Thank you to every one for the advise. What I have decided is to experiment slowly. I ordered a live DVD ( I don't have a DVD Burner) and try it on one of my desktop computers and see how I like it. It just seemed like a wast of money to buy another laptop just to play with. I really love my existing Thinkpad T60 but the hard drive is a little small 60GB but I think I could still partition the drive and make it work. I have around 30GB of free space. As a storm spotter I have a program that does not work well with Wine or what ever. Just enjoying the journey (learning experience)
--- In [email protected], c beck <usabecker@...> wrote: > Hi Jerold. I don't think my original message ever made it through > Yahoo's servers... (or maybe my own server or moderation?) But in any > case, I thought I would try again to mention that while linux mint can > be an excellent distro to try, what can often be more important for a > new user with a laptop (imo) is finding hardware that is compatible > with Linux. Not always, but every now and again there is a particular > model of laptop that just does not have good hardware driver support > in linux (newer toshibas, for example). > > My recommendation, if you are thinking of buying a computer > specifically for installing linux on, would be to do a bit of google > with the computer model and "linux installation" and "linux problem" > or similar (maybe including the distro you are considering) to see if > there are any big hickups. You can always find a few issues > scattered, but if there are dozens of reports for a specific model in > bug reports etc, it may be good to stay away from that PC if there is > not an easy fix and you do not want a lot of hassle out of the box. > > If you have physical access to the PC before purchase, you can always > burn a linux CD and boot it from the CD drive to get an idea of how > well it may work with that model. (live booted CDs are > slower/very-slow as they run entirely from memory and sometimes things > that do not work there will work after installation and updates. but > it can still give you an idea.) > > With a little effort, of course, it is usually possible to get just > about anything working. > > Best of luck, and cheers, > Chris > ------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from this list, please email [email protected] & you will be removed.Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LINUX_Newbies/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LINUX_Newbies/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
