barebones laptop

[Derek Broughton]

Default User wrote:

> On Mon, 2007-09-17 at 08:02 -0400, Scott wrote:
>> Eberhard Roloff wrote:
>> > Out of interest, I filled in the basics that a "normal" laptop nowadays
>> > offers and, no surprise, I am at $1450 and more, Operating system and
>> > office excluded.
>> > 
>> > Is this a good deal?
>> I don't think so.  I got a great laptop for CND $499.  A Dell Inspiron
>> 1501
>> http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspn_1501.  It
>> did come with windows and crap software, but I just formated the hard
>> drive and threw Ubuntu in it.  Works great.
> 
> Does it have built-in wireless, or did you have to add an adapter?  And
> was wireless up and running "out of the box", or did you have to do
> some sort of tinkering to get it working?

afaik, Intel wireless is available in all Inspirons - usually for exactly
the same price as the "Dell" wireless.  But adaptors don't add much (mine
cost $18 after the Intel ipw2200 in the Inspiron died).  The intel wireless
works "out of the box".

> Sent to you from a GNU/Linux computer using Ubuntu Version 7.04 (Feisty
> Fawn).  2004 Toshiba M35X laptop, no internal wireless.  Requires
> Netgear WG511T cardbus adapter for wireless (only wireless adapter I
> have fount that will work "out of the box". F/OSS wireless is pure
> agony. That's why I asked.

ime, saying something like "netgear WG511T works" is not right, either.  The
manufacturers have an annoying habit of using different chipsets in devices
with the same name.  You need to know the chipset - and any other device
using whatever your netgear WG511T uses should work out of the box, too.
-- 
derek