HI!,
I'm about to install Linux for the first time. A freind gave me a copy of Mandrake 9.0, so that is what I'm going with. Here is the ting, I've been told the laptop I just bought to run linux on will severely overheat because of Mandrake's poor power control.

Here is the laptop:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...3409767339&rd=1

Here is the post from Tech TV.com that responded to my origional linux questions:

A warning is that modern Laptops use APCI (instead of APM) which is Power Management done by the OS. Linux has very limited support for this, and even though it works, theres a still a risk of overheating. So if you install Linux on a laptop, be sure you have a fan on it until you can enable APCI in the kernel.

I've looked at the guides provided by linux laptop.com, mandrake.com, and compaq's support site. None of them warn of overheating due to this. Is this a known issue that I shoud worry about? If it is gonna catch fire I might just stick to windows.

Thanks!

Mandrake 9.1 has better ACPI support.

Unfortunately 9.1 isn't an option for me at the moment. My system only connnects at 32kbps withmy cruddy phone lines so downloading it is out of the picture and I don't really want to pay for it since I'm new to linux and I'm not sure if I'll like it enough to keep useing it or not. A freind gave me a copy of Mandrake 9.0 so I was planning on useing that. (They also gave me a copy of Caldera OopenLinux, but I've been told that Mandrake is MUCH better) Is there any way of running 9.0 and keeping my laptop from melting?

I don't have Mandrake installed on anything at the moment, but shouldn't Mandrake allow the BIOS defaults to stay as the default if you don't specifically change any settings?

Thanks qnr. I'm gonna go ahead and try it. 8)

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~spitch/com...ptop_linux.html
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/support/techpubs...206-0799-A.html
Lots of links you can check from a Google of "armada 7400" AND "linux" check them out.

Looks doable from the comments above, and I suspect 9.0 will be better at recogizing the hw. It may run a bit slow in GUI unless you beef up the RAM.

No mention of heat related problems. I have many friends running Linux (mostly RH) on laptops with no problem heat wise. Just keep an eye on temps and see if the fan is operating and you should be fine. Of course, you never know until you try!

Does he have MDK9.1? Is there a LUG (linux user group) in your area?

Anyway this might be usefull:
http://www.linux-laptop.net/

I don't think she has 9.1 yet. I really want it though. I don't know of any Linux users groups here, but I'm sure there is one. I live about 2 hours away, but work and go to school in Nashville, TN. With such a large city there is sure to be one.

We are working overseas, but Jackson, TN is home for us.

Try http://nlug.org or do a google for LUG Nashville (Vanderbilt Med School) and you can get a link to an LUG in Clarksville too.

Hope you can find it. I just ordered 9.1 CD's from local LUG all three for about $6.50 US!

You can buy Mandrake 9.1 from Cheap Bytes (http://www.cheapbytes.com/) on CD-R media for $6.99 to test it and see if you like it.

I think 9.1 is the first version with ACPI support.

9.0 has limited acpi support. I like the fact that when i hit the power button on my computer the screen would turn off (but then again I don't like power mangement)

Well, I compiled lawsonrc's kernel after editing a broken pcmcia *.c file in the kernel-sources, on a toshiba , with no-latency-bios, acpi, on ML9.1, and doing cat /proc/acpi/something_to_get the tempature halfway through the compile revealed 80 degrees celsius which is really, really hot. That's with acpi/with the tosiha stuff enabled in the kernel, and verification of things working (or at least giving a reading) in /proc. I've compiled kde and not gotten to 45c. :shock:

Reminds me of the old comercial, but for linux....

[This is your laptop......This is your laptop on linux] :shock:

I've an Armada M700 and this was first noticed by compaq with win2000 and XP... it was a BIOS problem

See this advisory

http://search.hp.com/gwuseng/redirect.html...mada+M700&hit=1

Just upgrade BIOS and it's fixed.