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Best Linux development laptop advice

5 points by peter_retief 10y ago

I looked at the article on the lenovo-thinkpad-t460 and i assume its a Microsoft machine that uses a Linux install. What I am thinking of doing is building a laptop with raspberrypi3's Has anyone tried this? What is the canonical choice for linux laptops for developers?

dbg31415 10y ago
* Lenovo ThinkPad T460 – A Good Linux Laptop for Development | Hacker News || https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13299585 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13299585 Or https://hn.algolia.com/?query=linux%20laptop&sort=byDate&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?query=linux%20laptop&sort=byDate&pre... This topic comes up a lot...
- peter_retief 10y ago
  thanks will have a look, collecting thoughts and ideas
brudgers 10y ago
It's possible to purchase a used ThinkPad for about the price of Rpi3, a monitor, keyboard, batteries, clock, webcam, etc. It will be an ntegrated system with meaningful RAM and a convenient form factor. Raspberry Pi's are interesting but building a laptop out of them is not what I would consider a sound step toward obtaining a computer for general software development. Good luck.
- peter_retief 10y ago
  What i like about rpi3 is that I can install docker instances for various development projects I am working on i already use the pi as an IOT gateway and a access point router. There is also the option to use more than on rpi per device. Look its WIP for now, lets see what i can come up with
  - brudgers 10y ago
    I'm a big fan of Raspberry Pi. For me it fills a significantly different role than a laptop and therefore a laptop needs a different performance envelope.
    - copperx 10y ago
      The RPi for me is a dedicated framebuffer (no X) Emacs environment.
      - peter_retief 10y ago
        I also use it for a test web server and vim/nano. Docker opens up a host of new opportunities like an ANPR instance or trained OCR/Identification/scanners really unlimited options
partisan 10y ago
If you want a little taste of a DIY experience with your Linux, you could consider the Dell Chromebook 13 (i5, 8GB). Upgrade the SSD to whatever size you would like and install GalliumOS or one of the other options. I am pretty happy with the net result. There are plenty of articles online on how to accomplish this along with the pros and cons.
neilsimp1 10y ago
I recently went for something inexpensive - Acer C720P Chromebook and installed Ubuntu 16.04 on it. I couldn't be happier with it. If you're ok with something smaller and want to keep the price down (I think I paid ~$270), I recommend this! Granted, getting the touchpad working the way I wanted took a little bit of work, but there are guides all over the internet. https://samsclass.info/128/proj/chromebooks3.htm https://samsclass.info/128/proj/chromebooks3.htm https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2228539 https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2228539 What finally got everything working for me was installing the kernel for GalliumOS.

5 points by peter_retief 10y ago

dbg31415 10y ago

* Lenovo ThinkPad T460 – A Good Linux Laptop for Development | Hacker News || https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13299585 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13299585 Or https://hn.algolia.com/?query=linux%20laptop&sort=byDate&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?query=linux%20laptop&sort=byDate&pre... This topic comes up a lot...

peter_retief 10y ago
thanks will have a look, collecting thoughts and ideas

brudgers 10y ago

It's possible to purchase a used ThinkPad for about the price of Rpi3, a monitor, keyboard, batteries, clock, webcam, etc. It will be an ntegrated system with meaningful RAM and a convenient form factor. Raspberry Pi's are interesting but building a laptop out of them is not what I would consider a sound step toward obtaining a computer for general software development. Good luck.

peter_retief 10y ago
What i like about rpi3 is that I can install docker instances for various development projects I am working on i already use the pi as an IOT gateway and a access point router. There is also the option to use more than on rpi per device. Look its WIP for now, lets see what i can come up with
- brudgers 10y ago
  I'm a big fan of Raspberry Pi. For me it fills a significantly different role than a laptop and therefore a laptop needs a different performance envelope.
  - copperx 10y ago
    The RPi for me is a dedicated framebuffer (no X) Emacs environment.
    - peter_retief 10y ago
      I also use it for a test web server and vim/nano. Docker opens up a host of new opportunities like an ANPR instance or trained OCR/Identification/scanners really unlimited options

partisan 10y ago

If you want a little taste of a DIY experience with your Linux, you could consider the Dell Chromebook 13 (i5, 8GB). Upgrade the SSD to whatever size you would like and install GalliumOS or one of the other options. I am pretty happy with the net result. There are plenty of articles online on how to accomplish this along with the pros and cons.

neilsimp1 10y ago

I recently went for something inexpensive - Acer C720P Chromebook and installed Ubuntu 16.04 on it. I couldn't be happier with it. If you're ok with something smaller and want to keep the price down (I think I paid ~$270), I recommend this! Granted, getting the touchpad working the way I wanted took a little bit of work, but there are guides all over the internet. https://samsclass.info/128/proj/chromebooks3.htm https://samsclass.info/128/proj/chromebooks3.htm https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2228539 https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2228539 What finally got everything working for me was installing the kernel for GalliumOS.