[geeks] Cheap Laptop or what to put on a Toshiba 7010

[Andrew Weiss]

Suggestions...

I am in need of a laptop for doing the following

Web Browsing
E-mail (stds compliant)
DOS emulation with serial port support
Windows emulation (for one program; Clarify...[unless someone knows where to
get a UNIX client...they do exist but IT isn't helpful in obtaining one for
me])

Our company shipped me a pile of crud (Toshiba Portege 7010CT)... I will
probably get something better, but I was looking for a multitude of
suggestions from on the job experience.

I am really leaning away from anything Windows both for reasons of denying
corporate IT control over anything I do, and moral reasons.  I need one
Windows app which I can access from the desktop most of the time or via
ActiveX (a windows browser...defeats the purpose of web enablement imho)

I was thinking of either:

A. Installing Linux and using WINE
B. Installing Solaris x86 (although I'm not sure about support for anything
else in that fashion...but it's not linux)
C. Installing some form of BSD (can emulate Linux)
D. Installing Win2000 or below

E. Buying a decent laptop for cheap (must have built-in ethernet and optical
drive (that boots) ; no danglies, and decent RAM)
F. Buying an older generation G3 Powerbook (my most preferred solution).

Finances are, however, low, and options A-D apply to E.
--------------------------------------
Andrew J. Weiss
Field Network Engineer
En Pointe Technologies
aweiss at enpointe.com, ajwdsp at cloud9.net