hi i have just bought a CnM note book and im not fully happy with it can anyyone with experience tell me if i have wasted my money it has linux preinstalled and i would like to install a different version i dont even know what version is on it im having quite a few lets say beginners problems im scared ive got to learn how to use a new o/s im also excited i hope to be a regular visiter to this forum and if i can get the hang of linux that will be wicked although i do like windows im not a fan of companies like msn who like to rule the whole domain so anyone who likes to help virgin linux users i would be more than happy to receive good advice just please dont tell me the best thing for me to do is thorough my 400mhz 128 in the bin!! DAZ

Welcome to LQ!!

It will help you get better answers if you break up the run-on sentences and use punctuation........

You don't say what about the computer you are unhappy with......also, many of us will not know what a "CnM notebook" is. You say "400MHz, 128". Do you mean 128MB of RAM? If so, you may want to think about adding more RAM.

I'm at the SCALE conference and just watched some OLPC mini-laptops running Debian+KDE on 256MB RAM---even that is marginal, but it does work.

yes it is 128RAM and it is currently using a version of linux. Just so people are aware, i bought this at Maplins it seemed like a reasonable choose,but i will agree it was quite cheap at £139 here is link for that tells you all the specs if anyone would be kind henough to take a look http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=225532af I might like to add since spending a few hours with it after joining this forum im quite impressed.I would really love to find out what version of linux it is runnig? and to be honest i have not got a clue what the prosseor speed is and this note book is locked to linux i knew this when i bought it,and realised i would need help,and joined a forum apologies for bad puntuation i know its not great i have learning difficulties

Bad link....

From the price and the description, it sounds like what is called a "netbook". This is a bare-bones computer which will handle a broad range of basic tasks---with the major advantages being size, weight, and cost.

Again, what is it that you don't like about the computer?

This looks like what you bought:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...25532&source=1

At the end, there is this link:
http://194.150.201.35/cnmlifestyle/sourcecode.htm

It looks like they maybe supply the SW---but they also show their own brand. More digging will be needed to see exactly where the LinuxOS comes from.

thanks that link is a help i will keep digging,and again thanks for correcting the link. I have started to check various different links on this site and just reading up on bios although its abit confusing i do need to get head round what probly most members on here find quite sinple, this is all really very different to MS! LOL!

it looks like it might be their own distro of it. Appears to be using gnome as the gui (based on the files list), i also found http://194.150.201.35/cnmlifestyle/cnmbookfaqs.htm which states it uses a modified debian distro. Just looking at the FAQ quickly, im of the opinion that you should try to return the product, if you can. It looks like you're heavily restricted on what you can do with it, to the point that the faq atleast states that you cant even upgrade the existing software on the unit (such as firefox)

That seems unusual and also unlikely.....but, it is true that netbooks are limited in what they can do.
You get what you pay for---n'est-ce pas?

I dont disagree, and i have no experience with this particular machine, but it seems like a lot of it is actually built into the bios/processor, but from the FAQ:

ive managed to find patches to extend the usb and sd ram capiblitys i am stuck with it really inless i sabatarge it before retuning it i wouldnt do anything like that i aprecate all the help you have all put in to my investment i was hoping that although it is locked to linux that i would be able to install a better version like unbunto.