Recommend a Distro to Me

I plan on getting a new notebook in the near future, and I'm looking for a good distro that plays well with notebooks. Something that will easily work with bluetooth, Intel wireless N card, fingerprint reader, and NVIDIA GPU.

No GNOME, and no RPM package based distros please. Something that has a good package manager, and handles dependencies well. I'm only interested in KDE for my DE.

I want something lean, stable, and fast; not bloated and sluggish.

I've been using Mepis on my DT, but I've read that people are having a hard time with it with the Intel wireless N, and some people have also had trouble with video drivers, so I think I'll need another disrto.

 

Arch Linux will suit you perfectly!!

 

I've been interested in Arch for a long time, but have been a little worried that it my be a bit over my head technically. From what I understand it doesn't do much OTB so to speak, and everything has to be manually installed and configured, like bluetooth, fingerprint reader, Intel wireless N, etc. Is this right? Is fingerprint recognition even possible with this distro? Tell me more about it.

 

How about Kubuntu ?

And thezoid seems happy with the recently released mandriva spring:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=239153
(unfortunately, its rpm based though)

 

If I got it set up, it isn't too hard. I don't know about the fingerprint recognition, you can visit #archlinux on irc.freenode.net with your questions, it's what I do.

 

I think I'll try Arch later on. First I just want something up and running quickly, without much configuration.

I've tried Kubuntu on my old DT, but it was very unstable. Maybe it just didn't like my old DT.

I'd be willing to give it another shot when I get my new notebook.

 

so you want a debian based distro, or anything besides rpm?

 

I do love debian, but anything based on another good core distro would be of interest as well. I'm looking for something that doesn't come with too many extraneous applications. Just the basic KDE apps, firefox, the GIMP and what have you, and I will add the rest myself.

 

Hmm, Linux Mint 4.0 Daryna KDE CE

Here is a Review:

http://www.distro-review.com/review-linux-mint-4-0-daryna-kde-community-edition


Some Screenshots:

http://www.thecodingstudio.com/open....php?linux_distribution_sm=Linux Mint 4.0 KDE

 

Thanks, Mint seems nice, but may be a bit bloated for me. Id' like something that just comes with the basics, and then lets me choose the apps and functionality I want.

 

Well your going to have to settle on a bit of bloat if you want everything to work out of the box / easily configured.

I mean asking for kde already means some bloat.

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You could try sabayon linux, the 3.5 beta is what you want, its has two editions, one very bloated and the other minimal. The minimal version of 3.5 will be available when 3.5 is out of beta.

Why I say 3.5, since it includes equo (binary package manager) which means you wont always have to compile. Distro is based on gentoo, but much friendlier, one of the best hardware support and fast.

You can install equo in 3.4, its explained in the wiki.

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If that still isnt what you want, then ARCH is the way to go my friend, especially their kdemod which is extremely fast and not bloated.

 

Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm surprised there isn't more lean distros with great hardware support from the start. Arch does sound like what I really want, but I don't really want to have to put that much work into it. Arch would be more like a project to work on on the side to start with. I guess right now I'm kind of leaning towards Kubuntu. I'm sure other guys will come in was some other suggestions as well.

 

well yea my suggestions still stand

arch
sabayon
mint

Here is a list of debian based distros

http://distrowatch.com/stats.php?section=packagemanagement

 

The Sabayon website turned me off because of all the money begging and weird symbols.

 

lol, its still a great distro.

 

btw, I think you may have done something weird to this page because it doesn't fit on my monitor now without scrolling! lol

 

lol, didnt do anything

 

I like Kubuntu, as long as it's not KDE 4(right now).
You could always just uninstall the apps you don't like, right?
Wait, would Linux Mint Fluxbox or miniKDE be good?

 

OK, tried Kubuntu, but it wouldn't work with my Intel 4965AGN without some kind of configuration, also it kept having strange errors in general, so I'd like to try something else.

Is there a distro out there that when I boot up to it the first time it just works with my wireless card and detects my network automatically, or can only M$ Windows do this?

 

Tried Ubuntu? Linux Mint? PC Linux OS?

 

I'll just wait and see what's worked for others with the Intel 4965AGN card. Don't have the time or patience to test a bunch of distros right now. I think theZoid may know of a few.

I was thinking about Ubuntu, but I don't like the GNOME DE, and I figured it wouldn't work any better than Kubuntu anyway. Also, since MINT is based on the *buntus, it probably won't be any better. As for PC Linux OS, it's RPM based, and I'd rather not go there if I don't have to. I'd also prefer a packaging system that takes care of dependencies itself.

