New to Linux.. Somewhat. Help pick a distro?
 

Well, here's my box:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...name=c00383138

Planning on dual booting with XP Pro. I've installed Linux before. Fedora, RH, and Mandrake, but never on a laptop and never with a 64 bit. Anyone willing to help me pick the most compatible distro?

Well, your computer has the specs necessary for any of the major distributions. I would advise that you check out The Linux Distro Chooser Quizzy-thing. It's pretty good.

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_Gent...eries_notebook

Looking through the components on HPs site, I don't really see anything that wouldn't be supported in a 2.6.13.4 kernel. You should download the latest Slax and/or Knoppix Linux LiveCDs and boot that box with them. See if they detect all your hardware, and issue "/sbin/lspci" and "lsmod" and record the information. This should let you know what you'll need.

I don't know how much you've learned about Linux, or how deep your experience, but Slackware-10.2 should be a good distribution with support for that box. Read before you blindly attempt the install, determining what you need to do when installing the distro.

If you're not comfortable with full responsibility for your OS yet, perhaps you should run Vector Linux SOHO rather than Slack. It is based off Slackware, and I've been impressed with version 5.0.1

Oh.. And support with that wireless card, or with a MSI CB54G2 is absolutely needed. I dun have any more money to waste on networking cards.

You'll have to know the specific chipset for that wireless card. This is another area where a good LiveCD can help you. Support for hardware such as a wireless card comes from the kernel and other supporting hardware. Basically, it could be from madwifi or ndiswrapper, depending upon the chipset. This is not necessarily the name of the card, or the manufacturer, but the specific chipset. You can usually find out if it's supported from http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_.../Wireless.html

Well, the on-board is Broadcom.

The MSI card was supposively RTL8180, but also turned out to be Broadcom. =/ Kinda dissapointing, but oh well. =P

You need the specific chipset for that card. Nothing less will lead you down the path to wireless goodness. I have a Broadcom Gigabit NIC in an Asus mobo that has been supported in the kernel since sometime in the 2.4 series. If I were you, I'd log on to IRC@Freenode and join #madwifi and #ndiswrapper and ask those fellers if they've got your chipset working. You'd be surprised what persistent guys have done.

If you get desperate enough to get away from Windows and use Linux for your wireless online needs, we can help you find a NIC.

Mmkay.. I have found this.

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=52201

Seems how I am new to Linux, I was wondering if someone would help me complete what was described in the above link.

I am currently downloading the Ubuntu 5.10 AMD64 DVD right now

The new Ubuntu or the upcoming SuSE 10.0 might be the best 64bit suggestions.
To see what the wireless chipset is, it will usually displayed with the command
# lspci
or perhaps
#lspci -v (this one will generate a very detailed output)
Possibly lsusb instead of lspci, if the hardware is funny.
After that, it will be easier to find a driver.

As for the described page: First, he changes a graphical server setting, since the card seems to disagree with hardware acceleration, then he changes a boot setting in Grub - and finally points to the installation method for the wireless, which looks right.
Unless that wasn't what you were asking for?

I've gathered somewhat of an idea of how he did things. i was a bit confused about how he said he couldn't login because of the graphics, but then I realized he probably used the LiveCD to get in and edit that file.

While at school today I tried running the live CD, and it had a problem starting something or another and said I couldn't get into the graphical environment. I'm at work right now so technically I shouldn't be here, but I'll get exact details when I get home.