Hi, I have Compaq Armada M700: Pentium III 700 Mhz, 128mb of RAM.
I like linux I want to use it, but it is too complicated (maybe because i`m still newbie).
I already tryed some linux (Vector linux => not SOHO version, Damn Small Linux, Puppy, Suse 9, Ubuntu, BeatrIX). Now I`m running Windows XP on that laptop and it working fine, not very fast, but ok.

So suggest me please some linux, where I can do simple things that I do every day on Windows XP:
(1) can use printer and scanner (both USB)
(2) can use external DVD writer (USB)
(3) can use Infrared port on my laptop (to connect my nokia phone)
(4) can easyly install software that I downloaded from internet
Everything alse I think I can fix by myself.

Please suggest something!!!
Thank you!

in newbie friendliness, i have heard that PCLinuxOS is really good. And so is mephis. Personally, my favorite "set most things up for you" distro would be ubuntu. Take some time to look over at the ubuntu forums, do searches for the equipment that you are wanting to use. Most likely, your not the only one who needs to do what you need to do, and someone else has asked before. Oh, and welcome to Linux !

Ubuntu is very nice, but slow on my laptop. maybe there are some things in Ubuntu that i can turn off (or something) to get it run faster? or maybe Ubuntu runs slow because of GNOME?

yeah, there are usually a lot of services that you can disable with ubuntu, because in its newbie friendliness, a whole lot of stuff is active by default
i used this link to speed up my wifes box a lot.

here

another thing you might consider is the gnome thing. ubuntu uses gnome by default, but nothing prevents you from going with something lighter, like xfce4 or fluxbox. these are a lot easier on systems with less resources to work with. You will also get a slight performance boost with an optomized kernel.

uncomment the universe line in /etc/apt/sources.list
then do an
pick out a kernel that matches your hardware (IE pentium & higher = 686, amd k6 = k6) and whatnot.

then do then when you reboot, you will be using the kernel you just installed.

let us know if you have any problems

Thank you, now i need to install ubuntu and try that all.

you bet !

check out the ubuntu forums.
very large and very friendly community of ubuntu users out there.
do searches for optimizing and customizing, and you will turn up a wealth of goodies.

let us know how it goes !

Don't forget SuSe10 eval.

It's also a good distribution for starters. It will, most likely, find and install whatever you plug into your linuxbox

After SuSe I will suggest Mandriva 2006 free edition.

Well just my

Have fun finding the right one.