Hello everyone,

I have read the information regarding new members...so I am set on all that.

I am currently fumbling unsuccessfully with Slackware 10. So far everything is cool except for the internet. No internet at all. Not even Ethernet cable.


Since I am new to Linux and I would like to know what Linux distribution is right for me...this is because I have heard that slackware is really advanced.

Here are some variables to consider when recommending:

1. I am looking to get far away from the restrictive claws of Microsoft.

2. I am interested in having integrated educational tools available to me.

3. I am developing an interest in programming and website design, however, I am almost so new to these topics that I can hardly say I have scratched the surface of the two areas yet.

4. I am based on a laptop which I take EVERYWHERE with me...and everywhere I go, I need to have ability to connect to the internet wirelessly.

5. I am not afraid of command line interface.

6. I am hoping that there is a linux distro that can detect my hardware for me...or at least make the process easier.



Ok so those are the main things that I would like, now, if you have the time, please take a look at my system stats:


Thinkpad R60

1 Gig Ram

Intel wireless 3945ABG

Intel Celeron M processor

Mobile Intel 945GM Express Chipset



Thank you for the help.

http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

Read through that page. Look for interesting links as well as the primary reviews. Picking a distro is a philosophical and personal choice. All you can get here is people advertising their favorites. None is distinctively superior to the others in any technical sense.

You really should have just read one of the other 10,000 or so threads with the same title.

You can do all that with Slackware but it will require you to roll up your sleeves a little since that distro does not have a vast array of autoconfiguration tools available for point and click goodness. But I'd say just stick with it, and if you have questions there is a great Slackware section at this forum that can help you with any problem you encounter.

I've used many distros over the years and I've found that, for my laptop, Ubuntu works the best. There's so much fanboyism with Ubuntu so I almost cringe to suggest it but, for me, it is the easiest.

1. I don't see Microsoft being a problem in the linux community, at least not for the home user yet
   
2. I've never used edubuntu because any tools I have needed can be installed easily.
   
3. One distro is as good as the next for development, at least for popular ones.
   
4. Wireless internet is very frequently a problem for users with most distros. It's been said that it's Ubuntu's biggest flaw (for dapper and edgy). I'd recommend waiting about a month and trying Ubuntu Feisty. It has a brand new "Roaming mode" where you can select a wireless network from a tray applet in gnome (I don't know about kde or xfce). It even supports wpa by default. Which seems to be the best of any distro.
   
5. That's good because no distro, at least no good one, is completely devoid of needing the console.
   
6. Ubuntu has detected the hardware just fine on every laptop I've tried it on.

It's hard to recommend a distribution of linux for anyone because it's a matter of personal preference. Everyone seems to have a favorite and stick by it. The thing to do is create a partition about 10gigs on your laptop (recovery partitions make great linux partitions) and start giving distributions of linux a try.
http://distrowatch.com/ is a good place to start. The give them in order of popularity with general info and download links including 3rd party support and guide links.

Kubuntu
http://www.kubuntu.org/

Mandriva
http://www.mandriva.com/community/mandrivaone

Mephis
http://www.mepis.org/

Both Mandriva & Kubuntu are exelent with wireless

Jake

I heard that MEPIS has excellent wireless detection. MEPIS is based off ubuntu.

Arch Linux. Assuming an occasional bug doesn't bother you.

I Recommend Opensuse 10.2 Because Suse Linux Has Been The Most Stable For Me And Easy To Upgrade. You Can Buy It Online For 5.00 Dollar Or Less. Ebay Is A Good Place To Buy Or Check Out Other Linux Distro's. I Used Suse 9.2 -9.3 -10.1 & 10.2 With No Problem's At All. Plus You Can Download For Free Also. I Had Some Bad Luck With Fedora 1,2,3. I would check out pclinuxos 2007 also.

If you want the fastest possible system with amazing responsiveness, then try Slax or Puppy.
Puppy is a little quicker to pick-up for tweaking and saving settings, but Slax has the nice KDE interface and is still super-fast! Operating systems running entirely in RAM is the way of the future.