software.Here is hardware recommended by local folk for use with open source software.
Firewire are USB 2 offer high speed ways to connect to devices, making them ideal ways to connect to external hard drives or digital video cameras.
For Linux Laptops, the Zonet ZUC2700 FireWire/USB2 PCMCIA card is recommended for laptops. In Mark's testing with Mandriva 2006, the card Just Worked by plugging it in, no special drivers or configuration were required. It includes a port plug in an additional power adapter. It's not needed for low-power applications like flash card readers, or when the external drive supplies it's own power, but may be need for an external drive that depends on USB for power. No power supply is included, but ZoNet support reports that the kind that should be used with it is: "a 5v, center positive, DC power adapter".
The Thinkpad T23 is a model which has two PCMCIA slots on top of each other. This card fit in the slot with the recommended 2wire card underneath.
Mark recommends IBM Thinkpad laptops because they are low cost, highly functional and well-supported. There is an excellent resource website for Linux on Thinkpads at Thinkwiki.org.
ROSCo members who use Thinkpads include Mark Stosberg, Kurt Ritchie, and Matt Woida.
The models we use come from the product range of T20,T21,T22 and T23. This were found on E-bay for around $300. Some even come with pre-installed. I would look at these first not only for the convenience, but also because the laptops with Linux pre-installed tend to sell for a little less on E-bay. Mark and Hopi found that no one else even bid on their $300 Linux laptops!
These models may not come with built-in wireless capabilities, so you may want to supplement it with a wireless card we recommend
Most any standard wheel or optical mouse should work with Linux with no effort at all, including scroll wheel mice.
Laptops can often be taughth to emulate a scroll wheel using their builtin touchpad or TrackPoint. There's a page on the Thinkwiki site which explains how to emulate a scroll on Thinkpad laptops.
There are a number of hidden uses of the scroll wheel waiting to be discovered. Try these:
Linux has reputation for running well on older harder.
This is true, but it's not pixie dust that you can sprinkle on any old piece of hardware and expect the Prince of Good Performance to appear.
Generally, expect Linux to perform about like Windows does on the same hardware. Or more accurately, expect to perform like Windows does before it's bogged down with an investation of spyware and adware.
Mark recommends the following as minimum specs for a Linux desktop experience that will fill comfortable to use for everyday applications including web browsing, e-mail, office applications, watching video clips and basic music and photo processing.
The absolute minimums are usually much lower. Check the details for your preferred distribution of Linux before you install.
If you have particularly old hardware you'd like to keep alive, be prepared to use it a little differently.
Damn Small Linux is an easy to use LiveCD full of slimmed-down applications. It gives you the option to add larger applications like OpenOffice if your computer can handle it.
Modems can sometimes be a sticking point with Linux. Locally, Mark recommends the Best Data v.92 USB modem, available at OfficeMax.
The vendor, Smart Link, has a clue and provides Linux drivers.
However, at least with Mandriva Linux you won't need them-- they are included in Mandriva Discovery disc set.
To start using it, simply plug it in, and go through Mandriva's wizard to set a new modem connection. It will lead you through installing the needed software from the Mandriva CDs if necessary.
Thanks to Kurt Ritchie for the initial research on this modem.
For a list of printers recommended for use with Linux, see LinuxPrinting.org's page of suggested printers.
LinuxPrinting.org also has a service to check the a compatibility of a particular printer model.
Even if you don't need the portability of laptop, consider the following. Laptops include LCD screens, which are easy to read and can show more "screen real estate" than conventional monitors. A 15" laptop screen can contain as much detail as a 17" old school model.
If you don't like using a laptop on your lap, it's easy to prop it on a stand to put the screen at eye level, and plug in an conventional keyboard and mouse if you like.
Laptops can be silent. Laptops can quickly suspend and resume, making them totally quiet, while providing a much faster alternative to shutting down and booting up again.
Rethink portability. You don't have to travel to enjoy the portability of laptop. It can be nice to compute on the couch or in the kitchen for a change of pace. Also, there are now some free "wireless hotspots" around Richmond, like Charlie's Coffee bar, providing additional locations to work and play on the 'net.
Laptops are also fairly upgradable. They can typically support more memory, a larger hard drive, a DVD or CDRW upgrade, not to mention the many USB devices that can be plugged in as, as well as the special slot laptops have for PCMCIA cards.
Laptops save energy. You'll be even more prepared to live up the grid with a power-saving laptop!
Last but not least, laptops can now be bought at prices comparable with desktop systems, removing a key barrier to their adoption.
For best security and forward compatibility, choose a wireless card that supports the WPA2 standard.
However, when connecting to public "wi-fi hotspots", typically no encryption at all is used, and a cheaper card may work for that.
Besides WPA, there is an older standard called WEP that provides some encryption, but is no longer considered secure.
The following recommendations are for WEP cards, which are lower cost and may still be of interest to some home users, as well as those primarily using the cards at public wi-fi hotspots.
The Orinico Gold 802.11b WEP wireless card is a great product that is very well supported by Linux.
Locally, at least four of us are using this kind of card in our laptops with good results.
If this link to the 2wire refurbished cards still works, you are in luck. Pick one up for about $35 including shipping.
Using the wireless card could be as easy as inserting it into the machine and connecting to a public wi-fi network.
For a more complete list, see the Free Software Foundations (long!) list of wireless cards that work well with Free Software and Linux.
OfficeMax sells a Linksys Wireless-G "WMP54G v4.1" PCI wireless card. This is the style made to go in desktop computers. In August, 2007, these sold for about $50, and were found to be compatible with Ubuntu Feisty (7.04) Linux.