695 lines
15 KiB
HTML
695 lines
15 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
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<HTML
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><HEAD
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><TITLE
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>Main Hardware Features</TITLE
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><META
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NAME="GENERATOR"
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CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK
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REL="HOME"
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TITLE="Linux on the Road"
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HREF="index.html"><LINK
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REL="UP"
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TITLE="Which Laptop to Buy?"
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HREF="mobile-guide-p1c1-which-laptop-to-buy.html"><LINK
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REL="PREVIOUS"
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TITLE="Linux Features"
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HREF="mobile-guide-p1c1s3-linux-features.html"><LINK
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REL="NEXT"
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TITLE="Sources of More Information"
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HREF="mobile-guide-p1c1s5-sources-of-more-information.html"></HEAD
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><BODY
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CLASS="sect1"
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BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"
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TEXT="#000000"
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LINK="#0000FF"
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VLINK="#840084"
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ALINK="#0000FF"
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><DIV
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CLASS="NAVHEADER"
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><TABLE
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SUMMARY="Header navigation table"
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WIDTH="100%"
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BORDER="0"
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CELLPADDING="0"
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CELLSPACING="0"
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><TR
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><TH
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COLSPAN="3"
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ALIGN="center"
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>Linux on the Road: </TH
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></TR
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="mobile-guide-p1c1s3-linux-features.html"
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ACCESSKEY="P"
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="80%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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>Chapter 1. Which Laptop to Buy?</TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="mobile-guide-p1c1s5-sources-of-more-information.html"
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ACCESSKEY="N"
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>Next</A
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></TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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><HR
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect1"
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><H1
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CLASS="sect1"
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><A
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NAME="mobile-guide-p1c1s4-main-hardware-features"
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></A
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>1.4. Main Hardware Features</H1
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><P
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> Besides its Linux features, there often are some <EM
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>main
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features</EM
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> which have to be considered when buying a laptop.
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For <EM
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>Linux features</EM
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> please see
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<A
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HREF="mobile-guide-p2-mobile-hardware.html"
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>Part V in <I
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>Linux on the Road</I
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></A
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> Hardware In Detail
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below.
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</P
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN252"
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></A
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>1.4.1. Weight</H2
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><P
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> Don't underestimate the weight of a laptop. This weight is mainly
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influenced by:
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</P
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><P
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>
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<P
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></P
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><OL
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TYPE="1"
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><LI
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><P
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> screen size
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> battery type
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> internal components, such as CD drive, floppy drive
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> power supply
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> material used for the case, usually they are either from plastics or from magnesium.
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</P
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></LI
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></OL
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>
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN267"
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></A
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>1.4.2. Display</H2
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><P
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> Recent laptops come with
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<EM
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>active</EM
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> matrix (TFT) displays.
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Laptops with <EM
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>passive</EM
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> matrix (DSTN) are no longer manufactured.
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Active matrix
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displays have better color and contrast, but usually cost
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more and use more power. Also consider the screen size.
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Laptops may be purchased with screens up to 17". A bigger
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screen weighs more, costs more, and is harder to carry,
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but is good for a portable desktop replacement.
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN272"
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></A
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>1.4.3. Batteries</H2
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><P
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> The available battery types are <EM
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>Lithium Ion
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(LiIon)</EM
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>, <EM
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>Nickel Metal Hydride (
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NiMH)</EM
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> and <EM
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>Nickel Cadmium
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(NiCd)</EM
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>. Though almost all current laptops come
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with LiIon batteries.
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</P
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><P
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> LiIon batteries are the most expensive ones but a lot lighter
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than NiCd for the same energy content, and have minimal - but
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present - memory effects. NiMH is better than NiCd, but still
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rather heavy and does suffer some (although less than NiCd)
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memory effects.
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</P
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><P
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> Unfortunately most laptops come with a proprietary battery
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size. So they are not interchangeable between different
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models.
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN280"
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></A
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>1.4.4. CPU</H2
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect3"
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><H3
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CLASS="sect3"
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><A
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NAME="AEN282"
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></A
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>1.4.4.1. Supported CPU Families</H3
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><P
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> For details about systems which are supported by the Linux Kernel, see the
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<A
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HREF="http://www.tux.org/lkml/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>The linux-kernel mailing list FAQ</A
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>.
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</P
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><P
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>
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<P
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></P
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><OL
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TYPE="1"
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><LI
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><P
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> i286:
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Linux doesn't support this CPU family yet. But there are some efforts at
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<A
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HREF="http://elks.sourceforge.net/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>ELKS</A
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>.
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If you like, you may use
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<A
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HREF="http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/minix.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Minix</A
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>, which
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is also a free Unix operating system. Minix supports 8088 to 286 CPUs
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with as little as 640K memory. Actually there are some
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<A
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HREF="http://tuxmobil.org/286_mobile.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>laptops with ELKS and MINIX</A
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> around.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> i386: This covers PCs based on Intel-compatible processors, including
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Intel's 386, 486, Pentium, Pentium Pro and Pentium II, and compatible
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processors by AMD, Cyrix and others. Most of the currently available
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laptops use Intel compatible CPUs and have quite good Linux support.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> m68k: This covers Amigas and Ataris having a Motorola 680x0 processor
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for x>=2; with MMU. And the early Apple/Macintosh computers.
