seriously switching

[drifterdj]

well im not a linux newbie, but i've never used it for more tahn a hobby , and fun .

now im seriously wanting to make it my main os ,


i will be running it on a Dell Inspiron 2650 laptop:

its a 1.7 GHZ p4-m , with 30gb HDD, 256 MB ddr, a combo panasonic dvd-cdrw drive , geforce2go(32mb), etc.

i already tried different Linuxs, and i set my mind on mandrake 9.1 , and most hardware is supported ,

so the help , and any suggestions are welcomed

1- i have 18GB free space but i dont know how will i divid them , i need sugestions here on space division , mind you that this should be a "workstation" so needs to be reliable , and not have to loose anything on updates , reinstalls as much as possible :)

2- i have to get samba working , is it easy?

3- i have to get cd-RW drive working "properly" coz i once tried it and it wrote but the result cd was damaged (not readable)

4- get the DVD working coz i will be watching DVDs and i use to rely on windows for that

5- i also need to run Autocad2000 (very important) , any body has experiance with this

6- i need a download manager like flashget (if u know it) because its very very versatile and easy

7- get ACPI + battery level properly working (ddnt work with me but i ddnt try hard) since its a laptop

8- get speedsteping + powersaving support

9- if possibe UDMA

10- get rp-pppoe and be able to change the mac of the ethernet ( was stuborn and ddnt want to change) coz its an authentication on my network and no other way to get the laptop to run (works in win)

11- VoIP, and some free progs to use it ,
webcam support , i have a Mercury(kobian) DV poket cam which uses its own soft in windows , but runs as a regular webcam on messegers.
game support (windows games :)) but not very important , can do without it


thats all i can think of now.

im going to use Mandrake 9.1 and any help to any of the above is greatly appreciated .


thank you

[hard candy]

Linux has programs for all the items you listed, sometimes 2 or more. You will be safe using Mandrake since it is pretty easy to configure for hardware. If you have 18G, I would install everything. That way you know a program will be installed instead of having to install from disk when you need it. And as soon as you have internet access, you should update the packages. Sometimes a distro version is put together and the programs are from last year.
I know there is a CAD program for KDE, but here is a list of CAD programs that run under linux. CAD in Linux (http://go.cadwire.net/?1372,2,1) and here is an overview of CAD/Linux. CAD/Linux (http://www.cadinfo.net/editorial/linux-cad.htm)

[drifterdj]

well i'm not asking what to instal , im asking how should i partion my HDD using those 18gb (the / , /usr, /home etc.)

and i specifacly need autocad2000 , or if there is a 99% clone of it coz thats what we use at univ :)


thank you

[hard candy]

This will replace autocad and it's cheaper, Linuxcad (http://www.linuxcad.com/index.html) .
3G for /
4G for /usr
10 G for /home (if that is where you will store your drawings, mp3's, etc)
500 MB for swap to be safe.
I would also add another 512 of RAM just so your machine will not have to access the /swap partition as much when you get into the 3D modeling (if that is part of your curriculum). At least 256 MB.
Good luck.