ksgill Your so right,and the other thing windows offers is good support from the many windows help forums,which people who can and will help attend,not like certain linux newbie forums which seem full of loud mouthed fools who think they know it all "but talk is cheap"

Have a nice day,

You sad person

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Long live Windows "with support"

Hmmm
I've found fanboys just about everywhere for almost everything...
so dont be too surprised to find them here.

if you are serious about getting Linux ( whatever distro ) to work on your laptop, like I said before, rock on over to your nearest Linux User Group and ask for help. The are lots of LUGs in the UK.

This is a great place to ask for help but if the answer is to edit some conf file somewhere and you don't know where to start even, then you need one-on-one mentoring to get you flying.

Linux is great if you're installing onto standard hardware but if you're a newbie installing onto something a little different dont be afraid to ask someone for help, and don't be put off by the fanboys.

floppy

I have to say that I am quite disappointed in the number of "Well, I'm just going to throw my hands up in the air and go back to Windows" posts I've read in the last week here and in other Linux forums.

Listen, I'm far from a guru on any O/S but I wanted to give Linux a try in the worst way. Numerous problems over the years with Windows have caused me to probably lose, on average, a hard drive a year. It just seems that I'm always re-installing the damn thing. To me, it just isn't worth a damn at this point. Mind you, I'm not really doing anything outside what a normal, above-average user does. Browse, email, download etc. If Windows can't handle that, then what the hell good is it? I can't tell you how many people I talk to in any given day that have problems with Windows to the point where I'm hearing "I just had to re-install my O/S..." SEVERAL times a day.

The point here is this:
You have obviously come to the same conclusion the rest of us have, which is that it's time for a change. I took the plunge about a week ago and believe me, not everything went off without a hitch. Several installations, re-installations to this point that have been MY fault. Nothing to do with the actual distro that I downloaded, but things that I just didn't understand and/or setup wrong. HOWEVER, I came to places like the forum you are on now (which is an excellent one btw) and asked questions. Why isn't this working? I also did some RESEARCH on my own and read up on the things that were causing me problems. You know what? I have successfully installed Ubuntu 5.04 Array 6 and it has been working like a charm. I LOVE my new O/S and a whole new world that has been opened to me. I also have a feeling of pride, because I STUCK WITH IT and didn't give up. Along the way I actually LEARNED a thing or two and am the wiser for it.

Think about my points. Then think about the current "Operating System" you are currently working. Then think to yourself if everybody here is some type of computer uber-user. I assure you that it's not the case and we all have been where you are right now. The only difference is that we saw it through to the end and so should you. Something that I have read continuosly and will repeat here: "If I can do it, so can you!"

This message has NOT been approved by Redmond

Don't be rude to people, and don't curse!!! Maybe he will be better off with Windows for now. That's something that everyone needs to learn, Linux is not right for everyone. I'm a huge advocate of Linux... where it fits. As an IT Professional, it's my job to determine what kind of system fits best in a given situation. If it's not Linux, but I try to cram a Linux box/server into a place where something else would have been better/more efficient; not only does it irritate the client but also reflects poorly on both Linux and myself.

ajc275, don't worry.. Just don't hate Linux.. We're here if you decide to give it another try. Perhaps you could look into LUGs in your area? they will help you install it and get it all set up.

Good Luck!

I am not being rude to people, in case you didnt notice, I was talking about me . I am an IT professional too and I have 2 windows machines at home. Windows is just great, sometimes I question using linux at all..
Now being a linux user, why do we want all windows users to love us, especially when they are being rude like this guy.. I feel offended when "these people" assume that we know nothing about windows or linux for that matter. I've been using computers for over 10 years and have used linux over 3.. I dont really care if someone converts to linux or not.

You are the weakest link.. goodbye

Just out of curosity, what is a fanboy?

a fanboy is someone who pushes for a certain thing no matter what.. i.e. - something like... "SuSE Linux will work best in every situation for every task and if you say different you're wrong, because SuSE is the greatest distro ever!"

get it? We all know someone like that...

It's nice to see how we call people using linux "fanboys" just to please someone who doesnt have any patience to learn anything new.