I am new to Linux. I mean very new. I just decided that for the heck of it, I revived my old friend's laptop with Fedora 5 (via "Linux For Dummies" DVD) and I have no clue and don't know what I am doing at all to get wireless to be recognized after the install. My laptop is a Dell Latitude D600 which is a few years old or more. I am afraid to mess around with it anymore. For reasons, my Intel Pro 2100 displays as "ethernet" even though the hardware name itself refers to "Wireless". Please help everyone.

Fedora 5 is OLD

The latest is Fedora 17

http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora

--C

fedora has a VERY fast development cycle
Fedora 5 hit ( what is called ) it's END OF LIFE all the way back in 2007-07-02 July 2007

it is VERY out of date and has NO support for any hardware newer than 2007

please install the CURRENT version Fedora 17


but i DO NOT recommend using Fedora for NEW TO LINUX users
Fedora is BY DEFINITION a Research and Development distribution
the NEWEST of the NEW , and as such will often need to be FIXED BY YOU

so unless you DO want to learn how to fix a operating system after it breaks
fedora might not be that great of a choice


NOW
If you DO WANT to role up your sleeves and "get dirty " ( think of fixing a car - getting dirty)
then fedora MIGHT be a good choice

BUT running fedora WILL REQUIRE a lot of work ON YOUR Part !!!

Post the specs of this computer for a better guess.

The Dell Latitude D600 had a Pentium M CPU and that's not very fast. Fedora would be slow on it, but it's still usable. My laptop has a Pentium M underclocked and it works fine.

It depends on how much memory you have. I'd recommend
Mint with the Mate desktop, if you have 512MB
ZevenOS with Xfce will run in 192MB
ZorinOS Light will run in 128MB

These are all beginner-friendly and they all allow you to encrypt your /home partition, which is a good idea with a laptop (although you could always put a label on it: "Don't steal me, I'm old"!)

Yah mint will work for you.