I'm seriously considering switching from a desktop to a laptop/notebook computer. I'm wondering what the best distro for laptops might be, and also what the best choice(s) for a laptop might be.

My main concern for the distro is that it have out of the box (so to speak) wireless support -- either for built-in wireless on the laptop, or a standard wireless card like an Aironet 350. While not technically challenged, I don't want to fiddle with things like ndiswrapper.

Thanks!

Ty

wireless support is sketchy in linux. i dare say the card you mention is not supported.

i would recommend you go for a laptop with the intel pro wireless in as intel have released good drivers for these cards....

I always recommend a 'generic' type laptop, purchased from a local independent business rather than a name brand like Dell HP, etc. You're much less likely to encounter really difficult harware problems. Furthermore, down the road when things wear out, you don't want to be trying to replace, eg., a proprietary cdrom/dvd writer.

I recently installed Debian Etch on an 'EnPower' laptop ... House brand for PC Club. Only problem I encountered was in getting the internal rt2500 wireless working, but I knew it was supported, and it was just a matter of messing around for a few hours. You are absolutely right to avoid ndiswrapper like the plague, but as long as you know the peripheral CAN be made to work with native Linux drivers, you'll eventually succeed.