[Cialug] Comments on this plan of action?

[Jeff Davis]

I'm looking at buying a new laptop and I'd like comments from
the group in case I've overlooked something.

I'm leaning towards the HP Pavilion zv5000z notebook (aka Compaq Presario R3000Z.)
This is largely because I can get it with an AMD 64 CPU
and most of the laptops I've seen are P4 based.

Since I doubt I'll get an actual WinXP CD and for various reasons I need to keep
the Windows OS, the first step will be to repartition the drive using Partition Magic.

Then install probably Suse or Fedora Core2 on newly created partition.
I'll have to go with a 32 bit version because the integrated wi-fi is
broadcom based and to my knowledge the ndiswrapper does NOT work under
a 64bit OS.
(Seems silly to have to choose between a hardline connection and 64 bit
computing OR wireless and 32 bit.  I may talk myself into another wireless card.)

I realize at this point the AMD64 is overkill because I won't really be using it.
However I'm hoping that there will be a 64 bit ndiswrapper soon and I'm trying to plan ahead.

So, thats the plan and any comments are welcomed.
(preferably regarding the choice of machine or OS install.)

BTW, I'm looking at that particular machine largely because
of the CPU.  (I'm replacing an HP with a 600 Mhz Celeron,
which is succesfully running as a dual boot WinME
[yeah yeah, pipe down] and Fedora Core2.)

The down side is the crappy video chipset that comes with it,
and also I'd prefer a 17 inch widescreen instead of the 15.4.


Jeff Davis