I have a Dell Inspiron 1100 and I'm fed up with Windows. But alas, I am totally lost in the world of linux. There are so many things I can download, and then I have the worry of not being able to install all of the drivers because I think linux may not support them, but from my readings that should not be an issue. But I'm just wondering what I should use on my laptop for a linux os, and how do I go about installing that and removing XP completely?
With Linux you don't really need to worry about drivers unless you have a wireless card or something special that did not come already built into the PC. As far as what Linux distro (OS) to choose I'd recommend you start with Ubuntu. Just Google it, download it, burn to CD and install; very simple stuff. If you are curious about other distro choices you can go to this website and it will give you some suggestions depending on what you are looking for; in other words, it helps you choose the version of Linux that better fits your needs. http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/
I have both Ubuntu 7.10 and Opensuse 10.3 on my system. The Ubuntu seems more friendly to my hardware. I read a lot about compatibility issues with ATI video cards. All-in-all they are great distros and there is plenty of support out there. Good luck.
i use PCLinuxOS/XP on both a desktop and laptop. i can boot into either OS. in order to try it out i think most distros can run as "live cd's" they can boot and run from a bootable cd. no need to install to hard drive just run it off the cd to check it out. should you want to install PClinuxOS and iam sure many other distro's can reformat (wiping xp) the hd and install linux for you. note: some wireless cards (ie:laptops) can take some work to get the wireless working. ethernet connections (ie rj45 cable) are not a problem the dell website might have some info about installing linux on dell computers http://distrowatch.com/ regards echoreply
