LinuxPlanet - Print - Off The Shelf And Onto Your Lap(top)

Off The Shelf And Onto Your Lap(top)

By: Rob Reilly
Thursday, March 4, 2004 10:14:04 AM EST
URL: http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reviews/5274/1/

Marketing 102

With the laptop on the dining room table I couldn't wait to push the power button. Never mind the power cord. Within a minute or two, I had filled in "root" and its password, on the login screen.

And... there it was, the Gnome desktop, ready to go. A quick click to the Mozilla browser confirmed that I was connected to my home's 802.11b access point. Too cool.

Moments before, the UPS guy had delivered a shipping box with a complete Red Hat equipped Centrino powered Linux laptop, courtesy of LinuxCertified, Inc.

Morgan Lim, of LinuxCertified had offered to loan me one of their premier Linux machines for a product review. It took about 2.5 ms to accept his offer. Being a Linux technology writer is a tough job.

LinuxCertified has an interesting marketing model.

Several years ago the company was offering Linux classes to researchers, academics and others who were migrating from Unix environments. Linux provided several key advantages, such as cost, enhanced productivity and access to a huge range of software tools.

Back in those early days, LinuxCertified needed a way to get some high profile attention for their classes. Hey, how about giving laptops away with their courses? They purchased refurbished Thinkpads from IBM Global Services, loaded Linux on them, and gave them to the students in the classes. Not only did the student then have a machine to work on in class, but they'd also be able to continue their Linux education long after they finished the course.

The idea caught on and LinuxCertified began getting requests from alumni for more laptops (both refurbished and new). At the beginning of 2003 they started selling their brand new LC2000 series laptops with a choice of distributions: Red Hat Professional, Fedora, Debian (the LC2430 model was officially certified by Debian), SUSE, etc. The company will also be shipping Sun Java Desktop and Xandros, as well.

Which brings us to today. How does the LinuxCertified model LC2210 Linux laptop measure up? Let's find out.

What's In a LinuxCertified Laptop?

Hardware

The LC2210 has a host of goodies that make it a great choice as a portable workstation. Here's a condensed spec sheet:

1.4 Ghz Intel Pentium M (Centrino) processor
512 MB memory
40 GB hard drive
14-inch XGA TFT LCD display
Intel Extreme 2 / AGP V.2.0 compliant video chip-set
DVD-R & CD-R/W combo drive
Intel 10/100 ethernet controller
Intel internal 56k modem
Intel audio chipset
Mini-pci Prism 2.5 wireless lan card (replaces Centrino components)
The normal assortment of I/O ports, including 3 USB ports
Type II PCI Cardbus PCMCIA socket
Smart Li-Ion battery
Black 12 X 10.6 X 1 inch case
5.5 lbs.
Pre-loaded Red Hat Professional Linux. Custom install with both GNOME and KDE desktop environments, including Linux distribution CDs

I especially liked the generous amount of memory, the 14 inch XGA screen, and the three USB ports. And, compared to my old 300 Mhz. PII laptop, the 5.5 lb. weight of the machine made it a joy to carry around.

Software

The LC2210 was loaded with Red Hat 9.0. One thing that LinuxCertified has done is optimize the package with a custom kernel (version 2.4.26). That should keep clients happy because the drivers have all been assembled and wrung out before the machine is delivered. The idea is to provide a complete workstation box that lets engineers and scientists work on work, not on getting their machine set up.

Overall the desktop is a basic Gnome 2.2.0 setup. Click on the little red hat at the bottom and you'll get the normal menu selections. OpenOffice.org buttons are next to the red hat on the menu bar. I changed the number of desktops to 6. At the bottom right on the tool bar was the time and date.

The desktop has qood mix of mainstream Linux applications loaded to help the client get their work done. These include:

OpenOffice.org for documents, spreadsheets, drawings and presentations
The Mozilla browser and mail client
The Evolution mail client package
The Gaim instant message program and XChat
The KDE office applications, such as Korganizer, Knotes, Kjots and Kpilot
Several PDF viewers
The Gimp graphics editor
Various audio/cd players, like gnome-cd and XMMS, and the ripper, Grip
Games like Konquest, Chess, Maelstrom and of course, Tux Racer
The Ogle DVD player (I had to dig to find it, though)

Additionally, the machine, had the usual selection of network and admin tools for setting up the networking, toolbars, screen backgrounds and so on.

Overall, the computer had everything that a client would need to immediately be productive. Just set up a user and off you go.

How Did It Run?

Networking

I was very excited to see how the Centrino chipsets worked in a Linux laptop. Everyone knows Intel is "developing" drivers for the wireless chips. As a consequence, LinuxCertified had to use a Prism 2.5 based mini-pci card for wi-fi connectivity. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't test the built-in Centrino wireless capabilities. The Prism-based solution worked flawlessly and made using Kismet possible. As a freelancer, I spend quite a bit of time "out and about" following up on and writing stories. Kismet helps me sort out new access points and really works well with Prism cards.

Actually, it was a little strange to power up the laptop in a downtown park and find that my home page magically appeared in Mozilla, seemingly out of the blue. I'm used to patiently watching the link light on my SMC 2632W 802.11b card, in my laptop, to see if I've been successfully associated with an access point.

Where was the access point at the park? Who knows. Typing "/sbin/iwconfig" in an Xterm, told me the SSID, which really didn't help identify my unknowingly benevolent wireless host.

I did a quick scan of a couple of Linux news sites and then just went on to working in OpenOffice.org. For the user that simply buys a new Linux laptop and isn't familiar with how 802.11b networking works, it might be a little confusing that their web connectivity is sometimes there and sometimes not. Fortunately, a little wi-fi status indicator is visible on the toolbar as a replacement for the link light.

