Notebook for kubuntu

[Luigi]

Which is good for kubuntu?
http://www1.euro.dell.com/it/it/abit...=dhs&cs=itdhs1
Which do you advise me?
However, for kubuntu and kde, which is better? ATI or Nvidia?
many thanks you all!

[kevinc]

Re: Notebook for kubuntu

Nice looking machine and the price is reasonable too, although I haven't bought one since 2006.

From the link, the first comes with Intel graphics and the other three with ATi Radeon HD 4570

Here is a link explaining how to get the driver for that

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1114683

If it comes with 4G (2 * 2G) memory that's great, or is that the maximum only.
The other specifications look impressive as does the machine itself.

Many things such as ATi or Nvidia depend on what driver is available, you need to check which particular ATi or Nvidia. Hope this helps.

[Luigi]

Re: Notebook for kubuntu

Many thanks!
I've read, that many peoples have some trouble with ATI video card and they advice a NVIDIA.
I'm confuse, but also I think so, this are good machines.
Thank you for a link!

[marcopl]

Re: Notebook for kubuntu

bro, any notebook where you can have all the drivers available is good.

i personally have avoided ati or nvidia vga chips because the driver configuration is so difficult. i have always chosen laptops with intel vga chips because they are are so easily available and easily detected and auto configured.

[Fintan]

Re: Notebook for kubuntu

The only advice I can give is to stay away from the integrated card (Intel GMA 4500MHD integrata).
It shares memory and be a hassel at times.

I don't think ATI should be a problem now. But then again google is your friend

Hope this helps

[marcopl]

Re: Notebook for kubuntu

i had three notebooks with intel vga chips ( including the type fintan mentions) and they work great as far as the vga is concerned. but fintan is right -> google is yr friend ( or ask or bing or whatever is yr favourite search engine)

[Dawe]

Re: Notebook for kubuntu

I've got an http://nordic.computers.toshiba-euro...ibaShop/false/

and it has the Intel gma 4500mhd chipset witch is an integrated graphics card on the motherboard. the hd stands for just hd material that it can play that.

and I'm running kubuntu 9.04 and i works great.

but of course the ati graphics card is better. it's a stand alone card that's not built in in the motherboard and allot better. so i would recommend one of dose laptops.

and the cpu and ram is important to so i would go for the ones with 4gb ram and intel core 2 dou P series cpu

[barbolani]

Re: Notebook for kubuntu

As for video chipsets, let me share an experience. A coworker brought to the office a 4 year old Acer laptop with some ATI video chip built in. I don't remember the exact model, nor I want to. The installation completed perfectly and I went to the Hardware Drivers application. To my surprise, no ATI driver was offered.

Strange, some desktop effects worked, but each time I tried to play a video the whole thing froze. No key combination (including SysReq ones) was able to recover. I had to do a hard shutdown with the power button. Disabling desktop effects allowed video to play as usual without crashes.

I searched the forums and the ATI site. As it turns out, ATI has decided not to continue supporting its drivers for older cards (by "older" they mean something like 4 years ago!!!) for newer versions of X. Therefore, if you have an "old" ATI card, you are restricted to use the open source ATI driver, which is good but lacks the hooks for compositing and the advanced 3D acceleration features. Ironically, this means that you can get better video performance on an old ATI card by... running with an old Xorg version! But of course, that limits your options in about anything else.

More than 10 years ago I bought a nVidia TNT card. To this day, nVidia still supports it in their drivers. Guess which brand I prefer. Shame on you, ATI.

Of course, that does not mean that nVidia can do something similar in the future. Perhaps that day I'll switch to Intel graphics or whatever.

See http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1117660 for more details.

[nukedathlonman]

Re: Notebook for kubuntu

My previous laptop had integrated video (It was an Acer Aspire 5002WLmi with SiS 761 graphics - the notebook was quirky to setup fully, but once it was set up it was zippy and rock solid satable). It was fine for work and Internet browsing, and could handle the old 2D game fine.

When it comes to 3D gaming however, thats when you want to look to going with a dedicated video adapter. My experience says that nVidia hold's a slight edge in this department, but nVidia's quality and care towards it's closed drivers in my mind have been slipping as of late (it was a lot better then it currently is today).

ATi support is a pain as and drivers are a hit and miss. I am expecting that to change in the next few years and that ATi cards will eventually become good for Linux support as they work towards open sourcing the drivers. But over all, for the moment, nVidia is the easier path to go down if dedicated video is a requirement.

Integrated video has come along why, and current ones will do basic 3D Desktops just fine - but if you have your heart set on any form of 3D gaming, it simply won't cut it because the shared memory kills video speed and kills CPU cycles when the video has to access the system memory.

[kbunt]

Re: Notebook for kubuntu

I'm interested in this topic! I'm still keeping one eye open for a new laptop so every now and then I read up on recommendations particuarly pertaining to Linux and Kubuntu!

Anyway, hey, that Acer laptop had/has a Broadcom B4318 wireless chipset, right? That thing used to be a horror to use and configure but I think Broadcom Linux support has improved but by how much, I am not too sure. I know it was bad enough for me to replace the wireless card in my Thinkpad to Intel!

Anyway, I think when it comes to ATI and Nvidia, they are both going for the Windoze markets, let's face it. ATI is trying to gain on Nvidia and their most recent generation of video graphics cards has made a big leap and gained ground, I think. Therefore, I am betting most of the R&D and investment both in time and dollars has been to Windows. This all despite their insistence that they are supporting Linux via open source. They have made progress but their support/drivers and user experience still frustrate owners of ATI-based graphics hardware.

Nvidia has had the proprietary hardware but they haven't seemed as problematic. I think if you want the latest and greatest drivers from Nvidia, it is a pain as you have to shut down X and configure via CLI. It can be a hassle and a lot of trial and error. With ATI, you are either using proprietary drivers (newer chips) or open source (older hardware) but you can't use special desktop effects (Compiz) because the support just isn't there. I always get mixed up with which drivers work with 2D or 3D. I don't think there is any guesswork needed for Nvidia even though the drivers and quality of experience still might not be 100% fantastic. But, maybe the frustration level is lower once you finish messing with trying to get the latest driver.

It all depends how much ATI improves at providing drivers and support. Well, I have typed enough stuff. I hope to read more recommendations regarding laptops!
Cheers!

[kevinc]

Re: Notebook for kubuntu

Regarding Broadcom B4318, the latest version of Sidux has this

b43/ b43legacy support for Broadcom wlan cards.
OpenFWWF 5.1 opensource firmware for the following Broadcom AirForce 802.11b/g wireless cards:

* BCM4306
* BCM4311 revision 1
* BCM4318
* BCM4320