Which linux flavor? Which notebook?

I used to administer a lot of Unix boxes, but that was at least 8 years ago. I don't really do administration now. So although I know a lot of Unix (mostly about kernel, VM, NFS, etc.) I don't really know which Linux flavor will be the easiest for me to pick up. The reason I mention my background is that I am very comfortable with command line and old school Unix utilities (vi a plus but will suffer emacs in a pinch). So a Linux distro that is mostly centered on point and click administration is not necessary. I would like a desktop for applications though, and I will want to browse internet. I would rather have 64 bits and alot of memory, but if that is an issue I can hold off on that until after I am a bit more back in the Unix groove.

One thing that will help a lot is if I can run a virtual instance of XP or Vista just to get around the few apps that I need for which there is no hope whatsoever of getting a non-Windows version (due to the way the vendor uses FlexLM).

Also: I want to run this on a notebook. I would like a small (14.1" or less) widescreen, dual core, 802.11n, some USB toys, and some decent power saving standby or sleep when I close the lid.

What do people suggest for flavor of Linux and model of notebook? If T61 is a good choice for the hardware I would like that.

EDIT: And yes, the reason I am asking is that I am getting sick and tired of all the little craps Vista keeps taking on me. I won't be happy with switching to Linux if that will be the unexplained device failure of the day train I am already riding on.

 

Hi
Over the last six months I have experimented with some of the various distros available, generally the "normal" ones - Fedora, SUSE and Ubuntu in their various versions. As a noob to Linux I had a real hard time to start with, however I persisted and finally settled with Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn). But was soon caught up in the excitement of the then upcoming release of the next version 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon), so much so I resurrected a retired desktop as a test box for Tribe 3, then Tribe 4, then Tribe 5 and finally Beta releases, and then stayed up all night on release day to be one of the first to download the final release.

What I am trying to say is that each distro has its special feel and features, but in my opinion Ubuntu is the easiest to use and get used to as a noob. My research has also shown me that Ubuntu 7.04 (still available and supported) gives the least hardware problems, and if one does encounter a niggle there are plenty of suggestions, work-arounds or solutions on the forum and other sites that these are typically solved quickly. Unfortunately there are still a few hardware support issues with Gutsy for me to comfortable recommend a fellow noob to attempt that route, even though I (and numerous others) think that Gutsy is the best so far. My Desktop (Core 2 2.13, Geforce 6800 XT 512mb, Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe, 2 Gb DDR2 800) suffers form ZERO problems; however I have tried a number of time to install on my new HP dv9521ei (T7300 Core 2 2.0, Geforce 8600 GT M, 2 Gb RAM with Vista Home Premium) and not succeeded yet. Feisty installed and was running perfectly within days when I used the "How To for HP dv9500 series Laptops" obtained off the Ubuntu Forum.

My suggestion is to try Feisty first, monitor the forums and once things look more positive upgrade to Gutsy, but you really need to find the "Flavour" that suits you in looks and Feel, that's what I did and I feel more comfortable than having someone tell me that is the distro you need to use but the majority of Linux users have gone with Ubuntu.

The choice is part of the attraction of Linux I think.

 

There's always Gentoo, Arch, even FreeBSD (which is more UNIX than Linux).

 

Which one is the best at coping with notebook power saving, USB, Wifi, etc?

 

zenpharaohs: take a look here: http://distrowatch.com/index.php?language=EN

you will find a lot of info concerning the various distributions (including a page about "Major distributions", where you can read about Gentoo and FreeBSD --> http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major)

 

I recommend Debian. Ubuntu is actually based on the Debian unstable branch. As you are familiar with command line, Debian should pose no problem. PLus, a new version was just released this year.
T61 should be a good choice. Thinkpads are usually well supported under linux.

 

You could also get a Inspiron 1420N with Ubuntu. I recommend Debian too.

 

I think Fedora has made some good improvements in terms of notebook driver support.
In terms of BSD I like: FreeBSD & OpenBSD.
In terms of Linux I like: Gentoo, Arch, Sabayon and maybe a bit of Fedora.
I'm not sure what to recommend, but knowing you're a UNIX man my money's on something like FreeBSD or Gentoo.
Like I have said before, I am not a fan of the Ubuntu branch.

