is there any vendors who provide linux in newly wed laptop??

[sanjiv]

i am buying a laptop ...i don't want any proprietary operating system installed in it when buying....is there any vendors who provide laptops by reducing prices cause i am not in a way to have Windooss on my machine...in a simple word i want cheap priced laptops for not installing windoss....is there any vendors who caters this option...thank you.....

[David Vazquez]

Well from what I know, there are 2 netbook models:

Asus EEEPC
Acer Aspire One - Linspire Lite Edition

Also, there are open source PCs that Dell Inc. offers.

[simta]

http://system76.com/

[pete_1967]

http://lxer.com/module/forums/t/23168/
http://lxer.com/module/db/index.php?dbn=14

[scottro]

Actually, companies like system76 are often a bit more expensive than a computer with similar specifications running Windows. They (system76, etc.) have to make an effort to get hardware that is compatible with Linux. For example,when Dell first started selling preinstalled Ubuntu, it would wind up being more expensive than an MS machine with the same configuration. One reason, I thought, might be because of the hardware--for example, the wireless for the MS machine would be Broadcom but the wireless for the Ubuntu machine was Intel. (Whether one really costs Dell more than the other, I have no idea, but it was a thought.)

In the case of System76, I imagine part of the extra cost is for the labor involved in putting together a laptop that is completely Linux compatible.

[pwca]

The absolute best bargains you are going to find will be with M$ installed.

Why not just use some Live CD/DVD like:

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
http://partedmagic.com/

to completely wipe all partions (and hence all M$ traces) including the hidden ones and then create new partions for a Linux distro install of your choice?

[scottro]

I haven't even found that necessary. On my Aspire One, the Fedora install saw and removed the hidden recovery partition. Maybe it wasn't hidden very well?

[pwca]

I haven't even found that necessary. On my Aspire One, the Fedora install saw and removed the hidden recovery partition. Maybe it wasn't hidden very well?

Awww shucks, here I was trying to sell this guy the "Hey look, I'm a hacker" toolkit he can wave around under other peoples noses to make himself look all cool and you gotta come in and blow it by telling the guy any old Live CD/DVD Linux distro or installation CD/DVD will work. ;) :D

[sanjiv]

thank you people very much...but i am still not getting it.....simta gave me the link which provides me with obuntu installed laptops which is again not so cheap..is it possible that i get laptops built for windows but not installed on is so that i can have linux installed on later ?? i just need a sleeping laptop with no OS on it....obviously for the cheap bargain !!

[JohnVV]

Actually, companies like system76 are often a bit more expensive than a computer with similar specifications running Windows...
the main price diff. might be hardware in some cases BUT on a linux machine dell( or others) do not get the cash$$$$$( very BIG bucks for this junk) for the preinstalled CRAPWARE that is on a xp or vista box

[bennachie]

The cheapest options will come with Vista Home Basic (and a ton of crapware) installed. You can usually make a recovery DVD quite easily, just in case. Then you install Fedora 10 and let it wipe the lot (which is a great feeling, and MUCH easier than cleaning up the Windows installation).

To check compatibility, make a bootable USB stick (4GB is ideal) with persistence enabled, and load your favourite applications, and some sample documents. Take that to the store, and try it out.

Laptop performance, as such, won't be the problem. Any machine that can run Vista acceptably will simply charge through most work under Fedora. My eeePC 701 4G, for example, works just fine for everyday tasks, as does my eight-year-old Athlon-based desktop. My spare Mac Mini is almost too fast for comfort! Wireless connectivity is the most likely source of irritation on a budget laptop.

[stevea]

MSI Wind us another Linux UPMC.

Yeah - removing the M$ junk isn't usually a difficulty. Recouping the cost of M$ software is !
IMO the best course of action is to pick a laptop with the feature set you really want and then buy the minimal M$ software set you can. Sometimes it makes sense to but a laptop w/ the absolute minimal disk - then yank it - stick it on a shelf and insert a high performance replacement. That way if you need to use Windoze to upgrade firware or whatever ... you're all set.

[bennachie]

Getting rid of crapware should be easy, but some vendors (HP comes to mind) make the exercise as complex as possible (for example, you will have to reset a good many defaults, and reload some standard utilities). Then you will have to do about half the work again if you buy an HP printer, and install the Windows drivers from the CD provided with the device ... mind you, in fairness, HP provide some decent Linux drivers without all the unnecessary adware (and Fedora runs fine on most low-end HP/Compaq laptops).

That's a very good suggestion about replacing the hard disk after purchase - just check before you buy that this will be a straightforward exercise (it should be, but I have known exceptions). You could then put the "old disk" in a USB container, against the foreshadowed eventuality, but you would have to do some fiddling around to get Windows to boot properly (by default, Windows assumes that it will always be located on, and booted from, the master disk - the instructions for re-educating it will be somewhere on this forum).