What's the best UNIX / Linux for laptop?

[bali_survivor]

Experts amongst ET'rs:

I did experiment some years ago with SunSE and Ubuntu and did work with VMWare 5.xx. But time moves on and I have not kept up with the developments in this area. I must have purchased one of the last Lenovo T61p laptops (if not the very last one) and it came with Vista Ultimate. I do not like the every 5 minutes "calling home" to see if the license is valid etc. IMHO this is just a prelude to having "leased" software with a monthly fee (same as antivirus with a yearly fee) which is what Micro$hit wanted to move to many years ago.

So the time has arrived to move away from M$ OS's and run something else. Hence some questions:

1) What is a good / the best UNIX / Linux for running on a Lenovo T61p laptop.

2) What is the recommended way to run some Windows legacy products?

Many thanks in advance for your valuable input
Maria

 

[just21]

It is very easy to install ubuntu and make the laptop dual boot by downloading wubi from ubuntu web site. Creates a dual boot automatically with no user intervention or knowledge required.

 

[skeptic]

Here is a 2nd vote for Ubuntu. I'm using it right now on a Thinkpad T43.

Ubuntu + Thinkpad is a great combo.

 

[Ninja]

http://opensolaris.org

You can download what they call a Live CD. Its bootable and so you can try it without installing on the hard disk. If you like it you just need to click on a button and it will install.

http://dlc.sun.com/osol/opensolaris/2008/05/os200805.iso

It should run on your T61 without any problems. There are a couple of different T61 models listed on the compatibility list.

Nice machine by the way.

 

[bali_survivor]

Thanks for the replies sofar, keep them coming.

Perhaps I have not been clear: I want to run the Windows legacy systems inside Unix / Linux, dual boot is a definite no-no.

I am pretty computer savvy (have a degree in computer science) so can do more than the simplist of things.

Maria

 

[wenzi]

Just use vmware player for linux. Run windows virtual.

vmware player is free also.

 

[forextrades]

Get WinLinux.

Ubuntu sucks.

 

[forex-forex]

I'm running Red Hat Fedora 8, and will upgrade to Red Hat Fedora 10 when Linux Pro Magazine includes that DVD, probably the Feb 2009 issue. Next months - Jan 2009 - issue will include Ubuntu 8.10 on DVD.

http://www.linuxpromagazine.com


Is Wine what your are looking for to run Windows programs in linux?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_(software)



forex-forex
--------------
Trading guru

 

[Nickels&Dimes]

Quote from wenzi:

Just use vmware player for linux. Run windows virtual.

vmware player is free also.

Could someone run say--IB TWS in Linux and then a couple windows analysis programs using the data from IB TWS in vmware?

Linux appeals to me but all my trading goodies are (unfortunately) all windows based. Ensign, ZLT and TT are all windows. TWS is the only one that throws traders the linux bone.

I still run Windows XP pro and probably will for years to come. Unless I can move to Linux.

 

[dcraig]

Should not be a problem if the networking is set up properly. It's just a TCP connection to TWS which runs just fine on Linux.

Quote from Nickels&Dimes:

Could someone run say--IB TWS in Linux and then a couple windows analysis programs using the data from IB TWS in vmware?

Linux appeals to me but all my trading goodies are (unfortunately) all windows based. Ensign, ZLT and TT are all windows. TWS is the only one that throws traders the linux bone.

I still run Windows XP pro and probably will for years to come. Unless I can move to Linux.