Hi there,

I have an old laptop that I would like to try Linux on....

Which would be the best one to download for me as there seem to be quite a few?

Would anybody know a quick link to the best one for say a home user?

Ben

I am using ubuntu on an old laptop of mine without problems.

I'm currently playing with ubuntu too.

Have a few issues with the touch pad and sound but the latest version has sorted the touchpad issue.

Still can't get any sound though.

Ubuntu is one of the easier ones to start out with. I could never get my laptop wireless to work which stopped me switching away from MS.

Fedora and SUSE are other popular starter distros or you can go for Debian or Gentoo if you like a challenge.

How old is old? Whats the specs of the laptop?

Ubuntu seems popular here... but doubt you'll be able to run gnome as a window manager if the laptop is that old. Maybe try the xfce version

I ran Gnome on a 486, it just depends which version of Gnome.

I know gnome 2.0 is just fine on a 550MHz P III with 512 MB RAM

I'm currently playing with ubuntu too.

Have a few issues with the touch pad and sound but the latest version has sorted the touchpad issue.

Still can't get any sound though.

but.... but... your a girl :eek:

Still lovin the sig btw

Ubuntu seems popular here... but doubt you'll be able to run gnome as a window manager if the laptop is that old. Maybe try the xfce version

You don't wanna run Gnome! KDE is far better

Chris

Just out of interest, why do people who use Linux use Linux? It all seems unnecessarily complicated when you can put up with a 95% stable (I have very few problems with XP, although I do tend to stay on top of things) M$ OS? Or is it to do with the dollar sign?

I have to be familiar with it as our customers use it but I no longer have the patience or inclination to use it on my own machines

Chris

Go Ubuntu good for noobs and there is allot of support for it.

Gnome or KDE

That is good question, i would say KDE as it's more like windows and maybe easyer to use but remember it's not all point and click on Linux hehe command line :eek:

Just out of interest, why do people who use Linux use Linux? It all seems unnecessarily complicated when you can put up with a 95% stable (I have very few problems with XP, although I do tend to stay on top of things) M$ OS? Or is it to do with the dollar sign?

Just because.

It's hard to justify a move to Linux if you are used to XP. XP matured into a good OS. Stable fast etc etc.

The turd that is Vista makes Linux look simple. Vista is so god awful and expensive that lot of people who would never have looked at Linux before are taking an interest. And a lot of that is related to the cost of Vista. It's not good value for money.

Plus Linux is free.

If you find a distro that you like and works with your hardware its a joy yo use.

I used it for a year or so before i switched to a mac

but.... but... your a girl :eek:

Still lovin the sig btw

Which is why I can't get any sound or printers to work:D

I tried it as I hate vista with a passion.

Windows because i have to. Linux because i love to. OSX because i need to get stuff done sometimes.

I think just about sums it up :P

Amen to that!