back again...

crudball · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2025 12:51 pm Post subject: back again...

haha I haven't been on here in ages!

how is everyone?

But anyway, for my question:

I got a lappy for my birthday, its a fairly decent toshiba - but its running vista and i'm already getting sick of it.
So my question is - how easy is it to dual boot linux on a laptop?
and what is the support for built in wireless devices on laptops, on linux?
(I have done a bit of research on the intel site and it seems like there is a built in driver in the latest kernels for my device).

I am currently downloading an ubuntu iso, so any thoughts?
Cheers,
Rob

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Germ · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2025 1:05 pm Post subject:

Welcome back. Smile

crouse · Site Admin Joined: 17 Apr 2025 Posts: 11833 Location: Iowa

crudball · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2025 1:14 pm Post subject:

thanks guys Smile

i should have a slax disk around somewhere, so i will do that crouse.

edit:

also what distos would you reccomend if not ubuntu?
seeing as i havent used linux for a while - make it a nice easy one please Embarassed

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crouse · Site Admin Joined: 17 Apr 2025 Posts: 11833 Location: Iowa

mandriva, opensuse, fedora, (ubuntu if you must) Wink

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Archie/Jughead - Arch Linux 32-bit -- Kernel 2.6.33.4-1
Betty/Reggie - Arch Linux (VBox) 32-bit -- Kernel 2.6.33.4-1
BumbleBee - OpenSolaris-SunOS 5.11

crudball · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2025 3:56 pm Post subject:

downloading fedora 10 now then Smile

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Xeroid · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2025 4:38 pm Post subject:

I dual boot Mepis on my work laptop with XP. The wireless worked right out of the box but I suppose that would depend on your hardware.

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melloe · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2025 6:08 pm Post subject:

Fedora 10 is pretty safe. As are Mepis, SuSE, pclos, Mint, and as said elsewhere, even Kubuntu or Ubuntu if you must.

Hate to be a kill Joy
Have you given any thought to backing up the whole HD in case there are maintenance issues and you have to send it ( the unit ) back. Most OEM's do not come with a full mistahVISTA disk, and if you change the HD configuration in any way, the rescue partition will not be accessible by the rescue/restore disk that comes with with many OEM's.

Friend of mine had a Toshiba that failed, and when they got it with linux, sent it back without repair, and a charge for shipping. He eventually raised enough stink to get it fixed, but it took forever.

Something to consider.

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mell0: 1. Kubuntu, XP, Sabayon 2. Mandriva,Mint, Mephis
Thor: 1. VISTA, Fedora 2. Chakra, Debian
Sam:XP, SuSE Zues: win7, SuSE testing

lberg · Sr. Member Joined: 28 Jul 2025 Posts: 1289

Hey, crudball!! Welcome back! Very Happy

So anyway, what's all this about "Ubuntu if you HAVE to" while recommending Fedora/openSUSE? Both openSUSE and Fedora are both way more bloated than Ubuntu..... I would just like to know because I'M using Ubuntu on both of my Laptops, and it's working great... and if there's another distro I should be trying out, I'd like to know about it. (and yes, I do know about Fedora and openSUSE. I don't want something bloated.)But Ubuntu has been good so far... I might look into Mepis or something. Didn't really like Mandriva either, but may try it again if there's something I'm missing as to why Ubuntu is recommended last... Also, why Mint is based on Ubuntu, but still recommended without a "if you HAVE to" attached to it.

Sorry for the thread hi-jack...

P.S.... Just to clarify--I DO get the subtle humor, yet serious statement when Germ said "stay away from Ubuntu" Smile

. That's not what I'm asking about, though.

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crouse · Site Admin Joined: 17 Apr 2025 Posts: 11833 Location: Iowa

I'm just not an ubuntu fan, sorry Wink

I'm not saying it doesn't work, or that it doesn't work well, just that I don't prefer it. (or any ubuntu based distro). They do things their own way, like making the default shell dash, instead of bash (so does debian though I think).

Guess I'm just used to the rpm based distro's (other than arch and slackware).

Don't get me wrong, I'd run Ubuntu, and have. He asked what distro's if NOT Ubunutu. Wink

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Veronica - Arch Linux 64-bit -- Kernel 2.6.33.4-1
Archie/Jughead - Arch Linux 32-bit -- Kernel 2.6.33.4-1
Betty/Reggie - Arch Linux (VBox) 32-bit -- Kernel 2.6.33.4-1
BumbleBee - OpenSolaris-SunOS 5.11

lberg · Sr. Member Joined: 28 Jul 2025 Posts: 1289

Ok. I definitely understand that. Thanks for clarifying. Wink

No question- I prefer Arch to Ubuntu, but Ubuntu is nice to have around when I want "ease-of-use" (i.e. my laptops)... although once fully set up, Arch is easy too.

I was just wondering if there was something I was missing as to an "easy-to-use" distro that's "better" (now, whose definition of better are we using? Razz

) than Ubuntu. Mint is up there, but I like the LTS thing that Ubuntu does, so I don't have to feel compelled to upgrade the whole thing every new release Razz

.

Maybe I'll try Mepis again...

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3 Computers: Arch Linux, 32-bit

Germ · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2025 8:51 pm Post subject:

JP · Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2025 5:47 am Post subject:

Welcome back crudball - I'd throw in AntiX to the above recommendations - the wireless worked right out of the box, but with a *buntu it didn't for me. AntiX is based on Mepis and is small, light, and fast Very Happy

...... As for the Vista, I'm with Germ, I used XP until the warranty ran out and then wiped it clean. Before you do the dual-boot though, if you call Toshiba support, they should be able to tell you how to make back-up disks of your Vista in case it craps out .... I did that first thing in case the back-up/restore partition didn't work either Wink

That way, if you ever decide to sell the lappy, you can always restore the Vista so it will be worth more Wink

PS I'm not a *buntu fan either Razz

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Dell Lappy - DreamLinux 3.5 - Default OS
Mepis 8.0 - Backup

crudball · Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2025 9:53 am Post subject:

yeah theres a program with the lappy that allowed me to make 2 recovery dvds, so i did that first thing - so system recovery will be no problem Smile

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jester · Sr. Member Joined: 19 Apr 2025 Posts: 1166

welcome back crudball - in answer to the first of your 2 questions, I think that dual-booting on a laptop generally tends to be not as easy as on a desktop. Typically, the laptop ships with a hidden recovery partition instead of recovery CD/DVDs these days.

Also, there's something about the NTFS that can make resizing partitions a bit of a dog - can't specifically remember what it is, but I'm sure someone here will remember.

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