New Distribution

i have an hp pavilion dv7 laptop and i installed openmandrivalx 14.1 x64 on it and cannot configure the wireless intel centrino wireless n-2230 adapter. Have downloaded the iwlwifi drivers but cannot install because the system cannot resolve the $MIRRORLIST problem.
This occurs on all mandriva based linux systems i hahe tried mageia with the same result. Mageia cannot even recognise the centrino adapter.
Ubuntu based linux systems install on the fly.
What good is an operating system in the modern era that you cannot connect to the internet seamlessly?

Hello everyone, I am a beginner Linux user. I have a had very little experience with it and would very much like to know more. Eventually I want to have my computer running strictly Linux.

I have experimented with a few distributions but almost all of them have had issues with my current setup. I always have trouble setting up the drivers for my video card and mouse. I have dabbled in Ubuntu(primarily), Fedora and Linux Mint.

My question is which distribution would you all suggest I use based upon my specs.

My System Specs:
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 925 @ 2.80 Ghz
RAM: 8 GB of DDR3
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6870 w/ 1GB VRAM
Ethernet: Killer Xeno Pro 2100 & On-Board
Mouse: R.A.T 5

If anything else is needed to help determine the right distro please let me know.

All help is much appreciated.

There are so many Linux distros, and they all look good, but which one is right for me?

That is a question that almost all new Linux users ask. Really, it just depends on you. What do you want to use it for? I’ll go through a brief rundown of some mainstream Linux distros, and maybe from there you can make up your mind. I’ll sort by the most popular ones.

Ubuntu
I don’t particularly care for Ubuntu for a few reasons: It is ad supported because they lack support from users, It comes with spyware pre-installed, and they try to act like they’re the best despite all that. A lot of people who have been using Ubuntu for a while don’t care for the new UI that they’ve installed, which is the defacto option for Ubuntu. Not only that, but they, unlike any other distro, have a very distinct security hole: a guest session that can be accessed without a password. NOT the best for use...in really any environment.
But, to their credit, they’ve got the largest software repository second only to Debian, even though there’s a lot of applications that do the same exact thing. Their UI is very polished considering that they released it just in 2011. And their forums have a ton of helpful Ubuntu users.

Linux Mint
LM is pretty much just like Ubuntu, only instead of everything being either purple or orange, it’s green or white. Much like Ubuntu, they have their own UI, and their own Software Center.. But, because they are rooted in Ubuntu (http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mint) they may inherit some of Ubuntu’s problems. You guess which ones.

Fedora
Of them all, Fedora is probably the most user friendly, except for the fact that they use cutting edge packages that may/may not be 100% stable, and Fedora is making a change as of 21 to focus more on stability. (Personally, I’ve had very few issues with stability, and the issues I come accross seem to apply to most distors) Other than that, it’s a great distro, asthetically pleasing, Fedora comes standard with GNOME Boxes (lets you run another OS within Fedora, like Windows), an app store like thingy, and many nice GNOME applications.. Fedora is suitable for most any machine, including tablets and hybrids like the Lenovo Yoga, thanks to GNOME.

Debian
Debian is really in a world of their own. In an effort to focus on stability, they sacrifice reasonably up-to-date software. If you have old hardware that was supported, but is not now, Debian is for you.
Debian also has a lot of software, but I’ve had trouble with broken packages, dependencies completely missing, and whatnot.

openSUSE
Like Linux Mint, everything in openSUSE is green. Unlike Linux Mint, openSUSE is rock stable, mature, and has great avenues for customizing it to your specific needs, using the GUI. Most everything configurable is made much easier with YAST, rather than using the command line. openSUSE features something no other distro has: a one-click install for applications. Ubuntu is trying to copy it...good luck with that. And, like Debian, they've got most every package under the sun...which can be good and bad at the same time. The packages in openSUSE are complete, no missing dependencies from what I can see. The only problem I can see with it is that WiFi drivers and nonfree codecs can be a pain.

Now the reason you're reading this is to get an idea of what's out there as far as Linux goes. But maybe you haven't thought about Unix as a viable option.

Solaris
If you have an i386 arch processor, you can forget trying to boot up with Solaris 11. But once you get it running on an x86_64 machine, it's pretty decent, considering that it is an enterprise OS. It's stable. It's fast. And it has some proprietary Oracle tools to help administrate it, much like YAST on openSUSE. Solaris is targeted at being a workstation OS, so you won’t find things like games in abundance in it. Considering what it is, Solaris rocks.

Hi. Sorry to be so stupid, but I just managed to load and install this Linux (which I really like a lot) on my previously windows <--(bad) system.
But now I need to upgrade some software (like Adobe flash), and I have no clue how to do this. I understand I should go to my original linux distrubutor, and select software thru them (my "Linux distro").
But actually, it's been awhile since I did the install, and I dont exactly remember where I even got this distribution. (I know, I'm dumb--sorry).
Is there a way I can look at my linux system files and see who my distribution is thru, and where is their website. Or would it be easier if I just went thru the whole download and install of linux again <--(not really looking forward to that).
Or even, am I wrong about going thru the distro to do installs/upgrades?
Anything you can tell me will be greatly appreciated.

Long Live Linux !! David K

Its been as many as 10 years since I last tried to install a Linux distribution and I remember scanning through long lists of compatible components and was considering building a desktop with parts on the list but ran out of steam or free time. Do all modern distr's autodetect the components?

Hi,
I have a 32 bit Dell laptop (Model: d 630)with windows 7 installed. I want to install a linux os on it ( preferably Fedora as I have used fedora 16 earlier). Now I want to know, which version of linux will give optimum performance? It has 2 GB RAM and 80 GB hard disk.

Regards
Ehgul

Hello Sir,
I am new in linux. I want to install ns2.35 on ubuntu 14.04.So for that I have to install ubuntu 14.04.So which option is preferable for installing ubuntu whether by using vmware or by dual booting & also suggest me that whether ubuntu 14.04 is compatible for ns2.35 or not.

Hello all

I have a new laptop (Lenovo Z50-70, Corei3, 4GB RAM, 500GB HD, Nvidia graphics) that came with only FreeDOS. I want to install Windows 8.1 and Linux (preferably Slackware64 14.1). Are there any pointers/tips (regarding UEFI or secure boot) I should keep in mind before installing Windows 8.1 so it doesn't conflict with my Linux install later.

Good day everyone,

I'm currently a student and as far as I'm aware I still need windows for some program I need, but I am going over to Linux.
(Thus I'm running Windows 8 at this moment)

Today I was going to install Ubuntu 14.04.01 alongside Windows 8, everything went well till I hit the 4th step (Installation type page) of the installation:

A message like follows showed:
"This computer currently has Debian GNU/Linux (Kali Linux 1.0.7) on it. What would you like to do?"

There are then 3 options available:
1) Install Ubuntu alongside Debian GNU/Linux (Kali Linux 1.0.7)
2) Replace Debian GNU/Linux (Kali Linux 1.0.7) with Ubuntu
3 and 4 is greyed out.
5) Something else (You can create resize partitions yourself, or choose multiple partitions for Ubuntu.

I just want to make sure what option to choose, I cant afford to lose all my data and windows.

Problem: Showing Kali Linux as current OS and not Windows 8.

Possible reason for showing Kali Linux as current OS:
I have a live CD of Kali Linux and ran it a few times in the past, but according to my knowledge it shouldn't have changed anything.

Maybe the 1st option is still the right one even though the current OS isn't listed right? Or the 3rd option is like a manual setting I guess.

Thanks for the time reading and helping!

Hey guys, im a long time Mac user but I want to have a Linux computer in my office for web based stuff and fixing hard drives.... I'm going to buy a used computer from eBay to install my Linux software as I believe that Linux is a lot faster than Mac or windows and doesnt need the latest hardware to compete.

In order to be at least as fast as a windows computer but no more than $100. What range of computer should I be looking at? What specs should I look for? And once I get it should I run Ubuntu or mint for web based things and hard drive repair? As you no doubt know, the Linux lingo is a bit difficult sometimes so please bear with me. I'm doing the best I can.

Weird question I know, but I'm sure you know what I mean.