Which laptops are good for linux+packet(sound card) for County ARES?

Which laptops are good for linux+packet(sound card) for County ARES?

[tbmoore]

We want to set up a laptop w/Linux and w/soundcard to do packet for
our Emergency Service for the Caroline County ARES net in Virginia.

What brand/model do you recommend?  Can we do it with an used laptop in 
the $500 range?  Is the IBM Thinkpad 600 a good one?  Thanks.

Boyd KO4WK@arrl.net
-- 
T. Boyd Moore
Zech 4:6  KO4WK@ARRL.NET

Re: Which laptops are good for linux+packet(sound card) for County ARES?

[tbmoore]

Sounds like Thinkpad+Linux is a pretty good combination - I see there is 
a whole lot of stuff about it, like thinkpad-source & -base modules, and 
some others I saw which I can't find right now.  I wonder if the audio 
levels problem is worse with this sound card?  We are going to get 
TNC's, but the fewer boxes to tote & hook up, the better, I think (for 
Emergency Service).

Thanks for the response.

Boyd, KO4WK@arrl.net

Pat Masterson wrote:
>  I have a 800 MHz Thinkpad. The sound card is crappy, and I can never get 
> the audio levels correct going from the radio. But it works great with a 
> real TNC like my KPC3+.
> -pat
> 
> On Thu, 17 Oct 2002, tbmoore wrote:
> 
> 
>>We want to set up a laptop w/Linux and w/soundcard to do packet for
>>our Emergency Service for the Caroline County ARES net in Virginia.
>>
>>What brand/model do you recommend?  Can we do it with an used laptop in 
>>the $500 range?  Is the IBM Thinkpad 600 a good one?  Thanks.
>>
>>Boyd KO4WK@arrl.net
>>-- 
>>T. Boyd Moore
>>Zech 4:6  KO4WK@ARRL.NET
>>
> 
> 

Re: Which laptops are good for linux+packet(sound card) for County ARES?

[Nate Bargmann]

* tbmoore <tbmoore@bealenet.com> [2002 Oct 18 14:52 -0500]:
> Sounds like Thinkpad+Linux is a pretty good combination - I see there is 
> a whole lot of stuff about it, like thinkpad-source & -base modules, and 
> some others I saw which I can't find right now.  I wonder if the audio 
> levels problem is worse with this sound card?  We are going to get 
> TNC's, but the fewer boxes to tote & hook up, the better, I think (for 
> Emergency Service).

While I have had good luck with an aging Thinkpad 760ED, I would
recommend anyone considering one of the older TP models first check if
it's using the mwave chipset for sound.  Mwave is not supported except
by loading a DOS driver and then warm booting into Linux.  Performance
is poor and probably not acceptable for any applications using
soundmodem or similar.  Some models, notably the 760EL used an ESS
chipset and they are supported, but only 8 bit audio.

73, de Nate >>

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Re: Which laptops are good for linux+packet(sound card) for County ARES?

[tbmoore]

Thanks, Nate.  That's good to know.  Is there a laptop in the $500 range 
that would have a soundmodem compatible sound card under linux?  We may 
be forced to use the TNC - most of my team prefer that anyway.
Boyd

-- 
T. Boyd Moore
Zech 4:6  KO4WK@ARRL.NET

Nate Bargmann wrote:
>
> 
> While I have had good luck with an aging Thinkpad 760ED, I would
> recommend anyone considering one of the older TP models first check if
> it's using the mwave chipset for sound.  Mwave is not supported except
> by loading a DOS driver and then warm booting into Linux.  Performance
> is poor and probably not acceptable for any applications using
> soundmodem or similar.  Some models, notably the 760EL used an ESS
> chipset and they are supported, but only 8 bit audio.
> 
> 73, de Nate >>
> 

Re: Which laptops are good for linux+packet(sound card) for County ARES?

[Tomi Manninen]

On Fri, 18 Oct 2002, tbmoore wrote:

> Thanks, Nate.  That's good to know.  Is there a laptop in the $500 range 
> that would have a soundmodem compatible sound card under linux?  We may 
> be forced to use the TNC - most of my team prefer that anyway.

My experience says that the different thinkpad models have very different
audio hardware. You really need to know what version you have in mind.  
My elderly work laptop is a tp600x and iirc the sound card is a cs4610.  
I think it's fairly well supported under Linux but unfortunately I'm not
able to test that... :( Anyway, afaik, there are at least three tp600
variants, each with different audio hardware...

-- 
Tomi Manninen           Internet:  oh2bns@sral.fi
OH2BNS                  AX.25:     oh2bns@oh2rbi.fin.eu
KP20ME04                Amprnet:   oh2bns@oh2rbi.ampr.org

Re: Which laptops are good for linux+packet(sound card) for County ARES?

[Cees Tool]

Hi Boyd,

There is a lot of info about linux on laptops on :
http://www.linux-laptop.net/

There are many reports and howto's on different types of laptops. Maybe you
can find details about soundcards too.

Regards,
Cees - PA3AES

Re: Which laptops are good for linux+packet(sound card) for County ARES?

