> certainly the laptop you describe seems to win in all those 
> areas, but i've found that running anything but the 
> proscribed os on a compaq machine can lead to mind-numbing 
> frustration.

Aha.  Arg[v].  I actually hadn't thought of that...

Damn.  I'll give the archives a search - perhaps someone on port-i386 has
one.

> that coupled with compaq's propensity for using 
> strange hardware means that getting netbsd running is always 
> a pain in the ass.

Good point.

> ps - does it have a built-in serial port?

It's got a 9 pin right on the back.

-Jon