[Novalug] adventures with linux on low-cost laptops

pereira ninorpereira@gmail.com
Sun Feb 28 21:12:57 EST 2016


List,

some time ago a thread on this list dealt with laptops running linux,
in particular refurbished laptops that could be had for under $ 200 or so.
I decided to try this out because my linux laptop, purchased years ago
from LinuxCertified, weighs about 3 kg and regularly trips the maximum
weight you can carry on an airplane (so that I have to lug it by hand so
that it doesn't weigh down my luggage). The newer hardware is lighter,
and runs longer on its battery.

I bought a refurbished ASUS X551MU from MicroCenter, for $ 190,
and when Brian Smith had sniffed out a still cheaper refurbished Lenovo
Thinkpad that's rumored to work well with linux, I bought that one as well.

The latter turned out to be the case, but only thanks to Roger Broseus,
who offered his expertise in this endeavor. He had available a bootable
memory stick, an external DVD reader, and DVDs with Xubuntu 41.04
and Knoppix 7.2, and dared to repartition the disk with some confidence
(I'd be sweating bullets at such an operation).

To make a modestly long story short, the stick didn't work but the
Xubuntu disk worked with relatively little problems. We shrank the
Windows part on the disk, allocated some space to Linux, etc.
This machine is now double-boot, linux and Windows 7.

So far the main problem is the battery: it doesn't hold charge at all
(for 2 minutes, perhaps; I can switch the power brick to a different
110 V outlet, but that's it). However, on hearing my woes the refurbisher
Blair Technology Group, http://www.blairtg.com/; they sell their
machines through different web sites, mine from Sears). offered to send
me another battery. I hope it's new, but I haven't gotten it yet.
If the battery were good this might turn out to be a really nice machine,
obtained at low cost and some sweat and time. One nice feature:
the Windows 7 install had Libreoffice 5.0, not MS Office.

The ASUS was a bigger problem. Again, to make a rather long story
short, the ASUS had Windows 8.1 installed, and this OS/MB combination
really doesn't seem to want you to do anything except boot Windows 8.1.
It doesn't have a normal BIOS but something called UEFI (there was some
discussion on the  list about uEFI in another context: I don't know what
it is except trouble), but eventually we managed to go to a BIOS and
start diddling to make it double-boot, Linux/Windows 8.1. That never
worked. So, we decided to nuke Windows and go pure linux.

After many mysterious steps that we could not possibly remember,
we managed to put Xubuntu on it. It works, thanks to Roger. I could
even install a whole slew of applications, through a script that
remembers which ones I have on my main machine.

The battery on this refurbished machine seems to hold up more
or less well, but its life is still disappointing to me. I don't know what
to expect from a modern, new, low-power laptop, but this ASUS
gives me maybe 2 hours runtime.

One lesson: get patient, helpful expertise to assist. Thank you, Roger!
Another lesson: with refurbished laptops, inquire about the battery.

Thanks to the various discussions on the list, in particular Brian
whose sleuthing got me to purchase one more laptop than any
sane person can use at the same time.

Nino







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