On 2011-10-09, at 10:38 AM, Yasha Karant wrote:

> On 10/09/2011 09:56 AM, Andrew Z wrote:
>> Sorry to hear Yasha about the trouble with lappy.
>> May i suggest to look into tablets?
>> Another idea maybe to look at fatwallet, I just saw a few deals for smth
>> around $300 or so.
>> --
>> Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
>> 
>> Yasha Karant <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> 
>>    My wife's laptop recently was stolen, and the university will NOT
>>    replace it because her Department has no money and she currently has no
>>    open grants.  I routinely install EL on all machines over which I have
>>    any say; we need to replace her laptop as soon as possible so that we do
>>    not have to share laptops.  She only needs a browser, office suite, PDF
>>    manipulation, and Thunderbird/Lightning -- she does not need a heavy
>>    duty graphics/visualisation or development unit.  (Firefox, OpenOffice,
>>    Thunderbird/Lightning, VirtualBox running MS Win for MS Win specific
>>    applications, etc., suffice for her needs.)
>> 
>>    We have seen several discounted/sale/close-out laptops with dual layer
>>    DVD burners, etc., of a size she will accept (smallish screen, low mass
>>    unit).  I insist on at least a battery that can be replaced without
>>    disassembling
>>       the
>>    laptop, and a mains supply power plug that is
>>    supported by iGo.
>> 
>>    I have made a bootable DVD from the current standalone (no install)
>>    bootable SL 6.1 IA-32 image (a bit larger than 2 Gbyte -- I do not
>>    recall the exact file name but there were only two choices -- a smaller
>>    one and the "full" one -- I chose full).
>> 
>>    On none of the test machines did the 802.11 interface activate, nor is
>>    there any sign of Gnome NetworkManager (I prefer NetworkManager for
>>    end-user machines that must go to the field).
>> 
>>    My intention was to use the SL 6.1 stand alone IA-32 as a way of testing
>>    that all needed drivers are present in the "stock" image, as I know that
>>    other than in those nations in which Microsoft has been found to be a
>>    monopoly and meaningful remedies enforced, some IA-32 hardware only has
>>    a MS Win driver, forcing the unpleasant use of NDIS (that I plan to avoid).
>> 
>>    I could go back to the in
>>      ventory
>>    of what is supplied on the image file
>>    that I burned, but to save me time, does anyone know if the 802.11
>>    drivers are part of that image?  Is NetworkManager?  Is the image
>>    configured to connect automatically (including activating the 802.11
>>    interface)?  The DVD did boot, Gnome did come up, and the sound test
>>    indicated that the sound interface was recognized -- but no 802.11 and
>>    thus no Internet (via DHCP).
>> 
>>    Any information or suggestions would be helpful.
>> 
>>    Yasha Karant
> 
> Thank you for the kind suggestions.  Again, my wife wants a small laptop 
> (not a microscopic one based upon an Atom processor) with a dual layer 
> DVD burner, USB 2 (and preferably 3 but that probably is not 
> affordable), 802.3 RJ-45 and 802.11, etc.  She definitely wants a 
> keyboard using standard size keys (not necessarily a full complement -- 
> no requirement for a numeric keypad on the keyboard).
> 
> I am thinking of a fat wallet to replace the non-existant PDA (mine has 
> failed).
> 
> As we are paying for it (owned by the university, thus not under our 
> personal insurance), we are looking for $300 US or so.
> 
> Yasha Karant


Yasha, a better solution for a desktop/laptop computer may be to use ubuntu or maybe Fedora... Or, perhaps, just try the LiveCDs, and if *those* work, see what software was used to get it working.

I have had some pretty good success with ubuntu.

You might also try going for a used laptop - maybe a macbook? they all have standard hardware and I know that ubuntu at least will run on a 2009/2008 model white macbook and will work with the wireless perfectly.

-chris