Compaq R3000Z Laptop

[Quincin Gonjon]

I am interested in purchasing the AMD 64bit Compaq Presario R3000Z laptop and installing Fedora Core 1 (64bit version) on it. I would like to know if anyone has purchased this laptop and run any Linux distro on it. If so, please let me know the results on: Video, pcmcia slot, integrated wireless 802.11b, ACPI, modem, and ethernet port. Of course, let me know your opinion if it is worth running Linux on it.

Thank you,

[Steven E. Protter]

Some advice from an idiot that bought 4 NIC cards that won't work on Linux.

Don't buy the laptop until you have certification from the distributor of the Linux you want to use.

It sounds like an expensive one.

Alternately look up the parts in question, video, wireless connector and such on the distributer web site.

Just reading your post i see a bleeding edge problem that could make you frustrated an unhappy. I would not buy the laptop unless Compaq(HP) certified that it will run Linux.

A lot of people have posted threads here complaining that they bought hardware and can't get Linux to run on it.

Do your homework, more than this thread and you'll be fine.

SEP

[Bruce Copeland]

SEP is absolutely correct that you want to check all the notebook components (including motherboard) for compatibility. On the other hand, if people only ran linux on certified notebooks, there wouldn't be many linux notebooks out there. HP is unlikely to certify any of their notebooks for linux because of warranty issues. In essence, they worry that someone will set up power management incorrectly and thereby overheat a processor or motherboard (IMHO an unlikely scenario).

I doubt anyone has tried linux on the notebook you are talking about with the 64-bit processor. (My guess is it would work.) The RadeonIGP video should be OK in 2D (like the HP/Compaq ze4000/ze5000 predecessors). 3D will not work with any current distribution unless you build custom XFree86 and kernel drivers. That situation may improve once the 2.6 kernels start appearing in distributions. The modem is likely to be a winmodem which won't work unless you use one of the linux windows driver emulation projects. (So DO NOT kill the preinstalled Windows XP until you know you have everything working under linux, including any driver components you need to borrow from Windows. It is smart to initially set up a notebook to dual boot. Downsize the Windows XP partition to leave space for Linux. Install linux with LVM. Then when everything is finally working to your satisfaction in Linux, you can reformat the original Windows XP partition and add it to your main LVM volume group.) I seem to recall reports that there are problems with the onboard Broadcom 54G WiFi chip under Linux. You should google around a bit and check that out.

You can look at my web page

http://www.cybersym.com/pages/linux-ze4100.html

to find out about some of the video and ACPI issues you will likely encounter, and to find out what works or is necessary for the HP ze4000/ze5000 predecessor series. I would also google around a bit to find out if anyone is successfully running linux on ANY notebook with the AMD 64-bit processor.

Bruce

[Quincin Gonjon]

I'm going to rant a little about HP supporting Linux now. I can't believe that a company that makes $2.5 Billion dollars in Linux related products last year can't invest in certifying a Linux laptop. I'm not just blaming HP for this but also IBM as well. They need to start putting Linux on home products because Linux lovers like myself will want to purchase them. Us Linux Lovers may be the minority but soon we will become the majority. HP please invest in Linux home products now not later. It seems that the industry will be adopting Linux soon. I'm not going to run any Windoze on any laptop I have. It has become a religious choice not to run Windoze. After all I don't need to pay hundreds of dollars on an operating system that will get viruses every other day and take away my consumer rights with an EULA. I am not STUPID. M$ can go and get another chump to kick around. I need Linux just as much as I need my freedom of Speech. Linux = FREEDOM! And if this world is right and fair we will all have Linux running on our laptops and desktops.

[Bruce Copeland]

Quincin:

Good rant!!!

Bruce