Known issues with HP laptops?

[DoYouKubuntu]

My 'real' laptop--a 17" HP--is acting like its life may be coming to an end, and while I love my Chromebook, its screen and keyboard are way too small to use all the time. Right now I'm debating repairing the HP or buying a new one. (Among its known issues: a dead fan, a dying network card.) My HP is a dv7 and very well suited to my purposes, once I wiped window$ off of it and installed Kubuntu, of course! If I buy a new laptop it'll be HP, because they're the ones I've liked best over the years; it will most likely be a Pavilion.

Does anyone know of any UEFI issues I may run across with a new HP laptop?

[Qqmike]

You post a question, and what do I do? Post a reading list! :-) On the run, no less.

http://askubuntu.com/questions/24426...y-new-efi-file

For the record, the problems you're having are related to known bugs in HP's EFI implementation.
http://askubuntu.com/questions/24426.../244343#244343

http://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloaders/

and, of course,

https://www.google.com/search?client...utf-8&oe=utf-8

[DoYouKubuntu]

You post a question, and what do I do? Post a reading list! :-) On the run, no less.

http://askubuntu.com/questions/24426...y-new-efi-file

Are you insinuating that I'm lazy?

For the record, the problems you're having are related to known bugs in HP's EFI implementation.

No, they're not. My current HP laptop has none of that m$ EFI crap; there is nothing related to EFI and/or micro$oft living in its /boot directory.

I'm asking about the newest HP laptops since I'm most likely going to be buying one soon.

[Feathers McGraw]

My current HP laptop has none of that m$ EFI crap; there is nothing related to EFI and/or micro$oft living in its /boot directory.

EFI is not Microsoft's creation. It's actually very useful, and a much needed update to the old "boot the bit in this magic part of the tape/drive" way of doing things.

Have a read of Qqmike's rodsbooks link, Rod developed a boot manager called rEFInd that Steve introduced me to, it's is a much more aesthetically pleasing solution than GRUB for multi-booting, and much more technically elegant than GRUB regardless. That site is a gold mine of useful info!

[Qqmike]

What he said. Maybe, also, try the HP Support site, forum, etc. Or email HP Support?

[GreyGeek]

In the past I've put Kubuntu on several HP laptops, including the dv7. On all of them the webcam image was inverted. It is a known manufacturing bug which the Windows drivers corrected by inverting the image in code, but only cheese and guvcview had the ability to invert the image in Linux at the time. The webcam image using Skype or TeamViewer is one thing I'd check.

[DoYouKubuntu]

In the past I've put Kubuntu on several HP laptops, including the dv7. On all of them the webcam image was inverted. It is a known manufacturing bug which the Windows drivers corrected by inverting the image in code, but only cheese and guvcview had the ability to invert the image in Linux at the time. The webcam image using Skype or TeamViewer is one thing I'd check.

On my dv7--which I bought in 2011--the webcam image was never inverted; it works correctly with any/all programs I've tried it with, including Skype. But with all that said, honestly, the webcam is the least important feature to me, as I really don't ever use it.

[DoYouKubuntu]

EFI is not Microsoft's creation. It's actually very useful, and a much needed update to the old "boot the bit in this magic part of the tape/drive" way of doing things.

Have a read of Qqmike's rodsbooks link, Rod developed a boot manager called rEFInd that Steve introduced me to, it's is a much more aesthetically pleasing solution than GRUB for multi-booting, and much more technically elegant than GRUB regardless. That site is a gold mine of useful info!

What he said. Maybe, also, try the HP Support site, forum, etc. Or email HP Support?

Okay, thanks guys. I think in the end I'll probably choose whichever laptop I want, have it shipped, and then tackle getting rid of window$, et al. We'll see how that goes.

[vinnywright]

On my dv7--which I bought in 2011--the webcam image was never inverted; it works correctly with any/all programs I've tried it with, including Skype. But with all that said, honestly, the webcam is the least important feature to me, as I really don't ever use it.

just adding that I never had a prob with the web cam ,,,,or anything elce on my HP-G62

VINNY

[GreyGeek]

On my dv7--which I bought in 2011--the webcam image was never inverted; it works correctly with any/all programs I've tried it with, including Skype. But with all that said, honestly, the webcam is the least important feature to me, as I really don't ever use it.

After your comment I did a google search using "hp dv7 webcam image inverted" and found lots of listings of folks who were having trouble with inverted images. I also found out why that seems to be fixed in many but not all instances: "libv4l detects upside-down cameras and rotates the image automatically" Now, when that problem occurs it is because of the kernel or gstreamer not talking to lib4l2.

[SteveRiley]

On my dv7--which I bought in 2011

Given the year it was made, I'm 99% certain that your existing laptop has a UEFI firmware, not a BIOS. Like Claydoh Feathers said, UEFI is not a Microsoft invention and they do not control the standard. However, if your next laptop comes bundled with Windows 8 and has the Windows "certified" logo, then a UEFI feature called Secure Boot will be enabled. Before you blast away the contents of the hard drive, learn how to disable this feature on the new machine. It'll be a much easier experience installing Kubuntu (or any Linux distro) after you do this. And don't worry -- you actually aren't putting yourself in danger. Secure Boot is designed to protect against a rather small class of attacks that are targeted not at home use scenarios but at corporate deployments.

[Feathers McGraw]

Like Claydoh said...

*cough*

[SteveRiley]

*cough*

You should go get that checked out -- doesn't sound too good.

[Feathers McGraw]

Yeah Claydoh, I think Steve's right!

[DoYouKubuntu]

Sorry, guys and gals, I forgot all about this thread after I ordered a System76 laptop, which will already have Ubuntu installed when it arrives. But I appreciate the information and comments.