[John Ackermann N8UR]

--On Friday, October 18, 2002 17:36:46 -0400 tbmoore <tbmoore@bealenet.com> 
wrote:

> Thanks, Nate.  That's good to know.  Is there a laptop in the $500 range
> that would have a soundmodem compatible sound card under linux?  We may
> be forced to use the TNC - most of my team prefer that anyway. Boyd
>
> --
> T. Boyd Moore
> Zech 4:6  KO4WK@ARRL.NET
>
> Nate Bargmann wrote:
>>
>>
>> While I have had good luck with an aging Thinkpad 760ED, I would
>> recommend anyone considering one of the older TP models first check if
>> it's using the mwave chipset for sound.  Mwave is not supported except
>> by loading a DOS driver and then warm booting into Linux.  Performance
>> is poor and probably not acceptable for any applications using
>> soundmodem or similar.  Some models, notably the 760EL used an ESS
>> chipset and they are supported, but only 8 bit audio.
>>
>> 73, de Nate >>

Nate's right that the mwave audio on the earlier Thinkpads isn't supported. 
One other problem with using Linux on my old 760 is that I haven't figured 
out how to get a text console to use the whole display -- it only uses a 
480x640 chunk in the center.

You asked about a $500 range laptop.  I have a Thinkpad 600E that I just 
bought for a little less than $500 (from secondwindpcs.com), and after 
putting Linux on it I am absolutely in love with it.  I have Debian Woody 
with X windows, KDE, and Openoffice.  It's not the machine I use to make my 
ham-oriented presentations to clubs, etc. and it's neat to tell folks I'm 
using a completely M$-free machine.

Unlike the earlier laptops, there is a Linux driver for the mwave modem in 
the 600 series and it works pretty well.

In a lot of ways, the 600E is the best "feeling" laptop I've ever owned -- 
it's the right size, weight, and feature set, and like all IBM laptops has 
a great keyboard feel.

73,
John

Re: Which laptops are good for linux+packet(sound card) for County ARES?

[Robert Donnell]

Hi all,

I tried to comment to the list earlier,. however due to some changes where 
I work, I can't seem to originate email there that passes muster with 
Majordomo.

A couple of years ago I used my NEC Versa 6050MX (A P-150MMX processor) 
successfully with a Baycom modem, running Xastir, the open source X APRS 
program.  This to give you a feel for the processing power required to 
support the Baycom modem.

The Baycom modem also has a cabling advantage over using a sound card 
modem, if the only capability you're trying to add is packet operation - 
that is that there becomes only one cable connection between computer and 
radio - the Baycom modem plugs into the serial port of the PC (possibly 
with a serial extension cable) and then there's the cable from the radio to 
the modem.  This is better than having two cables from the sound card 
connections, plus a third connection to the serial or parallel port to 
provide transmit/receive switching.

In the case of the laptop I use, there is sufficient power available on the 
signalling from the serial port to power the modem, so no external power 
source is needed.

TigerTronics (www.tigertronics.com) offers a fully assembled Baycom modem 
for $49, with the adapter to convert from it's DB-25 serial port connection 
to the typical DB-9 PC serial port connection being an extra $6.  This 
modem is built right into the shell of the DB-25 connector, with a jack in 
the other end for the radio cable.  Or the original Baycom kit design uses 
a DB-9 connector - see the www.baycom.org web site for details on their 
offerings.  I've not done an extensive search lately, however there used to 
be Baycom kits offered by other vendors here in the U.S. for about 
$20.  These take a couple of hours or less to assemble.  My modem is one of 
the kit modems.  And I've seen pictures of an assembled version built using 
surface mount parts, such that the entire modem is built in the cover shell 
behind a DB-9 connector - talk about small!

Another "plus" is that you don't tie up the sound card on the laptop such 
that other software (such as Xastir with the Festival speech synthesizer 
installed) can be used, and it allows operation with laptops without sound.

I hope this info helps broaden your possible selection of suitable laptops.

73, Bob

Re: Which laptops are good for linux+packet(sound card) for County ARES?

[tbmoore]

Thanks for all the help.  I will let you know which way we go with the 
decision.  But it sounds like there is a chance the 600E soundcard will 
work as is, if it is the right card, and if it doesn't, the external 
modem or tnc will certainly work.

I'll look up the Modem method - I guess that method still uses laptop 
software to generate the input to the modem, and the modem interfaces to 
the radio, while a TNC only needs the pc as a terminal (dumb, or 
otherwise) and does all the other "layers" in the TNC.  Is that correct? 
  Do you have a favorite place to read about it?

73
Boyd, KO4WK


tbmoore wrote:
> We want to set up a laptop w/Linux and w/soundcard to do packet for
> our Emergency Service for the Caroline County ARES net in Virginia.
> 
> What brand/model do you recommend?  Can we do it with an used laptop in 
> the $500 range?  Is the IBM Thinkpad 600 a good one?  Thanks.
> 
> Boyd KO4WK@arrl.net


-- 
T. Boyd Moore
Zech 4:6  KO4WK@ARRL.NET