Buying an HP Pavilion laptop for GNU/Linux
In contrast to HP's printer division, the laptop division has almost no awareness whatsoever of non-Windows operating systems. Partly, this impression comes from my interaction with Sheridian the human auto-responder in HP technical support, who during our chat session, could only repeat such comments as "HP will support only for the preinstalled operating system" and "HP does not recommend to change the preinstalled operating system" and could only suggest that I call something he called "Liux support" but couldn't specify what he meant. However, I didn't really expect better. Mostly, the impression comes from the laptop itself, which supports basic functionality for GNU/Linux, but includes a number of peripherals and extras that major distros do not support straight off the DVD and some of which can't be enabled even with tinkering.
A quick investigation showed that the laptop could boot Live CDs for the latest versions of Debian and Ubuntu. But I wanted an RPM installation for testing purposes, so I ended up installing Fedora 7, whose recent innovations have impressed me. Installation, including the wired ethernet connection, was uneventful, and, for most purposes, the laptop gives me all that I need. Having too many deadlines to sit around Starbucks with the wannabe writers, I don't really need more than a functional computer whose DHCP connection I can occasionally plug in. If I'm not at my workstation, I don't want to be connected to the rest of the world.
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