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Post by aidanc on Jun 16, 2009 22:17:41 GMT
I am thinking of installing & using Linux on my laptop. I have Vista at the minute but it is really crap and I want to try something else; what I need to know is wether it's any good and will I need to download lots of drivers for sound, video, etc, or can I use the ones I have ? Cheers! Aidan
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Post by mikkh on Jun 17, 2009 2:19:47 GMT
Most, but not all versions of Linux, come in a 'live' format which you can install later if you like what you see.
A live CD (or DVD) can be booted from and used directly without making changes to your hard drive, so I would recommend that as a first step to see if you like it - or more importantly to see if you can get to grips with it.
Is it any good? Well I'm not going to say no it's rubbish obviously, but what you have to take into account is the sheer variety of versions available. If you try one version and don't like it, there are many others to try and I would be very surprised if you don't like at least one.
There are hundreds of versions, but luckily for you I've done the research already and the options are reduced to a mere handful in reaity and reduced even further for truly beginner friendly ones.
You've basically got a choice between Mint or PClinuxOS IMO
As for drivers, no you won't have to download any - most if not all should be automatically detected and installed for you. Wireless drivers (if not already supported) can sometimes be installed via a rather clever program called 'ndiswrapper' which uses the Window driver, but this is a unique situation and only applies to wireless
Sound, video and LAN should be detected for you
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Post by aidanc on Jun 17, 2009 8:31:18 GMT
Thanks for that! I would need a wireless connection as the router is in the other room. I might download one and see what it looks like?
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