linuxaudio.org

On Wed, Apr 04, 2007 at 09:59:15AM -0700, Ken Restivo wrote:

quoted text
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1

> On Wed, Apr 04, 2007 at 03:56:20PM +0900, Joel Roth wrote:

> > On Tue, Apr 03, 2007 at 08:55:51PM -0700, Ken Restivo wrote:

> > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1

> > > I'm a hardware idiot. I have the worst luck buying hardware: I

> > > always buy the wrong thing and end up getting screwed. Plus I

> > > don't have a lot of money, so when I get screwed, it's

> > > devastating.

> > > So that's why I avoid buying hardware. But still, I need a laptop,

> > > and so here I am shopping and probably about to make some stupid

> > > and unrecoverable mistake that will cost me everything.

> > Perhaps there are guys here who can recommend a specific model for

> > doing sound. If I didn't want to make a mistake I would try to get a

> > firm recommendation and if that were lacking, the output of

> > cat /proc/interrupts; lspci; dmesg; etc.

> > from a linux live CD. At least you could know the hardware you have

> > and the interrupts configuration.

> > A good utility would be a test script to measure data throughput and

> > latency. There must be such tools around.

> Thanks. OK, I'm buying the PATA unit.  Thanks to everyone who helped

> me with the SATA/PATA background, and who recommended ASUS laptops in

> a previous thread. It's been very helpful.

> Reading my last post seems like I was getting a lot more emotionally

> overwrought about something as dry as a hardware purchase. But I'm

> feeling a lot more confident now... hopefully this will turn out well.

> Thanks again.

I'm hoping it wasn't just me who recommended asus ... I'm feeling less

certain about that at the moment. I bought a "whitebook" last year.

There are a number of things that make me think I'll just suffer the MS

tax next time around:
-Availability of spare batteries. I haven't been able to find anyone who

carries the particular model of battery I need. Perhaps this is a

general problem with all laptops/notebooks, but certainly more so for

less popular makes/models. If you have the choice at the time of initial

purchase and think there is any chance you might possibly need a spare

in the future, buy that extra battery now.
-the fan on my particular model is particularly noisy. Probably not

something that can be generalized across all models of any given maker.

Maybe there is something I can do wrt to power management, a replacement

fan or one of those external heatsinks that you set the whole notebook

on top of that would help.
-The backlight died 2 days before the box was to be used at LAC for

streaming. I've since learned that this is a fairly common problem for

all notebooks and laptops. But, it seems some models from some makers

have better track records than others.
Not necessarily trying to put you off Asus, either, just some notes to

say your caution isn't necessarily misplaced. Although, it also seems

that in many ways choosing a laptop for linux multimedia work is a

matter of doing your homework, asking questions, making the best

decision you can and then, well ..., just hoping reality mostly matches

up and gnashing your teeth over the ways it doesn't.
-Eric Rz.