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</P
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><P
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> There was a long series of Apple PowerBooks and other laptops based on
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the m68k chip. Macintosh Portable (an ugly 16-pound first attempt);
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PowerBook 100, 140, 170, 145, 160, 180c, 165c, 520c, 540c, 550c, 190;
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Duo 210, 230, 250, 270c, 280. The PowerBook Duos were available at the
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same time as the PowerBooks, they were a sort of subnotebook, but were
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designed so that you could plug them into a base station (a DuoDock)
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with more RAM, peripherals, etcetera, so that they could also act as a
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desktop computer. The first PowerPC PowerBooks were the ill-starred
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PowerBook 5300 (after the 190) and the Duo 2300c.
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</P
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><P
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> For a complete list of all Macintosh computers ever made, with specifications, see
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<A
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HREF="http://www.apple-history.com/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Apple-History</A
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>
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.
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For Linux installation reports see
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<A
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HREF="http://tuxmobil.org/apple.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Linux Laptop and Notebook Survey: Apple</A
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>.
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</P
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><P
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>
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The proper place to
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go for information on running Linux on m68k Macintoshes is
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<A
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HREF="http://www.mac.linux-m68k.org/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>linux-m68k</A
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>.
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</P
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><P
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> "Much like laptops of the Intel/Linux world, Mac laptops have generally
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different setups that can be very hard to figure out. Also, because of
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a general lack of machines to test, we are only aware of boots on the
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Powerbook 145, Powerbook 150, Powerbook 170, Powerbook 180, and
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Powerbook 190. Even if it boots, we currently have no support for
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Powerbook-style ADB, the <SPAN
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CLASS="acronym"
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>APM</SPAN
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> support, or just about
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anything else on them. This means the only way to log in is with a
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terminal hooked up to the serial interface, this has been tested on the
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170."
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</P
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><P
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> "Several Powerbooks have internal IDE which is supported.
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<SPAN
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CLASS="acronym"
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>PCMCIA</SPAN
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> drivers will be forthcoming if someone can
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supply the necessary hardware information to write a driver. As always,
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an FPU is needed also. Many of the later models have the 68LC040
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processor without FPU, and many of these processors are broken with
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respect to the FPU trap mechanism so they can't run regular Linux
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binaries even with FPU emulation. Current status on Powerbooks 140, 160,
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165, 165c, 180c, 190, 520 and Duos 210, 230, 250, 270c, 280, and 280c is
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unknown."
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</P
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><P
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> Also there are two Atari laptops, for which I don't have enough information.
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The following quotations are from the
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<A
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HREF="http://capybara.sk-pttsc.lj.edus.si/yescrew/eng/atari.htm"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Atari Gallery</A
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>.
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</P
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><P
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> "The <EM
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>STacy</EM
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> was released shortly after the
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<EM
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>Mega ST</EM
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> to provide a portable means of Atari
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computing. STacy computers were shipped with TOS v1.04.
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</P
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><P
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> Designed to replace the <EM
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>STacy</EM
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> as the defacto
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portable ST computer, the <EM
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>ST Book</EM
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> brought the basic
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computing power of an ST to a lightweight notebook computer. This
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machine was only released in Europe and Atari only shipped a very small
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quantity. The ST Book was shipped with TOS v2.06."
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</P
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><P
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> From Stok, Leon <stok_AT_YIS.NL>: The STacey and the ST Book, both
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can't run Linux since they are only shipped with an 68000 CPU, which
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doesnt have a MMU unit.
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</P
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><P
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> As far as I know Amiga has never produced laptops. One company
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manufactured kits to convert desktop Amigas to portables. These used
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regular Amiga motherboards so any Linux setup that supports the regular
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Amiga setups will support these.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> Alpha, Sparc, Sparc64 architectures:
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These are currently under construction. As far as I know there are only the
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<A
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HREF="http://www.tadpole.com/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Tadpole</A
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>
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SPARC and ALPHA laptops, and some other ALPHA laptops available.
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<A
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HREF="http://www.naturetech.com.tw/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>NatureTech</A
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>
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offers also SPARC CPUs in laptops. The TuxMobil survey of
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<A
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HREF="http://tuxmobil.org/mobile_solaris.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Solaris on laptops and notebooks</A
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>
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may also be helpful.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> StrongARM:
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a very low-power CPU found in
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<A
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HREF="http://www.rebel.com/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Rebel.com's</A
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>
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popular NetWinder (some kind of mobile computer, too),
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and actively supported in the Debian project, it is also in several
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WinCE machines, such as HP's Jornadas. Only the lack of tech specs
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prevents Linux from being ported to these tiny, long-battery-life
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machines. A full-scale StrongARM-based laptop would make a superb
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Linux platform.
