About six months ago I switched from Vista to PCLinuxOS, and I loved it, absolutely loved it. But after a couple months, a couple problems that I couldn't solve forced me to go back to Vista. Now, I've learned a little more, and am considering going back, but I could use some advise and maybe some help.

1) There was no power management whatsoever, and my notebook (Gateway MT6458) would get very, very hot, and basically never powered down unless I powered it down.

2) The wireless card (Marvell) would never work; The OS never talked to it, and so I never had wireless. I tried everything that was recommeneded, and it was a constant dead end.

3) I couldn't use S-Video. Getting this damn thing to work on vista is hard enough, but I had very little luck getting it to work on Linux. I had to download ATI Catalyst Control center, which got me close - but no cigar.

4) Before when I had PCLOS I had no problem getting connectivity, I have ADSL using PPoP, something like that. No problems. Now I have something else, and when I was playing around with the PCLOS CD it couldn't figure out what internet connection I'm using, and I basically couldn't connect. I connect with an ethernet cord that comes out of my wall (no connector - it's hardwired out of my wall), and I live in a big apartment complex.

I really wanna get into linux and stay there, I just can't do it unless these problems are solved or, at least, solvable.

any thoughts?

thanks,
sal

For flawless performance, one must purchase hardware for the OS. Which is what you did when you purchased a Windows-only computer. You will also find that other non-Windows OSs will have problems.

(Interestingly, there have been problems with vista on this machine too.)

The most effective first step is to try a range of live CD distros. Most variations have them now. Find out which ones run your machine and to what extent. The rest will be about deciding what level of inconvenience you want to put up with for the gains you get.

linux on laptops only has one gateway in the series, and it isn't yours.


This is very common. Sadly, many hardware vendors choose to ship non-standard power management and fix the differences in software - for Windows only.

Interestingly, I have heard of power management issues (with gateway laptops) under Vista too.

Fixing ACPI usually means getting the latest kernel, and editing the DSDT. But your machine has been out long enough that the latest kernel may just be able to handle it now. Depends how many kernel hackers have one of these, and how many good beg reports the acpi team get.

If all else fails, running "noacpi" will switch the fan on all the time, so at least you won't overheat the cpu.

We need to know the exact wireless card.
Looks like it is a Marvell TOPDOG PCI-Express 802.11n Wireless Adapter [EC85] ... please confirm.

Many cards do not work or require proprietary firmware in the post-install. The most effective workaround is to purchase a linux-compatible dongle.

Windows makes you jump through hoops for this one too.

In linux you can use the madwifi drivers, or the latest windows one from gateway with ndiswrapper.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=575785

So the laptop uses an ATI video card - which one?
You may yet need fglrx - and some xorg configuration, though most ATI features wll work with the free-software radeon driver these days. Some distros will autoconfigure the svideo output in cloned mode by default.

To make the most of TV outputs, you can try some of the media-center apps.

Ahhh, well, solveable is a different kettle of piranas! It's all solveable, you have the source code - go for it

The manufacturers won't like you reverse engineering their stuff but.

The first step is to look for something fairly recent and main-stream, and install it.

Do a write-up for Linux on Laptops, and file bug reports down the appropriate channels. This sort of thing really helps.

Be aware that LiveCD's are often not the final storey. When I tried the Ubuntu LiveCD on my mates laptop the wireless didn't work due to no driver. As everything else was working figured I'd install and then muck about with ndiswrapper. However when I installed it, the wireless came up as working!

FYI

@baldy3105: that's a very good point.

Advice is to try live CDs to see which gets the most running, then install that version. Keep a journal of the install, and modifications needed. Post bug reports. Ask questions here. Post the journal to linux on laptops.