Buying a laptop - OS

Victor

'lo all,

I'm going to buy an entry level lap-top for home / work use. I want it to be generally compatible with PCs at work on say Win 98 (I found Win 98 Second Edition to be quite stable). I know theres a bunch of new OSs out there in various editions.

Any recommendations on OS?

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Kill, kill, kill the laser mice.

Hobbes

I got a laptop recently (PIII 800, 512MB, 20GB).

I have redhat Linux 7.1 running on it.
- KDE is nicer looking then windows.
- I have windows Notes Client running under WINE (runs great).
- I have SAMBA Running so I can access all the networked machines.
- All suite applications come free. Tons of software, games, etc all free.

But what do you plan to use the laptop for?

Apart from Notes all I'm really using it for is Java development (Have VisualAge for Java installed).

Victor

Mostly spreadsheets - up to 2 MB each (that's a horse of a spreadsheet), but other than that, wordprocessing, e-mail, and less importantly web-browsing, some other minor applications.

I've been made self employed, so I need to be able to use it either at home, in a client's office or on site.

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Kill, kill, kill the laser mice.

amp

W2k pro. All the plug n play of w98 and all the stability of nt. Easy as pie to install. BUT VELLY VELLY EXPENSIVE!

And of course linux is better*

*Just so I don't get pelted with rotten tomatoes from the beardy men.

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Lunacy Abounds! GLminesweeper RO><ORS!
"Boxes for show, Baskets for a pro" - [FCA]SyxPak

quozl

Dont let anyone tell you to install linux. It'd be madness. If you're asking what kind of OS to pick, then you dont want linux. Even modern installs are much harder than windows. And configuration changes afterwards are hugely more difficult.
i'd rather linux because I'm used to it, but if you're used to windows, make sure you get some flavour of windows. (and way more ppl you know will be able to help you with windows problems, without having to resort to usenet or whatever)
quozl

Hobbes

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by quozl:
Dont let anyone tell you to install linux. It'd be madness. </font>

What drugs are you on?

Redhat 7.1 was all GUI install driven, it was extremly easy to install and reconised all my devices on my laptop (the exception being my screen, which is a non-standard screen. I Got the settings to fix it from the manufactuers though).

Heck even reconised my USB logitech mouse and PCMIA network card without having to download any drivers at all. Only other operating system I've seen do that is W2K (and one instance I had to download SP2 to get a laptop to work properly).

However regardless if you go with linux or not, your still going to have to pay "MS Tax". You will be very lucky to find a laptop that doesn't have windows pre-installed and that makes up a large chunk of the laptop price.

My laptop came with WinME installed and the exact same laptop with W2K would cost $150+ more. I bought RH7.1 rather then download it. It cost $77 and comes with support and other extras. For example I contacted thier support about my screen and I got a human reply back within 24 hours. Try that with windows.

Now as for spreadsheet. Linux comes with a whole office suite free. I'm not too up on spreadsheets, the KSpread program will import Excel 97 spreadsheets. I don't know how the application fairs against Excel though.

However excel has been proven to work under WINE (See here). Note, WINE is not an emulator it is actually windows support rewritten. As I mentioned earlier I have Notes client running under WINE with 0 windows OS files installed.

Now if it's later versions of Excel you are probably best going with Windows. If you want to play with Linux you can dual boot.

From Win95/98 to W2K there is a learning curve. (I would say about the same as Win95/98 to RH Linux). From NT to W2K there is also a learning curve but most of it seems to revolve around trying to find where they hid the same options.

If your willing to learn I'd say go with Linux, or if you have to use windows then go with Windows 2000.

It really depends on what you plan to use the laptop for.

Whatever you do though stay the hell away from XP.

Gerry

rh 7.1 is giving me fairly major problems, but its probably just my machine. Loads of x windows programs stop responding, and it doesn't seem any faster than win2k. I think I will just install freebsd instead.

Xterminator

I work in a tech support dept, and i think your mad if you install anyting except win2000 professional, or if games/applications are an issue use win98se.

mayhem#

Get Win2k Pro, don't go for Linux unless you're familiar with it. As great as Linux is, there is no point in having to start from scratch if one of your pre-requisites is compatibilty and ease of use...

Zee Dude

I agree win2k pro, it is much better than win98, its worth the extra.

Much easier to use and is more stable than most Linux installs, IMHO.

Hobbes

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Gerry:
rh 7.1 is giving me fairly major problems, but its probably just my machine. Loads of x windows programs stop responding, and it doesn't seem any faster than win2k. I think I will just install freebsd instead.</font>

What are you using? KDE or GNOME. I found a lot of stuff in Gnome didn't work all that great on my laptop. KDE works fine though for me (and it's what I'm used to).

Victor

Ok, I'm inclined towards Windows. I would prefer not to mess with the OS on a lap-top, they tend to be a bit more contrary than PCs.

But which version. I found Win98 SE to be good (very stable), but I'm not sure if you can buy it new. But WinME or Win2000? Is there a difference between Win2000 and Win2000 Professional?

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Kill, kill, kill the laser mice.

Gerry

I was using kde. XMMS crashed, and I said ok, maybe its just beta. Then the help system crashed, and I said hang on, windows help has never crashed on me Oops I just mentioned I read help files sometimes if faced with a problem.

K12

The difference between W2k and W2k Prof.?
The difference is you have Professional(Client) and W2k Server. You need Professional.
For your home use get W2K on your laptop. Linux is great, however, for your requirements get W2K easy install and configuration. As mentioned, P&P of '98 and NT security.

Hecate

install Win2k if its only going to be a workstation.

Linux or *BSD are only really of use if your running a server or some other specialised environment, well thats my opinion anyway