New laptop, need help choosing distro

[sidk]

Well like most n00b's, I'm back to try nix again. I'm afraid that this time I need to just do it. I don't care for MS's stand on DRM and with Vista closing in, it's time to make the switch, well as much as I can, still to much windows software I count on to completely give it up.

Anyways, I have a HP dv5020us lappy. Turion w/ati sb400 chipset(yeah I know, bad move) and widescreen. I've tried Ubuntu and FC x64. Too many problems with video. I tried stable Debian netinstall and it wouldn't detect my onboard realtek 8139 nic. I just tried Debian testing kernel 2.6.15(I think) and there is a bug in the kernel that won't let me install the linuxant drivers and I need the modem to work.

Suggestions please.

[rdeschene2]

I would suggest going back to the stable Debian netoinstall and try to fix that network module problem. Actually though, I've had pretty good success using Suse linux on laptops so far - just make sure you have all your peripherals (e.g. USB floppy drive, PCMCIA card, etc.) plugged in before installing -- there's also a Live CD-ROM version you could try out first.

Debian: The Realtek 8139 chipset is, I'm sure, supported and uses the 8139too module. Try using Debian's configuration tool (I have no idea what Debian uses) to "direct" it to that 8139too module, assuming you can select that from a menu.

You may have to use modprobe to load that module manually (as root: modprobe 8139too), though or as root modify /etc/modules.conf such as:

alias eth0 8139too

Then run: rcnetwork restart
Might have to do that as root as well.

lsmod will output which modules are loaded, and there is a modprobe -v option for debugging. I've never gone into things that far though, I've never had to.

If loaded, try pinging a local, known I.P. address: ping -c 3 IP#

Good luck,
Rick D.

[sidk]

Thanks rdeschene2, reinstalling now. I will give those commands a go and see what happens. Is there somewhere I can get a pretty comprehensive list of commands like that?

[rdeschene2]

A comprehensive list of commands like that ?

Honestly, I've pieced this together over the last few years of reading manpages, searching various forums, and a little bit from a "Linux System Commands" book but really it's the online resources I've learned to search and use, and a certain amount of trial & error that have been the best tutors.

www.tldp.org is a good resource, but a lot of it is pretty dated, but if you realize that you can still use it to "get back to basics"

Honestly, when I started out, that's one of the reasons I purchased a SuSE Linux 6.4 professional distro. In part because it was a pretty well-sorted-out, value-added distro and in part because of the books that come with it.

Rick D.