking up
more screen estate. End result is a zero-sum
game.
\_ except that it isn't: the resolution
is higher: clearer text.
\_ yes, it's worth the money. using
1400x1050 and love it.
\_ BTW, Acrobat 5 has the new feature called "CoolType" specifically
for LCD screens. |
| 2002/10/5 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/IO, Computer/HW/Display] UID:26107 Activity:nil 60%like:26104 |
10/4 Quality protest in action:
http://csua.org/u/38a |
| 2002/9/24-25 [Computer/Companies/Ebay, Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:25990 Activity:insanely high |
9/24 Does anyone here have any experience with purchasing used laptops
on the Internet? If so, care to suggest a reliable site for it? Tnx.
\_ I do. eBay
\_ I did fine with ebay - found a vendor in New England that does
high volume (hundreds of postive feedbacks) and sells thinkpads
with service contracts good for another 9-12 months. -jor
\_ Reliable?
\_ Strictly speaking, it claimed to be a cancelled order (I didn't
care--it had the right specs for the right price). It works
great. The seller's rating was over 200, with nary a negative
comment, and he'd been selling for 2-3 years.
\_ I wish I had a link to the guy who had a 6300 rating, was
selling since 1997 and then skipped town with $300k stolen
from ebay. It was in the SF Comical last week.
\_ Part of the research is checking what other auctions
someone is running. If they suddenly have a lot of big
ticket items for sale and didn't before, you should be
concerned. If that's the case I'm thinking of, it's old
news, and the ripped-off people formed a community to go
after him. I haven't seen the full outcome for that guy,
but I know they ID'ed him and turned at least some of
their info in to the FBI.
\_ Ok, you're really smart, you'll never get ripped off
at ebay, you're right, I'm wrong. Good luck.
\_ I work at an eBay-related company, and we just had a
person scam $5K worth of auctions this way (in $200-$500
increments). The funny part? He lived in the I-House,
and is now at home in Turkey. The FBI is investigating.
He was likely an international student just finishing up
his time in Berkeley--going out with a bang.
\_ Mac or PC?
\_ Duh. No one uses Macs. No one with any sense anyway.
\_ S00ry, I f0rg07 that B5D i5n'7 1337.
\_ BSD good. Mac bad. Why pay extra for Apple hardware?
There's *nothing* special or unique about it. Go run BSD
on x86 hardware at 1/3rd the price.
\_ I bought a used Vaio on eBay (in the box, w/ all orig packaging,
etc) and it worked out fine. The guy was even in China or something.
A friend however bought a PowerBook from some guy in Vietnam and
never got the box after he mailed the money.
The lesson here: buy PC's not MAcs of course... er, buy from China
not Vietnam? I dunno... interpret the results as you will.
\_ Ebay: roll the dice and get lucky sometimes.
\_ Do your research and don't get burned.
\_ You can *always* get burned on ebay. Plenty of people got
taken in ebay ripoffs by people with great ratings. You're
not super smart, just lucky not to get burned... yet.
\_ bought mine on ebay. it was traumatic, but I eventually got it.
only buy from someone with spotless feedback. better yet, only use
escrow or COD.
\_ What are some good escrow companies?
\_ I thought escrow companies are only for buying/selling real
estates.
\_ Check out escrow.ca or http://escrow.com. |
| 2002/8/27 [Computer/SW/OS/Windows, Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:25702 Activity:nil |
8/26 Where is a good place to buy a Slackware 8.1 CD locally? I have a
"new" Toshiba 445CDX Laptop and the 2.2.16 kernel in Slackware 7.1
does not seems to support my PCMCIA controller. Otherwise, any
suggestions for downloading the install files from Windows and then
switching to Linux to upgrade the OS? What's up with
<DEAD>callug.cs.berkeley.edu<DEAD> ? |
| 2002/8/26-27 [Science/Battery, Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:25695 Activity:nil |
8/26 I want to work outdoors for longer than my battery life. any
recomendations for solar laptop power supplies? I saw quite
a few on the web, but i'd rather not buy some expensive thing
if i'm not *sure* it will work. has anyone here done this?
\_ what about an extra battery? What about powering your
laptop with alternate sources like a car battery or something
like that?
\_ or a foot pedal?
\- is there relly something like that?
that would be pretty cool for long remote trips.
i know there is a flashlight you can charge with
human power. ok tnx.
\_ saw something like this at Fry's in Sunnyvale. Fry's is great
for try-and-buy, as long as there's no restocking fee. |
| 2002/8/25 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:25683 Activity:nil |
8/26 I just installed Slackware linux on a toshiba laptop. How do I make
"alt" key act like the "meta key"? |
| 2002/8/23-24 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:25668 Activity:nil 50%like:24291 |
8/23 In Win2k, what's the difference between "Hibernate" and "Stand by"?
Thx.
\_ As far as I know, the difference is that "Stand by" is a low-energy
mode where your PC utilizes just enough power to maintain RAM.
"Hibernate" actually dumps the entire contents of RAM to disk and
powers off completely (requries some amount of free disk,
obviously) The latter could obviously last indefinately, while
the former will probably last for a week or so-- depending on
your battery life. - rory
\_ In WinXP is there supposed to be a "Stand by"? On my desktop PC
I only see "Hibernate" but no "Stand by".
\_ Perhaps stand by is only for laptops. My laptop has it.
\_ Yes. You'll generally only find the wide variety of APC
settings on laptops. Maybe someone somewhere makes a
desktop that has the whole array but generally the market
doesn't care so they don't bother. Most people either just
power off entirely or leave it 100% on 24x7 and are happy. |
| 2002/8/15 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Display] UID:25566 Activity:high |
8/14 How's the backlight of the LCD lit up? Is it just a florescent light?
\_As your words echo through the ether, it is picked up by
a race of aliens in a distant galaxy. Suddenly, "How's the backlight
of the LCD lit up?" causes major schisms amongst the leading
linguists of their society, inevitably leading to constant socio-
political upheaval over millenia. This culminates into a global
thermonuclear war which annihilates the whole planet. Congratulations,
you have just destroyed a whole planetary civilization. Please be
more careful with your words in the future. |
| 2002/8/7 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/SW/OS/Windows] UID:25515 Activity:nil |
8/6 w2k sp3 available. Lots of USB, pcmcia fixes.
\_ Is she hot? |
| 2002/8/5-6 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Display] UID:25498 Activity:moderate |
8/5 My friend says not to use blank screen as a screen saver on my LCD
display because it actually stresses the LCD more (he says that it's
naturally white). Is this really true?
\_ http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=88343
\_ if it were "naturally white" then wouldn't it be white when it's
turned off? skip the screen saver and just have the LCD go into
standby mode.
\_ It is white because the LCD doesn't block any of the
backlight. When turned off, the backlight is off, too.
Turning it off or using DPMS is good, too. |
| 2002/8/3 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:25486 Activity:moderate 50%like:25485 |
8/2 Saw on craigslist sex for laptop:
http://www.craigslist.org/sfo/sys/5000503.html
\_ "Removed by craigslist community." |
| 2002/7/10-11 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Display] UID:25325 Activity:insanely high |
7/10 Buying an LCD monitor but wants to know more about them. Where's a
site to learn about TFT, active matrix, lumen, contrast, etc? Thanks
\_ http://tomshardware.com just came out with comparison reviews of 17" LCDs.
Search their archives for reviews of 15" LCDs.
\_ Is it no longer permissible to refer to one's self with the pronoun
and be verb combination "I am" at the beginning of a sentence? Also,
I wonder if the rules for singular and plural references have
changed as well. obE190.
\_ They are redundant, and hence not permissible. !poster
\_ They're for clarity. Who says OP was buying for themself?
\_ Which rule for singular or plural does "themself" come
from?
\_ None. There is no such word.
\_ So how did you know it's for "one's self"?
\_ what's "ob", as in obE190?
\_ obligatorily stupid
\_ obstetrics
\_ dict ob
\_ clearly this must be a reference to the russian river...
\_ http://arstechnica.com/guide/flatpanel/flatpanels-1.html |
| 2002/6/24-25 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:25183 Activity:kinda low |
6/24 Are CardBus PCMCIA cards compatible with older, non-CardBus PCMCIA
slots (albeit at a slower speed)? Thanks.
\_ Mostly yes. -daveh
\_ you sure? I heard that CardBus cards are physically incompatible
with non-CardBus slots. |
| 2002/6/17-18 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/IO, Computer/HW/Display] UID:25119 Activity:high |
6/16 Where can I get a monitor mirror (so I can tell when my boss is
standing behind me watching me work on my computer)? I know it is
available on http://thinkgeek.com, but I want one now. Compusa didn't have it.
\_ how about a car shop?
\_ I just make use of the reflection on the monitor surface. Works
quite well since I use a black background.
\_ try those bubble mirrors for wide angle viewing at car shops, like
the pep boys. also, check out baby stores (like babies r us or
the right start) for those rear-view mirrors (so parents can see
their babies in the back from the front seats).
\_ Fry's has some
\_ why don't you just tell your boss to get off your back?
\_ It doesn't work that way. -twice fired |
| 2002/5/22-23 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:24915 Activity:very high |
05/22 Any recommendations for a utility to totally erase a PC laptop
disk's contents. I'm selling my laptop and want my files etc.
totally wiped.
\_ Destroy the disk and grind it up. Only way. For those who
don't have top secret stuff, merely reformatting and filling
with emac dists will do just fine.
\_ There may be something better but one of the tools included with
PGP for windows is a wiper. It writes seven layers of random
bits over every selected file, as I recall. -- ulysses
\_ Would this naive approach be secure enough: re-partition the whole
disk to several FAT partitions then fill up each partition with a
single file containing 0xFF until the partition is full?
\_ if you're really worried, supposedly you can scan for variations
in gauss levels of each bit and tell if it was recently changed.
There are some government protocols for disposing of harddrives.
If you're this worried, though, i've got a bomb shelter i'd like
to sell you.
\_ I remember reading somewhere that data can be read off hard
drive that's been wiped(written random bits on) up to six
times, which is probably why the "wiper" program mentioned
above wipes it seven times.
