I think I want to buy a laptop computer.
Lately I find myself needing to access the Internet from my living room - mainly when I have guests who study Japanese with me. So running back and forth to my computer room is becoming an annoyance.
I'm not going to buy an iPad. Walled garden - count me out.
Also, my budget is tight, if I decide to spend the money at all. So I'm thinking about some inexpensive machine. No Apples.
But I haven't a clue what's good and what to look for. I need something on which I can install Linux, preferably my Mandriva, which I'm used to, and have full Unicode support plus the ability to add fonts and customize input methods (which basically means I won't settle for some sort of tweaked, reduced Linux that doesn't allow me to do stuff).
There are no machines that go without an OS, but I did see machines with pre-installed Linux (something by Acer - though they didn't specify what distro it was), and there is something called Free Dos, which I need to read a little about - mainly to see how to install Linux on it if it's possible at all without being a hacker. Lenovo sells stuff in this category which is not too expensive and has an optical drive. I haven't the foggiest clue how to tell whether I can install Linux from network if I don't have an optical drive.
I'm not going to buy an iPad. Walled garden - count me out.
Also, my budget is tight, if I decide to spend the money at all. So I'm thinking about some inexpensive machine. No Apples.
But I haven't a clue what's good and what to look for. I need something on which I can install Linux, preferably my Mandriva, which I'm used to, and have full Unicode support plus the ability to add fonts and customize input methods (which basically means I won't settle for some sort of tweaked, reduced Linux that doesn't allow me to do stuff).
There are no machines that go without an OS, but I did see machines with pre-installed Linux (something by Acer - though they didn't specify what distro it was), and there is something called Free Dos, which I need to read a little about - mainly to see how to install Linux on it if it's possible at all without being a hacker. Lenovo sells stuff in this category which is not too expensive and has an optical drive. I haven't the foggiest clue how to tell whether I can install Linux from network if I don't have an optical drive.