Which Linux for me

hello...
I am a windows user how is getting fed up with window
I want to try out something unix based.
My girlfriend has a Mac PB and i love it but i'll wait till apple releases a widescreen intel macbook (ibook) before i get one(Some of my apps arent available for mac yet)

My laptop is a emachine m5105
it has a 1280x800 screen res
512 ram(32 goes to integrated video)
belkin wireless-g card
15gb partition

key things:
i want all of my screen
i want firefox
i hopefully want my wireless card to work
i want to test in the form of a live CD

so can someone point me in the right direction?

 

you should either repost this or have it moved to the linux forum.

pb,out.

 

Since you want to give a live cd a go try Knoppix. It's always a smart move to try a live cd first as it will usually answer all your hardware compatibility questions.

 

I second mach's suggestion of Knoppix. It's a good live CD distro, which will give you a good idea whether linux is suitable for you or not.

The onboard intel graphics should work fine under linux, Intel are pretty good about this kind of thing. So getting the full 1280x800 resolution shouldn't be a problem.

Firefox is most definitely available for linux, as well as every other major OS.

Even the Belkin WLAN card shouldn't be a problem, especially if it uses the Broadcom chipset.

 

thanks to all help

 

You may want to try Ubuntu. The current beta-2 comes on a live CD and you can also install it straight from there.

 

+1 to what yamla said. Ubuntu 6.06 beta would be an excellent distro for anyone new to linux... their online community is great. I still reckon that Knoppix has the edge in the live cd stakes... I've yet to come across a (desktop) system it's hardware detection has failed on.

 

ok...tried both
knoppix 4.0.2
it was ok...didnt get my screen res
did ubuntu 5.10 and i got the screen res but not the wireless card
i go get the beta...6.06

 

got the beta....i like it but i still cant get my wireless card...does ubuntu only support WEP keys
i use a WPA with my router

 

WEP is probably installed by default, since it is compatible with b/g wireless cards where as WAP is g wireless only.

 

kool...thanks
is WEP 128bit ok?
i cant wait till it gets out of beta
i will install this as a secondary partition

got another question
is it themeable of is there a themeing program
hopefully a theme with transparency

 

You can also try Kanotix ( www.kanotix.com). It's based on Knoppix, but is made for installing to the hard drive. Kanotix also has WPA support for my wireless card. I bet they will have it for yours, too, if it exists. Oh, and youcan also specify your resolution at boot time by entering the following on the 'boot:' line.

screen=1280x800

Have fun!

 

its a pain in the $*% to get wireless intel network card working in ubuntu 5.10.
Not sure if the new beta fixes this issue.

 

got everything working....i am amazed at how easy linux is...i like it alot...well...i like ubuntu version 6 beta

is there a program to theme ubunta....sorta like windowblinds for windowsxp
more so i want a vista aero look...
if i can get that....forget vista....linux for me

 

Is there a way to upgrade from 5.10 to the new 6 beta without having to burn the image to a cd? I take it daemontools doesnt work in linux.

 

The important thing to remember with linux is that there are many different desktop suites available. Ubuntu's default desktop is Gnome, while another popular one is KDE (available as the Ubuntu derived Kubuntu). Then there's WindowMaker, Enlightenment, fluxbox, XFCE, etc...

For Gnome themes try art.gnome.org and gnome-look.org

Gizbug, you should be able to update your apt.sources list then do a dist upgrade... check the Ubuntu forums for more info.

 

gnome
ok
i did alittle research and came up with GTK2 and metacity
what will work with Ubuntu version 6

 

Both will work.

Metacity = Gnome Window Manager = Borders of windows
GTK2 theme = Color of applications

copy them to /home/<username>/.themes and then extract them
then you can select them from Preferences => Themes

 

All right, another user falls for the penguin Spread the good word around geckoboy!

 

oh trust me...i am...

 

Are you looking for the 3D effects, like MacOSX? You may want to investigate the Compiz 3D window manager.

 

ok...i did some looking....i like what it offers....now...is that available in Ubuntu 6.06 beta -or- can it be installed -or- what

 

Hmm, it looks like it still requires some digging and work to get working. Start here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=148351
I didn't realize it would be so involved when I made the suggestion, sorry.

 

its ok
do u know if there is a vista-ish them with no transparency for ubuntus basic themeing stuff(metacity i believe).

 

My personal favorite is SuSE, mainly because it has excellent management tools ("Control Panel" from a Window's perspective) embodied in YaST. The nice thing about YaST is that it runs in text mode as well as in GUI mode so that should you get your display completely hosed you can still use it to recover.

Btw: 10.1 is due out next Thursday.

I've also seen ubuntu 6.06 B2 recommended. It also is good. But SuSE is the one that always "sticks" to my HD.

 

Nightstorm, he already has Ubuntu installed... It probably makes sense to work with that one for a bit.

Geckoboy, I don't know myself, but try looking around at gnome-look.org . Search for "vista" in the Metacity themes.

 

i found a few... will themes with the caption buttons(close min max) on left...actually have them there without doing anything else minus install.

 

I'm sorry, I have no idea what you are asking...

 

I believe so. That window button layout is part of the them configuration.

 

Actually its not. To switch the order or side of the buttons (like having the butotns on the left like osx) you can easily change a file

Go to Applications => System Tools => Gconf Editor.

Then
Apps
+--Metacity
+---General
+---button_layout.

 

Are you sure, DJ? I'll admit it's been ages since I last changed themes (I found one I liked and stuck with it...), but I thought button_layout could be defined within the theme config file...