Newbie and a Dell Latitude CP 233M
 

Hello,

First and foremost, please excuse my ignorance regarding my questions. I realize that the answers probably lie somewhere in this forum or possibly in other forums, but I assure you that I’ve been unable to faithfully assemble the information that I need after much effort. (almost at the triple digits in hours) Therefore, I decide to seek assistance with my quandary.

I have an older laptop (Dell latitude CP 233MX) with a 4 GB HD, and 64MB ram. From what I have been able to gather, it uses the NeoMagic chip set for video (1260 I believe). Additionally, I have a Netgear WG511-PCMCIA (older version) wireless Ethernet adapter that I would like to incorporate into the configuration. Furthermore, I have a HPLaserjet on my home net that is setup via TCP/IP (I’m assuming that it should be easy to hook up when the wireless connection is active)

My goal is to create a “playground” that I can use to become familiar and versed in the Linux environment. (both command line and GUI) I’m currently well versed in the Mac (OS 9 and X), and Windows (95 / 98 and just purchased and XP laptop)

First, my question resides in the selection of the “right” distribution of Linux.

I’ve looked at Caldera 1.3 (free with the COMPLETE IDIOT’S GUIDE TO LINUX), Debian 3.0, and Fedora Core 3. Caldera seems to lack the necessary GUI ability, Debian looks pretty good, but I can’t get the video to push 600 x 800, and Fedora looks MARVELOUS, but the response of the machine is WAY less than acceptable.

I’ve not been able to get the wireless card to function in any of the environments, but Fedora did seem to recognize something that appeared to be the wireless card. (please excuse my ignorance as to what it saw, as I’m reflecting from memory while at work)

So, after that long-winded scenario, could someone assist me with selecting a version / distribution of Linux that would accommodate my needs? Additionally, I’m sure that I will need some guidance with installing the necessary drivers and modifying the configuration files. (I have a good background from the DOS world and understand the concepts of the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files, but I am quit a novice when it comes to proper syntax and execution within Linux environments.

Thanks in advance for any assistance that you may be able to render.


Kos Semonski

If you really want to learn about Linux, try Slack.