Feedback on Acer laptop w. Linux

[Oron Peled]

On Sunday, 30 בAugust 2009 07:52:18 Boaz Rymland wrote:
> ... or, go "for sure" on the Linux pre-installed ones.

Just a general warning (don't know if it applies to this specific model).
Many devices on the market with Linux pre-installed have some binary
components that make them worthless -- install your own version and
many important features will stop working.

As an example you can take all netbooks with Intel GMA-500 graphics chipset 
(Poulsbo) which needs binary blobs to function. AFAIK, many of Dell's netbooks
are equipped with this chipset, so although they are pre-installed with Ubuntu
your install/upgrade options are very restricted.

This is an example of really bad move from Intel who otherwise has excellent
free software support for its hardware.

-- 
Oron Peled                                 Voice: +972-4-8228492
oron at actcom.co.il                  http://users.actcom.co.il/~oron
Microsoft gives you windows, linux gives you the whole house.