pages describing installations of linux on various machines

Specific Install Pages

Toshiba Satellite A20 Linux Install
General Thinkpad Notes
Thinkpad T21

General Install Checklist

Here is the list of things that always seem to be problematic:

• closing the lid and having the laptop automatically sleep
• hibernating the laptop.
• battery life: without tweaking most linux distributions will do things that drain your battery faster than windows.
• external vga. This includes easily changing screen resolutions to accommodate the projector.
• s-video output. ditto on the screen resolution
• wireless card: complete with graphical interface for switching networks.
• network in general: automatic network detection so moving from wired to wireless and home, to work, to conference room is trivial. If not automatic then some graphic user interface for doing so.
• docking station
• laptop specific keys: volume, screen switching, brightness. This includes on screen display for volume changing.
• modem: most laptops have "winmodems" which are not automatically detected and setup by linux distributions.
• sound card: this works most of the time, but sometimes cause problems with the power management.