Looks like Linux has still got quite a ways to go before it's really ready for a casual user, and I'm not in geek mode right now, I'll geek out some other time when I feel more up to it. I just want something up and running right away.

 

Hmmm, that's odd. The 4965AGN worked on the Kubuntu live CD for me, with absolutely no configuration. What model is your laptop? And are you sure you selected the correct wireless options? You have to chose the type of wireless security you have. If you select the wrong one, it's probably not going to work.

 

Mandriva, Gnome or KDE.....that's what I'm using on this machine in sig. I have Ubuntu on my Acer, but that's a broadcom card. But I have the same card as you, and never had a problem with any of the 'buntu's. EDIT: forget PCLinuxOS right now, they are a spin off of Mandriva (which is based on Red Hat), who is way ahead of them. No offense to PCLOS users out there. I'm talking hardware support. Mandriva and Ubuntu are about as good as it gets for home/small office user, at least that's what I've surmised after months of disto hopping. I'll give a slight edge to Mandriva

 

If you are using a kernel version prior to 2.6.24 you have to download the kernel module from here: http://intellinuxwireless.org/

And to the initial question and to all the replies: Why should any distro have better hardware support than others? Maybe they ship with gui configurations tools, but the initial hardware support is everywhere the same (at least so long as they are using the same kernel version).

Do you need Linux? Windows should fulfill all your needs you mentioned better than Linux can do.

 

He doesn't need to download anything for the 4965. Also, some distro's have better hardware support OTB......wireless is something most of us want precompiled to ease updating unless you want pull out a 50ft cable in my case That's among other things, including package management/selection and the ability to keep a clean system.

That comment about windows, well, I'll let the others step in here....LOL It's only for gaming in my case, can't stand to do anything else in it.

 

Alrighty, I'll step in....
I think dombre's position is valid.
Scoober mentioned he wants an OS with an 'up&running' guarantee and right now he doesn't feel like entering geek-mode.
I'd say, Windows is the answer then.

 

OK, it did recognize my wireless card, but it wouldn't automatically detect my wireless network. Is this something that only Windows can do?

As for Windows, I'm stuck with Vista, which is a pretty horrible OS IMO. I only want to use it for gaming, since Linux won't really work for that. I'd like to use Linux for everything else that I can.

btw, I'm getting ready to give Ubuntu a try.

 

I'm getting the same weird errors with Ubuntu as I did with Kubuntu. I think it may have something to do with them not liking my use of eSATA. I'll try and install on my internal SATA and see how it goes. This sucks because I really wanted to just have Linux on my external drive.

btw, my notebook is an Asus M50Sv.

 

not all kernel configurations are the same and not all modules are included across distros. for example, uvcvideo is done and ready to go in ubuntu. very convenient. in fedora 9, i have to use subversion and build/load the module manually. so, i would say ubuntu has better hardware support since i don't have to write a script to rebuild the module after each kernel update. really it all depends on the upstream kernel/package for that particular distro. so it's just not gui conf tools we can depend on.

 

Scoober....what do you mean by detecting? I've always had to select it from a list of scanned networks and configure. Mandriva has a network wizard for this similar to Windows. I don't remember Ubuntu.....your network shows up right?

@all.......I recognized Scoober as a former MEPIS user. A guy with an Avatar like that isn't looking to boot into Vista all the time......LOL

 

Thanks for @all theZoid, and you're absolutly right! I'm not a total n00b, just being lazy right now! lol

 

If we were on Vulcan, I'd agree with you in an absolute sense.....j/k

 

Anyone here have any experience with the *buntu Alternate CD install? I'm interested in setting up an LVM Encrypted system, but it wants to use my whole disk instead of just one partition. That would wipe out my Vista system partition and my other partition as well. So does anyone know how to set up an LVM Encrypted system in it's own partitions, but leave my other two alone?

 

Tried Mandriva 2008.1 Spring? I am loving it and it found a wireless I never could get PCLOS to work with right away and connected right away. All I had to do was enter the SSID and WPA settings.

Monty

 

I recomend Gentoo

 

Yep....it's also very easy to go from Ubuntu to Mandriva.

 

You mean the Sabayon variety? That's pretty nice.

 

i would imagine it's like the raid set up. create your physical volumes, mark them as lvm, then create your volume group, then partition the volume, then format and install on said volume group. then you'll have your lvm separate from your vista partition. also, /boot will need to be outside the lvm.

 

Nope, straight gentoo