[SGVLUG] Linux laptops

[Dan Kegel]

+1 on throwaway computers with lots of cheap ram.  Don't waste money on
high end stuff that will break and go obsolete quickly.

A T420 with 8gb RAM and an i5 for $280 sounds ideal.  Try one and see if it
blends!
On Mar 10, 2016 4:31 PM, "Carlos of digitalRoots" <carlos at droots.org> wrote:

With virtualization also make sure you have a processor that has vt-x. This
will affect performance and low end processor will not have this.

As far as how the Thinkpad T420 is working for me. It has been great. I use
it to spin up docker containers and KVM VMs. Caveat, I do have an SSD in
it. I just realized I have an old 2nd Gen i5 processor (so sad), but it
works for me. The laptop does max out at 8GB. But with this setup I have
used to test out Chef and spinning up containers while having browsers open
with a bunch of tabs. I can't speak to the requirements necessary to
compile software, but no biggy when needing to make kernel modules (i.e.
VMware Workstation).

I would make an argument that "throw away" computers maybe be a better
investment for teaching. Smaller loss if they get damaged. Also, the idea
would be that lower cost can allow purchasing new equipment sooner. This
way, the computers are only a little old then spending a bunch right now
and the school trying to make them work for 10+ years. At least thats what
I think would be a better route.

Carlos

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 4:14 PM, Dan Kegel <dank at kegel.com> wrote:

> 8GB?  That was enough yesterday, not so much today :-)
>
> I now put 12-16GB on my interactive machines routinely so doing a build or
> two in containers while running Chrome on the desktop doesn't make them
> thrash.
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 4:01 PM, Henry B (Hank) Hotz, CISSP
> <hbhotz at oxy.edu> wrote:
> >
> >> On Mar 10, 2016, at 3:11 PM, Braddock Gaskill <braddock at braddock.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 12:45 PM, Dustin Laurence
> >> <dllaurence at dslextreme.com> wrote:
> >>> I have a vague memory that VMWare is considerably more seamless than
> >>> VirtualBox. I took a class where all the work was in a VirtualBox
> guest,
> >>
> >> On Mac, I had a MUCH MUCH better experience running Linux in VMWare
> >> than VirtualBox.  This is circa late 2014, and VMWare has never given
> >> me a reason to look back.
> >>
> >> Although I think VMWare is much more expensive on Windows than Mac,
> >> where it has biting competition from Parallels for the Windows-on-Mac
> >> market.
> >>
> >> -braddock
> >
> > On Windows, isn’t there a VMWare Reader for free? On Mac there’s just
> VMWare Fusion which costs money (unlike VirtualBox), but isn’t horrible for
> price. I use VirtualBox, and the last couple of years it’s been pretty
> solid, running on a Mac.
> >
> > One “hidden” cost is that a machine running a VM still needs the
> horsepower that *all* the processing requires. Maybe I’m spoiled, but an
> 8GB machine still bogs down if I do a lot of switching between MacOS and
> RHEL activity after using one or the other exclusively for a while.
> >
> >
> > Personal: hbhotz at oxy.edu
> > Business: hhotz at securechannels.com
> >
> >
>
>
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