I would loved to use the free driver, but if I want screen blanking and an external monitor I am stuck with nvidia driver.

As for DRM - another good reason not to touch Sony

I'm soooo glad that backfired on them though, it was very poetic justice I think. So basically they installed spyware on their customer's systems; that is disgusting.

well what i think is the best os is fedora core 7 an more fedora that is coming out like fedora core 8
but sence you are a starter in linux an you do nto kow a lot about linux you can go head an download ubuntu www.ubuntu.com
i would say ubuntu for you because you do not know much about linux an i think that best is for a starter in linux you can segjest an i will segjest you is ubuntu for a ll starter because it is simple an if you get ubutnu it help you get more familure with linux then you can chenge to fedora core 8 7 the hard os.

I don't agree that Ubuntu will actually help you learn Linux. It clouds the underlying operating system with gui configuration and the structure is more complicated then it could be. The idea behind Ubuntu is to provide a usable system for everyone and they are achieving this. But to learn on, others mentioned here would be better IMHO.

Agreed. Ubuntu is great for the audience that it is playing to, and they have for the most part become the de facto "crossover" Linux of choice for the "non-geek" crowd, but that's not me at all.

While a think "gundumfx" had the best of intentions, it appears that he/she did not either read or understand my post.

Thank you all for the great advice. I think I'm pretty set on starting out with the beloved Slackware! Once I feel really good with it, I'll probably try Arch, and definitely give LFS a go!


This is a list of the general specifications for the new notebooks I'm looking at,

Intel Core 2 Duo
Mobile Intel PM965 Express Chipset
NVIDIA 8000 series GPU
2GB DDR2
120+ GB SATA HD
Intel Wireless n
Bluetooth
Finger Print reader
8-in-1 Card Reader

Will Dual Core, 64 bit, or SATA HD be a problem?

A comment in regards to the original post.

I had very similar feelings when choosing a distro and I eventually went with Slackware. It has been an excellent experience so far, but I would be lying if I said it has been easy. I am still very lost.

The thing I like so far about Slackware is that it is hard. This means that the user has to go find a book or find a website describing what s/he want to do. This is a good thing, it forces the user to get into the habit of problem solving. In the end, it will also mean much more power and control, because the user will have a very good understanding about what exactly is going on under the hood.

That is something that appeals to me, and judging by your original post, that probably appeals to you too :-)

Hi I think that the main resolv for this type of problem might be to use one of the many CD bootable distros Knoppix is a good starting point it does not touch the hard drive it unpacks the system u can use it and wont affect windows or any other operating sys. all it does is puts a .swap file on the drive verry small and vertually un detectible. knoppix was desined as a training system to teach the basics if linux. there are hundreds of live bootable linux cd systems.
knoppix, morphickx, mandrake move, berry linux the list goes on.

the benifit of a bootable cd distro is that u can take it with u and bung it into any comp wherever u go, take ure documents and away u go. u never have to bother using anything but linux again. just remember to remove the .sxap file if u are not going to be regularly using that comp.

hope this helps u all in the first time world of Linux

With regards to your comments about Nvidia. Nvidia are still closed source (see my signature). I say still as I am hoping this will change, especially in light of the ATI developments. Currently I would recommend either Intel graphics or ATI as they are both pretty much open source now. If you can get open source drivers for your machine the chances of it working well with all features supported are better and the chances of support are better also.

Please read my original post,

Live Version = DVD or "CD bootable"

danielph, thanks for the reply.

I'm now more curious about ATI Vs. NVIDIA for my GPU.

Who agrees with danielph's post?

I think danielphs idea is terrible. Simply terrible.

If you want GOOD drivers, GOOD hardware, and VERY GOOD Linux support, plus a whole lot less brain-damage due to endlessly fighting with xorg.conf to get it to do what you want, use nVidia cards. IMHO, at this time, and for the foreseeable future, this is a no-brainer.

ATI did apparently just (read: **just**) release some driver(s) or code to the open source world. This in itself doesn't mean that as of this time, they work any better or easier than they ever did. It's too soon to see how ATI drivers will work in the coming months or so under Linux.
As for Intel, for video? I guess we're talking about "Onboard Video"? Well.... I'm all for Intel products, and their onboard video is as good as the next, as far as onboard video goes. Avoid the X3000/X300 or whatever it is if you're at all concerned about performance; the GMA950 or an i945/965 or similar device will probably work just fine. As fine as onboard video can work, that is.
I would go out of my way to avoid a motherboard with an ATI chipset, but that's just me; even if the graphics part of it is OK, you still get the rest of the northbridge along with it.. That's partly my preference, and partly based on experience with ATI 'products'.
I currently use an nVidia motherboard, and nVidia graphics cards, and I love both of them, but it's fair to note that *some* people have had troubles getting the nVidia 6150 onboard VGA device configured and working to their satisfaction under Linux. It can be done, it's just that depending on your chosen distro and how much hair you have left, it may give you undue grief.

I'm considering adding FreeBSD to my Linux foray of Slackware and Arch.

FreeBSD looks VERY interesting to me!

Opinions and/or suggestions?

FreeBSD - not bad, especially not if you like your tinkering and you intend to use it mainly as a server. Which is why I'd use Solaris instead - BSD comes a few years behind IMHO.

By the way, BSD is not Linux.

And why not Gentoo?

As for ATI, whatever they opened up will take a few more months to become widely available and possibly even longer to get stable. If you have nvidia at this time, consider yourself blessed.

I use nvidia on both my machines, but I have been taunted by endless problems with nvidia on the laptop, so hey, I may be a little down on nvidia. I went down the path of getting a debian developer involved and in the end it was a case of him not being able to help because the drivers were closed. In fact he was strongly against nvidia and got me thinking back then. As for support from nvidia, forget it. There was none. Searching through some forums you will see this is often the case when people are unfortunate enough to have a problem with nvidia. Nvidia is the easiest solution right now, but if you do have a problem it is not likely to be resolved easily.

I would prefer to encourage an open source, solution and choosing carefully you could be a have your cake and eat it.