On Fri, 06 Feb 2009 06:24:23 -0600, Ignoramus7868
wrote:

On 2009-02-06, Pete Keillor wrote:
Thanks, everybody. I've decided that the new laptop will be Windows,
primarily because of applications that aren't available in Linux.
Also, I'll probably have to pick a Windows CAD package, although I'm
going to try the ones available in Linux first.

I would not recommend that anyone gets a Linux laptop as a first Linux
computer. But if someone gives you a free computer, for a desktop, you
can try Linux on it.

Oh, I've got a Ubuntu box running, playing with EMC2. I've also set
up an old cheap laptop for my middle son who finally started college.
It does everything he needs, including wireless, etc. I even found a
decent project management package. He's majoring in construction
management. What I haven't found is a CAD package I liked, hence the
question. For a laptop, which I'd also use while travelling, I'd want
to be able to use the DeLorme mapping products as well. Google Earth
is fine when I have internet access, but that's not always the case.

Pete Keillor