Linux for laptops..

[Dharman100]

Hello ppl..

I am planning to get to know Linux much better without risking my current PC contents..so i m planning to buy a second hand laptop.. But I am still quite blur about the required specs to run the current linux distributions.. the laptop is not for gaming or for any heavy softwares such as image-editing or so.. i wanna do some programming, some linux and try out opensource distributions..

So, I really need some advice from our Recom pros..About the hardware..and also the best linux distribution for laptops..

I bet a lot of ppl out there are going crazy about this LINUX for LAPTOPS thingy too..

So..pls help us out..

Mfg,
Dharman100

[littlebigone]

if you're only going to do what you stated without any worries about music, sound, video and other stuff. Then I think almost any distro would do. Most hardware conflicts are with sound and video cards.

The only other thing that would concern me is conflict with modem/network card.

I hope I answered part of your question. I'll do more research and try to answer you better. If you have more specific questions, maybe you can post it.

[Dharman100]

Thanks a zillion for the reply, man.... About sound.. i would love to hav some mp3s..in my laptop...But lets solve that problem later..

My main concern is the requirements for the laptop itself to support latest linux distributions..so that i can decide on the specs of my future laptop...

Moreover, it will be great to get some news about the best linux distribution for laptops.. someone suggested SuSe...any opinions??

Mfg,
Dharman100

[screw3d]

I am not an expert in Linux, but I do know that Linux would run on pretty-low powered systems.

The problem is not with installing/running Linux itself, but the applications that come with it might not run well on lower-end systems.

Depending on your (future) laptop's configuration, different distros have different system requirements. The last time I checked, you could even run some distros on a 486 processor. So I guess you'll do fine on whatever laptop you'll get. Just don't go too cheap :D

I read through some forums and apparently Mandrake is a very popular choice for starters.

[masterof_none]

Linux has very few requirement. You can run Linux on almost any Intel processor (unless yours is older than 386, which is almost non-existent now).

All you need to have is a PC running Intel processor. That's all. !

But if I were you, I won't buy a laptop for my donkey work on Linux, but I would have an old PC that still capable of running Windows (I own one!). Then, I'll delete Windows, and install 100% linux, that's better ;-)
Also, you don't have to worry about partition and stuff.
(this is , of course, my own suggestion only)

But if you still want to paritition your hard disk, then , you probably have to read through the Installation manual for distro that you chose.

You can use Mandrake, SUse, or Redhat if you want to get it up and running quickly.

But , if you have more time, I suggest you get one of these:
Debian or Slackware.


If you want all things work out nicely, then , you probably want Mandrake, suse, redhat. THose distros usually support a wide range of video/sound cards.

The best way to get started is to visit their websites.
www.debian.org
www.slackware.com
www.redhat.com
etc.

[littlebigone]

Read this link. A summary of conflicts that you may want to look out for

http://www.tuxmobil.org/Mobile-Guide.db/mobile-guide-p1c1s3-linux-features.html

A detailed discussion of each hardware that may or may not go into your lappy:
http://www.tuxmobil.org/Mobile-Guide.db/mobile-guide-p2-mobile-hardware.html

[littlebigone]

another link to popular laptop manufacturers for linux.
Clicking on the "more" link in the community column will take you to a page that displays the models from that manufacturer.

There is a link for each model and what the user had to do to get the lappy to work. Covers everything from distro, driver installation, hardware conflicts...blah blah blah...

http://tuxmobil.org/laptop_manufacturer.html

[equuelus]

if u are really serious about linux, i suggest you build the whole system from scratch. This way, you'll understand more. Read this for more info.

http://lfs.crash404.com/lfs/view/stable/

[sueyi]

Hi Dharman .. I have Redhat 8 with Windows XP dual boot on a Dell Inspiron 4150 ... I had XP on there first, and then partitioned the space (with partition magic) and installed Redhat 8 using a cd ... I was really surprised that the installation was so easy, like a windows installation, and everything worked from the beginning. Sound, ethernet card, etc. Also I'm not a linux pro -- after I had that when I wanted to install licq (a linux icq client) it was my very first time dealing with redhat package manager, but I just followed instructions and it turned out to be very easy (or maybe I'm very lucky :P) ... so, I think redhat must be one of the least intimidating distros.

[sueyi]

ehh .. if anyone is going to start fiddling with a computer that has an OS already installed over the whole hard disk, like mine was ... BACK UP data first!!! just in case.

[white2020]

for those who have tried LINUX before, may i know whether can linux run xp programmes?

Thanks

[vseehua]

for those who have tried LINUX before, may i know whether can linux run xp programmes?

Thankssome

[chiachean]

for those who have tried LINUX before, may i know whether can linux run xp programmes?

Thankssome


can u plz list some examples?

[youngyew]

for those who have tried LINUX before, may i know whether can linux run xp programmes?

Thanks
In linux, you can run something called "WINE" which allows you to run certain windows programmes. While it's a great invention, WINE is not perfect so there are still incompatibility and performance issues.

You can learn more about WINE here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_%28software%29
http://winehq.org/site/who

[shade]

I started with Ubuntu and I'm pretty happy with it. You'll just need to get used to installing packages and using the command line prompt, which by the way both are pretty easy (more like copy and paste for the latter). Runs alright on my old box: Athlon 1ghz, 128MB SD RAM, Radeon 8500LE. If your laptop's specs are similar if not lower than mine, make sure you get the alternative cd (intall only, no Live CD) because it's below the minimum specs to run Live CD.

[vseehua]

I started with Ubuntu and I'm pretty happy with it. You'll just need to get used to installing packages and using the command line prompt, which by the way both are pretty easy (more like copy and paste for the latter). Runs alright on my old box: Athlon 1ghz, 128MB SD RAM, Radeon 8500LE. If your laptop's specs are similar if not lower than mine, make sure you get the alternative cd (intall only, no Live CD) because it's below the minimum specs to run Live CD.www.xubuntu.com

But then again, having used linux for so long, i had found very good replacements for windows programs.

Listen Music Manager can completely replace iTunes
in normal cases Open Office can replace MS Office.
Firefox and thunderbird is available under linux
Gaim (now Pidgin) is a nice multi protocol IM client

as well as lots of other cases... i think it's time i write a Linux for Beginers FaQ

[shade]

xubuntu's faster but it's ugly. It uses Xfce and it has a rat as a friggin logo.

[vseehua]

xubuntu's faster but it's ugly. It uses Xfce and it has a rat as a friggin logo.i find it nice... resembles the gnome interface which i normally use but a lot lighter on resources ;)

[thesoothsayer]

xubuntu's faster but it's ugly. It uses Xfce and it has a rat as a friggin logo.

Hey! Don't insult the rat! It's cool. I love it. :)

[Xon]

i am very new to linux,one simply question here,is it downloadable directly from anywhere without the dics?

how come linux come in diferent version?
what's the different between ubuntu/redhat......???

[vseehua]

It can be downloaded from a lot of places in the net for free...

Ubuntu/Redhat are different distributions for Linux in general. They are in a sense packaging softwares together to put together as one packet so that the userr can just install and go.

[Xon]

so i can just download from www.ubuntu.com into my laptop?

[vseehua]

you will have to know how to burn an image to a CD-R before you can install it. In any case, it will be much safer to use a virtual machine to test linux on your system...

get the VWware Player from www.vmware.com

and get the Linux Mint image here (http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/1119)

[chiachean]

I would recommend Virtual Box

www.virtualbox.org

[vseehua]

Have been using Ubuntu 8.04 Development version on my laptop for a few days now... a few things broke along with the updated that come daily...

Time to crack this thing to it's death :twisted: :twisted: