Need a Linux Laptop with wireless capability. [and wireless networking questions]

[philodox]

I am getting a new Condo shortly and was thinking about setting up a wireless network using my current computer as the Server. I will be getting a Mac Mini for my Wife and would like to get a Linux Laptop for myself. The server will either be running Linux or Windows 2000. It's only purpose will be serving the internet connection to the other two computers and possibly printing services.

I will be using a cable connection and will be picking up a wireless router of some sort [any suggestions here would be great as I have no experience with wireless]. The Mac Mini comes with an optional wireless module and I will either need to get a laptop that has wireless capability or I will need to pick up an expansion card for wireless. The laptop will mainly be used to surf head-fi, answer email and word processing as I sit in my new leather chair and listen to music on my home rig.

I will be getting the Mac Mini from www.colorwarepc.com in 'blush' as I've already set the precedent with the 'alpine' iPod that I got my Wife for Christmas.

I am still unsure what laptop to get. I'd like to keep the price low if possible and small size is great, but a bigger screen is probably makes more sense for my application. Battery life is no big deal as this will mainly just be used within my condo.

I've done some looking around and have found the following:

http://www.linare.com/ladbs250.php
Very cheap and looks like it could do the job. Not sure about the included distro, but I could always install something else in the future.

http://www.linuxcertified.com/linux-laptop-lc2464.html
This one looks great, but is rather expensive.

http://www.linuxcertified.com/linux-laptop-lc2100.html
Nice and small, also rather pricey.

http://www.thelinuxstore.ca/index.ph...roducts_id=271
Looks to be a pretty good value and the price is in Canadian dollars.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

 

[videocrew]

if you're using the server to serve the net to the other computers, you don't need a router. just a wireless access point. find an old surplus computer and install a VERY SIMPLE BSD installation on it. http://www.closedbsd.org would be my reccomendation. This will do DHCP, and network address translation and will do everything your regular router will do while also acting as an extremely robust firewall. you don't get much more secure than an extremly simplified BSD install as a firewall. running mac and linux behind a BSD firewall is like a security expert's wet dream.

can't offer any advice on the linux laptop, i'd use whatever hardware fit my needs and just reformat and install gentoo linux once I got it.

 

[450]

Thanks for posting that link Videocrew! Now I know what to do with my P75 and 3 Ethernet cards

. Now I gotta buy some Ethernet wire...

 

[Asmo]

I recommend smoothwall www.smoothwall.org for linux based router/firewall distro.

 

[450]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asmo I recommend smoothwall www.smooothwall.org for linux based router/firewall distro.

One too many 'o's

www.smoothwall.org looks interesting too... I wonder which is better...

Smoothwalls requirements are higher...

 

[Aman]

The IBM T series makes laptops that apparently are 100% compatable with Gentoo Linux. Never tried myself, but that's what their forums are saying.

 

[philodox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by videocrew if you're using the server to serve the net to the other computers, you don't need a laptop. just a wireless access point. find an old surplus computer and install a VERY SIMPLE BSD installation on it.

I think you misunderstand. I will not be using the laptop as a server, I will be using my current computer as a server. I need a laptop so that I have a portable computer that can be used anywhere in my condo via the wireless connection. As for setting up the server, I don't really need any help there as that is what I do for a living... I just have zero experience with wireless.

There are two reasons that I wanted to go with a laptop that has linux on it native. First, I'm not paying for the Microsoft OS that I won't be using. Second, laptops are notoriously hard to set up linux on. I had a pretty crazy battle with my Dad's laptop a year ago when he decided that he wanted to try Linux and I don't want to go through that again.

Thanks for the ClosedBSD and SmoothWall recommendations guys, I will check them out. If I can get them to do print services as well this would be perfect.

I'll take a look at those IBM Laptops as well.

EDIT: Looks like ClosedBSD is one of those boot from a disk things... not really looking for something like that. I will consider a FreeBSD installation for the server though.

 

[scottder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aman The IBM T series makes laptops that apparently are 100% compatable with Gentoo Linux. Never tried myself, but that's what their forums are saying.

I used an IBm T20 for several years and it worked great with linux. Plus they are just damned sturdy laptops (unlike the fragile junk Sony puts out....Vaio laptops break if you look them funny).

Scott

 

[tgunner]

Wal-Mart has this super-cheap Balence laptop for $598!! It even comes with Linspire 4.5! With a Via C3, you are guranteed good battery life, and it won't singe your lap, unlike most over-powered, under cooled laptops these days!

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=3595030

 

[philodox]

Thanks man, that was exactly what I was looking for. My Mother in law works at Walmart as well so I might be able to get a discount.

Any idea how the Via chips compare to the AMD or Intel chips performance wise?

Anyone else have any comments on the Laptops that I linked or the other suggestions thus far? [IBM T Series and Walmart Balance]

 

[tgunner]

Quote:

Originally Posted by philodox Any idea how the Via chips compare to the AMD or Intel chips performance wise?

The Via chips are speciffically designed to use little power, and emit very little heat... Much like the intel Centrino. I haven't used one yet, but I have been thinking about it. They generally might not seem as fast as an AMD, or intel, but, as I said, they are very efficent, cheap, and should be just fine for what you need!

 

[uzziah]

i just recently picked up an acer 3002LCi from microcenter

$700 + tax up front (also free canon printer after rebate if you want one)
$200 in rebates from microcenter
$100 rebate if you sign up for a microcenter visa credit card

so for me in colorado (denver), it was $400 + tax after rebate

sempron processor is quite quicky
nice 15" screen
not very heavy at just over 6lbs for 15" laptop

only problem is that the battery life is pitiful at a little over 1hr real time. you can pick up an extended battery for $90 shipped on ebay, sell this one for $15 or so, and thus battery upgrade would cost you about $75

so that's $475 + tax with upgraded batter

check fatwallet.com for rebate deals on ram. you can probably swing a 512mb stick for $25 after rebate or so

so then $500 + tax with battery and ram

if you want music you can upgrade hdd of course

blah blah....i noticed one of them on ebay runnin FREEBSD, so i'm hopeful that linux will run well on it. BUT...isn't it impossible to get internal wifi working undre linux? this is a broadcom card in this one (nice signal by the way)

just a suggestion if you have a microcenter nearby. i picked one up and it's a steal. very nice construction i think. not IBM for sure, but not bad at all. well designed cooling which is important for the sempron. using amd powernow and the extended battery you should get 3+ hrs of battery life.

 

[uzziah]

you could even get an 80gb 5400rpm samsung hdd for $100, sell the 40gb 4200rpm drive it comes with, probably be out another $75

STILL would be cheaper than that walmart thing at $575 + tax for battery upgrade, ram upgrade, and hdd upgrade

don't buy tha walmart one. if you want to spend a little more you can get in on the dell deals that are $750 off notebooks $1500 or more and score yourself a nice one for $750 or less.

of course IBM thinkpads are wonderful and will serve you well. all depends on what you want. i'm not sure if you can even get internal wifi to work, which would suck big time. i've had three thinkpads and they're fantastic, but for the price of this acer you could only get a PIII thinkpad used on ebay. all up to you.

 

[philodox]

That looks like another good option.

I'm not sure if there are any microcenter's in canada though.

 

[videocrew]

sorry, i type too fast for my brain to keep up. when i said you didn't need a laptop, i mean you wouldn't need a router. sorry, i'm easily confused.

i edited the original post for clarity.

also, the advantage to boot-from-disk is that hackers can't change anything in the system, cd is read-only.

plus its not something you turn on and off a lot (hopefully you won't at all), its all gonna run from RAM anyway, so no worries with the cd-boot thing.