Question about whether these laptop models are compatible with Linux.

I am a Debian Stable (currently Lenny) user who wants to install Debian Lenny on a laptop. I did searches through google and used another forum to get an answer as to whether these models are Linux compatible.

1) HP Compaq Presario CQ61-401SA Notebook PC
2) ACER Aspire 7715Z-443G25Mn

Question:
Are these laptops Linux compatible? I am posting from Malta (a tiny member of the European Union).

Thanks in advance.

Um, this forum has a very extensive Hardware Compatibility List. It's linked to in the top navigation bar. I'd suggest that you look up the specific components. Pretty much any PC can run Linux, the question is how well. Most often, the problems with laptops are graphics drivers and wireless drivers. Pay special attention to those details.

Originally Posted by zootboy Most often, the problems with laptops are graphics drivers and wireless drivers. Pay special attention to those details.

That's exactly why I am hesitating to buy a laptop. I will have to find the motherboards numbers and the GPUs numbers. Obviously, I need more time researching to confirm whether everything is properly supported.

I will therefore ask the dealer about the motherboard, GPU and wifi numbers.

Thanks for the great link.

Originally Posted by zootboy Most often, the problems with laptops are graphics drivers and wireless drivers.

NVIDIA GPU and Intel or Atheros wireless seem to be a good combo as far as that's concerned.

This laptop has an NVIDIA GeForce 310M GPU (512 MiB VRAM) and an Atheros AR9285 wireless NIC, and the GPU works beautifully w/ the binary drivers, and wireless works OOTB (w/ WPA2 encryption and everything, and performance is nice).

That's a good point. I have had great luck with Atheros chipsets, which run madwifi drivers under linux. My Aspire One has one, as well as my Cisco PCMCIA card.

I haven't dealt with gpus much in laptops, but I have had success with my MythTV box, which runs an NVIDIA 8800 card.

Seconding NVIDIA, recommending INTEL wireless chipsets (Atheros & Broadcom have been a PITA in the past).

When it's time to buy new kit, I just follow the above, and generally everything works. Some fine-tuning is needed, but it's not too difficult if you know how to use a search-engine.

Thanks to all those who replied. I purchased an Acer laptop and installed Debian Squeeze with kde4.

One last question if I may ask:
How do I enable single taps to behave like single mouse clicks and double taps to behave like double clicks? I am referring to the laptop's mouse pad on which one taps a finger to simulate a mouse click. I am suspecting there is a configuration file responsible for that.

Thanks, and by the way, your forum is great!

EDIT: to correct an spelling mistake.

How do I enable single taps to behave like single mouse clicks and double taps to behave like double clicks?

Have you installed the Synaptic touchpad driver? You may need to do so to enable tap-clicking.

Try searching with your package manager for "xf86-input-synaptic" and install it.

And if you want an easy way to configure it, install kde-config-touchpad, adds the touchpad icon to your mouse/keyboard configuration in systemsettings.

I installed kde-config-touchpad and it worked great!

Thanks for all your help!