[plug] [Semi-OT] Laptops- Toshiba A100

[Andrew Furey]

On 12/02/07, Tim Bowden <tim.bowden at westnet.com.au> wrote:
> One thing I always do is boot into a live cd before I buy.  I've yet to
> be turned down on that request if I explain why I want to do it, and
> that it doesn't touch the hdd.  On the Satellite A100 inbuilt wireless
> worked fine, graphics worked great, but the fingerprint reader was as
> dead as a dodo.  I don't like the idea of my fingerprint being stored
> where I may not have control over it, so I didn't mind that.  Everything
> looked good. Maybe I should also have tested the sd card reader while I
> was at it but I didn't think of it.  I also left the live cd for the
> staff to play with.  They appreciated it, especially when I told them it
> was legit, license wise.  They'd heard of linux of course, but had never
> seen it or had the chance to play with it.  Now they could.

Just out of interest, I used Knoppix at Harvey Norman to evaluate a
couple of machines for a colleague a few months back, and while there
were no problems with staff, one of the more geeky staff members we
were speaking to later said he wouldn't necessarily have allowed me
to. Apparently they sometimes have problems with people using them to
swipe the Windows license keys off the existing installs... Can't say
I've ever heard of it myself, but then I don't go looking for that
sort of thing :-/

Andrew

-- 
Linux supports the notion of a command line or a shell for the same
reason that only children read books with only pictures in them.
Language, be it English or something else, is the only tool flexible
enough to accomplish a sufficiently broad range of tasks.
                          -- Bill Garrett