On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 3:11 PM, jerold222 <jerold222@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> I have been doing some research on putting Linux on a laptop. Not a geek at all but have reinstalled xp by myself. I see there is a lot of argument about the different flavors of Linux.
>
> What I am considering is picking up an an old Thinkpad T60 with out an OS, 60 to 80 Gb, 1 to 2 Gb Ram and a DVD RW (100 to 150 US$)and loading Linux Mint. What are your thoughts?
>
> At this point I do not want to partition my good desktop PC.
>
Hi Jerold. I don't think my original message ever made it through
Yahoo's servers... (or maybe my own server or moderation?) But in any
case, I thought I would try again to mention that while linux mint can
be an excellent distro to try, what can often be more important for a
new user with a laptop (imo) is finding hardware that is compatible
with Linux. Not always, but every now and again there is a particular
model of laptop that just does not have good hardware driver support
in linux (newer toshibas, for example).
My recommendation, if you are thinking of buying a computer
specifically for installing linux on, would be to do a bit of google
with the computer model and "linux installation" and "linux problem"
or similar (maybe including the distro you are considering) to see if
there are any big hickups. You can always find a few issues
scattered, but if there are dozens of reports for a specific model in
bug reports etc, it may be good to stay away from that PC if there is
not an easy fix and you do not want a lot of hassle out of the box.
If you have physical access to the PC before purchase, you can always
burn a linux CD and boot it from the CD drive to get an idea of how
well it may work with that model. (live booted CDs are
slower/very-slow as they run entirely from memory and sometimes things
that do not work there will work after installation and updates. but
it can still give you an idea.)
With a little effort, of course, it is usually possible to get just
about anything working.
Best of luck, and cheers,
Chris
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