So I've got this spare Thinkpad T23, they are cheap on eBay, and wanted to run something lite and not resource intensive for using out in the garage. I decided on Linux, but trying to get any of the bigger name distro's to install was a pain in the a$$.... I spent several hours trying RedHat and suSe and Slackware. It would literally take the better part of a day to get anything running half stable but with quirky xwindows problems. Then I found Ubuntu...Very nice and easy to install distro, it's one of those Live CD versions so you can run off of the cd to test it out before doing the install. In all it probably took 30 minutes to install and has been running smoothly without any issue for about 24 hours now. I haven't tweeked the kernel yet but it self installed and configured ON A LAPTOP! That is almost of unheard of in the Linux world.

Ok done geeking out... back to grinding rust

My best,
Mike D.

Have you tried Fedora? Really good hardware detection, especially in laptops. You could also try Knoppix. It's a live-cd based on Debian, but seems to work really well with laptops.

Hmm haven't tried fedora (isn't it a redhat product?) Knoppix is next as I like the Debian stuff. Ubuntu is still running fine and is easy to tweek. Almost too easy, it really is designed to be the Linux for everyone type of thingy. easy to install, navigate, and use, almost intuitive. I'm building a small epai based musc serve and I'll try Knoppix on it.

Mike D.

I always liked mandrake... when it comes to ease of install... it's as easy as windows 90% of the time...

I am running Fedora core 3 on a Dell D600 laptop, only took a couple hours to install, and has been running great for over 6mo. The only thing that took some tweeking was getting the internal wireless to work properly, but I have heard they have fixed that in the recent releases.

Oh and Fedora isn't a redhat product per se, rather they are a joint operation. Fedora was a fork from RedHat when redhat announced that they were going to the pay only model. Well, fedora got so popular that Redhat offered them space on their servers and some other bennies in exchange for helping them test new goodies before they got added to the newest Redhat releases.

Some people dont like fedora any more because they don't like the close tie to RedHat, but I have no problem with them and they have good support on the forums and I have had grest success so far.

Good to hear about Ubantu, I will have to check them out also... 914's and linux geeks ... who knew

Tony

PHLAK is my laptop friend.

Other option was the latest Fedora Core build out there. Just pick and choose the packages you want.

QUOTE (cha914 @ Aug 14 2005, 10:26 AM)

Good to hear about Ubantu, I will have to check them out also... 914's and linux geeks ... who knew Tony

We need an open-source injection system!

Fedora- one of my friends from college spent the weekend visiting us and he put fedora on his newer dell laptop in a matter of hours and had it fully configured and running flawlessly which I thought was astonishing, since he had never touched a linux box. Interface was very intuitive and was comparable to windows. Did take about an hour to get the wireless to work- he had to go wire in directly to the router in the garage to get it to work. That was the only hiccup.

I use unix daily, linux is an obvious choice... too bad my wife is as computer literate as I am medical literate(her expertise) so, I deal with windoze @ home...

I use debian.....well then again, I'm more of the old-skool text-based linux geek.

I still have my apple for the graphical stuff.

I love debian, and it works very well.....

wireless for linux is like a baby's "soft-spot" just not developed yet...