\_ a layer of 0xff, a layer of 0x00, a layer of 0xff, ...
until you feel comfortable about the gauss levels mentioned
above.
\_ The above 'naive' approach is more than enough for a simple sale to
a private individual. In theory the data can still be recovered by
a professional data recovery firm that will charm thousands of
dollars with no promises of recovery. I'm sure the FBI,etc can
recover it though as they have essentially infinite resources but
I don't think this is a serious concern.
\_ what's wrong with just repartitioning the drive?
\_ Data is still there. Only partition and file tables are wiped.
\_ If you're so worried, why don't just keep your existing disk
and replace it with a cheap ass disk you can get at Fry's.
\_ for starters the 2" disk in a laptop is very expensive. !op
\_ and the time wasted in discussing all this is probably even
more than that.
\_ A 2" disk could run $150+ for even a smaller drive. I
think the motd time spent on this is about zero. Actually
I was at work for most of this thread so I got paid for it. |
| 2002/4/24-25 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:24566 Activity:high |
4/24 Looks like we won't have to wait till the 24th century to get a PADD:
http://www.powerpage.org/story.lasso?newsID=9270
\_ How is this different from two separate LCDs?
\_ There's a hinge and they're connected!
\_ I mean how is this such a great innovation over including two
\_ I mean how is this such a great invention over including two
separate LCDs on the same laptop? |
| 2002/4/8-9 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Consumer/PDA] UID:24368 Activity:low |
4/8 Does anyone know of a reputable Sony laptop repair shop in the Bay
Area? I need a relatively simple repair (minor plastic replacement),
but don't want to bother finding the service manual and sourcing the
parts.
\_ whenever my laptop needs a fix, i track down yer mom...
\_ try Sony Service Center in SJ.
\_ I believe this service center is closed. Last I heard, Sony
laid off the service center personnel. I think they have a place
in Fremont, though.
\_ Sony laptops must be sent back to factory, otherwise warranty void
\_ If he's asking this question, the laptop is likely not under
warranty support any more.
\_ Sorry, I meant the only service you can get is by
sending direct to Sony. That is: Either good luck
finding a repair shop or youre ordering of parts.
It costs like $300 just to have them lower themselves
to working on your laptop. |
| 2002/3/27 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:24240 Activity:low |
3/26 How would I go about setting up sound in Slackware on my laptop?
Do I need to pry it open to see what kind of card it is?
\_ http://www.linux-laptop.net or dig the specs from manufacturer's web site. |
| 2002/3/6-7 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Display] UID:24037 Activity:very high |
3/6 Anyone have good experience with any rackmount LCD vendors?
Paying $1200 for the average 15" 1024x768 rackmount LCD is
a bit stupid. -=Aubie
\_ For a server room? Get a dinky 9-12" vga monitor.
\_ We have some 15"'s CRTs for like $25. Though I know it's
all about image... --scotsman
\_ too big, not enuff rez.
\_ 640x480 vga. How much do you need for a shell?
\_ We have some 15"'s CRTs for like $25. --scotsman
\_ everyone's got those. I gotta specific space issue.
\_ 15 inch 1024x768 rack mount lcd. not crt. not 640x480. not 9"
\_ a bit fussy.
\_ Not fussy, specific need.
\_ http://www.computeranimal.com/monitors/442623.html --jon
\_ dell has a really good one, and it used to be cheap, dunno about
now.
http://www.dell.com/us/en/biz/topics/products_rck_pedge_004_rack.htm
\_ Dude, just disconnect the back and hang it up. Most LCD panels
(even the $500, and maybe the $300, ones allow this)
Who the fuck pays $1200 for any 15" device?
\_ Wanna know what yermom paid for a 15" device? |
| 2002/1/24-25 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:23658 Activity:moderate |
1/24 I have a few notebooks that are collecting dust. Is there a way to
expand my desktop by utilising the LCD?
\_ expand your mind by utilising LSD, instead -- it has more
universal effects on your operating system as well as
solving all issues with the desktop display
\_ There are hacks to do this with VNC, but then you're essentially
sending all of your video over net.
\_ I've found notebook drives and components to generally deal with
heat a lot better--if you can ventilate them well, they make ace
firewalls/routers running *BSD/Linux, or low-footprint servers
(you don't need any no-monitor hacks as with other headless PCs
running *nix.) Make sniffers or similar network diagnostic tools
out of them, or if they're very old, use as portable serial
consoles. Another possibility is as portable xterminals, or as
"disposable" email/browsing stations (one in the car, one at
work, etc.) Maybe put NFS/Samba/FTPD and use as a portable
fileserver/client. Laptops are not something you should let go
to waste :-) -John |
| 2002/1/2-3 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:23432 Activity:high |
1/2 Anyone have any experience with USB 2.0 on Windows 2000? I'm
thinking of getting an external HD for my laptop and trying to
decide between USB 2.0 and Firewire. Thanks. - rory
\_ USB 2.0 comes included on some newer motherboards. Firewire does
not. Does your laptop already have FW support? USB2.0 support?
Do you plan to use this harddrive on any other machine?
\_ I have a Sony VAIO with one FW port and 2 USB ports. I
was under the understanding that USB 2.0 would use the same
plug. I thought the only hang-up might be software (driver)
support. I was hoping to use the HD on other machines, but this
isn't super important because I'm looking to buy a USB/FW case,
so will be using a standard IDE drive that I can always use
somewhere else. - rory
\_ It sounds like it doesn't matter. It was my understanding
that usb2.0 was hardware change but maybe a new bios flash
is good enough? I haven't researched it. It sounds like
you don't have a special need for either and should just
get the cheaper one. You should double check the usb2.0
thing.
\_ USB 2.0 requires a different chipset. I doubt you will be
able to upgrade your existing ports. I'd recommend you go the
firewire route, although I personally think firewire is the
better technology and that USB 2.0 is just a hack. You also
can look for enclosures that support both firewire and USB 2.0,
although that obviously will cost more. |
| 2001/12/23-24 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:23355 Activity:high |
12/22 Has anyone using a FreeBSD box as a ppp client had trouble
with it crashing upon dial request? Any suggestions? -John
\_ which release?
\_ Wups, sorry. 4.1-R, pppd is version 2.3pl5. I'm running
it on a Thinkpad x20 and trying to get it to use the built-in
modem either for kernel or user ppp; either way, the moment
it tries to start using cuaa0 the system irrevocably freezes
with no messages in /var/log/*. I recall having trouble with
3.5-R on a Thinkpad 600E crashing the moment I attached anything
to com1, and wonder whether it's related. I think ppp.conf
and friends look okay. -John
3.5-R on a Thinkpad 600E crashing the moment I attached
anything to com1, and wonder whether it's related. I think
ppp.conf and friends look okay. -John
\_ didnt IBM start using winmodems? --Jon
\_ yes, but they also wrote a Linux driver for them. -tom
\_ Ah, tom, ever so quick with the useless yet
egotistic answer of "Use Linux". --!psb
\_ When I can get a linux powered bike at compusa or
gateway (or dell for you dell fans -- I know you're
out there!) I'll ride that everyday. Until then, I
use what works, not what's cool or I encountered
first.
\_ I believe the Xircom & Lucent winmodems on Thinkpads
should actually work with FreeBSD. -John |
| 2001/10/16 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:22747 Activity:high |
10/15 Anyone know if there is some place (possibly on campus, or for
students) where I can rent or borrow a projector? (One of those
ones that you can plug into a laptop, TV or VCR.) I wanted to
watch movies huge on my wall.
\_ go to the good guys and return the purchase after you're done.
\_ and then people wonder why prices are so high.
\_ /. has links to how to build a 100" projection screen from your
TV for very cheap. |
| 2001/9/21 [Science/Battery, Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:22565 Activity:nil |
9/20 When putting laptop in storage; i heard you should disconnect the main
battery; but; should you leave the main. batt. charged and
disconnected, or drained and disconnected? How will this affect the
cmos battery? |
| 2001/9/18 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:22501 Activity:moderate |
9/17 Is laptop still allowed as a carry-on in flights?
\_ Man sitting next to me on my flight yesterday brought a laptop
with him. |
| 2001/8/15-16 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:22130 Activity:high |
8/15 I'm about to buy a $3,000 laptop. Any recommendations on insurance
from theft? Thanks!
\_ put a big sticker on it saying "Packard Bell"
\_ Didn't NEC fold them long ago? Doesn't make sense to pretend
to still use one of these.
\_ put a big sticker saying DELL. No one steals DELL, they suck
to much.
\_ why so anti-dell? I think dells r r4d! i would never get
a toshiba, compaq, hp, or sony, and thinkpads are too $$$.
\_ is this supposed to be facetious?
\_ no., the statement is asserted this way so you
understand that the opinion is not authoritative.
besides, a replacement laptop is being bought because
the owner's dell got his stolen out of his car (no joke).
\_ onsite repair is nice.
\_ how exactly do they repair it on site if it's not a software
issue? |
| 2001/8/2 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:21990 Activity:very high |
8/2 Dell says no to Linux on the Desktop:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-6757216.html?tag=mn_hd
Looks like bill will lunch on Penguin instead of the other
way around...
\_ whatever...the only reason anyone orders linux desktops is so they
don't have to pay for windows (but will use existing copies). just
buy from a mom n' pop, better deal anyway. dell still doesn't offer
AMD. dell sux...except perhaps the laptops. furthermore, dell cites
slow demand as the reason, while I'll bet most consumers didn't even
know about the option because the marketing was nonexistent and it
was hard for me to find on the site even when I knew about it. plus,
the options list was limited compared to the win boxes.
\_ Actually Dell desktops are fine but I'd look for the laptops
elsewhere (e.g. IBM)
\_ IBM has been overpriced whenever I compared the two...and
didn't offer the latest stuff like GF2go graphics etc.
\_ dell laptops are pieces of shit
\_ well, okay. never had one.
\_ Dell laptops consistently win quality tests and are
well priced for the size and hardware they include.
What's your beef?
\_ they break constantly and they're not well-designed.
\_ I'd agree that they have failed to market the Linux desktops
properly. Most people were not even aware that they sell them.
And those who were aware often would be greeted with broken links
and such when they went to http://www.dell.com/linux and clicked
on Dimension or Optiplex.
