[TriLUG] Linux for Laptops?

[Michael Reamy]

Ubuntu works out of the box with my Dell D610 (Pentium M) and it's 
wireless (Intel).  If you like KDE then Kubuntu might be your cup of tea.

Joel Ebel wrote:

> While some may find it surprising that I recommend anything but 
> Slackware (They shouldn't be.  I'm aware of the benefits of all the 
> distributions) For your situation, I think I'd suggest Debian or a 
> derivative such as the current popular bandwagon, Ubuntu.  Debian 
> offers very easy updates and package management, and a huge selection 
> of software.  Two of your primary requirements.  Plus, it would be 
> something new for you, and you seem interested in the educational 
> experience of it.  Slackware is inappropriate for you since you value 
> a good package manager.  Gentoo you've already ruled out yourself 
> since you would spend too long compiling.  A binary distro would be 
> nice, and because of the great package management and wide selection 
> of software, I think Debian would be your best bet.  Fedora is getting 
> an increasing set of software with Fedora extras, but it sounds like 
> you may have become frustrated with rpm, which should probably rule 
> out SuSE and Mandrake as well.  Debian's package management system is 
> one of the best things it has going for it.  Check it out.  Just learn 
> about acpi to take advantage of the laptops power management.
>
> Joel
>
> Randy Barlow wrote:
>
>> I'm a student and so I had to keep a PC around with Sata... I mean, 
>> Microsoft Windows for some programs (well yeah, I could use Wine too, 
>> but the stories I've heard about getting it to work made me just go 
>> the easy route...)  So now that the semester is winding down, I think 
>> I'd like to switch this system over (well, back) to Linux.  This 
>> system used to run FC3.  Now I don't want to start any distro wars or 
>> anything, but... I didn't really like FC3 for the laptop because 
>> every time I updated the system packages (like the kernel) I had to 
>> go an reinstall all the wireless stuff, which was a real pain.
>>
>> So I'm looking for recommendations on any distributions that are 
>> really laptop friendly.  Here's a list of things that are important 
>> to me (in order):
>>
>> 1) Wireless has to work, and preferably easy.  By easy, I'd like to 
>> not have to do anything.  Install it and it works.  Maybe this isn't 
>> possible, but I thought I'd ask anyway just in case.
>>
>> 2) Package Management.  Just something that makes getting the 
>> software I want and keeping it up to date easy (including the 
>> aforementioned wireless stuff).  And it would be nice if it had lots 
>> of software to choose from, so I don't have to do too many manual 
>> installs.
>>
>> 3) Power Management would be nice.  I've got the Pentium-M.  If you 
>> don't know much about it, it is incredible when it comes to saving 
>> those laptop batteries.  I've got a machine with a 15" screen that 
>> will last literally 4 1/2 hours on battery, so long as I turn down 
>> things like the brightness of the screen and the clock frequency of 
>> the processor.  If there were a distro that were already set up with 
>> these or similar capabilities upon install, that would be awesome.
>>
>> 4) Trying something new.  At this point, I'd call myself an amateur 
>> in my Linux/Unix skills.  I'm no expert or advanced user, but no 
>> beginner either.  I've run Red Hat 6,7, and FC 2 and 3 before, and 
>> currently as I mentioned previously I'm running Gentoo on my main 
>> computer (and I love Gentoo!).  But you know, I'd like to get a taste 
>> of what else is out there, so something new would be refreshing.
>>
>> 5) Optimization for Pentium-M.  Well, Gentoo is the best way I can 
>> think of the achieve this, but Gentoo also requires you to take 
>> vacation time to install.  Any distro that offers a precompiled 
>> version for the Pentium-M would be nice, especially if their package 
>> manager can also get me optimized software.  I'd much rather have the 
>> previous requirements than this one, but hey, I'll take this too if 
>> it's out there!
>>
>> Thanks for any responses or thoughts you may all have!
>>
>> Randy Barlow
>>