Laptop issues

[robenco]

A bunch of my friends who use and own linux say i shouldn't put it on a laptop b/c it's totally different hardware and everything. He also said i shouldn't do it period. He said and i quote, "if your lucky your computer won't turn on" meaning i think that that is the best thing that could happen the first time i do it. He said i would have to fabricate the harddrive and a bunch of other and me not knowing a lot about that stuff to begin with know have a problem. I want to install Mandrake 9.2 and i heard it's not that hard but then again that's the same one the kid who told me about the computer not turning on uses. I realize this is a linux forum so i will probably get a lot of opinions towards getting it but really should i first fool around with my laptop and get to understand it better or what??/ help me out here.

[Gertrude]

What are the system specs on the laptop?

Most likely you will be fine, and if you do run into any issues with it just post your question here. Sorry to say, but I don't think your friend knows what he is talking about..

[robenco]

here's the link to the specs. i think thats all u will need. http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/featured_inspn_quickship?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

so by putting it on my laptop i won't run a risk of "killing" my laptop. hmmmmmm maybe if ur wrong i could sue u for the money. muhahahaha. no j/k. but seriously i have heard tons on how hard it is to install Linux and it scares me. anyway tell me wat u think.

[Sepero]

There's only two reasons why your friend would say something like that.

1. He has done mad reseach on the compatability of your laptop, or...
2. He is a serious GNU/Linux N00BIE!

I'm willing to bet on the second.
First off, GNU/Linux will NOT destroy your laptop. In fact, until you setup hdparm, you probably won't even be getting full speed out of your harddrive.

If anything, you should be worried about Microsoft breaking your computer. Up until this past month, all I ever ran GNU/Linux on was a laptop!

[Gertrude]

http://www.linux-laptop.net/


There are about 20 guides to install Linux on that same laptop there..

Here some for Mandrake 9.1 / 9.2

http://www.cjhosting.com/member/notknown2you/LinuxonDell.htm

http://www.wsu.edu/~frogger/5100.html

Gook luck.

[ernieg]

Interesting... I currently dualboot an IBM thinkpad that I got from work, XP on one partition, Fedora on the other cause I wanted to mess around with it. So far the XP install has given me more problems than the laptop! I currently got a wireless LAN card, and had more difficulty in XP than I did with Linux! (The mistake I made there was in trusting a Microsoft driver update which caused me to see my first XP BSOD!)
There really weren't any released drivers for Linux, but I was able to track down a beta of driver code from sourceforge, and was able to compile and install it following the instructions in the readme. (BTW. I did ALL that WITHOUT rebooting once!)

Oh well just my 2 cents!

[robenco]

wow you guys were more then enough helpful but one thing i read that scares me. lol there's always something. formatting my hardrive so i can install it. is that necessary? i wouldn't know how to begin to do it. at least knowingly do it. o btw that kid is a computer genius compared to most kids in my school. he's the kind of kid with the greasy hair and dazed look like all his life is is computers and it probably is (sorry if all of a sudden u realize i am describing you.) he sent a message to every computer in the district (all it said was hi) and he showed me the program he made in C++. it was so simple. he did get caught tho but nothing came of it. but yea i guess he's not always right. I just read about partitioniong ur harddrive and Partition Magic 8. Is that really necessary or do i just delete files i know i don't need. The word partition confuses me.

[Gertrude]

Don't worry about the formatting. I have never installed Mandrake, but I'm sure that the installer will guide you through it, or make it transparent to you.


If I were you I would just install it, and show this "computer genius" that his "net send"s to the domain don't touch your l33t Linux laptop installation skills.

[Sepero]

Originally posted by robenco
formatting my hardrive so i can install it. is that necessary?For real, full blast use of GNU/Linux, yes you will need a harddrive install. We could tell you how to do a harddrive install, but wouldn't you rather do a quick search for it and find a document on the subject that is well tested and reliable? ;)

If you just want to get your feet wet, then you'll want to get a Live-CD distribution of GNU/Linux. A Live-CD runs the whole GNU/Linux OperatingSystem from CD without touching your harddrive. Here is a link for the most popular one, Knoppix. http://www.distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=knoppix

o btw that kid is a computer genius compared to most kids in my school.That's understandable. Unfortunately, many younger Linux users are what we call "elite" or "leet" or "1337". They don't like it when regular people are able to use GNU/Linux because it makes them feel less intelligent. Becareful about what advise you take from him. People like that are usually very shady and sometimes under handed.

[robenco]

hard driv install i think u read it wrong. i said that i have to partition my hard drive in order to install Linux and i don't know how to do it but yea i will do a search. don't forget about the thing i want to know about partion magic 8

[Sepero]

Originally posted by robenco
straight up and i just found partition magic Pro edition 8 on kazaa lite so if i do download it ON MY HOME COMPUTER BECAUSE MY LAPTOP WON'T HAVE THE INTERNET RIGHT AWAY can i put the pmpro8 on a cd and then install it on my laptop??? if so how would i go about doing that? I don't recommend PM 8 Pro. I tried to resize a XP filesystem with it. It errored Bigtime... I'm lucky that no data appeared to be lost.

I recommend using the PerfectDisk(30day demo) to defrag your drive.(It even moves "unmovable" files!) Then use QTParted under GNU/Linux to resize your partition.