How hard will it be to install these modules?

[reedy]

Hi there. I'm a complete newb to Linux, aside from running a few commands on a Mac which is obviously FreeBSD.

I have a Toshiba Portege S100. Its about 4yrs old so Centrino and runs XP. The hard drive is grinding so I need to replace it. I figured it would be a good opportunity to look at Linux.

So, I booted up the Ubuntu 9.1 CD and it didn't pick up the wireless card or sound card. Having looked around, it seems that this will need a little work:

----meh, can't post links - how helpful-----

Well, the link I was trying to post mentions I need to install the snd-intel8x0 and ipw2200 modules.

This doesn't look easy. Are there any distros that would make this process less painful?

Alternatively, is this the sort of thing people would be able to help me with if I just said I wanted to get it working on Ubuntu or whatever distro I chose?

[coopstah13]

----meh, can't post links - how helpful-----

sorry, this is spam preventive measure, you can post links by removing http:// and @

Well, the link I was trying to post mentions I need to install the snd-intel8x0 and ipw2200 modules.

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/wir...tart-here.html
i think ipw2200 requires firmware, this module should already be there
snd-intel8x0 should also be there, open terminal and post output of aplay -l

This doesn't look easy. Are there any distros that would make this process less painful?

possibly, linux mint is supposedly good for non-free support OOB, see above

if time and CD's are no concern, you should try top 5-10 distros on DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD. and see how it goes

Alternatively, is this the sort of thing people would be able to help me with if I just said I wanted to get it working on Ubuntu or whatever distro I chose?

yes

[reed9]

If your wireless is an Intel PRO 2200, it should work out of the box in Ubuntu. The card does require a binary blob of firmware, but to my knowledge, Debian is one of the only distros whose policies prohibit them from distributing the firmware. (Possibly Fedora as well?) Intel's license allows the firmware to be distributed under the terms of the license, but I believe Debian finds the license too restrictive. Ubuntu, however, does not.

However, the driver, separate from the firmware, is included in pretty much all distros.

If you boot up the Ubuntu live CD and post the output of

lshw -C network
lsmod
dmesg | grep firmware

We can help troubleshoot.

[kerpow]

I'm Reedy, but some reason I couldn't log back in. I tried a password reset twice but even then it wouldn't accept the passwords that were generated. Guess my account was corrupted in some way.

Anyway............I actually tried a Fedora Live CD and everything worked. I don't find Fedora quite so polished as Ubuntu; installing .rpm files seems a pain compared to apt-get. can I use apt-get on Fedora?

But it will be fine for basis web based apps, vlc, bitorrent etc. Any other reason not to choose Fedora?

[reed9]

Fedora is a fine distro. The two main cons to Fedora, in my opinion, are that 1) I agree in some areas it isn't as "user friendly", and 2) Fedora is an early adopter of new technologies and as such some releases are a little unstable.

Both of those have associated pros, though, in that 1) part of the lack of user friendliness is stricter policy on the inclusion of non-free software, which I appreciate, and 2) access to newer software packages.

It is possible to use APT in rpm based distros, but I'm not sure what all is required to set it up. PCLinuxOS, a Mandriva based rpm distro, uses APT, I know. You might consider checking them out.

[coopstah13]

no reason to use apt

yum is fine tool for package management, use that, don't use rpm command