Linux on Laptops
Published on 1 Oct 2005 · Filed in Musing · 261 words (estimated 2 minutes to read)Over the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to install Fedora Core 3 (FC3) on three different laptops from three different manufacturers. So far, FC3 has installed and performed without a hitch. The install went flawlessly on all three systems, the video cards and laptop screens were detected and configured correctly, and an old 802.11b PC Card I had laying around was detected without any problem.
Perhaps the experts are right; perhaps Linux isn’t ready to take on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. If so, it won’t be for long. If the open source community continues to drive innovation with solutions like Fedora Linux, Samba, Firefox, Evolution, GNOME, KDE, and OpenOffice, Linux will continue to become more and more competitive with more popular operating systems.
The real key, in my opinion, is in winning the next generation over to the possibility of running something other than Windows. This is where Linux and Apple are really having some success; I can’t tell you how many reports I’ve read about Linux and Mac OS X usage on college campuses. Once you can get people to actually understand that you don’t have to run Windows on your computer, then the alternatives start to have a future.
But alas, I digress. This post is supposed to be about Linux on laptops. Next time you pull out that older laptop that used to run Windows 98 and wonder what you are going to do with it, try installing Linux on it. You may find that old laptop still has some life left in it.