\_ VA Linux, where are you?.. |
| 2001/7/26 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Display] UID:21957 Activity:nil |
7/25 I bought this cheap LCD monitor the other day. According to the specs,
it can display a range of "16.19 million colors with dithering". What's
that supposed to mean? Does every other pixel have a different bit-
depth or something?
\_ It means it's a shitty monitor. (Likely explanation: the bit
depth of every pixel is uniform, but lower than 16, like uhh,
12 or something. A hardware dithering mechanism then does
a sorry-ass job of trying to make this look good.) -blojo |
| 2001/6/11 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:21472 Activity:very high |
6/11 I run Red Hat 7.0 on a Sony laptop and whenever APM suspends
my machine, X windows crashes. Anyone else ever experience
this problem? I don't know how to tell if its a GNOME component
or an X windows issue or what. I've tried Google'ing it, but
to no avail. Thanks. - rory
I guess it's worth mentioning that if I'm not running X, the
machine can sleep and wake-up just fine. - r
\_ look at http://www.linux-laptop.net I really can't tell you
anymore, as you didn't post the model number. You could try
switching to a virtual console before suspending, and then
switching back to X when you resume. That usually works on
laptops that have this problem with X. - ajani
\_ Are you run XFree 4.0 (I don't know if its standard on RH)?
If not try and upgrade, it might fix your problem. I've had
this problem before on a Toshiba. I fixed it by exiting X
before entering sleep. This may not be an option for you,
but I've never had this problem with NetBSD, so you might
want to give that a try.
\_ sure. I'm sure NetBSD is exactly what Rory wants. Do
you RIDE BIKE too?
\_ Actually no. I drive a Lincoln (16.2 MPG).
\_ Actually no. I drive a Lincoln Continental (260 HP
4.6L V8, ~ 16 MPG).
\_ how absolutely 310. |
| 2001/5/24-25 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Academia/GradSchool] UID:21344 Activity:high |
5/24 I'm looking for a laptop to do a project with... doesn't need to have
working display, even. It does need to be functional. Looking to
beg/borrow/steal... -chialea
\_ Does it matter what OS it's running? -mice
\_ I'd really like linux, but if I can have/buy it, anything x86 is
fine
\_ Hmm. I might be willing to loan it to ya' -- it's a
win-something box -- if you give a tiny bit more info
what you're going to do to it. Feel free to email.... -mice
\_ what else you gonna do...heh heh heh.
\_ She said she is trying to avoid becoming a whore to support her
math habit.
\_ aww. don't dissapoint shac like that.
\_ thus the whole grad school thing, yes. if I don't get in, I'm
going to live in a trailer park, become fat white trash, and
go on Jerry Springer at least once a year. only problem is
that I'd have to actually learn some slang. pity, that.
- chialea
\_ you'll have to buy a tube top, tight jean cut offs, and
drink mdg lite.
\_ One of three ain't bad.
\_ Chia owns tight jean cut offs!?
\_ drinks
\_ Why are you so obsessed with grad school? If your will
is strong, you just tell the company you work for why
what you do is good, and then just do it. Contrast this
with your advisor dictating what you will work on and when
you will sleep.
\_ dude, you've been published already. you're going to
grad school. just relax, sit back, and enjoy the ride(tm)
\_ you're a junior and you're worried about grad school?
you must be some kind of asshole. let me guess, you
are also a proud member of hkn? -ali
\_ awww, be nice to the ugrad college punk, ali. he
doesn't know any better yet.
\_ I don't think you want to know... |
| 2001/5/10-12 [Science/Electric, Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Display] UID:21231 Activity:kinda low |
5/10 I remember reading that flat-panels work best at their singluar native
resolution (usually something like 1024x768) and looked not as good at
other resolutions. Do current flat-panels still have such issues?
\_ Yes. It's funadmental to the design. -tom
\_ I just bought a Dell Inspiron 8000 with a native resolution of
1400x1050 and although the display does not look as sharp in a
non-native resolution (like 1280x1024 or 1024x768) it is more
than acceptable. I don't see any strange artifacts of things of
that nature, I believe the technology for doing this has advanced
in recent years. -eric
\_ The only way you could ever have one that looked (nearly) as
good as a CRT is if you had a high enough resolution such that
you could use even multiples of scaled pixels to simulate the
lower resolution. i.e.: you can't "do" a clean 640x480 with
a 1024x768 monitor, but you could with a 1280x960 screen (use
a square of 4 pixels to simulate a single larger one), and it
would look just fine.
\_ I assume you mean LCD displays? there are also plasma flat panels.
LCDs obviously have a native resolution.
\_ plasma displays are cell-based too. but w/ additional color
fidelity than lcds, they usually show fuzzy resampling
artifacts instead of the interleaved integer pixel expansions
of lcd panels at non-native resolutions. |
| 2001/4/24-25 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:21078 Activity:moderate |
4/388 Notebook suggestions? Looking for something 6 lb or lighter, with
Also, I remember someone mentioning subnotebooks/Japanese imports
awhile back. Any good websites on that?
\_ Wait a little longer. With the plummeting economy, things are
sure to drop.
\_ Price range? Will you be carrying this or travelling a lot?
Or is this just a desktop machine that you will pick up from
time to time?
\_ If 14.1" screen size is okay for you, I recommend picking up
a Pismo G3. Its expandable unlike the Ti G4, and is much more
rugged. Its slower granted, but its *much* cheaper ~ $1600.
I've had one for a year and its best laptop I've ever owned.
I've owned Toshiba's, HPs and other PowerBooks.
I would recommend against a dell. My boss had a 5000 (?) and
it was a utter POS, the screen popped out, the cdrom/battery
drive bay wouldn't lock the devices in place, the PCMCIA eject
broke, etc. His problems aren't isolated, almost everyone at
my office who had a dell had some problems with it. They all
use HP or Sony now.
\_ Where do you work?
\_ this was at cisco - cisco alum
\_ We have a whole bunch of 3800s and there are no
problems. Someone here has had a 7000 for over
a year and it's fine. Someone else has a 4000 and
although it feels a bit fruity it's been fine so far.
\_ Maybe its just the 5000s then. All we had were
5000s and perhaps one or two 7000s. They were
all bad enough that most people went back to
using Toshiba Satellite Pros until new laptops
arrived. |
| 2001/4/16 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/SW/OS/OsX] UID:20997 Activity:very high |
4/15 Is the new Powerbook G4 worthwhile compared to PC laptops?
\_ After getting one free from work, couple comments:
They get hotter. Wait for nVidia's GeForce2Go to get
built in, the slot load can jam if you flex the case
too much, and get 256MB of RAM for OS X, otherwise
it can be pooky. Other than those minor quips, best
laptop I've ever owned, and much much better than
the Vaio it replaced.
\_ Honestly, unless you need the OS X, the Powerbook G4 is,
like the rest of Apple's performance line, overpriced. Now
of course people will argue about that but the fact is
Apple has nothing anywhere near the price/performance of
this Toshiba "gaming" laptop for $2400:
http://www.csd.toshiba.com/adp/satellite/adp_sat_gaming.html?KNCR=465
That has a Geforce2go, integrated everything and p3-850.
I mean it's the same story for all their hardware. People try
to compare an overpriced Vaio and say "see it's not much more."
And despite being thin and titanium it's not that light.
oh yeah, check out the combo DVD/CDRW on that toshiba. still
impressed with "slot loading (yay!)" on the Apple?
\_ Okay I looked at this, but its $2400 while the apple is
$2599. Now the display on this is only 1024x768 while
apple does 1152x768. Also, there is not integrated Airport
antenna, you need to get one of those ugly Lucent PCMCIA
cards. The toshiba is heavier than the Ti as well. For
$200 less you are getting a considerably crappier machine.
I don't know about you, but I'd rather not cut corners
when spending upwards of $2K. Now if the Toshiba cost
1000-1500 I'd agree that the Ti was overpriced.
\_ The new Titaniums are pretty nice. There are two ways to
look at it. You can look purely at the specs or you can
just pick one up and try it yourself to get a feel of what
it's really like. Compared to a top Viao, it's marginally
more expensive but you get a 15.1" display, a slot load DVD,
and some other nifty features. I don't have one myself but
I've played around with one myself. OS is another issue. You
don't have much of a choice here. Windows is a pile of shit
and Mac is in the middle of a transition between 9 and X. I'm
not too fond of OS9 myself and OS X has some serious response
time issues. Plus it will make that DVD somewhat useless. I'd
wait a while and see.
\_ The biggest OSX issue is that they built on the wrong unix!
I'd agree if you said FreeBSD 4.2-STABLE or 5.0-CURRENT
or even Solaris.
\_ The hardware is very nice (though i've heard of some people
having problems) and stunningly beautiful. I think it comes
\_ It's got the "Power" and the "Sex". It's just 1 inch thick
and 15 inches long and has a smooth surface that will make
you drool.
\_ Try to avoid drooling on your Ti, it might short the
battery/ac switching circuit (a $138 repair, don't ask).
down to a question of OS -- if you want/need Windows, there's
no point. If you don't, it going to be a great machine.
Despite performance complaints about OS X, i'm running it on
a B&W G3 300Mhz with 192MB RAM and it's performing just fine
for me. I don't use Classic though (when I need classic apps,
i just boot into OS 9).
\_ That's what I thought too. If you're really intent on getting
it running you will convince yourself that it's fast enough.
It's like the placebo - you'll get over the cold if you believe
that the sugar pill is really a drug. But then a coworker came
into my office and noticed how much it lagged. That's when
reality set in for me. I'd wait a while and stick with OS 9.
L1NSUX, esp. on a Laptop. Oh yeah, did I mention it had a working
Apple is has some events planned in the near future -- WWDC in
May and MacWorld in July, if you can you *may* want to hold off
to see what they come out with. Notwithstanding, I'm *very*
tempted to get a PB G4, and I have a PB G3!
\_ Basically, OS X and it's applications "are not there" yet. I'd
wait for at least six months before fully switching to it. So,
if you can't live with OS 9, don't buy it now ..
