[colug-432] Laptop Review: HP Pavillion

[FiL Farris]

490 GB for CentOS??
On Mar 29, 2012 3:08 PM, "Edward Dunagin" <edunagin at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 3/29/12, Joshua Kramer <joskra42.list at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I recently nuked the second of three USB ports on my netbook by plugging
> > something in at an odd angle.  Seeing that I was woefully under-equipped
> > equipment wise, and fearing that a USB catastrophe would nuke the one
> > remaining good port, I set out looking for a new notebook.
> >
> > MicroCenter had a Lenovo Ideapad, an i5 with 4G of RAM and 500G disk,
> that
> > I was interested in.  Unfortunately, upon booting the CentOS 6.2 live
> DVD,
> > I noted that wireless and bluetooth did not work out of the box.  With a
> > price range on the lower end of the scale, I set out to find a notebook
> > that did work.
> >
> > An HP Pavillion dm4 caught my eye.  It's a dual core i3 with 4G of RAM
> and
> > 640G of 5,400 RPM disk.  The display is an Intel 3000 chipset, and the
> > resolution is 1366x768.  You won't be playing Skyrim on this machine,
> but I
> > wasn't looking to spend a lot of money, either.  It is a refurbished unit
> > with a 90 day warranty, but a 2-year extended warranty is available for
> > $99.  It is relatively lightweight, just on the heavy side of
> > "ultraportable".
> >
> > After verifying that CentOS worked with it, I added another 4G of RAM and
> > walked out the door for a hair over $512 (not including extended
> warranty).
> >
> > After creating recovery media (it has Windows 7 Home Premium installed) I
> > wiped it and first installed CentOS 6.2, leaving about 150G free.  I then
> > installed the Ubuntu-based DreamStudio in a dual-boot configuration.
> >
> > DreamStudio boots up lightning-quick - less than 20 seconds - but when it
> > reaches the login screen, the backlight is out.  I have to manually
> adjust
> > the backlight at that time.  I haven't had the chance to try any of the
> > multimedia apps (I installed it to do some light video editing) so there
> > isn't much to report here.
> >
> > C6 boots up a bit more slowly... but at least I can see the login screen!
> > :)  For the gigabit ethernet, I had to install an EPEL-based driver [1].
> > The touchpad is sensitive, so if my hand brushes against it while typing,
>
> You can dump the touchpad with: modprobe -r psmouse.
>
>
> > the cursor jumps around.  And, even when I connect it to a TV with
> > 1920x1080 resolution, it under-drives the TV at 1366x768.  Aside from
> those
> > quirks, I am pleased with the performance of this machine, given that
> it's
> > only an i3.  Linux-based KVM virtual guests are also snappy; Windows, not
> > so much, but I haven't yet had a chance to install the KVM guest drivers.
> >
> > You can find this laptop elsewhere, but so far, MicroCenter has the least
> > expensive price.
> >
> >
> http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0380343
> >
> > [1]: kmod-atl1e-1.0.1.14-1.el6.elrepo.x86_64.rpm
> >
>
>
> --
> Edward Dunagin-Dunigan
> mobile 406-570-0992
> http://www.wifimobile.org
> http://doas.montanalinux.org
> http://www.uscitiesnews.com
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