Intending to dual boot, a few questions (more about distros then dual booting)

I was thinking (as can be seen in my signature) about dual booting with either Ubuntu or Mint. I've used both a decent amount through a LiveCD. I'm leaning towards ubuntu but is it really that hard to track down all the codecs and drivers?

Is it worth just using mint?
For what its worth I'm decently computer savvy and want to get into using linux more. I also like the Gnome desktop in Ubuntu but I like alot about Mint.
I'm just looking for alittle input.

Also is the Intel 4965 wireless card supported in linux?

 

Since I've never used MINT, I can't say which is better.

The first thing I do on clean installs (always do clean - no upgrades for muah) is install all the codecs (good, bad, ugly), msttcorefonts and a few other favorite programs.

It's quite painless to do it by using the GUI's add/remove feature or synaptic... or be a little more hard core and go the command line route. Their are very few things that Linux can't do by way of a GUI these days. Some things (very few), are just plain easier doing it in a command line.

YMMV

edited - in regards to your wireless question. I can't say if it will work. Have to run out the door and earn a paycheck atm. If it doesn't work out of the box (it should being intel) it wouldn't take much tweaking to get her up.

Lastly, ALWAYS setup a seperate /home partition. If your install gets flubbed up, you can do a clean install and loose NONE of your settings and personal files.

 

I would say try both. I haven't tried Mint but it seems pretty similar to Ubuntu. Ubuntu is not hard to setup and getting the drivers and other things should not be too bad, unless you have that rare piece of hardware that Linux doesn't like. The Intel 4965N card works fine for me in my laptop. I used it with Kubuntu 8.04.1 x64 just fine.

 

if you look around im pretty sure 4965n card is the most popular among linux users. it should be fully supported out of the box, many people have been buying this card and replacing 5100/5300 cards simply because the newer ones arent fully supported yet.

 

Ubuntu plus my Ubuntu guide will cover codecs and things like that.
But Mint generally is more out of the box.
Really depends if you want to tinker or have it just work.
And yes, Intel 4965 is supported under linux.

 

Like I said I've used both through live disks, so what it came down to is how hard ubuntu would be. idk, I'm very indecisive but I'm thinking I'll go with Ubuntu since it'll allow me to get alittle fimiliar with linux. Hey if I don't like it I can always uninstall and go with Mint.

As for the wireless card, I found my Mint LiveCD last night and the card worked without a hitch last night.

 

Sweet. I played with Ubuntu LiveCD's for a while before I finally installed 7.10. Ubuntu is pretty easy, but I don't use much Linux much except for that as of yet... except for booting up Puppy Linux on my old desktop once in a while...

 

Yeah, I'd just roll with Ubuntu.

You can use this guide to help you get all the extras installed:

http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Hardy

You can also install an incredible amount of useful software by simply browsing whats available on Ubuntu's add/remove software feature. Once you figure these two things out I think the difference between Mint and Ubuntu is just a matter of aesthetics.

 

Hello Folks,

I would check out http://distrowatch.com to try out various distro's.
There are several Live CD/DVD's that you can download and see what you like.
Though Ubuntu is a popular distro, with various "flavors".
Ubuntu is a Debian based distro...