Linux Distro

[cK]

I've had enough with windows/vista. Consistentally crashing in so many apps and really slow running.

I've used Fedora before but wasn't overly keen.

Which linux distro would you suggest for my laptop?

I use the laptop only for surfing, photo's & the odd mp3 so gui is pretty important. Don't want anything over-complex.

Whatever you suggest is it pretty much plug and play like vista? Will it detect all the laptop hardware I have i.e - my internal wireless network card?

Is it worth me noting down all the hardware I have in device manager before I do the install?

 

[Daz]

Ubuntu.

 

[cK]

I was considering buying a mac because i've used osx before and was quite impressed but I thought I don't really need to. My laptop seems to run ok it's just the bloody o/s.

Is ubuntu plug and play daz? is it worth me noting all my hardware on paper before install as i'd be formatting the drive, I don't want windows on it at all.

 

[cK]

Is the latest version of Fedora worth a go?

 

[Daz]

Well, if you can go OSX, that'll be infinitely better than Linux on a desktop/laptop machine.

If you do want Linux, then Ubuntu is the one to go for IMO. Wouldn't even bother looking at others..

 

[cK]

I'd have to buy a mac though wouldn't I? I didn't think you could just install osx on any old laptop?

Do you know whether ubuntu is pretty plug and play friendly?

 

[Daz]

Ubuntu is pretty plug and play yep.
Everything works on my laptop without any work in the latest version.. Dell D420, so pretty run of the mill hardware!

Get the CD, boot it, boot into live mode (you don't have to install it) and just see what works, what doesn't etc

 

[KDF]

You don't have to buy a mac to run OSX, and yes Ubuntu is plug n play for most things.

The only thing I had trouble with in the past was a wireless pci card, check which one you have before the upgrade.

 

[cK]

RealTek RTL8187 54Mbps USB 2.0 Network Adapater
Marvell Yukon 88E8038 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller

Oh and I don't wanna pay for an O/S so I suppose osx is out the Q lol

 

[Daz]

USB2 WiFi is going to be fun

Like I said, just boot from the CD, enter Live mode and see what works/doesn't work.

 

[cK]

Ok but won't I need to download stuff to know if it works? i.e - burning software etc?

Or is there an equivalent device manager which shows if a device is not recognised?

 

[cK]

Another thing i'm sure i'm going to get a little stuck with is formatting the hdd. Whenever i've done it in the past it's come up with errors saying the drive is in use etc.

I beleive my hdd is partitioned. C: and D:

D as far as i'm aware is just called Recovery which I think is part of this gateway laptop. Can I format D: and install ubuntu into D:?

Once installed into D: can I then format whatever is on C: from within ubuntu?

 

[16v_jon]

Give open SUSE a try.

 

[cK]

right ive installed ubuntu and loving it so far. So quick compared to anything I've used.

I've managed to get my wireless working.

What apps are a must?

Is photoshop available on linux? what p2p prog and torrent downloader do you use? What plugins do I need for browsers and what music player? winamp?

 

[16v_jon]

transmission for torrent, the gimp for photo editing you'll need firefox and the usual flash plugin etc.

 

[Adams_16v]

bet you end up going back to Windows! lol! I have numerous times.

Vista has been completely fine for me, not had any slow issues or problems at all, but I am using a high spec PC.

 

[cK]

ahh i thought my wireless was working ok. it does work but drops signal every 5-10 mins and i have to disconnect and reconnect or restart the computer lol. I tried wired and it works fine and is a lot faster loading pages...

bugger, any advice?

 

[Hixxey]

You made a good choice changing to Ubuntu.
Almost any problem you can think of has been discussed on a forum and resolved.
Do a google search and you should find a solution for your wireless problem.

Also. If you need to use a program that only works on windows, try WINE or VirtualBox.

 

[cK]

I did look on the web for my card on ubuntu and followed some guide exactly on disabling the network manager and basically entering the details about my wireless connection into a text file. This did not work, so i'm still a bit stuck. It recognises my connection is there but just looses signal after 5 mins or so which i've search on the net and seems to be a common problem.

 

[Oil C Park]

First thing to do after installing Ubuntu is grab Amarok from the repository.

 

[KDF]

right ive installed ubuntu and loving it so far. So quick compared to anything I've used.

I've managed to get my wireless working.

What apps are a must?

Is photoshop available on linux? what p2p prog and torrent downloader do you use? What plugins do I need for browsers and what music player? winamp?

I actually found Ubuntu quite slow for booting as standard.. (about 30 seconds) I spent a few hours optimizing it to exactly what I needed and got it down to 8 seconds to Gui desktop (not including bios time etc).

Apparantly the next version of Ubuntu they have put a lot of effort into making it boot faster, I don't see the point personally as I never reboot anyway

Use WiCD for your wireless connection stuff.

Very powerful, like you can have custom scripts run when it gets a connection or if it gets disconnected. I use it on my GF's laptop so that when her eee pc comes into range of my network it syncronizes with my Ubuntu File Server, checks there is enough space on the eee pc then transfers the latest episodes of Eastenders that my MythTV PVR has recorded for her, it then verifies the transfer was 100% successful using MD5 hash algorithms then deletes it from my PVR

WiCD also has a nice GUI if you want that sort of thing.

As said, gimp is a photoshop type clone.
Amarok for music, or BMPx
Transmission GTK for torrents, so lightweight and fast !

 

[cK]

weirdly enough I could not for the life of me get my wireless working on ubuntu. I tried a method which fucked something up and the desktop would never load.

I've installed Fedora 9 and EVERYTHING is working fine lol. My internet doesn't seem to hang and I can connect wireless and wired.

 

[KDF]

Hey thats great to hear. I haven't used Fedora since version 6 seems to have come on leaps and bounds !

Glad you got it working, Linux will teach you loads about computers and how they work. If you muck about with the system then you WILL break it.. but thats half the fun

 

[cK]

Yea fedora seems pretty nice although the yum/software update installer seems a lot slower than ubuntu.

I'm trying to get my bootup quicker now, i've disabled a s**t load of services i'm not using and i've disabled 2 splash screens. Struggling to think what else I can do without going into it too far and as you say 'break it'?

Don't suppose you know if you can get away with using the login in fedora? If i delete my user it still makes me login @ the login screen as root and there is no option to auto login if single user?

 

[KDF]

Ye you can set auto-login.

In ubuntu its under System/Administration/Login Window then click the security tab.

I'm not sure for Fedora.

You can either set the user to login straight away, or wait a few seconds incase you want to log on as somebody else.

 

[cK]

I'm not sure the option exists in Fedora? i've googled but can't seem to find anything.

 

[KDF]

Had a quick look at a Google and a Fedora install I have on a remote VM.

edit /etc/gdm/custom.conf and add the following.. make sure you change username to the user you want to auto log on.


[daemon]
TimedLoginEnable=true
TimedLoginDelay=5
AutomaticLoginEnable=true
AutomaticLogin=username
TimedLogin=username
RemoteGreeter=/usr/libexec/gdmgreeter



You need to restart the GUI which you can do using CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE. or issue the following command in a terminal..

/etc/init.d/gdm restart

 

[jonnyjogpants]

Ubuntu.