Hey everyone,

I am fairly new to Linux, but i am trying to do a full port of my windblows computers to Linux. I am going to buy a Sager 9860 Notebook with all the bells and whistles, including dual harddrives and opticals and the X800mobile video card and tv tuner. It has built in gigabit lan and 802.11g wireless. Not going for the bluetooth though. This is primarily a gaming rig. I know Windows is better for gaming, but i want to sever myself from, and stop suckling on, the teet that is windows. Like i said, i want a full port and no looking back. I have a couple of questions regarding that:

1. Which distro would be best. I heard Mandrake was best for games (i have mandrake 10 Powerpack). But i also heard SUSE was good for laptops. and i read this article on /. saying that suse was quick and painless on his toshiba.

2. Am i going to have any issues with the X800 mobile? The most important thing on that beast is the graphics card. Will i be able to take advantage of all the pretty that the x800 can offer, such as OpenGL/Direct3D and shaders etc...?

3. How about wireless? any issues there?

Thanks for any help guys...

Semper Fi

Nobody has tried the X800 mobile on laptop?

I do not recommend using an ATI card when using Linux. They are a pain to setup. The features like TV out, DVI, and video capturing are not supported well or not at all in Linux. nVidia is the way to go if want an easy setup for DVI and TV out while using the flatpanel display. Also nVidia is easy to setup for 3D rendering. The 6800 graphics card gives very similar speeds as X800.

I do not know if you care for the weight of the notebook computer, but gaming notebook systems tends to be near 20 pounds (9.0718 Kg). For notebooks, I suggest something under 10 pounds (4.5359 Kg). The lighter the notebook computer. Easier it is to carry. I suggest notebook computers based on the Pentium M processor because it gives the best performance at a much lighter weight load. Gaming notebook systems last about 15 to 20 minutes (depending on the game), so you will be swaping out batteries to keep on playing. I recommend using a desktop/workstation to be used as gaming systems instead of notebooks.

The best Linux distribution is up to your skills. If you are familar with Redhat, you can use Fedora. For me, I would select Slackware.

Bluetooth is supported in Linux and there are some support for wireless networking. I suggest using PCMCIA or PC cards for wireless networking because it gives you more freedom like adding an additional attenna for better reception, a higher possibility of Linux support, much better reception, easy to upgrade to future wireless technologies.