Where to find a free software friendly notebook?
Around here people write about free software friendly computers. But there is no list of free software friendly notebooks? If I want to obtain one, then how?
I am a translator!
Basically, from my experience (been testing on various laptops) - any laptop that has an intel graphics card will work fine. The only problem is the that on most setups wireless won't!!
But you can by a dongle for 30-40 € ...
I am a translator!
doh - was writing this fast - two typos-
the and buy (not by)
:-)
I bought my computer from ThinkPenguin. It works really great with free software. I have the Gentoo Penguin which I don't think they sell anymore.
I am a member!
Basically there are a few things you'll want at a bare minimum to check before you buy (and this still won't guarantee you'll get a system that is problem free):
1. Make sure the system uses Intel graphics ONLY. No NVIDIA/ATI/Hybrid solution.
2. The system is NOT an HP, Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba, Sonay, Apple, IBM, or Acer. These companies are implementing digital restrictions on the mini PCIe card slots where the wifi card goes. You won't be able to replace it with a free software friendly wifi card and there is a high chance you won't get a free software one as most companies are not shipping with free software friendly chipsets.
3. I had a #3... but forgot what it was now.
There are a variety of issues you can still encounter like wifi switches that don't work (ie system won't work even without digital restrictions as the wifi is off-by-default and there is no GNU/Linux driver for the on/off switch).
Other common issues are ACPI related. Things like the graphics, sound, and power management being problematic or non-functional. You won't really be able to determine if a system has these types of issues easily short of having the system in hand. As someone else mentioned there are other solutions if your buying a new or refurbished laptop: ThinkPenguin (ie CEO here) and Gluglug sell Trisquel friendly systems (the later doesn't even have a proprietary BIOS, but as they are based on much older refurbished Lenovos there are problems keeping these in stock- I don't think you can get one at the moment- maybe in a few months- the wifi restriction is removed on these- but generally speaking if your not going with a Gluglug I'd discourage you from getting Lenovo).
Here are some suggestions tonlee:
Dear tonlee
This website is made to solve your problem:
https://h-node.org/hardware/catalogue/en