Hi guys this in my first message and I hope to become an active part of the community, sorry to start with a question, I'm hoping to install linux. Just woundering which linux distribution would be best for me on for general use with dual booting?

hp g56 notebook pc
microsoft windows 7 home premium 64
pentium dual core 2.3ghz

cheers in advance

ubuntu. job done.

Its considered sort of bad to post the same thing in 2 places (you asked the saem question in your intro). Best to just ask the question in the one place, it makes things a lot easier for you and other people.

Not that this matter much, but its also best to be more exact as to what model laptop you have if possible. It doesnt really matter that much because the only thing that could be difficult with that laptop is wifi, and it has a whole list of possible wifi cards (I only even checked the model to make sure it wasnt a nVidia 'optimus' laptop, which are a real pain with linux in general and confusing for new users. Its not).

It would work, but I cant point anyone toward ubuntu anymore.

I'd go for mint 11 over ubuntu.

I also recommend Mint over Ubuntu.

Ubuntu now has its new Unity interface, which I really don't like. You can try it, but if you don't like it, don't let it discourage you from Linux. It can easily be changed.

You can start with Mint/Ubuntu, but after several months of using it switch to Arch/Gentoo - that's where you can really learn things.

Agreed (I made it almost same way).


Ubuntu, in my opinion, used to be the best start, but now it seems that Mint, openSUSE, or Fedora are better choices.

try out linux mint 11 . it comes wit all the multimedia codes and adobe flash preinstalled which you need to install manually in ubuntu and fedora .