having replaced my old laptop with a gateway ml3108b and having no luck installing mint 13 or mandriva im looking for a distro that will let me burn dvds and office.i know that the laptop is quite small spec wise but any suggestions welcome.

ML3108b Notebook Specifications
Part Number: 1014494RGateway ML3108b Notebook
Feature Description
Processor AMD Sempron™ Processor 3400+
1.8 GHz | 256 KB L2 Cache
HyperTransport™ technology at up to 1600 MHz
Screen 14.1-inch Widescreen Ultrabright™ TFT
Chipset NVIDIA C51MV
Memory 512 MB DDR2 667 MHz (1 x 512)
Expandable to 2 GB
Total slots: 2 DDR2 slots | Available slots: 1 DDR2 slot
Video NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 6100
Up to 256 MB Turbocache™
Audio High definition 2-channel audio
Hard drive 60-GB PATA hard drive (4200 RPM)
Optical drive 8x Multi-Format Dual Layer DVDRW with DVD-RAM
Write maximum: 8X DVD +/-R, 6X DVD-RW, 8X DVD+RW, 2X DVD-R DL, 2.4X DVD+R DL, 5X DVD-RAM, 24X CD-R and 16X CD-RW discs
Read maximum: 8X DVD-R/RW/ROM, 4X DVD+/-R DL, 5X DVD-RAM, 24X CD-R/RW/ROM discs

Media reader 4-in-1 Digital Media Manager
Memory Stick®
Memory Stick Pro®
Multimedia Card™
Secure Digital™
Modem 56K ITU V.92 ready fax/modem
Network 10/100 Mbps built-in Ethernet
Integrated 802.11g wireless LAN
Interfaces
3 - USB 2.0 ports
1 - VGA external connector
1 - RJ11
1 - RJ45
1 - Microphone In
1 - Headphone/Audio Out
Pointing device Touchpad with vertical scroll zone
Expansion slot Expresscard™ Type 54
Battery 6-cell Lithium-ion

The Sempron 3400 won't be a problem: I'm working on a Sempron 2600. The two things to watch are your small memory and the NVIDIA video chip.

With 512MB, you can use (with a reasonable margin of safety, for distros tend to grow)
Xfce desktop: Mint, SalineOS, Salix
Mate desktop: Salix
LXDE desktop: Mint, Salix, WattOS, ZorinOS Light
Enlightenment window manager: AtlasX, Bodhi
ICE window manager: Swift

Search at their forums or here for any advice they may have on setting up with your NVIDIA card.

You may find that your browser's Flash plug-in doesn't work. If that's the case, the answer is here:
http://www.fuduntu.org/wiki/index.ph...32-bit_systems)

thanks for reply, gonna take a look around