Kirya [.net]

I received yesterday my new Dell Inspiron 1300 which is already running Debian Etch (I could not accept Windows EULA). I have chosen hestia for its name.

Setting it up was really problem-free, although I havent tried to install GNOME and the like. I haven’t tested anything except the wireless NIC with WPA2 (works like a charm thanks to bcm43xx-fwcutter and wpasupplicant, just needed to add [code]wpa-ap-scan 2[/code] to my /etc/network/interfaces file to deal with my hidden SSID.

I will thus be able to use this new laptop as an internal server, ie. not accessible from the outside world, It will host an LDAP directory for my contacts, and other things to be thought of (not yet decided). I wanted a wifi-enabed laptop to be able to set it up anywhere in my flat, the battery will be enough in case of power outage.

However, I was quite surprised by the old-looking box of the laptop. It looks a bit like my 6 or 7 years old Compaq Armada e500! The 14.1″ screen is also very small compared to the surface of the case. I wouldn’t recommend this laptop for every-day use, except if you can’t afford to pay an extra 50€ or 100€ for an Acer or Toshiba.

Note that I won’t write any article on setting up GNU/Linux on this laptop, as complete reports can be easily found.