I have an RT w'less modem and a Samsung CLP300 printer, neither of which will work in linux. They are both supposed to support linux, however like most of the sales pitch around nowadays its full of lies and special offers, ie only works for the first 10 buyers etc. The backup is non existant in real terms for linux. I have tried 11 versions of linux, non will work with the printer and only Susie worked sometimes with the wi, modem. What I am asking you guys for is your experience of these 2 items regarding Linux, they both work with m.s.xp. which I am trying to get away from. Be warned ,I am 67 year old ex engineer who has only ever programmed in basic so all the info' I see on the forums makes no sense to me. So, if your up to the challenge, have lots of patience, I will await your advice, many thanks, kind regards, Bob. P.S. I like the feel of Mepis Light and Knoppix, but will try any Linux.

Your printer should work. Here is a link to Openprinting, the best source of information for printers.

-->http://www.openprinting.org/show_pri...amsung-CLP-300

It lists the driver known to work. You will need Cups installed, what ever distro you settle on.

Basically jumping around will get you no where but frustrated. Pick one and install it. I suggest you go with one that has an easy to use package manager, and is commonly used. I see you have tried a few already.

As for the printer, after you install your OS, install cups. It is available for all distros. Then follow the information on Openprinting to install the driver. Once that is done, you need to open up a web browser, and on the location bar type:

http://localhost:631 press enter. That will connect you to the cups interface. Become root, and add a printer. If the driver is installed, then you will find it in the list of drivers. Pick the correct one. At the end of it you can run Testpage to verify the printer is now working.

On the modem, I would need more information. RT w'less doesn't tell me much. Please input the full maker name, model etc. If you have a wireless modem, then you probably have a wireless card in the system. To get that all working, we need to know what card you have. Open a konsole, and run the command '/sbin/lspci' ( without the quotes ) and post the results. That may help us find out what card you have. Then we need to track down a driver, ( if one exists ). Install the driver, configure etc.

Wireless can be difficult. The fact that they work on MS tells us the hardware is O.K. only. It is a good start, but we have a ways to go.

BTW, I'm a 60 year old fart... been at this for a while...

Hello cliff, will try info'you posted, apologise for capitals. This old laptop has a will of its own and prints whatever it wants to. It will be scrapped along with xp if i ever get linux up and running lol, thanks for your help, bob.