need advice about linux

[MY NAME IS EARL]

I have the most recent dell inspiron E1705. I'm about to switch from windows vista to linux and I was wondering what the best version for my computer is. (ubuntu, fedora, debain, ect.) so I'm asking for some insight. I can't post hardware specs at this time because I don't know them by heart. I'm on a friend's computer right now. If the hardware specs are THAT important I'll post them when I get home. Thanks for your help in advance.

[NMEShadow]

it really depends more on what your trying to get out of using linux.

[MY NAME IS EARL]

Originally Posted by NMEShadow

it really depends more on what your trying to get out of using linux.

Mainly I want to get aircrack to work because vista is not supported and my computer is not XP compatable. other than that, I'm just sick of windows opperating systems.

[ataraxia]

Oh, well, uh, you're clearly looking to do Linux from Scratch install.

Or, y'know, Fedora.

[MY NAME IS EARL]

Congratulattions ataraxia. you get A golden star for figuring that out all by yourself.(just a little sarcasim. don't get all butthurt) Anyway, I said I'd post my hardware specs when I got home. I'm home now, so here they are.

Processor: Intel Core Duo T5300 1.73 GHz
Motherboard: Intel Calistoga i945GM/PM
Hard Drive: 109GB SATA
Disc Drive: TSSTcorp DVD+-RW TS-L632D ATA Device
Dial UP modem:Conexant HDA D110 MDC V.92 Modem
Wireless:Broadcom 802.11g Network Adapter
Ethernet: Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller

[ataraxia]

You shouldn't have any problem with most mainstream distros at those specs. I'll stand by what I said initially, and if you're finding things too slow, drop KDE in favor of LXDE.

The reasoning? I don't want to recommend Ubuntu as it's not that much easier than everything else and generally the veneer it paints over the base of linux causes newbies to become easily frustrated when they have to troubleshoot.

[coroner]

I'll have to recommend Fedora, Fedora 10 should be released or being released in a few days. I just learned tonight that Ubuntu Hardy Heron's installer, Ubiquity doesn't even support LVM yet and something else, was it RAID? I am not sure.. that doesn't matter though I guess with ZFS being available under FUSE.

[MY NAME IS EARL]

[quote=ataraxia;10718266]You shouldn't have any problem with most mainstream distros at those specs.

In that case, I think I'll just try them all and see which one I like best. The one I'm most curious about is unbreakable linux by oracle. Not sure if that one's considered mainstream though. If anyone reading this uses or has used the forementioned distro please give me your opinion of it and also tell me if it's compatable with the hardware I listed. I'm waiting for oracle to send me a coppy and I want to know if I should keep it or not.

[MY NAME IS EARL]

I know; I fucked up the quote tag.
My bad.

[monkeywithaknife]

Originally Posted by MY NAME IS EARL

Processor: Intel Core Duo T5300 1.73 GHz
Motherboard: Intel Calistoga i945GM/PM

Thats two out of three of the most important specs. What is your video card?

I have a Core2 t5300 1.73GHz, asus/intel i945gm/pm and a radeon x2300...

And two gig of ram...

I found that ubuntu worked, eventually. Fedora had a fair few problems with my graphics card and suse was just too buggy with the graphics drivers...

Having said that, I am going to be installing Fedora 10 soon-ish as I have the disk sitting next to me. (Beta)