I plugged a CAT5 cable into RJ-45 jack (wired LAN connection) on the left side of the laptop and connected it to my network. It worked fine.

What would a Linux laptop be without dialup? When you are out of range of wi-fi and not on a wired LAN, it's still nice to be able to get to the 'Net. This machine has an onboard 56K modem. I plugged in the phone cable. I then ran "/etc/rc.d/init.d/network stop" to shut down the wireless and ethernet cards. Next, I put my local ISP number into KPPP and clicked connect. I was happy to see that the traditional modem/Linux dialup problem had been solved. The modem dialed and after a few seconds I was back on the net and connected at 48K. Since everything is built-in, again, it was a pleasant respite from the old PCMCIA modem, network card shuffle. The new drill: plug in the appropriate cable and connect.

When I was done testing the modem, I quit KPPP, ran "/etc/rc.d/init.d/network start" and was back up on the wi-fi link. Easy!

Linux has always had problems with the so-called WinModems I don't know if this was a WinModem or not...and I didn't particularly care. The modem just worked and that's the way it should be for a complete Linux laptop solution.

Running On Batteries

I was impressed with the performance of the Centrino chipset. A noted feature of Centrino is modest power consumption in relation to the performance. Although this model had ONLY a 1.4 Ghz clockspeed, it had ample computing power and stamina, even with the mini-pci Prism wireless card turned on. Here is a rundown (pardon the pun) on how the machine worked, performing a couple of different functions, while on the battery.

On its way to a low power warning (at 15% capacity) the machine ran for 3 hrs. and 5 min. with the Prism card connected, the LCD screen lit, and an occasional clicking to a new web site in Mozilla.
I watched the entire "Pink Panther Strikes Again" DVD movie (1 hr. and 45 min.), with the built-in speakers at full volume, the Prism card connected and still had 27% left on the battery.
Charging the battery back up to full power required 3 hrs. and 50 min. from the 15% warning mark.

Overall, I thought that battery performance was good. It would be completely usable for the average road warrior. An optional extra battery is also available.

Experiences Of A Young Linux User

At one point during testing I turned my eight-year-old daughter loose on the machine. She typed a few sentences into OpenOffice.org Writer and looked at a couple of web sites on Mozilla. She said that it looked just like OpenOffice.org on her machine. Her computer is the lone Windows 98 box on my network and is kept around because it runs her games. But, even still she navigated around without any problem.

Another thing that caught my daughter's eye was the tried and true Tuxracer. The graphics are great on the LC2210 with no lags or stopping of the action. Tux smoothly flies down the slopes, grabbing herring, without a problem. My daughter really enjoyed Tuxracer.

Areas Of Improvement

No product review would be complete without mention of the areas of possible improvement. Happily, the LinuxCertified laptop had only of couple of minor irritations. Even better, no real show stoppers.

First up was the issue with the Centrino LAN chipset. I was disappointed that drivers were not available for the machine. It would have been nice to test a complete Centrino package. Intel seems to be the one holding up release of the specifications for the the chips. So, it's not really LinuxCertified's fault. Their alternative solution, the Prism mini-pci board, worked great.

Another area that tripped me up a little was with the mouse pad and wheel mouse. I like to use a wheel mouse even with a laptop. I reconfigured the desktop to use a 2 button PS/2 mouse with a wheel. I could even un-plug the PS/2 mouse and the mouse pad would work correctly. If I restarted X or the machine with just the mouse pad, cursor movement was irratic and hard to control. I didn't spend much time trying to fix the problem, but I did want the reader to know about it.

Also, in trying to fix the mouse pad issue, I mistakenly removed the mouse altogether. When I restarted, I was able to generate the dreaded "i830 DRM" error. It seems that there are situations where the i830 graphics chipset has problems when certain things in XF86Config are changed. Unfortunately, the error kept repeating and never would bring up X. The reason I mention it is because, some users may change their mouse or screen resolution and then need to go back and fix it.

Here's how I fixed it.

When the error started repeating, I hit enter a couple of times and then typed in "root" and the root password.
Even though the errors kept repeating, I then typed "init 3" to make the machine go to run level 3. I followed the init command with a couple of enters.
Next I changed directory to /etc/X11. Fortunately, a backup copy of the XF86Config file is created whenever the original is altered, via a desktop tool. It was a simple matter to copy XF86Config.backup to XF86Config.
Then, I just typed "init 5" and logged back in as a normal user. X and Gnome came up normally, with no "i830" errors. The user may have to restart the network, as outlined earlier.

One last area that users might want to know about were the version levels of the applications.

OpenOffice.org was at 1.0.2
Mozilla was at revision 1.2.1
Gnome was version 2.2.0

It's understandable that on a "certified" laptop, applications might lag a little as far as latest revisions go. Users would go through LinuxCertified for upgrades to ensure compatibility and minimize headaches.

Overall Impressions

The LC2210 turned out to be a very nice, easy-to-use machine. Battery life was good, as were the graphics and wireless performance. It also had a very respectable mix of applications that would be a great starting point for any portable engineer or scientist. It could even satisfy the requirements of a Linux technology writer.

The whole focus of LinuxCertified is to provide a Linux based platform that would let a client get their work done, without having to fiddle around endlessly with the machine and its setting.

Overall, I think the LinuxCertified laptop met its goals admirably. Not having to load and troubleshoot the installation, alone makes the base price of $1399 a real Linux bargain.

Rob Reilly is a freelance Technology Writer and Speaker. He's particularly interested in stories about Linux on the desktop/laptop, recycling with Linux and portable computing. He's currently developing seminars on Linux presentation technology, "road warrior" techniques and business web basics. Send him a note or visit his web site at http://home.earthlink.net/~robreilly.