Hi all. This is my first post on Afterdawn. I see pretty much enthusiasts and experts here, so I believe I am in the right place. I installed RHEL 5 on my laptop ( Lenovo 3000 N100-07876A). But it has some touchpad issues. And I can't seem to get my sound driver to work. I have tried installing Mandrake 10.1 too. ubuntu shows same touchpad issues ( the pointer doesn't stay still ) when a CD or DVD media is inserted! I really want to work on linux as I am bored of lame windows. Please suggest what to do... thanks and regards
Hi, I've tried several versions of Linux and to be honest, it really comes down to whatever distro and version that YOU like as Linux depends on what you do, how you like to do it, and everything else. Personally, I would buy a Commercial version of whatever Linux you decide on. I like Xandros Professional 4.0 which I upgraded to from Xandros Business Edition 3.0 but both are good and an easy transition from Windows. The best thing to do before you choose which version is write down all your hardware information, easy to print out. Then go to Xandros or whatever Linux website that you want and look for "hardware compatibilty" as most will have a list that will show you what hardware is compatible with that particular distro and version. I found for instance the HP 1022 laserjet printer, a b&w only printer was compatible with Windows, Mac and Xandros Pro 4.0 so I did a search and bought one for the lowest price I could find. Just make sure you know what you have, what is compatible before you buy any version as you will have some idea what you "might" have to replace. Keep in mind, if your hardware isn't on the list, it may still be compatible as not "all" hardware that is compatible will be on the list as the list is made from "known" hardware running on it.
Back to judasis's original touchpad issue, that's always happened to me on old laptops, whether on Linux or Windows. What i tend to do is use a USB mouse, the touchpad is still there but it's easier to reign in the wandering cursor when you have a normal mouse plugged in.. Getting sound to work might or might not take a bit of messing about. intrepix - that's 3 almost identical posts i've just seen you make, the one above doesn't help judasis at all..
Why pay for a Linux Distro when there are so many Free alternatives out there! As for the touchpad I can't stand them and prefer a USB mouse as Creaky suggested.
Somebody who is already using laptop of the same kind suggested me OpenSuSE. I am reluctant to install it as it might have the same issues. I was hoping to find some solution to the problem. I mean, how could it happen that the Linux community never could have possibly considered Touchpad problem. I am really dissapointed though.
I installed RHEL and Mandrake distros on my desktop ( an old PIII with 384M RAM, 1113MHz processor) and they worked fine. No issues with the mice! But , somehow I couldn't get my LAN card to work! Aggravated I had to switch back to Windows XP on it! :| However, the touchpad is not really a problem when I install a VM on Windows host! I am using ESX by VMware. with 512 RAM on my laptop, its a pain as it slows the startup and shut down to a considerable level.
