First steps with Linux

I'm looking around for a laptop at the moment and I'd like to give a flavour of Linux a whirl as a dual boot (or possibly running as a virtual machine) as well as Vista. My "what laptop should I buy" thread is here.

So any advice on what flavour of Linux, I was thinking Ubuntu?

Also, anything to watch out for when buying my laptop, anything to avoid or anything to go for?

 

Ubuntu should work great for you as it is very out of the box compatible and they are releasing a new version in 10 days woo im excited and it looks pretty sweet not gonna lie

But for your first time using Linux its a good idea to go with what you can get the most support for if you have problems and Ubuntu is probably that

 

Go for Intel Wireless, Broadcom(Dell) isn't that bad, but the Intel cards work out of the box(or after applying some updates).
Have you looked into Linux Mint? It's pretty good. Have you looked into KDE or XFCE?
EDIT: It's 9 days lost

 

My broadcom card worked fine with Fedora 8.

 

I know, but the intel cards work out of the box, the broadcom cards work fine though.

 

You changed your sig
and oh =]
Well if your down for exploring around in Linux I would recommend Mandriva
It runs very fast the installation is easy and its pretty good looking
It runs KDE which is the about the same as Gnome
there is a lot of controversy as to which is better
I prefer Gnome as it was easier for me to modify and I like having the Task bar at the top and the running applications at the bottom of the screen =]
but its all personal preference I must say
You should look into Gnome, Kde, and XFCE (Never used that one =P)

 

XFCE, fast, basic, and not any extras.

 

So boring and ugly? =D
haha justt kidding

 

Not Really, you can install Compiz

 

Ohh flashy
OP youll want Compiz I like it more than any other MS program I've ever used

 

Right now I would have to say Mandriva (latest release) or Ubuntu. Not only easy, have great OTB hardware support and look great, but they are reliable (i.e. don't break easy for the new user).

 

I'd recommend Ubuntu, and Mandriva Spring

 

Thomas, some people, like bc135, have had trouble with those Broadcom cards.

 

Having tested the beta, I'd say go with Ubuntu 8.04 when it comes out. This is the long-term release where the emphasis is on stability. It just works really well with my IFL90.

 

Ok, then Ubuntu or Mandriva it is I reckon, at least for my first shot.

Would it be best to dual boot with Vista, or run one in a virtual machine of the other. Or even dual boot Vista/Linux and then have them both as virtual machines within the other?

 

Dual booting will be especially easy with either one of those. It's easiest to already have an empty ntfs partition to install on such as a D: drive. It's easy to undo also. Run a Virtual Vista or Xp machine in linux to run and print with those programs you can't use in linux. The non free version of VB (you can use usb devices with it like printers, scanners) is here: https://cds.sun.com/is-bin/INTERSHO...tart?ProductRef=innotek-1.5.6-G-F@CDS-CDS_SMI
I prefer Mandriva, but I had glitch with it with VirtualBox and now I'm Kubuntu. But Mandriva Spring is rock solid and extremely well polished. You probably would want to start out with Ubuntu/Kubuntu 8.04 beta, but the final is in 8 days or so. If you start out with the beta, I had to run a patch cable to my router so it could update my files and then the wireless came right up, which normally it does out of the box on a final release. see sig for my hardware.

 

Well if you have bcm43xx then it'll be fine.

 

I use 64 bit versions of Vista and Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy. So far so good. Only issue with Hardy is the new version of 64bit firefox is no support for Flash. There is a patch out there for it but it did not work for my m1330. Maybe when they release the official version of hardy it will run 32 bit flash on 64 bit. It did run with Gutsy 64bit

 

Dual booting is best if you are a linux noob. Playing around with Linux on an older machine until you get the hang of it is in even better.

 

My wireless works alright, but some Broadcom cards don't play nice; I'm just setting that out there as a warning.

 

I can get the broadcom in my Gateway to work with most distros. Some are much easier than others though. The big pain in the butt is that a lot of times you have to download the firmware via a cabled connection.

 

So by the sounds of it, it's mainly the wireless cards that cause problems and then it's not usually insurmountable.