uh just limp along with firefox. firefox replaces the internet browser called internet explorer. it requires less memory and to tell you the truth.

browser crashes with internet explorer are the reason I stopped using internet explorer a long time ago.

you deserve a better laptop but i just can't tell you which of the choices of linux will work well with yer laptop. so i wont tell you at all

I having been using Vista for 6 months, I know that Internet Explorer *can* in some configs have major problems and crash...lots

Vistas not s bad, I like it but I use Firefox (www.firefox.com) or go to www.apple.com and try safari

try a different browser and see if that fixes the crashes

Otherwise ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/) is a good linux, although I have little linux experience, but that might be one to try

either that, if Vista in general is doing your head in, then shuffle back to XP

You can actually down load Ubuntu and put it on a disc - and reboot your computer with that disc in the drive. From there Ubuntu will load up as your operating system without writing any files to your hard disc - that way you can try it and see if you like it before you decide to wipe out Shitsta (or create a partition for it.)

Another vote for (K)Ubuntu here. It's pretty straightforward and very stable. Linux on a notebook can still be a bit tricky, regarding some hardware issues, though most of the stuff should run right out of the box. You can look up your laptop here.

I tried Ubuntu about a year ago and installed it in a new partition on my laptop. Then last November when I decided to make the leap to ubergeek and build my own desktop, I installed Ubuntu as the main (and only) operating system.

Personally, I just can't get over how much I love it. Love, love, love!!! But I still wouldn't necessarily recommend it for everyone, because there were a few things that took me a LOT of time to get working properly (printer, video card), and I consider myself pretty computer-savvy. So it really comes down to how much you are willing to learn and spend time getting to know your way around Linux -- if you don't mind spending the time, it will definitely be rewarding as Linux is only getting better all the time and I can't imagine ever switching back.

As MGR suggested, you can burn a LiveCD of Ubuntu and/or Kubuntu and/or other Linux flavours and try them out to check your system compatibility. They load slowly off of CD but you can try everything out to see if all of your components work out-of-the-box or if you will need to do some tweaking. You can also look up all of your peripherals to see how Linux-compatible they are. Linux actually has a better range of drivers than either Windows or Mac, but not all manufacturers are good about releasing Linux versions so if you have a newer model of something it may be harder to get it to work.

Some of the things that blow my mind about Ubuntu:

• It has a built-in list of thousands of open-source software packages that you can just click to install via the Internet, and they're all free. The commercial OS's will never have this.


• Virtual desktops. This has been a life-changing feature for me.


• Incredibly fast searches for files and folders.


• Speed and stability. I haven't run into a single situation yet where having many programs running at the same time has slowed down my machine in the slightest. Plus I can reboot in less than a minute as opposed to 5 minutes in Windows.


• Infinitely customizable everything.

On the downside, there is a steep learning curve, and you WILL spend time typing on the command line. For me this is actually kinda nice since I grew up in DOS days and have worked with Unix workstations, but it's not for everybody.

Lastly, if you want the latest and greatest in Linux, you can expect to pay for it in stability. If you want a system that never ever crashes, you'll want to look for a distribution that focuses on stability rather than features. I like having the most up-to-date feature set, but that means living with occasional glitches and system hangs, though I am far far happier than I ever was with XP and especially (from the sounds of it) would be with Vista.

So there you go -- I didn't realize I would be writing an essay here! Maybe should have made this into a blog post on its own. But if you decide to go for it, I'll be happy to give whatever support I can!

>> ^MarineGunrock:
You can actually down load Ubuntu and put it on a disc - and reboot your computer with that disc in the drive. From there Ubuntu will load up as your operating system without writing any files to your hard disc - that way you can try it and see if you like it before you decide to wipe out Shitsta (or create a partition for it.)


I soundly recommend doing that. The biggest problem is drivers, specially with a laptop, a lot of vendors have proprietary parts and they'll only provide Vista drivers. This has been a problem for people wanting to 'downgrade' their Vista systems to XP. The Linux community seems to be pretty good about supplying Linux drivers when the manufacture won't, but that's never any guarantee.

I found Ubuntu pretty easy and straight forward, most everything was automated including updates, but I ran into a few problems that required I use the command prompt, and some that were extra annoying and had me scrounging Linux help forums for hours trying to get rid of some miscellaneous error. That said, that was 1-2 years ago so things may have gotten even better since then. You might also want to look into dual booting, a vista partition and a linux partition, depending on how much harddrive space you have.

Now would I be totally replacing Vista? How can I save the programs that came w/ the thing.

this is a Toshiba laptop btw. I've been using firefox and it freezes up a bunch where I have to close the browser.

Thanks for the responses everyone

There are various ways to partition a hard drive, and what that will do is make it like you have two hard drives instead of one. So you'll have your standard "C:" drive and then you can have a "B:" drive or whatever designation it gets.
You then install Ubuntu to that partition, and when you boot your computer up, you can choose which OS to load.

Yes! That's what I need to do. Moderate commitment level

>> ^swampgirl:
Now would I be totally replacing Vista? How can I save the programs that came w/ the thing.
this is a Toshiba laptop btw. I've been using firefox and it freezes up a bunch where I have to close the browser.


Well that just might be firefox, it has long had a known memory leak problem, that sometimes represents itself by the program freezing or crashing. Supposedly they're finally going to fix it in the upcoming firefox v.3.0. From what I understand they're currently on beta 5 and expect a final release in summer (I could be very wrong on that).

Try doing a search on your specific laptop model and linux or ubuntu. You might find a step by step process for putting it on your exact model, or at least something that might address any potential problems you could have. Hardcore Linux users seem to have a passion for putting it on anything and everything they can, its like a substitution for the sex they aren't having, so I'd say chances are good someone somewhere has put Linux on your laptop model and written about it on the internet.

I don't know... I've been using Vista x64 Ultimate for a while now and I find it to be rock solid stable and perfectly fast on my hardware. I tried messing with Ubuntu on another partition at one point, but the 64-bit version would crash when loading the kernel so I couldn't even install it. The 32-bit version installed, but it was just so visually ugly, I couldn't get Compiz to work properly, and I absolutely hated going back to needing a command line interface for so many things despite having grown up hacking DOS to my will (sudo fuckyou! ). It's like going back 10 years when there are perfectly good modern solutions.

The problem I see with Linux is that it's very stable and secure, but you have to be a supergeek to use it so the people who know nothing about PCs(and need that security BADLY as they just love to fuck up their Windows set-ups and never know how they did it when you ask) just can't function properly. You can be far more productive on Windows than on Linux, imo. However if you're dead set on it, try the Linux Mint distro. It's based on Ubuntu(or Debian depending on how you look at it), but is far more usable right out of the box as it includes more software, codecs, and has a nicer visual look than Ubuntu (whoever told them brown is good should get a kick in the ass).

Linux Mint: http://linuxmint.com/

^ I've heard good things about Mint too, though I haven't tried it myself.

If you want to create a dual-boot machine, you first need to shrink down your Vista installation to create a large enough empty space on your hard drive. Then when you install Linux, it will guide you to create the new partition(s) you need.

Here's a good guide: http://apcmag.com/how_to_dualboot_vista_with_linux_vista_installed_first.htm

Swampgirl: Can you tell us what you do on your notebook? Game? Videos only? Surf? Office? Photoshop? Replacing it with Linux completely and still relying some Windows programs is a BIG change and not always a good idea.

I'd vote for having another Web browser like Firefox v2 (yes, it can be slooooooooooow like on Digg and hog memory; v3 will fix them) if you're only have a Web browser issue. If you really hate Vista and you still need Windows, then XP SP2 would do (be sure you can find drivers and stuff from Toshiba!!).

Ant, I bought this notebook so I can sit in a comfy chair and sift! So mainly I use it for internet browsing.

Uho, Arvana.. yeah I am a bit scared to go without a fallback. I think that partition thing is going to be the trick. It gives noobs like me some time to get use to using the new deal.

I see Schmawy bookmarked this. You thinking of doing this too?

