Re: [PLUG] hp compaq nx5000 w/ SuSE

[Jeff McAdams <jeffm@iglou.com>]

Michael D. Bevilacqua wrote:
> At the suggestion of a friend while shopping for a new
> notebook, I recently purchased the hp compaq nx5000 w/ SuSE
> 9.1 preinstalled and just sort of wanted to give a couple of
> shouts about it to the community due to this endeavor by hp
> deserving some attention. I'd also like to hear any other
> opinions from owners/non-owners.

I just recently came into posession of an nx5000 as well (work is giving
it to me on indefinite loan...I love my job ;)...like, earlier this
week.  Work purchased it because they were evaluating replacements for
the Compaq Evo line of notebooks that have been discontinued and that we
have used for many years as our main office and loaner laptops.  The
decision by my work is that we will not be purchasing the
nx5000...there's a lot that goes into it, and I don't know the criteria
upon which that was decided.  The result, however, is that we had a
singe nx5000 that we owned and didn't know what to do with it.  We
didn't want to use it as an office/loaner because it would be a
one-off...the bane of the existence of Helpdesk folks.  So my boss
(who's also in charge of the helpdesk) decided that I should get it.
We're a Windows shop for laptops and desktops still, but I still run
Linux (with my boss's and all of management's blessing...I was hired
because of my Linux expertise), so he knew I'd put Linux on it (we
evaluated it for the possibility of down the road also supporting Linux
on it) and would be a one-off and wouldn't be going to the Helpdesk for
support anyway.  :)  Like I said...I love my job.  ;)

Anyway...my thoughts are pretty positive on this machine.  Though I
can't really comment on price/performance since I didn't have to bear
the cost.

The nx5000 in my posession was shipped with Windows pre-installed, not
SuSE.  And I learned a bit of a tidbit when I started to put SuSE 9.2 on
it.  The models vary slightly based on the pre-installed OS.  For
example, the "hp W500 Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC
(rev 01) mini-pci wifi controller" from your review isn't in the version
that I have.  The version I have is a full Centrino chipset, including
the Wifi.  Imagine my surprise, however, when SuSE 9.2 detected it and
handled it without any problems whatsoever (well, once I realized that
there's a hardware button that controls the enabling and disabling of
the RF radio).  The other difference that I'm aware of is that the
"Windows version" comes with a BCM4401 ethernet NIC, which is only
10/100.  That's fine with me...I don't have any place where I can plug
my laptop in at gig speeds.

The speedstep stuff works fine on mine.  I did notice in the
/proc/cpuinfo that it was running ~600Mhz as well.  When I fired up
something that actually used cpu (I did:
while true
do
echo blah > /dev/null
done
) the clock speed hopped immediately up to 1500Mhz (which is the stated
speed for mine...perhaps yours is newer, which could explain the NIC
differences as well).

I haven't tried the modem (who uses modems anymore? ;), so I don't have
a clue if that works or not.  Two usb ports, which I have only minimally
used, with usb 2.0 support; firewire, which is to this point unviolated;
I just noticed it has an SD slot, so obviously heretofore unutilized;
and two PC card slots, also unmolested in my usage as of yet.
Obviously, I don't make extensive use of the hardware features of
computers on a regular basis.  They're basically, for my purposes, a
convenient platform for basic Internet access.  *shrug*  Makes for
boring reviews, I know.

That all having been said...SuSE has been a dream to use on this thing.
 Virtually everything that I've tried has "just worked"...though I did
have to go get an updated RPM for Thunderbird in order to be able to use
Enigmail with it, which is an absolutely requirement for me.

Overall, I'm very excited about having this laptop to use, and certainly
the price was right for me, though I don't know how well it stacks up in
the general case.
-- 
Jeff
".sig under reconstruction due to transitioning to the aforementioned
laptop"  -- me

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: OpenPGP digital signature

___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug