[Info-vax] OpenVMS books

[Paul Sture]

On 2017-07-23, VAXman-  @SendSpamHere.ORG <VAXman- at SendSpamHere.ORG> wrote:
>
> Over the years, I've purchased several x86 laptops for Linux.  Back In 2012, I
> purchased an HP Envy 17.  It was quite a pricey upper end x86.  It just failed
> catastrophically yesterday.  To put that in perspective, my 2002 PowerBook 17
> and 2009 MacBook Pro 17 are still functioning.  I don't think it's the x86 at
> fault here since the MBP is intel based.  However, the commodity marketspace
> of the x86 has made many of the offering based around it cheap -- not just in
> price. ;)  The Envy, for example, had a plastic frame part in a stress point
> at the hinge.  Not even a month into owning it, a screw stripped out from it.

IIRC you told us how expensive replacement parts were for the Envy.  It looks
like HP apply ink pricing policies for those.

> The touted "beats" audio in it was awful.  The whole thing buzzed like an old
> rear deck speaker in a late model car.

Oh, the memories of those buzzing speakers back in the 60s...

My worst PC audio purchase was a pair of Sony "PC Speakers". Absolutely
rubbish when compared to the speakers which came with a cheapish JVC CD
Player/Radio combo (which I'd bought for kitchen use). That ended up
being a replacement for the Sony speakers.

>  However, despite those hardware kinks, it was one of the better
>  environments I've ever gotten Linux running upon.  I don't have any
>  real-world experience with x86 servers but I do have clients that
>  seem to be replacing them all too often while OpenVMS running
>  hardware just keeps on going like the Energizer Bunny.
>
> Just my $0.02.  Does anybody have any pointers to a low-cost x86 laptop?  17"
> preferred.  I may ??? have found another Envy (used) but you never know.

A quick search on "linux laptop" brought up a range of laptops at
system76:

<https://system76.com/laptops>

mentioned in this article from 2014
<https://www.howtogeek.com/185286/how-to-buy-a-laptop-for-linux/> 

My takeaway from that article is to do your research at the time of
buying; last year's information may not only be out of date, but not
work any more.

-- 
Everybody has a testing environment. Some people are lucky enough to
have a totally separate environment to run production in.