What flavour Linux for my Laptop?

[FluffyChicken]

At worst it'll cost you a disc to try a live cd of a distro that takes your fancy .

and a couple of hours of wasted time :roll:

Went for Ubuntu in the end, but the laptop screen just goes blank when switching to the GUI, and i've tried the safe graphics mode too. If there is no "quick fix" then i'll just dump Ubuntu (bit annoying cuz i have 10gb monthly limit and that was 0.7gb wasted :roll: )

Welcome to Linux.... it's why it's still never kicked of in a big way.
(been using it since near the start, building slackware setups and having to compile the kernel to get it to work, lol. luckily (or not) we are a long way from that now).


the other one to try is fedora (aka RedHat)
http://fedoraproject.org/
and Mandriva
http://www2.mandriva.com/

RedHat was the first big one, then Mandriva (under it's old name) took the limelight making it easy to use, the Ubuntu has taken over them both in the recent years....

Hard to tell you a quick fix, need make/model of laptop.
You can order the Linux DVD/CD for free or for postage most of the time though to save you limit.

 

[Easy_Rider]

I've flirted with different flavours over the years but never really stuck to one and always came back to windows just because of compatibility issues and not wanting to spend hours going over pages of code, because i just want things to work from the box.

I quite like SLAX very light and quick, but the wireless doesn't work with it and it's difficult to get all the plug ins for internet browsing etc.

Well, a tentative answer to the problem with Ubuntu is that 256mb ram on the old laptop may not be enough.... how come, it runs XP SP2 very well :roll:

Really, my number one priority for any Linux distro is that everything works from the outset, WiFi etc

So now i'm left with

Xubuntu
Crunchbang
Spri
Puppy
Fedora
Mandriva
Mint
Blag

Same laptop as previously stated P2 2.66GHz and 256Mb of shared RAM/Graphics and a Belkin PCMCIA WiFi card.

So which one do i try next

 

[FluffyChicken]

But does the laptop have a make & model, then we would know the make of integrated graphics card and it's other internals.


Ubuntu is usually one, if not the best for Wi-Fi

Looking at ubuntu (as I've been downloading the current next release candidate) 256MB is minimum for the 'Alternate Ubuntu' installation, and you do need more for the Live CD installer version.
System requirements

Ubuntu is available for PC, 64-Bit PC and Intel-based Mac architectures. At least 256 MB of RAM is required to run the alternate install CD (384MB of RAM is required to use the live CD based installer). Install requires at least 4 GB of disk space.


Bugger, you got enough space for more RAM in there ?
PC100/133 or DDR ?

probably Puppy as its a very small download and should have lower memory req's

Looks like thw RC may need less though ?
http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/9.10/ or possibly the Netbook Reemix (not sure what this is) would be perfect for your use.

 

[Easy_Rider]

Ooops sorry forgot, its a Samsung V25

Yes there is a free slot for more memory, maybe i should buy a stick.

I was thinking maybe Puppy too, sounds very much like slax, but i can't find a hardware compatiblity list for any of the distros.

Maybe i'll look at that notebook version then, but notebooks have PCMCIA slots to support my WiFi :?

 

[FluffyChicken]

I'm downloading the NMR version at the moment to see what it is, will try it on my P3 and slap an old PCMCIA card in if it's still around.

I845GV chipset for the graphics and PC133 memory...


edit a quick search implies it should work (graphics) with the 845 video, maybe not with all the glitz of wobbly windows, but it should work. Guess it's the RAM problem then.

As for Wi-FI, there are quite a lot of different Belkin PCMCIA cards, you'd need to check the model number FD...... chances are by now they should all be working.

 

[Easy_Rider]

Wow, thats way above the call of duty

It's a Belkin F5D8010

 

[FluffyChicken]

A quick search for the card and it seems to use NDISWrapper, and apparently work with Puppy and I know the 'wrapper' works in Ubuntu ...
so you should be ok there.

and if the worst comes to the worst it was sorted 2 years ago ...
http://welcometoubuntu.blogspot.com/200 ... abled.html

 

[Easy_Rider]

cool cheers!

Looks like that notebook version requires 384mb aswell :?

Thing is when you go to the download page of the normal desktop http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download , on the right hand side it says minimum 256mb which i have, when you click "installation requirements" then the bare minimum is 64mb on alternative CD version. Apart from not being able to find the download link for that version it looks far too complicated anyway looking at the instructions.

I'll get there in the end! All this only started because the XP started saying it's not genuine etc even though its OEM software that came with it and the sticker is on the bottom, had a HDD glitch which means i need to re-install, but i know it won't take the key anymore and i thought sack windows, only ever use the laptop for the internet so i'll get a light version of linux.

I'll get there

 

[perry]

When I first put xubuntu onto this laptop I spent ages sat wondering why the wifi wouldn't connect , then it dawned on me to stick the ethernet cable into it that was in the desktop pc upstairs , a few mins later and it had sourced all the needed drivers from the interweb itself .

I cut 300mb or so out of it by going into the synaptic package manager and ditching things like printer and bluetooth stuff .

If you still have windows on it at the moment it might be worth seeing if theres a more recent bios you can download , its a lot easier to do it in windows than linux .

 

[Easy_Rider]

Well, i think the laptop is allergic to Ubuntu. The CD drive seems to have pooped and then the ac adaptor has come dislodged :roll:

Windows is no longer working, hence moving to Linux

I'll get it fixed somehow, will not be defeated by it :twisted: