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Re: [OCLUG-Tech] Choosing a 64-bit Linux distro for my laptop

  • Subject: Re: [OCLUG-Tech] Choosing a 64-bit Linux distro for my laptop
  • From: Richard Guy Briggs <rgb [ at ] tricolour [ dot ] net>
  • Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 14:14:17 -0400
On 14/07/22, Brian Barber wrote:
> Good afternoon, everyone. I have an older, not-exactly stock Dell Inspiron
> 1501 (AMD 64-bit CPU, 4G RAM and a 120G SSD) that I want to use for general
> purpose computing and for ingesting a bunch of video from older VHS and
> MiniDV tapes.  I have a USB RCA adapter and a FireWire PCExpress card to
> help with this.
> 
> Believe it or not, I cannot successfully install Ubuntu (various
> versions) on it.  It not only does not recognize the Broadcom wifi adapter,
> it has some deep-seated hatred of it.  I get kernel panics whenever the OS
> tries to load modules for it, and I have made numerous attempts to fix this
> with no joy.  Google inspiron 1501linux wireless and see that I'm not alone
> (and I'm a pretty seasoned Linux guy.)  I must have tried everything
> suggested in the first five pages of search results.

I'd try Debian Jessie.  I gave up on Ubuntu around 10.x due to problems
installing on a couple of desktops.

I've also been using Mint Debian a bit recently, but it won't do disk
encryption on install.

I'm currently running Debian Wheezy on one pair of laptops and Fedora 20 on my
work laptop.

> Is there anyone on the list who can suggest a good disto to try anew.  I
> have used Debian-based distros for a loooong time, but I am wide open to
> trying anything Debian-based, or not.  The laptop is bare metal now.
> Perhaps there is something nifty out there that is worth a shot.  BTW, I
> would rather not go the Slackware/Gentoo BIY route.
> 
> Thanks,
> Brian

	slainte mhath, RGB

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