The Hundred Gunner

Check this site out:

http://www.linux.com/

There are millions of Linux "distros" out there. They are basically "versions" of Linux (not in the sense of m$'s "home basic," "home premium," "home business," etc.) Essentially they are all the "Linux" kernel with their own setup of pre-installed apps and such.

Ubuntu Linux and Linux Mint are among the easiest.

Next, through personal experience, I would say Suse. Others have said PC Linux OS, though.

I'd say start with Ubuntu. Don't be afraid of it; just remember that it isn't windows. If you expect it to be windows, you'll have a hard time and you won't like it.

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"But you would be amazed by how many people think that the only reason to have a computer is to play games, and that playing games is all that anyone with a computer does." - dangerousHobo

"Linux is everywhere, it is all around us, even now in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. " - mbp

"I have used a mac before. And they still don't have right click I mean come on." - aakar

Blah, blah, can't hear you

bowman

If only.

I've tried three distros on my laptop now, only one worked. Arch worked fine, because I got to set it up myself. Getting this to work on the sig rig through a USB drive was easy peasy, with xorg and xfce up and running, it was all sublime. However, I decided I couldn't be bothered picking everything myself because I just wanted a functional laptop quickly. I then decided to download a few 'simpler' more 'streamlined' distributions - in this case Debian and openSUSE.

Both of them have the same issue. They will not boot. After initial booting they will go into what seems like 'sleep mode' but isn't, it's just hung. Turning the laptop off lets me see that its in bootup phase just long enough before it shuts off again. I had this same problem in Arch with ATI's drivers, I tried unofficial drivers and it worked.

openSUSE boots in 'failsafe mode', but won't let me log in as regular user, it just returns me to the login screen again. It lets me log in as root (which is undesirable obviously) but then rebooting it will just hang it again.

On top of it all booting from cd no longer works, it just brings me back to the god damn grub screen again where i get to choose from openSUSE that doesn't work and openSUSE that almost kinda works in a way.

To put it simply, I took your linux challenge and I'll just say that maybe I'll bother once I have a spare pc to play with. I need my laptop to actually work, and now the god damn thing won't even let me boot from the xp restore disc. I realise ATI's drivers for linux are utterly completely useless, but why oh why would these distros decide to use them then? I mean, they're so dumbed down they won't even tell me which drivers they are installing but seeing as I am experiencing the same problem I can only assume it's the same as the first time I tried it.

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Fold on your:

The Hundred Gunner

I actually have the same problem on my sister's laptop. I don't see how it's Linux's fault, though, that the stupid computer won't boot from the damn disk. I always figured it was because of the low quality, POS laptop.

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"But you would be amazed by how many people think that the only reason to have a computer is to play games, and that playing games is all that anyone with a computer does." - dangerousHobo

"Linux is everywhere, it is all around us, even now in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. " - mbp

"I have used a mac before. And they still don't have right click I mean come on." - aakar

Blah, blah, can't hear you

bowman

Well, this is an Asus, and I've always thought Asus stood for at least things that worked somewhat..

Oh well, I installed Ubuntu of all things and it worked just like that. I guess it'll do for now.

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Fold on your:

lattyware

Well, the XP restore disk has nothing to do with Linux, that's a separate issue. And the ATI drivers re not great, but I have heard of people getting them to work pretty well.

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Lattyware | Main (Sig) Rig: gBOX42 | Lan Rig: gLAN42
Never been convinced by Linux? Here is a challenge. | Using LVM
Scratched Disc? | Guide To LAN Parties | Writing a GUI application in Python/Glade
Etching an image into your case. | Wireless Access Points: Easy wireless networking.
A Member Of The OCN Anime/Manga Club
There are three types of software. Free as in speech (FOSS), Free as in beer (Freeware) and Free as in BitTorrent.

bowman

Anyways, I'm now using Ubuntu like a noob, and it works just like that.

I'm wondering though, is it okay to paste my Firefox files right over to Linux from Vista, if I want my NoScript/Flashblock/Adblock filters and my bookmarks on the laptop too? It looks like it uses the same files in Linux too, just have to be sure.

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Fold on your:

lattyware

It should work, a few extensions are OS dependent, but most should work perfectly

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Lattyware | Main (Sig) Rig: gBOX42 | Lan Rig: gLAN42
Never been convinced by Linux? Here is a challenge. | Using LVM
Scratched Disc? | Guide To LAN Parties | Writing a GUI application in Python/Glade
Etching an image into your case. | Wireless Access Points: Easy wireless networking.
A Member Of The OCN Anime/Manga Club
There are three types of software. Free as in speech (FOSS), Free as in beer (Freeware) and Free as in BitTorrent.

boydyboyd

i run ubuntu on my laptop, even since it was new. I don't think i have ever booted into windows with it. Just booted with the live disc to make sure my wireless card was compatible, which it is.

Then i went straight to ubuntu with an OS X theme, (to make me look like student, lol.

I am now in the process of adding a new 250gb hard disk to my sig rig so i can boot into Arch Linux aswell as ubuntu and vista. I love linux, and want to try new distros now. I'm keeping good ol' ubuntu there just in case though. I really consider it a replacement for windows (for me) now. But i keep vista installed on my sig rig just for gaming.

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biatchi

I'm in the process of uploading OCNix64 (based on Arch) if you want to try Arch without having to install.

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boydyboyd

I will, just to see what it's like. I think i will install arch anyway, force myself to learn it's ways. Someone said it's like being thrown in at the deep end

Still, i have the Arch for beginners guide that you lnked me and im in the process of re-assembling my sig rig now. I kept taking things out to make space for my new hard drive and kep going, im obsessed with cable management, i kept taking more and more out to get it right. Now im lef with a mobo and a cpu in, thats it.

Still, im optimistic that i can put it back together and put arch on it before i go to bed.

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