Thursday 28 February 2008

Experiment #1: Linux on Toshiba Satellite M40

My Toshiba Laptop was giving me issue with over heating since it was still in warranty I cannot open the hood to look in and I did not have time to take it to FutureShop. The Main Problem was that it has windows XP Home SP2 which works extremely slow and it was overheating so the laptop was going to be used Temporarily until I could get it fixed for about week for that I did not want a livecd but an installed OS because I did not have enough memory (512MB RAM).

So let look at 3 OS that I have been hearing from my friends and which I used as below

Ubuntu (I went with Ubuntu 7.10 i386 Livecd)

Fedora Core (I went with Fedora Core 8 i386 DVD and the Gnome based Livecd)

OpenSuse (I went with OpenSuse 10.2 i386 DVD)

My Toshiba M40 configuration:

Intel Centrino 1.6GHZ Processor
512MB RAM
128MB Nvidia Geforce 6600 Graphic Adapter
DVD RAM
Intel Wireless 50Mbps Adapter
Ethernet
USB 2.0 Ports
Firewire Port
S-Video Port

Ubuntu :

Installation was started and finished in no time but one problem I did not like the fact that I did not get a choice of application I wanted to install. After installation I was able to install all the application I wanted and the updates were also installed perfectly. I was able to install drivers for my Nvidia card without problems and get the Graphics acceleration fine. When I tried to run FireFox the flash plug-in was not installing but I managed to fix it after deleting the plug-in installed and reinstalling flash from add and remove applications and everything was working fine.

Fedora Core:

I got curious and decided to see how Fedora Core 8 install. The install was not much but I was able to select the applications I wanted from there but I had a problem installing from DVD due to some hardware issue which I did not know which may be the DVD drive. I went with the LiveCD with gnome on it and it was installed without any issues. After installation however I was not able to install the Nvidia Drivers properly and nor was I able to get some of the settings right and ended up screwing up the OS.

OpenSuse:

then I Decided to go with OpenSuse 10.2. Installation went well as usual no complaints there but again I was not able to get the Display drivers working and main issue was with the settings which I did not have time to waste on.


Conclusion:

So Considering everything All the distributions installation was fine both the OS and Application in Ubuntu it did not have the option to choose the packages but overall installation no complaints. The setup and drivers Ubuntu takes the prize there quick and few clicks only.

So if you are new to Linux and don't know what you want or need go for Ubuntu sort most of the issues for you on this laptop.

I think the main problem with most new users is that they want use an OS with minimum setup and support that can be followed easily on Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon.

Overall difficulties will always remain navigating on the terminal or Command line environment for all new users especially windows users who have never used command prompt. The Environment is different for me so trying to configure things and editing Configuration files needs more than a little work in Linux but at the end of it all it is worth it. The main reason why it is worth it is that with Linux you are customizing you OS with the Hardware you have so it works better and longer. On the other hand every time a new MS Windows OS comes out it looks good for a few months on your PC then slowly it becomes a CPU and RAM hog. The worst is that I find the Linux graphics are way better even without the XGL or compizfusion or any 3d Desktop stuff.

So overall I find Linux does well to revive my Laptop and make it look better than windows could without any extra Memory or CPU Power. There is no way Vista will ever go on my Laptop but now I am interested in having Dual Booting my Laptop with Windows XP and Ubuntu 7.10. so wait and see how we can do that one.