which linux distribution to use ubuntu, sabayon or mandriva powerpack 09?

Question

i am a beginner(but advance user in windows vista) Linux. i have Ubuntu, Saba yon& Mandriva power pack 2009. which distribution will best choice for my Compaq 6211 au laptop?
my laptop configuration are:-
Hp Presario V 6211au Laptop
Amd Turion64 X2 Processor TL-50 (1.6 GHz)
Dual Core Processor
2 GB DDR2 (667 MHz)(upgraded from 512 MB)
120 GB SATA
8X SuperMulti Drive Double Layer (8.5 GB) DVD Writer
15.4" WXGA TFT with BrightView Screen Technology
802.11 a/b/g Integrated Wireless
Bluetooth
Digital Media Reader
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150
Up to 96 MB TAG memory
Altec Lansing Stereo Speakers
5-in-1 Digital Media Reader
56K Modem
Integrated Wireless LAN 802.11 a/b/g
Li-Ion Battery
TouchPad
S-Video TV Out
IEEE 1394
3 USB 2.0
i would also like to know which user interface to be install, KDE or GNOME?

Answer 1

Your computer could handle any linux distro. You should be looking for which will work with YOUR hardware. One of the problems with a new linux install is that some of the hardware does not work "out of the box", but needs to have a driver installed and perhaps edit a configuration files.

If you want to start with a distro that will work out of the box with ALL of your hardware (it would be much easier and less frustrating) then get the live-cds of various distros and see which one will work with your wireless etc. The live-cd will run entirely from the cd and not touch your hard drive. If there is a problem with any hardware on the llive-cd you WILL have that same problem after the install. You might want to search the forum of that distro and see if there is an easy solution, or just try another live-cd until you find one that works fully. Later after you are comfortable with linux and know how to install drivers and edit config files you can switch to another distro. Linux users famously change distros all the time. And it can be done easily without losing any of your personal files.

As far as which user interface to use it is like asking which car do you like ford or chevy. That is food for a flame war. You should try them all and see which you like. They all can be installed and removed at will. There are more than those 2, there are literally several dozen window managers or desktops as they are called, and the customization that can be done on some of them is almost without limit.

Have fun

Answer 2

Of the listed I specifically use Ubuntu/Linux Mint (I deploy the latest of the two and then upload each and all of the repos from the different so i can get the appropriate of the two). That being suggested Fedora is an fairly close 2nd in my opinion. If I surely have a %laptop i do no longer even look at yet another distro (Fedora has the appropriate %help of each and every of the distros). i like the philosophy of Sabayon (take Gentoo and make it person friendly) yet i've got no longer had a raffle to objective it out yet so i can not say something undesirable approximately it. I hated Gentoo and which would be why I on no account tried Sabayon. i do in comparison to KDE and that i'm weary of RPM (until it comes with RHEL or Fedora, so I surely tend to shrink back from Mandriva.

Answer 3

Ubuntu and Mandriva both are very easy to set up and use, and have excellent community support (Ubuntu especially). Sabayon is the fastest of the three, but also the most difficult to set up and use.



Your computer should be plenty fast enough to run any of the three. I like Mandriva's tool for wireless networking, and it comes with Nvidia drivers. Ubuntu makes it extremely easy to install the Nvidia drivers. I haven't used Sabayon, but from what I've heard it's regarded as a good gaming distro, so I think you'd be fine there, as well.



Gnome vs KDE is a matter of personal taste. Gnome is designed to be clean, simple and organized, whereas KDE has a ton of options and is more customizable.



You can use Gnome or KDE on any Linux distro, but Ubuntu is designed to use Gnome by default, and Mandriva and Sabayon are designed to use KDE by default.