linux (debian or arch?) os asus g50vt ?

Hi, has anyone installed debian or arch linux on a g50vt-a1 ? Are there any driver problems? I want to go away from windows 7 and try out some linux distro. I dont expect it to be faster / stable or even more secure compared to a right configured windows 7. It's just less malware, free and learning experience.

Also I can't really decide between arch ore debian.
I'm on a laptop (with dual core 2 duo 2,53 ghz, 4 gb ram (might upgrade to 6gb) and a nvidia geforce 9800M gs) and do a lot of gaming, working and multimedia. Actually I do everything on that laptop in school, work and private life. I like the idea of arch linux comming without anything installed and giving you the chance to decide what you want. Maybe a bit problematic for a linux beginner like me. Debian on the other hand comes more user friendly and with pre-installed things. It also got awarded at some linux site as the best "notebook" distro. I already tried archlinux and hast KDE installed. Stopped playing around then as I couldn't find any windows live messenger solution which supports webcam chat and some other things (which are now no problem anymore).

thanks

@edit: just read that debian often needs a long time for updates.. is that just distro & kernel related or also apps related (browser,mail,skype,...). Also it seems to have some problems with SSD'S ? And i use one

 

If you want to try then arch is not for you. Arch is proverbial deep end of linux and requires alot of work and knowledge to get going compared to other distros.

 

There is a very big wiki with a lot of nice documentation for arch linux. And installing + getting KDE/Gnome wasn't rly hard. From there its just a matter of pacman + drivers? Where will a beinnger have troubles when using arch linux?

What else do you recommend (from your signature i guess debian ) ?

Thanks

 

The first time he upgrades and -- due to the rolling release nature of Arch -- happens to hit a bug that causes trouble booting.

Seriously, don't use Arch if stability and ease of use are paramount. Once you're more experienced with Linux *and* if you want to sacrifice stability and ease of maintenance for having the absolute latest version of software, then give it a try.

Arch is a good distro -- but it's not meant to be a rock-solid, never-breaks sort of distro like Debian.

 

alright i will got for debian then as soon as i find a decent installing guide which covers the partition shrink of my current windows 7 partition on my ssd + dual booting without removing the windows boot loader (so in case i decide to remove debian, windows will still work ).. i think the shrinking will be easily done with the disk managment in windows.. and when installing debian it should dedect windows 7.. but i thnik GRUB will overwrite the windows boot loader?

just a question to u debian users:

i read its kinda buggy with SSD'S ? e.g. no trim support?
It has big release cycles.. does that mean i have to do a fresh install every year which removes all my setting and other stuff?
And if i got it right, then i can update apps which aren't in the "debian recommended repositority" ? Like kde/gnome to its latest version ?

thanks

@edit: i just found this:
http://kmuto.jp/debian/hcl/ASUS/G50VT/

seems like i will have some troubles getting everything working :/

 

Ok, I'm definitely a Debian fanboy, and I say if you like the concepts of Arch and are eager to learn and tinker, go with Arch! It has a great documentation and the only question is if you are willing to take the steep learning curve.
If you think a pure Arch is too much try Chakra (maybe for Arch what Ubuntu is for Debian) or Archbang if you want something in between.

You can also build your custom Debian system instead of taking the standard installation. Most of the advanced Debian users I know do that.
Debian has basically three flavours: Stable (currently called "Squeeze"), Testing (currently "Wheezy") and Unstable (always "Sid"). When no flavour is mentioned it's usually Stable.

Stable comes indeed with quite old software because no new versions are introduced into it, only security updates are applied. Squeeze for example has Linux kernel 2.6.32. The first Linux kernel with TRIM was 2.6.33, therefore you're right that Debian Stable doesn't support TRIM. You could install a newer kernel from the Backports but depending on other packages you install some things might break. A pure Debian Stable (without Backports or other repositories - especially beware of debian-multimedia) usually runs rock solid. This is for you if you're no version junkie and like to be lazy. Of course you can always install newer versions of software by circumventing the Debian repositories or sometimes by including unofficial repositories. But if that's what you want to do you usually don't want to run Debian Stable. The rule for new Debian releases is: "It's ready when it's ready." Usually that means that there will be a new Debian release every two or three years, but nobody will grant you that. You can Upgrade from one Debian release to the following one without reinstalling it from scratch. I know people who run the same Debian installation for over a decade and several releases now. They even moved from one computer to another without reinstalling.

Testing is (mostly) a rolling release distro. The packages have a slight delay because they went through a basic quality testing. Testing rarely breaks, but when it does it might be unusable for some days. Therefore if you like to run Testing as your main system you should have a backup system. It requires some effort to keep it running smoothly. The Testing kernel has TRIM support.

Unstable (almost) always has the latest and newest versions of every software. It's not unusual that something breaks from time to time. If you run Unstable you are expected to know what you're doing. If you want a slightly more stable Unstable try Aptosid!

The safe way would be to shrink your Windows Partition with Windows. Grub will replace the Windows bootloader, but it will include Windows as an option in its menu.

 

Yes.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/lin...-series-g50v-g50vt-g51v-g51vx-g51j-g51jx.html

 

It's not at all "buggy" on SSDs. I currently have three machines running Squeeze, all of which have SSDs.

Nope. You can upgrade in place. And the release isn't yearly.

I'm not sure what you're asking here...

Edit: debguy gives good advice. The only change I'd make to what he said is to emphasize the purpose of stable: it's designed to work. It's designed to be consistent, well-supported, and reliable. If you're the sort of person that loves to brag about running the latest and greatest of something or other, it's not for you.