[Discuss] My first laptop...bummer

[Murray Strome]

----- Original Message -----
From: David Lee <misterlee at shaw.ca>
Date: Tuesday, January 8, 2008 8:40 pm
Subject: Re: [Discuss] My first laptop...bummer
To: discuss at vlug.org
 >    I have been trying for as long as Ubuntu has 
> been around to get it
> > onto a system and working. I am no Linux guru, far from it, 
> but I can
> > read and I can Google. To date I have not succeeded in getting 
> a system
> > up and running, at least not a stable system, and because of those
> > negative experiences I no longer plan on trying to do so in 
> the future.
> > I started my Linux Journey using Mandrake ... now Mandriva ... 
> and in
> > spite of a few rocky roads I am happy with it.
> >
> >    I know this whole post is somewhat off 
> topic, but like yourself I
> > saw Ubuntu forums full of people unable to do almost everything
> > imagineable, and while at the time I thought perhaps it was a 
> sign of a
> > healthy community, more and more I am seeing it as a minor 
> version of
> > the Apple effect.
> >
> >    Good luck with the system, sorry to sound so 
> negative.>
> >    Michael.
> Date: 1/8/2008 
> > 1:38 PM
> >
> Howdy Michael
> 
> My distro of choice has always been PCLinuxOS. I've never had 
> any problem 
> with any hardware.Everything works. Never a problem. Till now. 
> Actually I 
> seem to be closer setting wireless up in PCLinuxOS. The new 
> MiniMe has just 
> been released and everything works. Sound, video etc, except, 
> you guessed 
> it, wireless. However, some have got the AR5007EG working so I 
> can try 2 
> distros :) I wish more eople would try it. Great community!!
> 
> David
> 
Mandrake (then Mandriva) was the first distribution that I ever got to work, and I have used it for many years.  However, I have now switched to Kubuntu on all my computers (except for a very old computer with Debian).  I switched partly because there seemed to be so many positive comments about it, and partly because Mandriva has become a bit too commercial for me.  

I have been trying for quite a while to find a distribution that would work well on my laptop (now a Toshiba Satellite A100).  The biggest stumbling block that I had was finding a distribution that would support my built-in wireless card (by Intel).
Of secondary importance, some distributions didn't seem to support my sound card.

Because of the difficulties with the different distributions I tried (as Live CDs or DVDs), I was very reluctant to do an install that would touch the MBR.  I finally figured out how to install Kubuntu in persistent mode so that if my 8GB Pendrive is plugged in, it boots up in Kubuntu; if it is not present, it boots in Windows normally.  It supports all my hardware, including wireless.  I have been travelling the last month and have only booted it into Windows twice in that time.  It has (mostly) been working fine. The usual glitches when trying to watch some video clips that people send me, which seems to be the case with any LINUX system I have looked at. The most difficult are those designed for M$ Windows Media players, especially the most recent ones.  This is just a minor annoyance to me, as most aren't worth watching anyway.

Murray