 

Of course, as soon as I posted this thread, my Vista laptop has miraculously stopped making trouble....

I am leaning toward Debian on a T61 at this point, but I need to learn some more.

 

I think the system76.com laptops look spiffy, though I've never tried one. There's an option so you don't have to buy a windows license. If the posted specs are correct they are pretty light for a beefy laptop.

 

zenpharaohs WROTE:

"The reason I mention my background is that I am very comfortable with command line and old school Unix utilities (vi a plus but will suffer emacs in a pinch)."

By that I will recomend gentoo, sabayon, those distros are really fast.

But my favorite is Pclinuxos, fast and everything works out of the box, windows xp works fast in virtualbox and vmware server. It works great in my old laptop with Pentium 4 3.4 GHz but in my new laptop I can't load it, because they use and old kernel 2.6.18.8. So I'm waiting for the new Kernel 2.6.22.10.

 

Coming over from pure Unix, you'd be best off with FreeBSD IMO, but realize that driver support isn't quite up to the level in Linux yet, but it's getting closer all the time.

As for Linux, I recommend either Slackware, Arch, or Frugalware. Check them out and see which one appeals more to you. These will be the closest to the Unix foundation of all the other distros that I know of.

 

You could always dual boot ....

 

Actually I spent some time thinking about that today.

I am looking at maybe trying something like Pendrive on a hard drive in the Ultrabay. I only just am scratching the surface of this though.

What would be even nicer is the other way around - a bootable removable drive with Windows on it. I'm pretty sure no way Vista allows that. Maybe XP?

 

If I were buying for myself I'd probably get a Dell tailored for Ubuntu. The coupons work on the open-source models too. This way you know there are good drivers for all the devices. My work issued T61 works great with Ubuntu too. Nvidia graphics and Intel wireless networking are the two things you really want.

I chose to dual-boot XP & Ubuntu just to try it out, and I'm sticking with it. I've been a Unix admin for a long time. I learned on SunOS & Solaris, then I used Redhat on servers and also some Fedora going back to FC1. When I used a GUI it was KDE. But I like Ubuntu and Gnome because it's easy and I never have to futz with it to get something working. It's just clean and simple.

I have Feisty on my desktop and Gutsy on my laptop. I would recommend Gutsy (7.10). Next April is the long-term release of the desktop and I'll move them both to that and try to stick with it a few years.

Greg

 

If your bois supports booting from USB drives properly you could always put it on an external drive and try it out. I have done this with Fedora 7 and Ubutu and it works well. In fact we got PC linux to run from a thumb drvie. It really depends on the BIOS though. Just a thought.

 

My first experiment was actually running Pendrive inside Vista. It worked, but was very slow. I came across my first oddity though, I opened a terminal and started poking around, it looks pretty familiar. I wrote a program in vi and compiled it, but oddly enough, typing "a.out" did not execute it, instead I had to type "./a.out" which did work. I assume that is either a nuance with the shell or the PATH environment variable, but no big deal. Video and sound worked.

The tough spot there was wireless networking. I have the intel A/B/G/N card, so I expect it will get sorted out. USB is probably doable.

One thing that I do need that I haven't figured out yet is to use WWAN - I use a Verizon/Novatel V640 Express Card for this. From a Google search, I have seen that it can be made to work in Suse 10.2, but I don't know with what software.

 

Not having the current directory in the PATH is a linux security feature.

Looking at that web page, the linux driver is a virtual USB serial device. So you'll be using ppp dial-up (most likely pppconfig to setup plus a little hand editing, then pppon to dial or a graphical frontend such as gpppon) to connect to your provider. I don't know if you have monthly download limits in the States like we do here in Britain, if you do you may find the console program pppstatus useful.

 

By default "." is left out of the PATH environment variable for security reasons. You can always add it though.

Greg.

 

I can't help with WWAN I haven't done that yet. But the drivers should be out for the intel wireless. You might need to google around abit for it though. If you want to try a system that comes fairly complete look at Ubuntu. It has good driver support from the go and works well. It is also a good beginer OS I have started to migrate that way just because it worked so well for me. The more you do the more you learn and if you can set up a usb drive and work from that you don't need to touch your current OS until you find what you really like.