Hardware questions.

[Frank Carmickle]

Hi Anna

These are some pretty tough questions that take a lot of research.  If you
would like you can certainly give me a call to discuss the options.  I
will give you some ideas in line.

On Sun, 3 Feb 2002, Anna Schneider wrote:
snip
> I would like to go laptop if possible, but I understand that that may not 
> work.  Again, if people could please go from experience.  I do think I 
> will wind up using a combination of Speakup with Red Hat and Emacs with 
> Emacspeak which I know is Linux too but if it's important, well you all 

You certainly can go with a laptop if you like.  Most of the current
models from hp sony toshiba ibm gateway and compaq will work.  However
your going to want to choose one carefully to make sure that it has a
supported sound card modem and ethernet...  http://www.linux-laptop.net is
your friend in this regard.

> a certain type of Cd burner?  I was led to understand that this is better 

If your going to be getting a laptop it will be an item that you will want
to have as a component of the laptop.  Most usb cdburners are expensive
and slow.  Most pcmcia scsi cards are expensive also.  
 
> a printer.  I don't know that I need color printing, but I do need one 

As far as printers go you need to decide on how much printing your going
to be doing.  If your doing a lot then your going to want to spend the
extra money on a printer that isn't going to die on you.  Most printers
these days are made just good enough to get the job
done.  http://www.linuxprinting.org is the place to find a compatible
printer that will work with the software that you want to use. There
however aren't very good descriptions on this sight about a printers
features.  

> a sound card

Once again this is an included device in a laptop.  You will want to read
up about different laptops and what sound devices they have.  Currently
the best sound device I know of in laptops are the ymfpci chips.  This
audio controller is made by Yamaha.  It comes on some sony's hp's and ibm's
if I am remembering correctly.  
 
> a video card.  This should be decent quality.  I'm an artist and I use a 

Pretty much all video cards are of reasonable quality these days.  Once
again part of the laptop.  If the folks at the linuxlaptops sight know
anything they will know whether or not the video card is xfree86
compatible.
 
> modem.  I was led to understand by a friend that for laptop there are 

Sure you could get a modem on a pcmcia card.  Most likely you will find
that laptops come with modems these days.  This is a very tricky area
however.  There are very few modems that work with the linux kernel.  I
think that the linux laptops page will once again help you with this.  
 
> And last of all scanners.  Some debate seems to have occurred on this 

Yeah...  A very very very ridiculous argument.  I would like to set some
people straight.  Twain means nothing sane means nothing.  Everyone uses
what ever command set they want.  Some come closer to compliance with
twain then others.  http://www.mostang.com/sane/ is the sane home
page.  You can find out there which scanners work well.  You will probably
want a usb scanner.  There going to be the most economical way to
scan.  Like I said above about cd burners scsi cards for laptops get
expensive.  Usb scanning should be just as fast.

If I can be more help feel free to call.  

-- 
     Frank Carmickle
phone:     412 761-9568
email:     frankiec at dryrose.com