Linux Laptop−HOWTO Linux Laptop−HOWTO Table of Contents Linux Laptop−HOWTO.....................................................................................................................................1 Werner Heuser <[email protected]>....................................................................................................1 1. Preface..................................................................................................................................................1 2. Copyright, Disclaimer and Trademarks...............................................................................................1 3. Which Laptop to Buy?.........................................................................................................................1 4. Laptop Distribution..............................................................................................................................2 5. Installation...........................................................................................................................................2 6. Hardware In Detail...............................................................................................................................2 7. Palmtops, Personal Digital Assistants − PDAs, Handheld PCs − HPCs.............................................2 8. Cellular Phones, Pagers, Calculators, Digital Cameras, Wearable Computing...................................3 9. Accessories..........................................................................................................................................3 10. Different Environments − On the Road.............................................................................................3 11. Other Resources.................................................................................................................................3 12. Repairing the Hardware.....................................................................................................................3 13. Solutions with Laptops......................................................................................................................3 14. Other Operating Systems...................................................................................................................4 15. ToDo..................................................................................................................................................4 16. Revision History................................................................................................................................4 17. Credits................................................................................................................................................4 18. Appendix A − Survey about Micro Linuxes......................................................................................4 19. Appendix B − Dealing with Limited Resources or Tuning the System............................................4 20. Appendix C − NeoMagic Chip NM20xx...........................................................................................4 21. Appendix D − Annotated Bibliography.............................................................................................4 22. Appendix E − Resources for Specific Laptops..................................................................................4 1. Preface..................................................................................................................................................5 1.1 About the Author...............................................................................................................................5 1.2 Sponsoring.........................................................................................................................................5 1.3 About the Document (Mirrors, Translations, Versions, Formats, URLs).........................................5 1.4 Contact...............................................................................................................................................6 2. Copyright, Disclaimer and Trademarks...............................................................................................6 3. Which Laptop to Buy?.........................................................................................................................7 3.1 Introduction........................................................................................................................................7 3.2 Portables, Laptops/Notebooks, Sub/Mini−Notebooks, Palmtops, PDAs/HPCs................................7 Portables......................................................................................................................................7 Laptops/Notebooks.....................................................................................................................7 Sub−Notebooks/Mini−Notebooks..............................................................................................8 Palmtops......................................................................................................................................8 Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)/Handheld PCs (HPCs).......................................................8 Wearables....................................................................................................................................8 3.3 Linux Features...................................................................................................................................8 3.4 Main Hardware Features....................................................................................................................8 Weight.........................................................................................................................................8 Display........................................................................................................................................9 Batteries......................................................................................................................................9 CPU.............................................................................................................................................9 Supported CPU Families............................................................................................................9 Miscellaneous...........................................................................................................................11 i Linux Laptop−HOWTO Table of Contents Cooling......................................................................................................................................11 Keyboard Quality......................................................................................................................11 Price..........................................................................................................................................11 Power Supply............................................................................................................................11 3.5 Sources of More Information...........................................................................................................11 3.6 Linux Compatibility Check.............................................................................................................12 Related HOWTOs.....................................................................................................................12 Check Methods in General.......................................................................................................12 3.7 Writing a Device Driver...................................................................................................................13 3.8 Buying a Second Hand Laptop........................................................................................................13 3.9 No Hardware Recommendations.....................................................................................................14 4. Laptop Distribution............................................................................................................................14 4.1 Requirements...................................................................................................................................14 4.2 Recommendation.............................................................................................................................15 5. Installation.........................................................................................................................................15 5.1 Related HOWTOs............................................................................................................................15 5.2 Prerequisites − Partitioning..............................................................................................................15 5.3 Linux Tools to Repartition a Hard Disk..........................................................................................16 GNU parted...............................................................................................................................16 ext2resize..................................................................................................................................16 fixdisktable................................................................................................................................16