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</P
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><P
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> For PDAs with ARM/StrongARM CPU see the
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<A
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HREF="mobile-guide-p3-handheld-devices-pdas.html"
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>Part II in <I
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>Linux on the Road</I
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></A
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>Handheld Devices part
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below.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> MIPS: Used in SGI mainframes and Cobalt Micro intranet appliances, chips
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based on this architecture are used in many Windows-CE machines. Linux has
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been ported to a few of these.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> AMD Processor:
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More about Linux on AMD processors may be found at
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<A
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HREF="http://www.x86-64.org/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>x86-64 org</A
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>
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. At TuxMobil there is also a survey of
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<A
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HREF="http://tuxmobil.org/cpu_amd.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>laptops with AMD CPUs</A
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>
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.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> 64bit CPUs:
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At TuxMobil there is a survey of
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<A
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HREF="http://tuxmobil.org/cpu_64bit.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>laptops with 64bit CPUs</A
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>
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.
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</P
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></LI
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></OL
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>
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|
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect3"
|
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><H3
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CLASS="sect3"
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><A
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NAME="AEN336"
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></A
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>1.4.4.2. Miscellaneous</H3
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><P
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> At higher speed, a CPU consumes more power and generates more heat.
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Therefore, in many laptops a special low-power CPU is used.
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Usually, this special CPU doesn't use as much power as a similar
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processor used in a desktop. These special CPUs are also more expensive.
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As a side effect you may find that laptops with a desktop CPU often have
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a quite noisy fan.
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</P
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></DIV
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
|
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN339"
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></A
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>1.4.5. Number of Spindles</H2
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><P
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> Laptops and notebooks are often described by the number of spindles.
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</P
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><P
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></P
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><OL
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TYPE="1"
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><LI
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><P
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> one spindle: harddisk. Usually sub-notebooks, often provided with
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an external optical drive (CD/DVD).
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> two spindles: harddisk, optical drive (CD/DVD).
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> three spindles: harddisk, optical drive (CD/DVD), floppy drive. These laptops
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are often used as desktop PC replacement.
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</P
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></LI
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></OL
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
|
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
|
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><A
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NAME="AEN349"
|
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></A
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|
>1.4.6. Cooling</H2
|
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><P
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|
> An enormously important issue. Anything based on PPC or Pentium will
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generate enormous amounts of heat which must be dissipated. Generally,
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this means either a fan, or a heat sink the size of the case. If it's a
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fan, the air path shouldn't get blocked, or it will overheat
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and burn out. This means machines with a fan mounted in the bottom are a
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big, big mistake: you can't use them on a soft surface.
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
|
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CLASS="sect2"
|
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
|
|
><A
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|
NAME="AEN352"
|
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></A
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>1.4.7. Keyboard Quality</H2
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><P
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|
> Though you might use your desktop computer to do longer writings, a good
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keyboard can save you some head- and fingeraches. Look especially
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for the location of special keys like: <B
|
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CLASS="command"
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><ESC></B
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>,
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<B
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CLASS="command"
|
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><TAB></B
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>, <B
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CLASS="command"
|
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><Pos1></B
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>,
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<B
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CLASS="command"
|
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><End></B
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|
>, <B
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CLASS="command"
|
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><PageDown></B
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>,
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<B
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|
CLASS="command"
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><PageUp></B
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> and the cursor keys.
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN361"
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></A
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>1.4.8. Price</H2
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><P
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> Laptops are quite expensive if you compare them with desktops (though
|
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maybe not if compared with <SPAN
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CLASS="acronym"
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>LCD</SPAN
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>,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="trademark"
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>IrDA</SPAN
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>®, <SPAN
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CLASS="acronym"
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>PCMCIA</SPAN
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>
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capabilities). So you may decide between a brand or no-name product.
|
|
Though I would like to encourage you to take a
|
|
<EM
|
|
>no-name</EM
|
|
> product, there are some caveats. I have
|
|
experienced that laptops break often, so you are better off, when you
|
|
have an after-sales warranty, which is usually only offered with brand
|
|
products. Or you may decide to take a <EM
|
|
>second hand</EM
|
|
>
|
|
machine. When I tried this, I discovered that the laptop market is
|
|
changing quite often. A new generation is released approximately every
|
|
three months (compared by CPU speed, harddisk capacity, screen size
|
|
etc.). So laptops become old very quick. But this scheme often isn't
|
|
followed by the prices for second hand laptops. They seem too expensive
|
|
to me. Anyway if you plan on purchasing a second hand machine, review my
|
|
recommendations on checking the machine.
|
|
</P
|
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN369"
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></A
|
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>1.4.9. Power Supply</H2
|
|
><P
|
|
> If you travel abroad pay attention to the voltage levels which are
|
|
supported by the power supply. Also the power supply is usually one of the
|
|
heavier parts of a laptop. Another caveat is the power plug, which often
|
|
is different from country to country.
|
|
</P
|
|
></DIV
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></DIV
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="mobile-guide-p1c1s3-linux-features.html"
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ACCESSKEY="P"
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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><TD
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>Linux Features</TD
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