[ale] Good Linux Laptop from Lenovo?

[Steve Litt]

On Sun, 6 Dec 2020 14:15:00 -0500
Sean Kilpatrick via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:


> On Sun, Dec 6, 2020 at 1:17 PM David A. De Graaf via Ale <ale at ale.org>
> wrote:
> 
> > On 12/6/20 12:44 PM, Bob Toxen via Ale wrote:  
> > > I'm looking for advice on purchasing a new Laptop to install and
> > > run Linux, almost certainly CentOS but maybe Slackware.  I'l

> Ah, but an Ethernet/USB dongle exists. I have one and it works well.
> 
> Sean
> 

Excellent idea, but the problem with modern "legacy free" laptops is,
by the time you buy a USB DVD drive, and a USB ether net, and if you
use a USB mouse because trackpads mess up your typing, pretty soon
you're all out of USB slots, unless you also carry a USB hub. After
awhile it's a Rube Goldberg Machine.

There are those who say you don't need an optical drive because you can
boot from thumb drives. My experience tells me that an optical drive,
made by cdrecord or wodim against an ISO, always boots correctly. With
thumb drives, you have to go through a series of rain dances to get
them bootable, and each distro has its own set of raindances. Easy
solutions like dd or unetbootin only work for some bootable software or
distros.

SteveT

Steve Litt 
Autumn 2020 featured book: Thriving in Tough Times
http://www.troubleshooters.com/thrive