Best Distro for my laptop?

Trillion11 · 01-17-2008, 08:03 AM

Hi All,

I have an Acer Travelmate 230 laptop and im just wondering which Linux distro would be best suited to it.

Ive tried ubuntu and i just get Multi colour lines across the screen, I'm presuming this is a compatibility problem with the on board GPU

The easier to use + install the better.

Any help greatly appreciated!

System spec is as follow

Processor / Speed - Intel Mobile Celeron 1.70GHz

Sound Subsystem - Cirrus Logic CS4299-XQ

Chipset - Intel ICH4

System Bus Speed - 133MHz

RAM / Max RAM - 256mb

Video Subsystem - Intel 845GL with 16MB shared memory

-Trillion

**XtabbedoutX** · 01-17-2008, 03:05 PM

which Ubuntu version were you trying?

Trillion11 · 01-18-2008, 04:13 AM

I have tried 2 unbuntu versions 1 i can't remember, but the other was the latest version.

Ive also tried to install Damn small linux, which just stayed on a black screen when booting up.

Sorry for the late reply

-Trillion

Trillion11 · 01-20-2008, 12:46 PM

bump :D

hiflyr91 · 01-27-2008, 01:19 PM

Give PCLinuxOS 2007 a try. It's got support for alot of hardware right off the Live CD. It's easy to install, easy to use, and has a great support forum. I would recommend you bump the laptop up to 512mb of ram, just to be on the safe side.

cmnorton · 01-27-2008, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trillion11

Hi All,

I have an Acer Travelmate 230 laptop and im just wondering which Linux distro would be best suited to it.

Ive tried ubuntu and i just get Multi colour lines across the screen, I'm presuming this is a compatibility problem with the on board GPU

The easier to use + install the better.

Any help greatly appreciated!

System spec is as follow

Processor / Speed - Intel Mobile Celeron 1.70GHz

Sound Subsystem - Cirrus Logic CS4299-XQ

Chipset - Intel ICH4

System Bus Speed - 133MHz

RAM / Max RAM - 256mb

Video Subsystem - Intel 845GL with 16MB shared memory

-Trillion

I've tried Fedora 5 and 6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and Ubuntu on my laptop. Ubuntu was by far the easiest to install, but I had to use safe mode to start the install due to my Acer Travelmate 630's quirky graphics card.

Also, your RAM is low for Ubuntu. I believe the minimum is 256, and might even be 512; you'd have to check in the Ubuntu forums. My Acer is maxed out to 1GB (two SODIMM cards), and performance is acceptable.

ncsu1983 · 02-01-2008, 10:29 PM

Try this with Ubuntu:
1. Open a terminal (applications --> accessories --> terminal). At the command line, you'll see $. A pound sign (#), by the way, starts a comment.

2. next open the file "menu.lst" with text editor gedit.
$ sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
# press "enter"

3. enter your password at the prompt
# press "enter"

4. scroll through menu.lst until you see the following three lines
title
root
kernel

5. At EOL of the 1st kernel, add acpi=off (you might need to type noacpi, instead)

6. press CTRL+S to save, and ALT+F4 to exit gedit.

7. $ sudo reboot

See if that works.

Cheers.

01-17-2008, 08:03 AM	#1 (permalink)
Trillion11 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 7 OS: Windows XP SP2	Best Distro for my laptop? Hi All, I have an Acer Travelmate 230 laptop and im just wondering which Linux distro would be best suited to it. Ive tried ubuntu and i just get Multi colour lines across the screen, I'm presuming this is a compatibility problem with the on board GPU The easier to use + install the better. Any help greatly appreciated! System spec is as follow Processor / Speed - Intel Mobile Celeron 1.70GHz Sound Subsystem - Cirrus Logic CS4299-XQ Chipset - Intel ICH4 System Bus Speed - 133MHz RAM / Max RAM - 256mb Video Subsystem - Intel 845GL with 16MB shared memory -Trillion

01-17-2008, 03:05 PM	#2 (permalink)
XtabbedoutX TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Oklahoma City Posts: 1,189 OS: Server 2K3 R2 SP 2, Server 2K SP4, XP PRO SP 3, Mac OS X 10.5, iPhone My System	Re: Best Distro for my laptop? which Ubuntu version were you trying?

01-18-2008, 04:13 AM	#3 (permalink)
Trillion11 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 7 OS: Windows XP SP2	Re: Best Distro for my laptop? I have tried 2 unbuntu versions 1 i can't remember, but the other was the latest version. Ive also tried to install Damn small linux, which just stayed on a black screen when booting up. Sorry for the late reply -Trillion

01-20-2008, 12:46 PM	#4 (permalink)
Trillion11 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 7 OS: Windows XP SP2	Re: Best Distro for my laptop? bump :D

01-27-2008, 01:19 PM	#5 (permalink)
hiflyr91 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 12 OS: WINXP SP2/PCLinuxOS	Re: Best Distro for my laptop? Give PCLinuxOS 2007 a try. It's got support for alot of hardware right off the Live CD. It's easy to install, easy to use, and has a great support forum. I would recommend you bump the laptop up to 512mb of ram, just to be on the safe side.

02-01-2008, 10:29 PM	#7 (permalink)
ncsu1983 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Midwest USA Posts: 38 OS: Linux My System	Re: Best Distro for my laptop? Try this with Ubuntu: 1. Open a terminal (applications --> accessories --> terminal). At the command line, you'll see $. A pound sign (#), by the way, starts a comment. 2. next open the file "menu.lst" with text editor gedit. $ sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst # press "enter" 3. enter your password at the prompt # press "enter" 4. scroll through menu.lst until you see the following three lines title root kernel 5. At EOL of the 1st kernel, add acpi=off (you might need to type noacpi, instead) 6. press CTRL+S to save, and ALT+F4 to exit gedit. 7. $ sudo reboot See if that works. Cheers.