Ubuntu compatibility on Novatech laptops

[Orangeaurochs]

Hello. I would like to know the Ubuntu compatibility of various Novatech laptops. I understand from other forums here that the X10 is pretty good for this and I think the Xplora E16. My budget might also include the V13 and V14 so any information on those would be helpful too. The machine would mostly be for web access (so wifi compatibility is probably the most important thing) with a little word processing and occasional other things too. No gaming or heavy duty video watching/downloading.

Some background if you want it:

Our PC we bought from Efficient PC has become unreliable and our netbook from Dell has a broken power socket. Both were Ubuntu machines and, although Efficient PC are now defunct and I don't want to buy another laptop with dodgy connection from Dell, I really want to get a Ubuntu laptop. The other major option for pre-installed Ubuntu, Linux Emporium, seem really expensive for the price. If it is easy and reliable to install Ubuntu onto a Novatech computer, that seems a brilliant option to me.

I am happy to install Ubuntu onto a computer as long as I know all the hardware is supported. I did a similar thing when I replaced the Dell version of Ubuntu with the standard release. However, if I have to muck around with bioses and wifi driver configuration I get nervous, although I can be persuaded if instructions are clear enough, simple, and mostly fool-proof. I have no intention of running Windows on the computer, either on its own or with a partition.

[johnckeen]

ubuntu works out of the box on almost all laptops. Ive never had a problem except ubuntu 9.10 but apparently 9.10 is a bad release anyway so am waiting on 10.04.
You should be ok with any laptop, my wireless works staright away, you can test this with the live cd...if it doesnt come up when ur on the live cd then it either wont work or will require some fiddling around.
But, you should be safe as ubuntu is a very versatile OS!
Good luck

[Mr Grapes]

9.10 has a problem with the mouse button events on my laptop (Dell D600 but it affects other users too) so I can't recommend 9.10 either...
maybe I'll try mint (though it just based on 9.10 too...)

[Lorem-Ipsum]

I have used various linux distros for a few years and ubuntu 9.10 was an awful release. It was very unstable and included a lot of new ideas, ie grub 1.97, the new GDM etc.

I use it as I do a bit of kernel patching and I managed to fix all my issues but by the looks of things 10.04 is set to be good.

[Orangeaurochs]

By fluke I never got round to upgrading to 9.10 on any of our present collection of broken computers. I feel grateful now.

However, does Ubuntu whatever.whatever work just as well/badly/better on Novatech computers as it does on other laptops? I've read compatibility reports on all sorts of laptops and they always end up by say something like "it works perfectly except for the keyboard which only works in Korean. You can easily get round this by writing your own kernel and soldering a new wireless card to the motherboard" which I want to avoid and I was hoping Novatech might be an answer. Specific examples of Novatech laptops would be ace!

[Lorem-Ipsum]

I am running 9.10 on a novatech x65 ( I think they no longer stock it) and it runs fine except for the mic which is caused by a bug I can't be bothered to fix. But all newer laptops should run fine with ubuntu.

[nowatson]

I am running 9.10 on a novatech x65 ( I think they no longer stock it) and it runs fine except for the mic which is caused by a bug I can't be bothered to fix. But all newer laptops should run fine with ubuntu.

Hey llawwehttam.

Are you not affected by the hibernation problem that I am battling with at the moment?

See http://forum.novatech.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18859

[johnckeen]

ubuntu 9.10 wont even load on my advent 7211 lol not even the live cd!
Ubuntu 9.04 works perfect on my advent although i cnt seem to get my mic to work. That is the only problem but i think there are fixes for it but i cba as i use my pc mainly anyway.
Speakers never used to work on laptops either but they have fixed that in 9.04 as well. you dont know how much i smiled when i herd the start up sound when i finished installing 9.04, sat there listening to music non stop all day it was like id never herd it before in my life haha!
Aparently the netbooks come installed with ubuntu? and ubuntu do a netbook remix.

[Mr Banana]

Ubuntu do a netbook remix but it is basically the same just with a different user interface.

I have read up that the normal install will work fine.

[norm.h]

I'm running Ubuntu 9.04 on my E16 without any problems (bought without an OS and installed Ubuntu myself).
The wireless needed setting up, (see earlier posts in this forum for the workaround).
Hopefully, 10.04 will address these.
norm

[candtalan]

ubuntu 9.10 wont even load on my advent 7211 lol not even the live cd!

Anybody followed this up and registered a bug in launchpad?

[Orangeaurochs]

Thank you for the comments, mostly generally reassuring that it should be OK. Looking at specs, I think it is between the E16 and the B17.

The E16 seems to be OK although with some hair-raising manipulations needed to get wireless working, mentioned in another forum here (http://forum.novatech.co.uk/showthread.php?t=15068). I'm not sure if that is still an issue in 9.10. It sounds like it is.

I can't find any information here or elsewhere about the B17 though.

Any further wisdom on these is welcome.

[candtalan]

General point about Ubuntu: Keep in mind the long term suport versions (LTS). They are supported for three years (desktop) rather than the 18 months for the half yearly versions, and new LTS images are released at various times to reduce initial install update activity. For example, LTS 8.04 is currently at 8.04.4. It can be upgraded to the next LTS (10.04, expected end april 2010), as can a 9.10 version. I use the LTS for my 'daily use ' machine, and also have other versions available too.

[neilpearce]

Ubuntu 9.10 and 10.4 beta work on my B17. I just manually compile the drivers for wireless and webcam as described in previous forum posts for the X10.

[Orangeaurochs]

neilpearce: Thank you, that's really helpful as I am considering the B17 which seems to have just that little more oomph.

Apologies for being thick and lazy though, but do you know where on the forums the instructions for manually compiling the wireless and webcam drivers live? A lot depends on whether I think I am competent enough to do that. Is it the same driver as for E16? That looks doable from the instructions referred to above.

[neilpearce]

@Orangeaurochs (http://forum.novatech.co.uk/member.php?u=18638) yes - the b17 does work with the same drivers as the e16. i'm typing this message right now on my b17 running ubuntu 10.4 beta :)
i now have a script that does it all for you, it builds and installs the 64-bit wireless + webcam drivers (minus the FIREDTV stuff - which we don't need and won't build anyway), with no more interaction required other than typing "sudo ./install.sh".
every time the kernel gets updated (quite often if you're installing the 10.4 beta) you just need to re-run the script and reboot.
I'll upload it to my website and post link here, if it's of any use to anybody else.

[Orangeaurochs]

@neilpearce. Thank you for that, although for various reasons not just to do with wireless cards, I've now ordered the E16! I'll probably also install 32 bit Ubuntu- I understand there isn't much advantage for 64 bit on a 2GB RAM machine and I want to play everything safe- but will the installer be of any use for me?