hey there, i am currently running windows xp pro on my

ibm thinkpad t20
PIII 700
256mb RAM
12gb HDD
8mb savage graphics
dvd rom hot swappable for floppy drive
14.1" tft monitor

i have never use linux before and fancy changing to linux, is it complicated to use and how hard would it be to set up a wireless internet connection as i have currently a wireless netgear card in my pcmcia? i downloaded the slax live-cd and the screen didnt seem to run very good which i thought might have been a problem with refresh rates, when i changed that it was better but not gone. i am looking for ease of use, easy to install programs, get the internet running i like to use bit torrent, bit tornado in particular (shadows experimental) and i am big into my music so i would also like to be able to download music so a decent program for that is very important? if anyone can suggest a decent distro and help me through setting it up once i have it running please do.....

ps. i have on disk mandrake 9 or 10 i forget which one and also suse 9.1 personal (not sure if it is working 100%) and fedora core 2, knoppix 3.3 live cde and slax latest live-cd. i was thinking about downloading slackware but ill wait for comments.

please suggest which desktop to use along with the distro you reccommend please so i can set up and come back ready for help setting up my internet also.

As far as using a particular distro, its like having preference for particular coffee beans. I would say SuSE, Fedora and Mandrake are reallly user-friendly. Slackware is where you learn the most...So its your choice.

As far as desktop is concerned. See my sig . XFCE 4 is by far the most pleasing. Havent tried Enlightenment and Fluxbox...do I want to after using XFCE 4? nah!!!!!

This is my personal opinion and you would definitely want to search this forum as there are a zillion threads on distro selection.

reviews on distro, www.distrowatch.com

Tux,

My recomendation would be Fedora Core 2.

i installed suse 9.1 personal and want to get my wireless working, it has kind of detected my netgear card during the installation but it did not connect i am now on the desktop and want to get it sorted if anyoine can help please do!

the card is a

NETGEAR WG511 Wireless 802.11g 54mbps PC Card (pcmcia)

If you haven't found anything here at LQ, try a peep at linux-laptop.net/.

Keep in mind there are currently no 'g' drivers in linux for wireless stuff.

really, so if i installed b drivers for a g card would that work with it at the lesser standard?

Yes, it may work fine in 'b' mode. You just won't be able to get the fatser speed that 'g' gives you.

is there any chance you can help me getting it to work in b mode as i dont have a clue?

i have managed to get the lights flashing on the card and i cannot visit webpages or use the internet but i can access my routers configuration page from my laptop now, any ideas?

well...if you can reach the router...maybe the router configuration..?
( the card is working...)
or do you have a firewall running ?

egag

If you can see your router then the wireless conectivity is working, so the problem is somewhere else in your network config, probably bad DNS info.

Can you ping anywhere?

Try these two commands and tell us what happened: