I know there are sooooo many threads pertaining to this question type but I am one of those who are in need so I must ask the same question.What is the best distro for a Acer travelmate 2200 I havent found a match in the database of distros for acer models so I have to ask on the forum and also I have a intergrated wireless lan chip will that be reconized under the linux distro if not where can I find the drivers to save me the time.

jsut try one. decide what you want and try it. i have installed slackware on several different laptops ranging from big-dawgs like ibm to crappy ones like averatec (which is actaully almost a clone of the acers)
it isnt so much which distro, as a distro is just linux and some programs. so really any of them should work. some have more drivers for hardware, but you shuold check with the distro on supported hardware. or build a scratch system with gentoo.

Laptops are my speciallity,

In the respect of Linux, you must decied and know what you want out of the system and then research the various distros around, but

Stability : SuSe
Customization : Gentoo
Compatability : Mandriva

This is coming from experiecnce with laptops, be warned not everything will work at first you must persist, it will all work with the right configigurations

Well I am looking for something that will work with my wireless LAN chip which is intergrated with my laptop so were not talking about a plain card.All I really care about is the compatibility with my laptop hardware and everything comes after that which is mainly coding and security testing.

i dont mean to comment on anyone but suse is far from stable. but if you do use it the older versions have less issues. except 8.2. now if you had said easier i might have agreed. but not stable.. i wouldve put stability under gentoo, or my fav slackware. tehy are solid systems. slackware is considered unbreakable.

mandrake, mandriva, whatever, they can change thier name to whatever..... anyway... sometimes they are easier to set up hardware, but i wouldnt call it more compatible. remember linux is a kernel, not a distro. and when you get into the mandrake and suse kernel, they are just a large modular kernel, and often they leave out alot. so in reality, if you want compatiblitly you would rebuild. make the kernel smaller and customized.


i own about 27 different laptops with linux installed, so i am not a pro at it, but pretty close. you just have to try one. seriously. read some points on different distros. suse has a problem loosing data if there is a power outage, like battery failure. mandrake and redhat usualy need some options added to the xconfig file to make laptop screens not flicker. not biggy. all distros need modlines added if the laptop is widescreen. then there are keymaps. this is true with all distros. none are perfect yet. you just need to install and then spend alittle time posting on here to get them set up. once they are set up, you are good. it is a nice learning experience.

i would need to know the output of lspci, or at least post the name of the card. i cant guess wheather or not linux has a driver for it. but if it is a minipci card, then you should just buy the cheaper laptop that has a cheaper card in it and then perchase a badd ass saneo card for it. they ahve the 200 mw minipci cards for like 60 bucks. they will whoop any intel card. if it is broadcom you are out of luck. if the card is the intel card there most likely is a driver in the kernel for it.

The only info I could get on my wireless LAN is this
acer IPN2220 Wireless LAN card
driver provider :LanExpress
Version:2.23.8.2004

Its not a card because I cant eject it out and I read on the acer site that it is intergrated with the antenna built into the top part of my notebook on the back of my lcd I guess.It gets damn good coverage I went wardriving with it and man I got a ssid 200 yards away!so its awsome.but I would rather use linux and kismet with my wardriving and I would rather use linux as my main OS which brings me here lol .

yep that card will need the ndiswrapper for linux compatibility. but that is ok after you choose the distro just install the package for it. but you might be able to choose a distro that has ndis in it. or a distro like gentoo which is very easy to maintain, something like emerge ndiswrapper would probably work. that could help in being the deciding factor on which distro. regardless, the cards i was talking about are supported natively under linux and i can promise you will whoop that card. if you are lucky that card is a 50mw card. usualy linksys cards are about 30, some better cards get up to 80mw. the ones i am refering to are long range wireless cards used for long hauls with wireless isps. but the card is no difference and this is y they are so supported under linux, is cause most every linux distro can be setup as a wireless access point. keep that in mind. i know it is extra bucks. and everything i can find on the card says it is a card. usually the will say integrated but it is just a minipci card in the bottom of the laptop. if it isnt then there is nothing more you can do but use the ndiswrapper. if it is a minipci card, then you have the 2 options. you should read up on ndiswrapper to see how compatible it is with the distro you might choose. git er dun.

Thats cool right now I have fedora core 2,PHLACK,slax,knoppix but I can download more iso's to
make my linux experience more easier.If there is a distro other then gentoo that would be ideal let me know.I have the drivers for the wireless card on cd that came with my laptop I dunno if I can just pop the cd in and just install the drivers with ndiswrapper or not if you can tell me how I should do it that would be a BIG help.I have alot of experience with alot of net security and can fix any windows pc in a matter of seconds but I am completly clueless as to what to do with this and how I can install the drivers.Also I checked the ndiswrapper site and couldent find a app that was compiled I suppose it wants you to compile the source?That may be a whole set of other bs lol.If you can point me to the right link let me know.Thanks for all the help already
it has helped me alot!

well. yeha you will have to compile from source.... if you have a source based distro. if not there will be rpms for your distro. some vendors dont make the rpms and distro specific packages. you would just have to find them. it is all depending on what you want to use. i would actaully suggest something like fedora for the beginners, cause it has alot of users, and there are alot of packages. it will get you started, but you will probably be wanting to something more within about 6 months of hard core use. well, i am just speculating, but if you are like me and you want more control, you will. so i would suggest being ready to format in about that time. then if you feel comfortable enough switch to a distro that is alittle tougher, but more flexible. you will have problems with rpm based systems that you wont have with source based systems. so i would suggest switching to a source based system. but get some usage under your belt before a gentoo install. cause you will need to know some things to install it, things that are dependant on you. it isnt one of those " install everything" distros.

as for compiling the program from source, if you have to here is the basic steps.
download the tar.gz file to your home directory.
open a terminal as user.
type tar zxvf <exact-file-name>.tar.gz
cd to new directory ( usually the same as the tar.gz file name without the tar.gz extention.)
use ls to view the contents. if there is a configure* file then run it with
./configure
if there are no errors from configure ( it will usualy tell you right in the last few lines) then run
make
then if there are no errors ( there will usually be warning that are ok to ignore) then su to root with
su
then password for root
then run
make install

then it is a good idea to run ldconfig afterward. it wont have any output, it just updates your libs.

that is it. good luck.

p.s. it is absolutely impossible to fix a windows pc in a matter of seconds. Bill Gates has been trying to years to fix em.

Thanks thats about all I needed to know.The bash prompt tut helped alot I really dont want to use fedora core but I have just downloaded debian and burnt it to an iso so I am gonna try my luck with that and compile the source to ndis and do what you said.I am also gonna download a slackware iso and if I cant seem to get into debian (because I have heard its a hardcore distro) I will install slackware.One question do you think its possible to use a distro like slax/knoppix and just boot it up and not install then try testing out compiling the source to ndis and see if I can do it right?If so I am gonna do that instead of installing right away.

Ps:sure you can fix windows in seconds its called format c:\ hehehe

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i have a travelmate 2200 laptop. i use slackware 10 on it, and it works fine (the driver for the soundcard in this distro doesn't work but i found another one which does, so i can help you ). the 3d graphics acceleration doesn't work (i just still can't make it work, but i'm trying to), and this model hasn't got a built-in wireless card, so i can't tell you anything about that.

what type of card is it in your laptop sabel? i can probably help you with it.

it's an ati mobility radeon 9000 IGP. the driver i downloaded from the ati homepage didn't work (the whole system was frozen after startx). i downloaded drivers from other places, all of them did the same.