I got a new XPS M1530 15.4 laptop from dell, I told them that [I disagreed with them] because I needed a 16 inch, but they disagreed with me so I got a three year warranty so these [Dell employees] have to replace it after it overheats. So I called dell yesterday and got pushed off the deep end, they could have picked 149 other version of Linux but they had to pick Ubuntu, and I became extremely irate and I started screaming at the [unfortunate people who answered the phone] because they are dealing with the idiot version of Linux and they will support no other, so what is my distro, I want three things:

~Internet and I have a dell NIC that is completely compatible....
~OpenArena, Doom and Urbanterror.......So I have a 256Meg Nvidia card
~Web Programming though Quanta, thats why I hate Ubuntu....


I'm going to download and burn Gentoo because that was suggested, but my needs are very simple but focused, I was wondering if some experts could show those novices at Dell and in America and India up.......So I need some good advice, because Gentoo is coming down next and I'll be back after I try the i386 version.......

Thanx

You could have gone with Kubuntu and grabbed the Dell packages. I'm guessing that screaming at them was somewhat counter-productive....

The only problem with a odd ball version of Linux is that I waned fedora 9 because I can get many books over that to learn Apache and the OS and then PHP, MySQL, Python, Ruby. postgreSQL, Java, C/C++, and many others......I was on a total learning curve......Because I told the guy at dell if it cam down to Microsoft or nothing, I would pick up a hammer and chisel and go back to roman numerals to communicate.......But Ubuntu is the only diro I won't use, so bring it on, I have a whole sleepless weekend......

No, the only one is Ubuntu.....Its that or nothing......

Kubuntu is ubuntu with KDE instead of gnome. As long as the DELL packages/updates don't rely on gnome, they would've been able to be installed on Ubuntu. In fact, you can install KDE on the Ubuntu that comes standard, but it seems you want to stay away from ubuntu all together

I use openSUSE and am very happy with it. It has good hardware support (Check to be certain), repo's for nvidia drivers, and you can get Quanta through the repo's as well.

More of a gnome fan myself, that's why I don't care mandriva and I use the "Desktop Switing tool" to get use to it....

But SUSE, i'll give that another try......

SUSE offers the option to choose gnome, KDE, or any other WM as your default desktop during installation. Suse's gnome is slightly different than the standard gnome you normally get.

I am at a loss as to how you have any issue with Dell. There is a huge range of choices in hardware, including the companies that will sell you:
laptops with various versions of Linux pre-installed.
laptops with NO OS installed (or something like FreeDOS).

You don't even make it clear exactly what you think Dell did wrong.

As for Ubuntu, you can configure it to do anything that another Linux will do.

I hope you find something that works for you......

Oh, didn't know that....didn't have that much time to work with KDE but its something I'll have to look into.....

Yes, point well taken, but the display drivers were not installed correctly and I have to spend hours and hours looking for root privileges because I work better off a GUI and when i read man the ADD kicks in.

I would even switch back and forth from OpenAreana to Urban terror back to redhat for study perposes, but redhat is all i've taken seriously.....I'm a newbie at redhat 9 and all other versions of linux and that is what I want to change.....

Hi,

If your a newbie then why are you so set against the *buntu/Linux?
I'm just curious. I use Slackware and prefer it as my distribution. If you want a GUI based distro then any would meet your needs since they use 'X'. I feel comfortable at the cli but use a GUI when feeling lazy.

Cool, thats all i'm looking for is that game and some new ones, I was thrown when they took the "ADD/Remove" software from the GUI, all I want is a distro that doesn't have driver problems, even if I have to play musical chairs with the operating systems.....

Srsly,it's as easy as System > Admin > Synaptic and checking the box for Quanta. Speaking of idiots...
And Quanta is a KDE package, by the way, but any Linux can run Gnome stuff in KDE or the other way round.

Dell is not a good company because they out source a lot of their services. My notebook computer got delayed to ship four times and almost five because of the services were out sourced. Sure during the time I paid for the notebook and all the delays, nVidia has some problems coming to surface. The problems were GeForce8 cards were failing because of the fabrication process that nVidia used to their chips get an RoHS stamp. They picked a fabrication that can not handle high heat. This may cause the delay, but other components cause the delay too such as the colored shell, web cam, and LCD screen.

BeerSlinger, sure fight for the 16:9 ratio screens and waste your money. A 16:10 screens gives you more for your money. A 16 inch screen will hurt your portability rating. A 15.4 inch is better for portability and they usually provide a 16:10 ratio which gives you more work space.

I do not recommend selecting a GeForce8 8600 for a 15.4 inch notebook computer unless there is at least two fans and heat sinks are large. Even with better cooling an 8600 will make the notebook computer over heat and fail. I recommend step down to 8400 at a cost for graphics performance. Really, notebook computers are meant to sacrifice performance for portability, so gaming on them will be unrealistic.

If you did not select Intel WiFi model 3945, then you will have problems getting Dell WiFi to work. Sure Intel WiFi model 4945 can work but that is a waste of money because of 802.11n is still in the works and unreliable.

If you are a Linux novice, PCLinuxOS seems better than Ubuntu, Fedora, and SUSE. Gentoo is better than all of those since you are in control what features to include or to exclude. Ubuntu is very over rated and it does not work as good as people have said.

Every Linux distribution have the same hardware support. It depends if you can read the instructions on how to install, setup, and configure the hardware. I have found that Gentoo makes installing modules or drivers easier compared to many distributions.

Since you use GUI to configure, you will not have fun in Linux because its specialty is CLI to configure. Linux surrounds it self with CLI because all programs are edit by a text editor. A GUI program understanding the chaos of ASCII that someone have edited will not work properly. I strongly recommend get in the habit of using CLI programs. You will learn it is a lot more efficient than GUI. Sure you can use GUI programs such as webmin and CUPS web admin to configure, but I recommend use them to fine tune settings or do minor tweaks. Though CUPS web admin should always be used to setup printers.

IMHO, Gentoo is the best distribution to start doing programming because it sets up the environment for each programming language better than other distributions. Most proprietary and novice Linux distributions do not have the neccessary programs installed, so you have to go on a goose hunt for those software packages.

Gentoo's GUI installer sucks, so I recommend install Gentoo manually. It is tedious, but you will soon find it easy. It takes a half a day to several days to install Gentoo for a desktop or notebook setup depending on your computer hardware.

Oh, I know that, I like that and bluefish......I just prefer gnome.......