Help for a Linux Noob

[Riznarf]

Hi everyone, let me first say that I know virtually NOTHING about Linux except that its bad***.

I'm thinking of dual booting XP with Ubuntu on my laptop. I know the actual install of Ubuntu is fairly straitforward, and I'm sure I could handle that, but I was wondering if someone could describe the steps after installation to get the OS up and running; ie, drivers install, software install, etc...also, links to any websites for divers etc...would be awesome.

Thanks so much

p.s. the laptop I'd install it on is a DELL XPS m1210, T7200, geforce go 7400. Thanks again.

[macdude425]

You'll have to install the GFX drivers - I think nVidia's Linux driver is in the Ubuntu apt repos - that'll be relatively simple. You'll just sudo apt-get install <name of package> in the terminal.

Better question - you got wireless?

[Greg]

Here's a link for installing codecs that you will likely want.

[Riznarf]

Originally Posted by macdude425

You'll have to install the GFX drivers - I think nVidia's Linux driver is in the Ubuntu apt repos - that'll be relatively simple. You'll just sudo apt-get install <name of package> in the terminal.

Better question - you got wireless?

yes i do have wireless....also, i didnt understand about 80% of your post. whats "apt repos" and "sudo apt" and what do you mean by terminal?

(sorry im a total newb at this stuff) :-)

[macdude425]

Nah, it's OK.

APT is a repository of packages - programs, utilities, and so on - that can be retrieved using the apt-get command. However, to install things, you must have root privileges (root can be compared to the Windows Administrator account, VERY loosely), which is where the sudo part comes in.

Therefore, if you want to get the nVidia drivers, and they're in the APT repos, you just go to a terminal and type in "sudo apt-get install <whatever the name of the package is>"

Boom.

And just what wireless card do you have? It COULD prove to be troublesome.

[Nitestick]

a terminal is similar to the windows "command prompt". to use apt-get you open a terminal (should be under applications/accessories in ubuntu) and follow what macdude said. it's easy as. though i'm not especially fond of the nvidia open source glx drivers that come with ubuntu. you're better off with the ones from nVidia though they can be a real pain in the butt for even an experienced user. bottom line is, if you need full 3D acceleration it's probably worth having them installed. if you need a hand you can PM me.

a couple of programs you may like.

sudo apt-get install amsn this installs amsn, an open source msn messenger clone
sudo apt-get install mplayer installs mplayer, a nice media player

if you need full NTFS read/write support check this out HOWTO: NTFS with read/write support using ntfs-3g (easy method) - Ubuntu Forums

[Kubel]

Installing linux on a laptop is probably not a good first-step. Laptops have a lot of proprietary hardware that require a bit of tweaking to get running. Generally, you will have at least 1 piece of hardware that doesn't work right. For me, it's usually wireless.

On your system, you will probably have a hard time getting your card reader working as well as certain power features, like suspend. I'm not sure what wireless chipset you are using, so I can't comment on whether or not Ubuntu has native support for it. Fingers crossed!

But you should be able to install just about everything else (minus wireless and video drivers)- enough to get yourself online and back here to ask questions when you run into a problem.

Good luck!

[macdude425]

Installing linux on a laptop is probably not a good first-step. Laptops have a lot of proprietary hardware that require a bit of tweaking to get running.

If, by proprietary, you mean "laptop only", then yeah, very true.

But I must digress here - everything works flawlessly on this laptop (Dell Latitude 600M), and everything worked out of the box except the wireless, which took no time at all to fix.

There's nothing wrong with putting Linux on a laptop, it's WHICH laptop you put it on. And even if it's difficult, you will have a LOT more experience behind you.