\_ I have a Pismo G3 and I love the machine, but everytime I see
Ti G4, I can't help but think how many weeks of pay I'd need to
save up in order to get it. The thing is unbelieveable. Builtin
10/100 Eth, Airport ready, Firewire, USB, VGA/S-Video Out, DVD,
15.1" wide-screen, 1" thick, etc.
Only the sony's have a comparable form-factor, but they don't
have all of the features built-in, you need one of those ugly port
replicators. Even then, the ethernet is usually PCMCIA, which is
limited by the 16bit bus and usually crappy 3com ethernet chips.
The PB G3/G4 onboard ethernet can push bits out to the tune of 5000-
7000 K/s, much faster than most PCs. Unlike PCs the Aiport card
has an integrate antenna, so you don't have that ugly black thing
sticking out the side of your laptop.
AFAIK, the only PC laptop with a 15.1" screen is a Dell and my
boss used to have it. It weighs like 8 lbs without the DVD and is
something like 3" thick. Its a beast to lug around. The Ti and
even the Pismo are far superior.
The one weakness with the Ti and the Pismo is that they use the
ATI Rage128 8 mb vram, which isn't all that great. I'm waiting
for Apple to release a Ti with GeForce2Go, which is supposted to
be *much* faster and will have 16mb vram. I know that 8 mb vram
vs 16 mb vram is irrelevant when you are running a dispay at
1024x768 (both will do 32bit color no problem), but I'd still
like 16 mb vram.
With regards to OS X, its a pretty good version of UNIX, with
a reasonably stable and full featured kernel. The VM subsystem
could be a little bit better (a la FreeBSD 5.0-Current) and it
would be nice if the filesystem support was a bit better (only
UFS and HFS+ at this point), but its still *much* better than
Linux, esp. on a Laptop. Oh yeah, did I mention it had a working
GUI environment not some shitty POC like GNOME or KDE and it has
a plethora of working Browsers.
Well, that's my $0.02. You should probably take this with a grain
of salt, as I'm a big mac fan (got my first mac in 1987 and I've
coded pascal, fortran, matlab, c and c++ for macs).
\_ twohey, is that you?
\_ no. I'm not twohey.
\_ Twohey - he's one of those kiss up brown nosers who asks
a million stupid questions in class that everyone already
knows the answer to just to make himself look smart. I
remember him asking pointless questions during Franklin's
162 lectures. I even heard that students in his discussion
section started attending other sections because he and
his kiss up group kept inundating the TA with moronic
questions that the TA couldn't get anything done during class.
\_ He isn't very bright, no.
\_ the only thing I find lacking with the Apple Ti Laptop is lack
of 112bit key WEP support. Not that this in itself is actually
going to keep anything wireless "secure" but because some of
the various locations in which I would use wireless are setup
to not talk to anything that doesnt do 112bit (aka EECS wireless)
--jon
\_ Yeah the lack of the "gold" card is annoying. Apple should
hurry up and fix that. Rumors say that this change will roll
out with the 802.11a update later this year. |
| 2001/4/12 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:20948 Activity:high |
4/12 must read!
<DEAD>www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2703351,00.html<DEAD>
\_ This is a total crock.
\_ What?! Freek da Deek man. All us L337 H4><0rZ buy at
LEAST 2 playstations and 3 laptops EVERY DAY. Hell,
I GOTZ the CC's might as well use them. |
| 2001/3/5 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Display] UID:20719 Activity:nil |
3/5 Is it worth $130 extra to get a 19" Trinitron monitor instead
of a 'plain' 19" ? Shopping at Dell.
\_ If you're not paying for it, YES. If you make more than $50k and
you'll be using your computer for >5 hours a day, yes. Otherwise,
no. (that's my opinion... which is what you asked for, right?)
\_ How much for no monitor at all? Buy the system screenless and go
out and buy one of the FLAT-CRT 19" Trinitron NFs or flat
Diamondtrons.
\_ Mmm..diamondtron.. *drool*
\_ I have a Sony G400. It is bright, sharp and beautiful. However,
I always have had problems with Sonys in geometric distortions.
The first one is bad, and I have to lug the boulder back to the
store to exchange for another one. I have a suspicion that
companies like Dell gets all the monitors with no geometric flaws
and the bad ones are given to companies like onvia, cdw, etc.
I have this suspicion because the Sonys (from Dell) at my
workplace all do not have distortions. Yes, the Sony G400 was
for my monitorless Dell. I think Dell also sells the G400
(http://www.gigabuys.com but their price is high.
\_ You can be sure that Dell sets certain standards before
it will use OEM manufacturers. Standards often higher than
your ordinary riffraff seller.
\_ CRTs are horrible. Don't waste your money. Get a LCD flat panel.
A 15" is as low as $499 and you can get a 18" for $999:
http://www.cc-inc.com/macmall/shop/custom/monitor_blowout
I have a LCD and I'm never going back to CRT. The only reason
to still buy a CRT is if you *need* color-sync for professional
photo-editing.
If I had $16,000 extra lying around, I'd own a Sony LCD HDTV
too.
\_ LCDs suck if yer a hardcore geek game junkie
that wants high refresh rates.
\_ LCDs refresh at upto 30 frames/sec. People with
very good eyesight (usually not hardc0re gam3rz)
can tell the difference between 30 and 40 but not
much else. Most of us can tell the difference between
20 and 30. Our eyes are just not that good, so what
is the point of 100 frames/sec?
\_ Because the Nyquist sampling ratio doesn't apply
to H@RDK0R3 G@M3R5.
\_ Sorry, I thought that we were all homo sapiens.
I'd never heard of this species called h@rdc0r3
g@m3r. Is it perchance related to the species
known as 3133t h@x0r or gn00 l1nsux lus3r? |
| 2001/2/17-18 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/SW/OS/Solaris] UID:20628 Activity:high |
2/16 Anyone tried installing solaris x86 on a laptop? What are my chances?
Does x86 solaris have usb support?
\_ yes. kiss apm goodbye. why not just get a tadpole sparcbook and
run sol sparc?
\_ LIMITED yes. There is only a specific USB controller that
solaris supports, and it only supports a very limited number
of USB devices. Read the HCL.
\_ tadpole sparcbooks are rediculously expensive. Why not just
install Linux on it?
\_ but linux isn't unix! the gods will cause wrath upon him
and make his system *gasp* user friendly! No! the true path
is the arcane way, were only a select (and therefore highly
paid) set people type in line noise on a command like to run
ed or sendmail or something.
\_ I get paid to manage hunders of Solaris, Linux and BSD
boxes and yet I prefer to run Linux on my laptop. The
hardware support and the community support for the laptops
is so much better.
\_ Price? you're concerned about price? this is a machine
you phillistine, not some date. You must spend if you want
quality! The most expensive stuff must be the best stuff!
(and hence the only supported stuff)
\_ Tadpole spacbooks are lemmons. They are heavy and not
that much faster than PC laptops, except that it cost
6 or 7 times more than a comparably equiped IBM or Dell
laptop.
\_ Pass Xsun and go directly to http://www.xfree86.org or http://www.xig.com
(XFree is cheaper, xig also adds support for other notebook
devices Sun doesn't do very well). Also, go to http://www.sunhelp.org
and read the FAQ's before you begin. -alan-
\_ Openwin is the standard! |
| 2001/1/17-19 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:20352 Activity:moderate |
1/17 Ergonomically speaking, how far should you be from the
computer/laptop monitor?
\_ The fingers you have used to type are too fat. To obtain a
special typing wand smash the keyboard with your palm now.
\_ I've heard that 18 inches is the ideal. -mice
\_ Pyea, right. I heard 8.5 inches is too much already.
\_ I'm not a big believer in most of that ergonomics crap,
but here's a URL that might be useful. *shrug* whatever.
http://www.office-ergo.com/viewing.htm -mice
\_ At that range, I'd have to turn my head to see half my
screen real-estate. I'd be getting motion sickness just
following the mouse-pointer around. What you using, a
10" monitor or something? Stop being such a cheapskate
and buy a real monitor, punk.
\_ For laptops, since the display is generally smaller and since LCDs
don't emit radiation, I think you can stay closer to the display.
\_ the bigger the breast the farther you need to sit to prevent
from getting breast cancer.
\_ At least 100 ft, then you won't be damaged by trying to stare at
the screen or use the keyboard.
\_ Ergonomically speaking, no one has a real clue about what the best
ergonomics are. Do something comfortable and don't remain in the
same position for extended periods. The rest is urban legend. |
| 2001/1/15-16 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Display] UID:20317 Activity:nil |
1/14 Is there such a thing as a multisync LCD monitor? I was told that I
can use any old multisync monitor for the PC as display for a ultra 5
or 10. I'm looking at some web sites on LCD displays and non of them
explicitly say "multisync". Thanks.
\_ Basically all LCD monitors can sync to different resolutions,
but they have a native resolution which is the only one they'll
look good at. -tom |
| 2001/1/9-10 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:20277 Activity:moderate |
1/8 Question for the laptop guru's:
Which IBM Thinkpad compares to the Tecra 8100?
How does the equivalent Thinkpad compare to the Tecra 8100 in terms of
functionality and non-proprietary-ness for hardware? (ie; Tecra's
don't have standard hd's).
Which supports *nix on Intel more readily (less tweaking)?
Which one has the better bang for the buck?
Pointers to comparisons would be great. Thanks in advance.
\_ There's nothing especially proprietary about Tecra 8100s. The
rough equivalent (though better!) from IBM is the Thinkpad T20.
\_ Tecra's don't have standard HDs? Huh? Hard disks in laptops are
just about the only things that ARE standardized. Sure, laptop
\_ don't forget SODIMMs
hard disks are different animals than desktop hard disks, but
AFAIK, they're pretty standard from one laptop maker to the next.
What's so weird about the Tecra 8100's HD?
\_ The Tecra hd's have another little shim/adapter from the hd
to the laptop. My 8100 uses a IBM Travelstar DARA-212000,
but is in sort of a little caddy. The Tecra 750's also used
standard drives back then, but also used a little adapter;
even more annoying, it was attached to a bottom plate that
was part of the laptop. Getting an additional drive was a
co$tly pain.
\_ Actually, this is pretty common on laptops, it's not a
Toshiba specific nuisance. If you're looking for a
replacement drive, you can just use the caddy from the old
one. Also, a lot of laptop hard disk vendors (last I
checked, http://xtradisk.com was a good one) will sell you an
extra caddy if you really need one.
\_ IBM {A,X,T}{20,21} recently had a bios upgrade that prevent
one from running FreeBSD ...
\_ Recently got Inspiron 3800 fairly cheaply. Bought the barebones
machine from Dell, upgraded with components from the net.
Works ok; running FreeBSD 4.2 (trivial problem with PC Card,
fixed by recompiling the kernel). Video well-supported; audio
isn't supported. Generally postitive experience. The biggest
problem -- the CD-ROM drive is too noisy. Not enough data to
report on reliability. |
| 2000/12/22-23 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:20158 Activity:high |
10/21 I have a linux box in my baby's room upstairs and I want to be able to
monitor the audio in the room from my laptop downstairs via the net
connection we have, to make sure she's ok. What's the best tool for
doing this? Is shoutcast server + shoutcast streamer overkill?
\_ You DO mean a human infant, right?
\_ Why don't you just buy a cheap baby monitor. I'm sure that's
a lot easier than setting up a Linux box. Besides, do you
really think your baby really wants to sleep with a computer
fan blowing?
\_ The fan is probably soothing, actually. Even now I prefer to
sleep with a heater, fan, or aquarium (gurgling) in the room.
\_ Do you want your baby to grow up to be a geek?
\_ Ditto on the baby monitor and computer noise. Amazing. I need to
get a license to have a dog but any clown can have a kid.
\_ I can't have a kid. I'm having a hard enough time getting
out of this single life. -guy who thought of monitor & noise.
\_ Usually requires two clowns, at least somewhere along the way.
\_ I though babies came from storks
\_ I thought babies came from storks.
\_ Clown sex! Yeeeesss!
\_ The Linux solution seems like overkill to me, too, but it might
be good if you want a nanny monitor while you're at work.
\_ Have you ever heard of this thing - it's called a
telephone? |
| 2000/12/5-6 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20003 Activity:moderate |
12/4 Do people actually sit through entire DVD movies on their
computer monitor? How far do you sit? As if you were using
a computer, or as if you are watching a 19" TV?
\_ My friend likes to do it on his laptop with 15" screen.
He puts it on the coffee table, or on the bed.
\_ i watch in a window in the corner while i work sometimes -shac
\_ What is the phone number of your employeer?
\_ Why do you care? Why do think his employer cares?
as long as he gets his work done, what's the diff?
\_ I do the same, but only when working at home. |
| 2000/11/30 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:19962 Activity:high |
11/30 I'm currently looking at a laptop, but nothing's happening.
What am I doing wrong? TIA!!!
\_ what are you talking about |
| 2000/11/30-12/1 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/SW/OS/OsX] UID:19957 Activity:high |
11/30 Currently looking at laptops. Is a 12" screen okay or too hard
to maneuver? What are the top options that I should get?
Dell? Gateway? WinBook? Sony? Compaq?
\_ http://www.tech-report.com/etc/2000q4/transmeta - 11hr battery life
\_ Can someone provide a more convincing URL?
\_ Can someone provide a more convincing URL? TMTA has sounded
so good since their introductory news conference, but for the
last two weeks I've been suspecting that they suck today.
\_ depends on what you want to do with it. are you going to replace
your desktop with it, or are you going to use it as a supplement?
also, don't forget IBM.
\_ bad Chucky, no IBM for BSD!
http://www.pc.ibm.com/qtechinfo/MIGR-4QHLS4.html
\_ I don't understand IBMs obsession with LinSUX. Perhaps
\_ I don't understand IBMs obsession with redhat. Perhaps
\_ I don't understand IBMs obsession with RedHat Linux. Perhaps
after years with AIX anything looks good.
\_ Get a PowerBook G3 400, 192 MB Ram, 10 GB HD & Airport. It is
pretty cheap and you get 14" Active-Matrix TFT display, 2 USB
ports, 2 FireWire ports, VGA video out, S-Video out, 10/100
Ethernet, Wireless Ethernet (no antenna sticking out like on a
PC laptop), 56K modem, 8 MB video ram (Rage128 Mobility), a
fast DVD/CDROM drive, and 5-7 hrs battery life. It is the best
laptop on the market and with OSX you can run a real OS
\_ I work at Apple. I've used the damn beta. Trust me. OSX is
not something you want to put on your machine until they're
finally done with it. But at least it's a good start to
replace their kludgy OS9. One of the things I've learned
from working here is that Apple users (like Linux, WinXX,
FreeBSD users) can get extremely passionate and religious
about their particular OS or platform and, as a result,
tend to blabber about how great their OS is. It's
important to think realistically. Every OS sucks in its
own respect and every OS is cool in its own respect (well,
maybe not Windows). But it's all about your own personal
\_ Zealot! :P
preference and needs and other people's may be different
than yours. Religious wars won't get you anywhere.
\_ Uh, I'm using OSX on a daily basis. Yeah the beta has
some limitations, but it has emacs, ssh, nfs, bash,
terminal.app, perl, cc, c++, javac and most of what you
would find on a BSD install. I can get almost all my work
real OS like LinSUX.
done on OSX without any problems.
real OS like redhat.
(FreeBSD 3.2 + mods + upgrades) not a rickety clone of a
real OS like RedHat Linux.
\_ yeah but can' I run my windows games on it? If not its just
another overpriced paperweight.
\_ Well, yeah. I run some games like Monkey Island and
Myth on my PB G3 using Win98 on Virutal PC. Its okay.
I've tried Tiberian Sun and its also playable. Which
games did you specifically have in mind? Baulders Gate,
Diablo 2, UT, Q3A, Pod Racer, Boob Raider etc have Mac
versions.
The Mac can also play most playstation games, even
Japanese ones under VGS. The PC version isn't nearly
as good (and don't tell me about BLEEM, it can't hold
a candle to VGS on a Mac). The games I normally play
are Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (has sound and music
on the Mac unlike PC), Gran Turismo I and II, Driver
and Need For Speed High Stakes. They all run great,
much faster than on a real PSX or even a PIII 700.
\_ I have to say, VGS kicks ass as a playstation
emulator (esp. the cracked version). It simply
buries bleem. With Virtual PC, there's almost
no reason to buy a PC unless you want to
play brainless games like Quake. The mac
may not have as many games as the PC, but
it has the quality few that you'll want to
play and still be useful enough to do
for practical purposes under an OS that
doesn't have to be re-installed every
several months....
\_ Uh, Quake I, II and III Arena are
available natively for MacOS, as are
Unreal and Unreal Tournement. There is
full support for OpenGL RAGE (the ATI
stuff) and RAVE (the 3DFX stuff). The
entire line of voodoo cards work just
fine under MacOS. MacOS also has good
support for all those nifty PSX style
USB that the PC gamers envy.
My brother plays UT on his G3 466 +
Voodoo 3 with exceptional frame rates;
enough to kick the FAtlon 1 GIG and PIII
players arses every time.
The only mainstream PC game without a
mac version is Half-Life (and I'm pissed
about that, since the "beta" rocked).
Supposedly HL2 is coming to Mac...
\_ Windows Games? You want a laptop for Windows Games?
Sorry, I thought that you were going to use it to do
some REAL WORK using a REAL OS.
\_ I wanna play games AND do real work.
\_ Choose one or the other. Real work cannot be
performed on a WinTenDo.
\_ That sucks!
\_ please let me know if you find a laptop with a kickass
3D video card.
\_ PowerBook G3. Rage128 Mobility. Best video card in
any laptop. The PB kicks ass. PC vendors are still
trying to get into the technology that Apple had in
the PB100 and PB500 lines. |
| 2000/11/16-17 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:19810 Activity:high |
11/16 Anybody know (for certain) of a retail store in the Bay Area
that has Thinkpad T20s on display? The usual places (Fry's,
CompUSA, BestBuy, etc) don't carry them, and IBM's Dealer
Locator doesn't turn up any retailers. --vchang
\_ not for certain, but the Stanford bookstore has some
Thinkpads on display last time I checked ... |
| 2000/10/24-25 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:19551 Activity:nil |
10/24 Can you hook up a regular keyboard AND mouse to a laptop?
Any good advice/links on laptops?
\_ USB
\_ If your laptop has only one PS/2 jack, you can get a Y-adapter
for it. I got mine at Frys for $8.99. You need to connect your
mouse and keyboard to the Y-adapter first, then connect the Y
adapter to your laptop. If you reverse the order your laptop
will not recognise the device.
\_ This depends on the laptop also. On the old Toshibas the
Y cable didn't work since there wasn't enough power to
drive the keyboard and mouse.
\_ If you have USB, the solution is easy...
\_ I do this all the time with my PowerBook G3. I plug the
keyboard into USB1 and the mouse into the keyboard and
my PSX-esque controller into USB2. If you have one of those
UBER-LAME PC laptops without USB, try the splitter mentioned
above or get a docking station (mini or otherwise), as docking
stations have both keyboard and mouse ports (usb and otherwise). |
| 2000/9/27-28 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/Networking] UID:19343 Activity:high |
9/26 Reminder; Out door computing facility TODAY 11:30 on Memorial Glade.
(the lawn infront of the library). If you would like to see WAV LAN
installed in the nice grassy area, please just show up, eat lunch, and
hang out, (and bring a laptop if you can.) -sofia
\_ WaveLAN?
\_ 802.11 wireless LAN hardware. Wow... Just wait until bluetooth
\_ slow
comes around...
\_ Breezecom > bluetooth. FHSS > DSSS. -John
\_ Bluetooth is going to be as toothless as a still born
babe.
\_ Breezecom is slicker than snot dripping from Fuzzy's noze
in the Swiss Alps.
\_ Breezecom will whip blewtewf like a cheeze omlette.
\_ Breezecom is gonna sound like a huge vaccuum cleaner to the
makers of bluetooth.
\_ Bluetooth: duck.
\_ Breezecom - smart as a whip.