Swampgirl: Linux (Ubuntu) would be good then if you have a lot of time to mess with it. Don't do it if you don't have time. Too bad you didn't buy a MacBook. It would had been easier for you with that type of work (more compatible). For now dual boot. See if there is anything else you an do in Vista if Vista is OK with you. I know IE7 and Firefox can cause grief, but then a lot of computer stuff can do that.

Um, have you upgraded to SP1 for Vista yet? That might help too for Vista's IE7.

A little over a year ago I slapped a computer together for my mom using spare parts I had laying around. I installed Ubuntu on it, pointed out a few things and let her go. She really didn't have any problems and I can assure you she's far less savvy than you. I don't find it's normal for the average user to need to use the command line.

The only problem that I would anticipate you having is with your wireless card. The majority of laptops seem to use Broadcom wireless these days and Broadcom has gone out of their way to not support open source. Reverse engineering has yielded solid drivers for some Broadcom chips, but others are still not usable.

I took a quick look at Mint a little while back. It didn't look too shabby but I can't really say much, as I didn't spend enough time with it.

I would recommend against the dual-boot option. It sounds like a great idea, but it can leave your system in a rather strange state if you later try to remove Linux. Use the LiveCD option to try it out instead. The LiveCD won't touch your hard drive so if you don't like what you see, it's as simple as throwing the CD out and you're back to where you are now. The downside of the LiveCD is it will be a bit slow and any changes you make will be lost upon shutdown. If you've got the Windows install disc, I think you're better off just wiping Windows out. If you dislike Linux, you can reinstall Windows. The fresh install might solve a number of your problems anyway.

Keeping the programs that came with Windows is a no-no. In most cases you'll want to find replacements for them instead. Here's a few suggestions:

MS Office -> OpenOffice.org (comes with Ubuntu)
Instant Messaging -> Pidgin (comes with Ubuntu)
Web Browser -> Firefox (comes with Ubuntu), Opera, SeaMonkey
Outlook Express or Windows Mail -> Thunderbird, SeaMonkey

As arvana mentioned above, most Linux distributions come with a package management system now. This means you won't generally go to a website to download a program that you want. Instead you'll go into (in the case of Ubuntu) Synaptic Package Manager and select the program you want. The system will take care of retrieving and installing it.

One last piece of advice: The number of choices available to you when going Linux will be overwhelming. Desktop environments, window managers, composition rendering... there are a dozen options for damn near anything you want to do. Don't let it worry you. Just pick one and go with it. Until you've got a bit of experience, you're not going to be able to make a meaningful decision... and in some cases you still won't a couple years later.

If Linux, try KDE first. Then, try Gnome. I think Ubuntu uses Gnome by default?

My suggestion: All of the above


Or get a Mac.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XSjxWrPc8I>firefox weee

marinara: Your post is messed up!

>> ^marinara:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XSjxWrPc8I>firefox weee


Corrected Link

firefox weee

Another vote for Ubuntu.. you can see a preview here - http://www.videosift.com/video/Installing-Ubuntu-in-a-Library

Showing the apps starts @2:20.. blurry but gives an idea of the end result.

I was told that the next final version is coming out in about two weeks. Wait for that. One of my friends is using the latest beta.

>> ^xxovercastxx:
I think you're better off just wiping Windows out. If you dislike Linux, you can reinstall Windows. The fresh install might solve a number of your problems anyway.

I am going to STRONGLY recommend against this. The ONLY reason MS OSs are easier to set up is because they do it for you at the factory. DO NOT try and install Vista from disk, it is likely to be much more work then installing Ubuntu and getting all the drivers figured out.

I have fresh installed many versions of Win and many distros of Linux, and installing Win has NEVER been easier then installing Linux, unless the hardware was simply unusable under Linux.

I would recommend both the Ubuntu liveCD, and the application conversion that xxovercastxx suggested, and I would try them all out on Vista before switching over for good. The nice thing about FLOSS is that just about everything works on whatever OS you choose, so install the apps you are going to convert to on your current OS, make sure they work for you, and if the OS is still giving you trouble, at least you won't have to learn all new apps in a mad rush when you switch OSs.

Also check here to see if anybody else had problems installing linux on your model of laptop. Pay special attention to the wifi, and make sure it works from the liveCD.