Looking for a good portable linux system

Brian Karas brian at karas.net
Sun Dec 19 18:24:01 EST 2004


I've done something similar at a few job rev's now.

Some things I've learned... 

Get a case with wheels, I use musicians hard cases most of the time, you can
find them at Daddy's or similar music outlets.  Even an 8 oz laptop gets
heavy after 2 layovers, 1 delay and 15 hours of travel :)

Weight *is* a concern, because the thing WILL be tossed about by angry
baggage handlers.

With that in mind, I usually use removable hard drives, as this seems to be
the most delicate part.  I take them as carry-on, never had any problems
with this.

A generic pusrpose-built system is generally preferable to a Dell or similar
name-brand system.  Makes finding replacement parts at 9AM in an unfamiliar
city a little easier.

The TSA has left their calling card in my luggage many times, but never
really altered or ruined anything, I wouldn't worry too much about that.
Just make sure if you have a locking case that you leave it unlocked.

There are a lot of decent sized dual-proc system boards out there, I'd
recommend the newer 7520 chipset boards, personally.

Pack spare parts if you can.  An extra NIC or hard drive or vid card goes a
lot way sometimes.

If you can, make it so that the system can boot off your laptop (or CD/DVD)
to reinstall the OS and product.  This has saved me a few tense moments.

-----Original Message-----
From: gnhlug-discuss-admin at mail.gnhlug.org
[mailto:gnhlug-discuss-admin at mail.gnhlug.org] On Behalf Of Bruce Dawson
Sent: Saturday, December 18, 2004 11:08 AM
To: GNHLUG Discussion
Subject: Looking for a good portable linux system

I'm looking for a good portable Linux system. It needs to be dual processor
(preferably > 2.0GHz) and support at least 2 GB of RAM. USB 2.0 ports and
IDE drives are a plus, as is an AGP slot.

Note: this does not have to be a laptop, but does have to fit easily in a
suitcase. Something like the Shuttle form factor would be fine.

I don't care much about weight (unless it can't withstand the rigors of a
plane's cargo hold), but it does have to be reliable and moderately rugged.
This unit will be collecting a lot of air miles, (but won't be used while
onboard the plane).

Does anyone have an recommendations? (Or what to stay away from?)

Thanks,

--Bruce




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