\_ Yah, just try downloding Fuzzy's plan on each, you'll probably
get an overflow error on bluetooph. |
| 2000/9/27-28 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/SW/OS/Linux] UID:19338 Activity:high |
9/26 If I have lots of $$ and I want to buy a good laptop for running
both windows98/ME and Linux, what should I go for?
\_ PowerBook
\_ IBM Thinkpads are nice in this area. All the ones I've seen have
great Linux support, are built like tanks, and have nice keyboards.
I have a 240, and even the built in winmodem works (though it can
make things unstable) The new T and X series look really nice.
If I had lots of money, I'd grab an X series box. Yum. -ajani
\_ I'm in a simliar position (well, not *too* much money)... nobody
recommends Vaio's for this purpose?
\_ Sony VAIO is good. I'm running Linux on three of them. --dim
\_ How do you rate them in general? I'm thinking of buying
one, haven't heard much outside of ads. -sax
\_ Anyone know when the Transmeta VAIOs are coming out?
\_ ask jeffwong, he works there.
\_ Don't bother, transmeta's technology is a big yawn.
I can give more details why on request. -nweaver
\_ am running linux and win2k on a n505-ve is working fine, except
the winmodem is a rockwell and won't work under linux - ibms
have lucent winmodems which do work under linux. - paolo
\_ Dell Inspirons run Linux well. They're heavy, though.
\_ Yes, but does anyone know how to disable that damn
BEEP? (can't be done in the bios)
\_ Which Inspiron do you have? The 7000 doesn't beep.
\_ I am buying Stinkpad 600X and Vaio picturebooks (the Crusoe
ones, just cause I am curious) for work. Stinkpads are
great, and I believe that IBM now officially supports
Leenux on them. -John
\_ Any opinions on Dell Inspiron 3800 ? -eric
\_ 2 hour battery life, 7 lbs., so-so screens, good Linux.
The principal developer here ordered 8 a few months ago
for general use. You know they just came out with the 4000.
\_ I recently got one and I like it. The screen is ok, imho.
Dual pointers is a nice touch. Linux & FreeBSD work nicely
(except for sound). I got mine very cheap ($1350 for 600Mhz
with minimum ram and hdd) -- there was weirdness in Dell
order system. |
| 2000/9/5-7 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:19172 Activity:moderate |
9/5 I have a Toshiba 7200 Protege with docking station. I have it docked
nearly all the time. When it boots up it asks me if the laptop is
docked or not. If I don't press anything it defaults to not docked
and I'll have to reboot again because my ethernet connection is on the
docking station. Is there a way to change this? Make the default
docked? or just save the configuration somewhere and not prompt me
to enter an answer? Thanks.
\_ You have a Toshiba 7200 Portege with docking station. You've got
enough money to pay someone to fix this. Don't be cheap and ask
the motd.
\_ Bring it back and get a real laptop. Porteges suck; I had to
evaluate them for my last employer and rapidly concluded that
they're cheaply-built pieces of crap with bizarre hardware
configs. -John
\_ All laptops have bizarre hardware configs and are cheaply
built.
\_ Which OS are you using? NT4? If so, the system might have been
setup with configuration profiles. Right click on My Computer,
goto the Hardware Profiles tab, and moved the docked
configuration to the top and it should default to dock's network
port. (You can verify the network device to profile binding by
goto to the Control Panel, Devices, and looking for the
HW Profiles settings for the two network devices.) -lcddave
\_ Don't hate me for this, but if you need to run some sort of
Windows on your laptop, you'll most likely want to try W2k.
NT has problems with APM and some PCMCIA support. W2k is
a bit slower, but it also works with odd hardware (of which
the Portege had plenty last I had one.) -John |
| 2000/9/2-6 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:19157 Activity:moderate |
9/1 I use a laptop, and sometimes I hook it up to an external monitor.
What do I do to allow me to use higher refresh rates on the ext.
monitor under X in Linux and lower rates for the lcd screen?
\_ This doesn't answer your question, but someone was trying
to do the same thing with their Windoze laptop to a 19"
screen and a roomful of grad students couldn't figure it out.
\_ Have two files and copy the required one to XF86Config
depending on which you wanna use then startx. I believe
this is the only answer, i don't think it can be changed
with X running.
\_ Doesn't the laptop LCD explode if the freq is set
too high? ^explode^exhibit unusual behavior
\_ Um.. yeah.. and i know a computer virus that cause HD
to implode...
\_ for most chipsets, you must disable the lcd before setting
higher rates for the external vga.. they use only one DAC
and clock. this usually requires restarting X with different
driver options to actually disable the lcd (not just painting
it w/ black pixels).
*/*
\_ Different hardware. Your graphics card is capable of higher
refresh rate than the laptop screen, and only an external
monitor can display this. Laptop displays aren't real high-
performance devices. -John
\_ Methinks John misread the question.
\_ I did, sorry. I saw "why". See below. -John
\_ I did, sorry. I saw "why", and was surprised at the
unusual absence of snide comments at a simple question on
the motd :-) -Joh
\_ You should set up your XF86Config with different "Monitor" sections
with the different Modelines each supports (realistically one for
the LCD, multiple for the ext. monitor), then make up a "Screen"
section using each Monitor separately. There's probably some
relatively easy way of picking which "Screen" to use at startup..
I've never tried. --dbushong |
| 2000/6/23 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:18537 Activity:nil |
6/23 Let's say I buy a $3,000 laptop on EBay. Isn't it a good idea
to only buy from someone using a well-known on-line escrow
service, or is this benefit rare? |
| 2000/4/19-20 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Academia/Berkeley/Classes] UID:18059 Activity:nil |
4/18 Looking for recomendations for laptop bags. Let's say, less than
$150; but if there is a convincing reason to go higher, i will.
Thanks.
\_ I have an old IBM one I really like, but most people find them
too bulky (I carry loads of stuff.) Port makes some pretty
robust bags, but they don't have a lot of compartments. -John
\_ Just go to Macy's. Tumi. |
| 2000/4/7-8 [Computer/SW/OS/FreeBSD, Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:17954 Activity:nil 58%like:17951 |
4/9 Open BSD 2.6, Laptop, pros/cons? |
| 2000/4/7 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/SW/OS/FreeBSD] UID:17951 Activity:nil 58%like:17954 |
4/8 Open Bsd current supports my laptop. Any pro's/ cons to running
OpenBSD on it? (or a laptop in general). |
| 2000/3/29-30 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:17876 Activity:high |
3/28 Anyone hear anything or have any experience with the Inspiron 5000?
I've had good experience with the 7000/7500 but I need some econo-
laptops.
\_ My intel fellowship gave me a latitude cpiR. Definitely Buick.
Previously had toshiba, then IBM. -nick
\_ how are the 7000/7500? I was considering the 5000 as a
cheaper and lighter alternative to the 7500, but decided
against buying something I couldn't look at first. -rollee
\_ excellent battery life, screen, works with linux (mandrake, too)
good as both presentation and developer PC. i used to think
only thinkpads were all that but the 7000/7500 is a good line.
get it with dvd to impress your friends. 10 lbs.
someone just told me the 5000's have a reputation for poor
battery life. i look at the dell catalog and it's 79 W Hr
standard battery for the 7500, 52 W Hr for the 5000, and it's
a good estimate to say 5000's and 7500's suck power equally.
\_ i had a dell 3000 and now a sony viao 505sx. it's been like
switching from a buick to a porsche. great w/ linux...
small battery lasts 3 hrs, big one lasts 6 and the thing still
weighs less than any dell.
\_ I carried around my friends's dell and found it to be way too heavy
it was about 5.5 lbs which was the lightest I've seen of the
reasonable dells. the nice thing about dells is that they have
antialiasing for the lcd so that different resolutions fill us the
whole screen. also trackpt + touchpad is nice too. They also have
a decent video chip. but they're heavy. I went with a n505ve
vaio myself. (installing linux/fbsd was as easy as copying a
cd to the fat partition and installing from fat).
\_ G3 400 mhz powerbook...'nuff said. Who's your daddy?
\_ G3 400 MHz Pismo. In the words of CartMan: "Kick Assss!"
\_ do you want light/portable or do you want high performance? You
can't beat the vaio on price/portable and the other end you
is like mac/whatever
\_ the VAIO is too delicate. At least if a G3's in the backpack
it's certain that it won't die from the vibrations walking down
Hearst...and it's *sweet* in performance.
\_ I got a Eagle Creek Laptop Sleve ($25 at Sterns
Luggage in Valley Fair) for my G3. It fits
perfectly and ensures that it doesn't get banged up
by sitting next to books and stuff in my backpack. |
| 2000/3/23 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/SW/OS/FreeBSD] UID:17830 Activity:high |
3/22 is there a list of supported pcmcia cards for freebsd?
\_ L1unkz r00lez!
\_ Yeah, I believe it's under http://www.freebsd.com/hardware I think
they did a lot of work on the cardbus stuff, so under 4.0-
RELEASE pcmcia ought to work better than it has under 3.x
(sketchy at best.) Also, there's a FreeBSD implementation
specifically aimed at laptops, called PAO. It's at
<DEAD>www.jp.freebsd.org/PAO--I've<DEAD> found it a bit goofy to work with,
but it's always worked for me. -John |
| 2000/2/7-8 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:17448 Activity:moderate |
2/7 So do i wait to buy a crusoe laptop?
\_ You wait until they build one first. And then you wait for the
second generation so it's worth buying. Don't be a first kid on
the block version 1.0 victim. Or you could be cutting edge and
report all the nasty bugs so when I buy one later, I know
it'll work. So, uhm, yeah, rush right out and be kewl.
\_ By the way, what do people think about PowerBooks and MacOS X?
I am keeping my eye on them. I'd like to buy one when the next
generation (G4 based) PowerBooks are available.
\_ I won't buy one unless it looks like a toilet bowl seat
with a handle.
\_ I've wanted to buy one since the first G3 Laptop came out.
I like the iBook, but I want to have scsi and video out on
my laptop so I'm waiting for the pismo g4 laptop.
\_ The new PowerBooks will be pretty nice, but i doubt they'll
have G4s. First of all, Motorola and IBM are getting
pretty shitty yields on those chips, second I think they
still run a bit too hot for the PowerBook (temperature is
the problem, not wattage). The G4 probably won't make it
to the PB until the next rev. of the chip.
\_ Is it true that NetBSD runs on iBooks?
\_ I don't know about NetBSD, but Linux does. Check out
http://www.yellowdoglinux.com and
<DEAD>www.linuxppc.com<DEAD> |
| 2000/1/17-19 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:17260 Activity:nil |
1/17 Best (read: cheap+fast+reputable) place online to buy a thinkpad?
\_ <DEAD>cozone.com<DEAD>, CompUSA's consumer Internet shop, gave a friend no
problems ordering last week. |
| 1999/11/20-24 [Computer/HW/Display, Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:16932 Activity:low |
11/20 the ATI AGP Rage Mobility M-1 doesn't seem to be supported
by the xfree86 stuff on:
http://www.xfree86.org/cardlist.html
correct me if i'm wrong.
\_ It's not, yet. Most of Dells new laptop chips aren't.
\_ USE LINUX! Windows supports my video card right outta the box.
RIDE BIKE! So Windows must be a better OS.
\_ damn straight!1!!
\_ Check out these two pages:
http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~steveh/inspiron
http://www.coralys.com/linux/dell7500.shtml
The Dell Inspiron uses the Mobility, and the first page lists other
laptops that also have that chip. Apparently it's supported
reasonably well. When you get it working, please mail me to let me
know how well your X runs on it as I'm interested in getting a
Mobility-based laptop. -mogul |
| 1999/11/4 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:16824 Activity:nil |
11/3 Question: If I leave my P3-500mhz laptop running for a couple of
weeks in my office, will it melt down?
\_ you must be worried because it's one of those laptops that burns
holes in your pants if you actually put it on your lap |
| 1999/10/15-17 [Computer/SW/Unix, Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:29930 Activity:nil |
10/14 I am on my laptop on a (someone elses) network behind a proxy,
trying to control my PC (not behind a proxy). I can telnet, but
P.C. anywhere does not seem to work. Do you think i'd have better
luck with back-orafice or some other similar non-commercial software?
\No, you would not. I believe the problem is with your proxy. You need t\
o contact your sysadmin and make sure that the appropriate port that PC Anywhere\
uses to communicate through TCP/IP is open. Either that or configure your PC An\
ywhere to try to use the telnet port (believe it's 23).
\_ Dunno about PCA, but certainly back orifice can let you change the
ports it uses. Make it run over telnet port and you'll be fine. |
| 1999/9/27-28 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Finance/Shopping, Computer/HW/Display] UID:16604 Activity:high |
9/27 Anyone know if and when LCD monitor price will drop?
\_ when people start buying them. go buy a few million so that
i can afford one myself.
\_ Actually, people *are* buying them. There is and has been
a shortage of supply, which is preventing prices from
coming down (and adds to the cost of laptops). See a good
story about it at:
http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/business/docs/computer28.htm
\_ prices will drop slowly
\_ Didn't it take a long ass time for regular 17" monitors to drop?
I bought mine for $1k and it was that price until about a year and
a half ago (or something like that).
\_ I bought a 17" monitor 4 years ago for 600, although it was
the cheapest model back then.
\_ I bought a 17" monitor 4 years ago for $450.
\_ Not new. Off a truck maybe. I got one for 650 four years
ago this summer. The lowest on the market was around 600.
There weren't any $450 17" monitors four years ago. Only
used, refurbs, and off the back of trucks. You're either
confused or lying. The high end was around $1300, btw.
$450? Ridiculous! |
| 1999/8/22-24 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/SW/OS/Windows] UID:16370 Activity:low |
8/21 My laptop hangs after resuming from a Suspend to Disk with a PC
Card inserted (TDK Global Networker 3410 or a 3Com card).
Ejecting the card prior to suspend eliminates the problem.
I notice that if I bring up a list of programs when it hangs,
msgsrv32 is listed as Not Responding. I'm using Windows 95 OSR2.
What's wrong? (Aside from using a Microsoft product.) --pcjr
\_ msgsrv32 is one of the most buggy M$ support apps - it restarts
explorer after a crash for example, but can't restart itself.
resintall windows
\_ Why don't you try Microsoft tech support? Oh wait, never mind.
That was just an oxymoron.
\_ Install all new drivers, update all patches, remove all unecessary
software and hardware, give up, reformat, install linux, ride bike! |
| 1999/6/10-12 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:15943 Activity:moderate |
6/10 Anyone have a flat-panel? Any praises / gripes? Thinking of getting
one.
\_ i have played around a bit with the sgi and apple ones.
very nice, sexy gear. -caliban
\_ The ones from SGI are arelly nice, but the ones from Apple
are too slow. -mikeym
\_ I use the LCD in my laptop without an external, and also have
an LCD in my mac. Both work great. Fewer headaches due to
no scanning. No radiation. Crisper. Glare can be an issue,
but I'm not sure it's worse than a CRT. Colors may not be
precise depending on where exactly you're sitting. I'd
be reluctant for a graphics production machine, but otherwise
I'd whole-heartedly suggest an LCD if you can afford the
price difference. I don't plan to buy any more CRTs, and
suspect they will be largely relics in 5 years.-appel
\_ more like 15 years. Flat panels look cool and certainly
the active matrix models kick a CRT's ass any day but
they're still pricey. Check out SGI's flat panel. It
apparently won some "best LCD" award or something. |
| 1999/5/24-25 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:15867 Activity:nil |
5/24 I have to recommend a laptop for an old friend. The consensus
seems to be buy ThinkPad. Are these reasonable?
http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/thinkpad/iseries/index.html |
| 1999/3/24-25 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:15641 Activity:very high |
3/24 I'm tired of putting together PCs for people. What PC packages
should I recommend instead? I was telling most people "HP or
IBM, ideally Gateway" for a while until a buddy who works at an
Office Depot told me "A lot of our returns are HPs" and I've
been doubtful ever since. What about Dell? (These are PCs for
like families and stuff.)
\_ I'd recommend Dell. They have superb customer service and
30 day money back guarantee. NO QUESTIONS ASKED. You should
ask them about DSL access in your area and they can install
AOL (since this is a family PC). There's a reason why most Dell
customers are repeat buyers. Because they LIKE the service
and the products. It's not always the cheapest but then "you
get what you pay for." Their dead on arrival rate is the lowest
in the industry I think.
Their customer service is so good that I'm actually involved in
product design. I told them I'm not upgrading my laptop until
they produce a laptop that has a 15" display and is less than 1"
thick. They're working on that. - one happy dell laptop owner
thick. They're working on that and I'm part of the focus group.
- one happy dell laptop owner & employee
\_ none of the major brands are a good choice, especially HP. It
was no small pain disabling their sound card (it never goes away
completely), and you're limited on gfx choices. The custom
dell might be ok. Personally I prefer local vendors that
supply a variety of good parts - http://www.ljsystems.com near the
San Mateo bridge toll plaza is excellent - can order by web -jor.
\_ http://www.dell.com
\_ http://www.sony.com - Digital Studio is the way to go with i-link to
control your electronic devices such as VCR, TV, and camcorder and
optical digital out for dolby digital and digital recording.
\_ I don't own a tv, vcr, camcorder, or anything digital. What
should I buy? |
| 1999/2/8-10 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:15370 Activity:very high |
2/7 I'm looking to purchase a laptop in the next 3 months. Something like:
PII 233 || AMD K6, >=64MB RAM, >=4GB drive, >=13.3" active
matrix, V.90 modem, Fast Ethernet, >=CD, etc. The closest
thing I can find is the Quantex T-1330 with a PII266 for
$1899. I'm pretty much looking for a good deal (I'm open to
clearance stuff). i.e. a store that can exclude a copy of
Windows would be cool since I have my own licensed
copies. Anyone recommend any other value packed brands and/or
stores? Thanks. -slow
I just got a IBM thinkpad 1450 (the midlevel i-series) with Pentium266
64MB ram, 13.3" TFT (awesome) fast CDrom, modem, and incredible
wuality for only $1799...I also installed RedHad in a mere 30
minutes on the boot-from CD BIOS option, and highly recommend this
laptop. Get and IBM, they are great, tough, fast, blah blah ginger.
\_ i am a troll. delete me.
consider it done. - tom
\_ tom can delete trolls. too bad trolls can't delete tom.
\_ He's just afraid of anything he can't easily attack on a personal
level.
\_ which part of PII did you mistype or not understand?
\_ PII = larger chip = more heat dissipation + more power
consumption = less battery life + a computer that gets really
hot because all laptops have crappy fans. And I'm pretty sure
that, unlike Quantex (or whatever you call it), IBM actually
does a decent job in designing their I/O subsystem which would
mean faster speeds.
\_ ok, so why don't you look up the AMD specfpu or specint!
if you want a piece of crap get a "Quantex"
\_ I wonder why original person didn't say K6-2, but the fact
remains that your suggestion wasn't "up to spec". Actual
SPECint95/fp95 measurements aren't generally done on
laptops, so I'm actually curious how they compare.
Further research shows no K6 or K6-2 CPU95 results posted
at <DEAD>spec.org<DEAD>; PII/Pentium ~= 1.6 in CINT95 ratings, at
equal clockspeeds. --tsang
\_ Hm, SPECint95 has got to be out of date by now. Every
3 years, chip makers find some devious way to trick
the latest version of those benchmarks so every 3 years
they have to come up with a whole new set of tests.
I wonder where SPEC98 or 99 is.
\_ in progress. You can ask IBM's technical rep
(channui@austin.ibm.com) to SPEC... --tsang
\_ Toshiba 8000 or 7000
\_ Isn't the PII a 25 watt chip? If you don't want the
flaming laptop of death, it might be better to go with a
CPU that runs cooler.
\_ or one that doesn't suck up your lithium battery in 5 min.
\_ I understand the newest PII takes less power than Pentia.
But, just to be annoying... go PowerPC G3/G4. --tsang
\_ Even the P233MMX-equipped TP770 makes for a rather
warmer lap than usually desirable. |
| 1998/11/30-12/2 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:15046 Activity:high |
11/30 does anyone know a good reason for or against the laptops
by IBM? I'm thinkingoof the i-series $1999 with 13.3TFT screen
any advise is greatly appreciated...
