Your thoughts on where to start?? New laptop!

[everyonedoesit]

I've just ordered a new laptop which will have Vista pre-installed (of course) on it. I can't stand vista at all, and refuse to upgrade from XP until Windows 7 at earliest. I had planned from the start to duel boot this laptop with a distribution of Linux and probably a fresh install of XP (you never know, i might stick all 3 on there).

I'm a relative newbie to Linux, but when i was back home over the summer i salvaged bits of computer lying around in my mums office and built a small computer to try out Ubuntu after reading around and hearing good things. I loved it and figured it all out pretty quickly - i wish windows had a command line!!

After reading around on Linux distros I'm so lost i can't decide which way to go. They might not all work successfully with the laptop either, you never know, but i don't know which is more likely or which is better for me. I'm thinking either the latest release of Ubuntu, Mandriva or Fedora (at the moment, that's my order of preference)

I'll be using my laptop for Gaming (hence the windows XP/Vista in the dual boot for anything i can't run on Wine or GameOnLinux), GIMPing, Perhaps some video/audio editing, word processing/spreadsheets/powerpoints, net surfing.

I like totally customisable, and i like completely useless but oh-so-stylish desktop effects like burning windows and (very useful!) desktop squares.

Which distribution do you think i should attempt first, and which would be more likely to work on a laptop with the following specs

Refurbed Toshiba P300

Processor Type: Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 (3mb L2 cache 1066 MHz FSB)
Processor Speed: 2.26 GHz
RAM Size: 4 GB (DDR II SDRAM)
Hard Drive Capacity: 2x250 GB
Screen Size: 17"
Optical Drive: DVDRW
Graphics: Radeon HD3650 (Dx 10.1, shader 4.1)


What would you do? Which distro to pick? Keep vista or back to XP? All of the above? I'd love to hear any thoughts or probing questions you have.

[Jonathan183]

I've just ordered a new laptop which will have Vista pre-installed ....

I had planned from the start to duel boot this laptop with a distribution of Linux and probably a fresh install of XP (you never know, i might stick all 3 on there)....

What would you do? Which distro to pick? Keep vista or back to XP? All of the above? I'd love to hear any thoughts or probing questions you have.

Welcome to the forums everyonedoesit

I suggest you keep or at least backup Vista so that you are able to restore it if hardware problems develop ... suppliers have a nasty habit of saying they don't support anything unless original OS is installed (and warranty is invalid ) so don't give them any get-out !

Since you are already familiar with Ubuntu ... why not give that a try first ?

Be careful about installing XP after Vista ... getting Vista to boot again later may be an issue

I ran dual boot until warranty expired ... then bye bye Vista ... actually still have it in a VM but its looking like I may use the hard disk space for something I actually use these days

[jayd512]

Hello and Welcome!

Looks like some good gear there! Several users here like Toshiba laptops. The only issue you might run into is the gfx card. ATI can be a PITA to get going just right, but not so much that you need worry!
As far as suggestions, the best thing I can say is to burn some LiveCD's and see what you like.
Ubuntu seems like it made a good impression on you, so you might also like Mint. Gaming might draw you towards something like Sabayon.
Also, have a look at the Distro Quiz. It does a pretty decent job of helping you pick a first distro.

[everyonedoesit]

Hello and Welcome!

Looks like some good gear there! Several users here like Toshiba laptops. The only issue you might run into is the gfx card. ATI can be a PITA to get going just right, but not so much that you need worry!
As far as suggestions, the best thing I can say is to burn some LiveCD's and see what you like.
Ubuntu seems like it made a good impression on you, so you might also like Mint. Gaming might draw you towards something like Sabayon.
Also, have a look at the Distro Quiz.It does a pretty decent job of helping you pick a first distro.

Thanks a lot for that quiz, interestingly enough it's given me even more to choose from :P I got 100% on Mandriva, Ubuntu, OpenSuSE, Kubuntu, Mint.

I think i might have to get all of the darn live CDs and play about with ALL of them before settling on one hehe. Haven't heard of Sabayon before, and only Mint in passing so i'll do a bit more reading.

The fact that ATI can be a pain to get going is slightly worrying, as i don't have much experience with linux i'll have no idea what to do if the graphics are working (as i assume it would then become text based if it can't load up??). What sort of things should i keep an eye out for, or be prepared for?

Thanks alot for the help so far you two

[jayd512]

It won't be that much of an issue, and we can help with that. And there are generic drivers that can be used to give you a GUI... just not the full potential of the card. Let us know which one you choose!