Hey, my first time with Linux, need some help!!!!

[Flwsock]

Hello, I have much experience with Windows and have never used anything except for Vista and Xp, and 98. Anyways, at the moment I have dual-boot on my laptop with Vista and XP. I want to get rid of Vista and put on Slackware, I'm putting on Slackware because my uncle had it and he will probably help me with the "command line" and so on, since I know absolutely nothing about Linux. So, down to the point, I need some help finding drivers, because we all know that if your going to reformat you need drivers. My laptop is a Satellite l355-s7812.

Thanks a lot guys, I really appreciate it!

[jayd512]

Hello and Welcome!

Setting up a dual boot with Linux is pretty straight forward. During the installation process, you'll be asked where you wanna put Linux. Just tell it to use the partition that XP is on. After that, we'll get you through the little details. And the Linux kernel already includes most drivers that you'll need (a few exceptions, though). So you won't have to go digging for any driver CD's.

Here's a link that should help: Slackware Linux Essentials

[reed9]

Just a note, Slackware is probably one of the most challenging distros to begin using linux with. I mean, it's good if your goal is to learn a lot about linux (though I would still recommend Arch over Slackware, primarily because of the package management), but if your goal is to just get up and running, you'd probably be better served with Ubuntu or Mandriva or the like.

[Flwsock]

Why is ubuntu and others easier? Whats harder about Slackware? My uncle told me that you have to put a bunch of codes into slackware to show your desktop and what not, I didn't really understand, but anyway, can you please supply a linnk where I can download Ubuntu, and where I could find the drivers for my laptop.

[reed9]

Ubuntu is about to come out with their next release, 9.04. I would either wait to download the finished release in a couple days or download the release canditate and upgrade when it's final. DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD. For drivers, if the hardware is supported in linux, the drivers are probably already there. Different distros do have some variance in hardware support, but mostly they're comparable. The most common exception are some wireless cards and printers.

Slackware is designed for experienced users. Configuration generally is through editing text files. Also, the default package manager doesn't handle dependencies. (In order to install or run, programs often require another program or shared libraries available. For most distros, the program that handles downloading and installing software will automatically resolve these dependencies and install everything needed to run the program.)

[jayd512]

Some distros are designed to be easy to use right from the start, such as Ubuntu, Fedora or Mint. Others, like Slack, CRUX and Arch, are more geared towards experienced Linux users. Really just a matter of how the GUI interacts with programs, package management and networking tools. There's more to it than that, but that's the gist of it.

A good place to find info on various distros is Distrowatch. You'll also find download links there.

[reed9]

I recommend reading this as well.

[Flwsock]

Ok, well, I'm downloading Linux 8.10 iso (wouldn't let me download 9.04). I downloaded the one for intel (I presume its for intel because one was i, and the other was amd, and then a bunch of numbers). Reed9, I checked the link you gave me, and thats were I downloaded Ubuntu, but I cannot find the drivers, where do I go? I love the fact you only need a few drivers, unlike Windows where you need all of them.

Thanks a bunch,
Flwsock

[jayd512]

There's no need to install drivers for most hardware. Linux includes most device drivers that you'll be needing. As reed9 mentioned, the notable exception would be for a few wireless cards or some printers.

[reed9]

Hmm, the 9.04 RC link is working for me. The amd64 is for 64 bit machines, the i386 is for 32 bit machines. This is the download link from distrowatch for i386. We can't know what drivers you may need without knowing what hardware you have. You can run Ubuntu off the CD without installing, which is a good way to test your hardware and see if your wireless works and so on.