\_ Once you start using a ThinkPad you probably won't go back to
anything else. You can tell that IBM spent a lot of effort
in the ergonomic design. Sure, you can't do any hard gaming
with the nipple, er, TrackPoint, but it is far superior to
a touch pad, and the button layout is also *sane.* (Apologies
to Toshiba users.) The keyboard's pretty nice too. I am
very pleased with my 380D. Too bad I can't use it at work,
since "work" assembles a competing product. -- tmonroe
\_ bah. Give me a trackball any day. HP laptops.
\_ if you don't like IBM laptops, you don't like laptops
\_ agreed. actually, IBM makes high quality machines in general.
It used to be advertised that you could drop an IBM box
and it will still function properly. That was a while ago
though.
\_ While running?
\_ probably not. It's like a Volvo. Sure it can survive
a 10G impact but it won't look pretty.
\_ The IBM ThinkPad 600 I have seems to work well. -appel
\_ what do people think about chembook, sony and toshiba laptops?
\_ you don't want anything but ibm. ibm laptops rule.
\_ Sony Laptops are pretty but somewhat fragile
Toshiba's are nice, esp the polished magnesium casing.
\_ i'd like sony on top of my lap.
\_ Give it up Daveh |
| 1998/11/10-11 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:14936 Activity:very high |
11/09 I'm thinking about a laptop like: Pentium II 233, 64MB RAM, 4GB drive,
CD, floppy, 13.3" Active Matrix. What's a cheap, solid brand/store?
\_ Don't get a laptop unless you require a laptop. Always get
desktops if mobility isn't a requirement. Laptops break more
easily, are stolen more easily, cost more, do less, have shitty
keyboard, upgrades options are near-zero, and no they don't make
you look cool to the babes.
\_ unless you really have to, avoid laptops. I regret it myself but
if you absolutely must IBMs and Apple PowerBooks are sure bets.
Don't expect to be able to expand later on though.
\_ D'accord. I just spent $450. to replace the hard drive
on my PB, which was never a problem on my desktops.
\_ toshiba >>> ibm -shac
\_ * >>> shac -!shac
\_ ibm >>>> toshiba -jlee
\_ I can only say I've had wonderful experiences with IBMs. -brg
\_ I disagree. I just sold my Pentium II desktop and switched
to a laptop. I can do almost everything I need to do. It's
\_ "almost" is an interesting word.
very convenient since I can bring it to my girlfriend's place
and use it and still able to spend time with her. :-)
\_ So you can ignore her in person instead of long distance?
Good call.
\_ I agree with the above. Buy a good desktop computer, and if you
really need a laptop, buy a low-end model to use when you can't
use the desktop.
\_ Totally on the mark. This is the way to go.
\_ I disagree, using a notebook as your main machine is prob.
the best bet, considering how often one travels nowadays,
\_ One? Who exactly is doing
all this travel?
it's good to have all your eggs in one basket, just make
sure to back up at least once a night.
\_ Dell Latitude is the best laptop I have experienced with. Sony
is ok. Hitachi is ok, too.
\_ Dell won't guarantee the quality of the LCD panel. Just ask
them if they'll replace it if there's a single bad pixel.
"Up to 9 bad pixels are allowable..." My ass. If I send you
$3000 for a computer, I at least expect to not have to look at
something that looks vaguely like an undermaintained
scoreboard.
\_ Laptop LCD are more fragile than any other kind of
computer hardware. I really doubt other vendors
would want to warrant any damage to LCD display. Dell
XGA laptops are around $2000, which is pretty good price.
\_ I was talking about condition _ON_DELIVERY_! If I
drop the damn thing and bust the LCD it's my fault,
sure, but I'm not going to accept delivery of
defective merchandise.
\_ Dell's also go really bad if they do go bad, then again
reformatting the disk and downloading all of the
different drivers from Dell sometimes works.
\_ ALL Fujitsu notebooks guarantee 3 years of perfect matrix.
\_ At my work we have a bunch of Winbook laptops and we have never
had any problems with them and they are normally quite a bit
cheaper than anywhere else that we have looked. The only
problem that some people have with them is that they do not
come with all of the bells and whistles, which is a good thing
if you know what you are doing.
\_ I'm about to buy from WinBook because: 30-day moneyback
guarantee (if they won't replace it because of an LCD
problem, I just tell them I want my money back), good
price, no sales tax. (Would've bought from Gateway,
but paying multiple hundreds of dollars extra didn't
particularly appeal to me) Only downside is the
*3 week* lead time. And the default shipping option
is overnight. Heh.
\_ HP Omnibooks (somewhat old, but) seem to be fairly nice. We
have one. an actual ball for a mouse. Plus external monitor
port built in. And the keyboard is decent. So, when at home,
plug into big monitor, and enjoy both worlds.
Oh, it also has a scsi port. |
| 1998/11/5-8 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/Networking, Computer/SW] UID:14918 Activity:nil |
11/5 Does anyone know if there's such thing as game port to USB adaptor?
My laptop has USB but not game port and I have a non-USB joystick.
I would like to use that same joystick on my laptop. I know a
parallel port to USB exists. Does game port to USB adaptor exist?
\_ Never heard of such a thing, but it's likely to cost more than a
new joystick. Welcome to the Brave New World Of High Tech. |
| 1998/9/23-25 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:14658 Activity:kinda low |
9/23 Any reccomendations on laptops? --ramberg
\_ Yer wife
\_ ObIBM, the sony laptops are pretty, ERic has a libretto
\_ I want sony on my lap
\_ Down daveh
\_ rapist
\_ Libretto is cute, but underpowered. New PowerBook is *nice*...
(another strange choice would be a PB2400c + NewerTech G3)
\_ They're wonderfully compact, which makes them difficult to
type on. The 75CT is probably a good deal now at 999.
They're only underpowered if you run a Micro$oft bloatware
OS on them. Runs fine with Freebsd. -ERic
type on unless you have the hands of a 5 year old. The 75CT
is probably a good deal now at $999. They're only
underpowered if you run a Micro$oft bloatware OS on them.
Mine runs fine with Freebsd. -ERic
\_ Thinkpads and Powerbooks, accept no substitutions. -=Aubie
\_ I've used two Toshibas, a Dell, and an IBM Thinkpad in the
past two years. Toshibas are nice, but they're either heavier
than the competition, or they skimp on keyboard/screen size
(a la the Protege/Libretto lines). Don't even think about a
Dell -- they have relatively bad engineering, particularly
heat-dissipation-wise. The IBM's are solid -- good keyboards
and screens.
-nevman
\_ the new Toshiba Tecra 8000 is REAL slick and small NICE
the Protege 7000 is even smaller.. and nice big screens.
-shac |
| 1998/7/21 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:14356 Activity:kinda low |
7/20 What's the best computer rental shop? A friend of mine wants
a laptop for a year, and is looking for a rental one. |
| 1998/6/15-18 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:14216 Activity:low |
6/12 What's a reasonable amount to pay for a Thinkpad 770-1AU (14"),
with 160 meg of ram, 5.1 gb disk, and a DVD? -phr
\_ phr is a rich spoiled bastard. Everytime he posts he's always
selling some of his old shit (which happen to be REALLY good
for most of us out there) or he's getting the latest/greatest
toy. Fuckin' rich bastard.
\_ Oh shutup you whiney little dirt eating school boy and go
get a job. -not phr
\_ wow, a computer that outperforms every computer at Soda Hall
combined.
\_ I've got a p-90. Same category.
\_ I'd like to ask you: Who needs 160 megs of RAM on a LAP TOP?!
Running multiuser environment? On your LAP TOP?
\_ No, you need that just to run Windoze 98.
\_ You need to be able to load multiple porn images while on
BART to pass the time. |
| 1998/5/29-30 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:14154 Activity:very high 58%like:14150 |
5/29 Almost new DELL Inspiron Laptop. 266MHz, 80MB, 8GB, 14" Active
Matrix. 20X CD, 56K modem + 10/100 Ethernet. Carrying case inc.
Asking $2.5k. Mail ari for details.
\_ Good system. Seriously now, why are you selling it, filthy rich boy?
\_ he's only rich because he cheats on his taxes
\_ Only has a 20x cdrom. I won't do with any less than 32x. -ari
\_ shut the )(#$#. 20X, 32X, same difference, CDROM is only
used for install and seeing VCD/MPEG/pictures.
\_ I put all my d/l'ed gay porn on CD and reload them
over n over from my favorites collection. -ari
\_ Selling because I bought 2...one for my brother and he is not
using his. --ari |
| 1998/5/28 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:14150 Activity:insanely high 58%like:14154 |
5/28 Dell laptop for sale. 14" Active Matrix. 20x CD. 80 MB, 8GB.
266MHz Pentium 2. Ethernet + 56K modem. Case included. Asking $2.5k.
mail ari for details or with any reasonable offers.
-thinkpad's are much nicer and new one's are on recently on sale
\_ thinkpads SUCK. Nothing is standard. You can't even see the
COM ports on a 770 without downloading drivers. |
| 1998/3/24 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:13854 Activity:low |
3/23 Could someone please repost the URL for the web site that had
good prices on laptop hard drives/memory? Something like
www.chip???.com --davidf
\_ you mean http://www.thechipmerchant.com they do memory... --tsang |
| 1998/2/3-6 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/SW/OS/Linux] UID:13617 Activity:moderate |
2/3 How come suspend mode does not work in Linux? Which Linux patch do
I need to fix this problem? I've looked at drivers/char/apm_bios.c
but don't understand any of it. Thanks.
\_ What kind of computer do you have? "Suspend mode" means very
different things to different computers, and isn't always APM-
compliant.
\_ What kind of computer do you have? ...
\_ I have a fujitsu notebook, does that help?
\_ I wish I knew offhand. Write to ucb.os.linux and someone will
know or know where to point you. -- schoen
\_ Which model do you have? Also, you might try checking
DejaNews- I saw mentions of Fujitsu laptops several
times on the Linux newsgroups. There is also a Linux
on a Laptop guide:
http://www.linux.org/hardware/laptop.html -cdaveb |
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