Dell, from XP to Linnux... good or bad idea driver wise?

I have a Dell 8200 and using XP and considering going to Linnux. Will
there be problems re: drivers if I switched? And if it's ok to do so,
what should I use? Ubuntu? Red Hat? etc...

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:25:49 -0400, zynteq7 <zynteq7@NOSPAMnyc.rr.com>
wrote:

>I have a Dell 8200 and using XP and considering going to Linnux. Will
>there be problems re: drivers if I switched? And if it's ok to do so,
>what should I use? Ubuntu? Red Hat? etc...

OK, first -- why are you considering going to Linux? Just curious,
and may be relevant to whether it's a good idea because people could
comment on your reasoning to help you decide.

As far as drivers are concerned, it depends on your hardware. For
example, some networking hardware based on Broadcom (sp) might not
have drivers as readily available as Intel-based networking (e.g. for
their wirless cards). I found that out the hard way.

I installed Ubuntu on one of my laptops and there was a video driver
issue at the time that made it a show-stopper. Once that was resolved
it was fairly easy to install with a lot of optional software included
on the install "image".

The Linux community is very good about documenting whether various
hardware has available drivers. Google is your friend when it comes
to that.

Installing on a separate hard drive first might be a good way to go.
The last time I went into Ubuntu-land I installed it on one of my XPS
410 hard drives and then disabled all of the other hard drives in the
bios to see if I liked Linux before going to a dual boot or different
way of doing that. I ditched Linux though; I didn't find a good
reason to stay with it at the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H5Tj6WBb-8
i would suggest that you flash the bios to the latest available before you
install and that you enter the bios and change the boot order to ensure that
you boot from the cd first to avoid any confusion. given how log it takes
to load windows, i would also suggest that you remove the current drive with
the windows build on it and get a cheap drive to practice the linux install
on... it would be a shame if you didn't like it and then had to entirely
reload windows again...

"zynteq7" <zynteq7@NOSPAMnyc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:4806a70a$0$7707$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
>I have a Dell 8200 and using XP and considering going to Linnux. Will there
>be problems re: drivers if I switched? And if it's ok to do so, what should
>I use? Ubuntu? Red Hat? etc...

Well, the easiest way to find out is to use one of the Live CDs. Ubuntu is a
good one. FeatherLinux is another simpler one. A live CD boots the OS all at
once from the CD-ROM drive and never touches the hard drive.

Other free Linux distros worth considering are OpenSuse, Mandriva, and Fedora.
All have Live CD options.

My wild-assed guess is that you will have no trouble with Linux drivers for a
system over 5 years old... Ben Myers

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:25:49 -0400, zynteq7 <zynteq7@NOSPAMnyc.rr.com> wrote:

>I have a Dell 8200 and using XP and considering going to Linnux. Will
>there be problems re: drivers if I switched? And if it's ok to do so,
>what should I use? Ubuntu? Red Hat? etc...

On Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:20:41 -0400, Ben Myers
<ben_myers_spam_me_not@charter.net> wrote:

>Well, the easiest way to find out is to use one of the Live CDs. Ubuntu is a
>good one. FeatherLinux is another simpler one. A live CD boots the OS all at
>once from the CD-ROM drive and never touches the hard drive.
>
>Other free Linux distros worth considering are OpenSuse, Mandriva, and Fedora.
>All have Live CD options.
>
>My wild-assed guess is that you will have no trouble with Linux drivers for a
>system over 5 years old... Ben Myers

Hi Ben, can programs be installed for a system booted using a Live CD?
If so, are they stored on the hard disk? I will probably look into
this anyway because I am exploring Ubuntu as noted in prior threads so
if you don't know, no need to respond.

I think I understand what you are asking. With any distro that has a Live CD
option, you can either boot the Live option or choose to install on the hard
drive. AFAIK, they are mutually exclusive. Once you have booted with the
live option, you can't normally write to your hard drive. I say "normally"
because there are some Linux diagnostic, forensic, or repair CDs that allow
writing to the hard drive provided they recognize the file system type, usually
either NTFS or FAT32 for a Windows disk... Ben


On Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:04:49 -0500, Journey <journey@merr.com> wrote:

>On Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:20:41 -0400, Ben Myers
><ben_myers_spam_me_not@charter.net> wrote:
>
>>Well, the easiest way to find out is to use one of the Live CDs. Ubuntu is a
>>good one. FeatherLinux is another simpler one. A live CD boots the OS all at
>>once from the CD-ROM drive and never touches the hard drive.
>>
>>Other free Linux distros worth considering are OpenSuse, Mandriva, and Fedora.
>>All have Live CD options.
>>
>>My wild-assed guess is that you will have no trouble with Linux drivers for a
>>system over 5 years old... Ben Myers
>
>Hi Ben, can programs be installed for a system booted using a Live CD?
>If so, are they stored on the hard disk? I will probably look into
>this anyway because I am exploring Ubuntu as noted in prior threads so
>if you don't know, no need to respond.

> I have a Dell 8200 and using XP and considering going to Linnux. Will
> there be problems re: drivers if I switched? And if it's ok to do so,
> what should I use? Ubuntu? Red Hat? etc...

While it won't be running on native hardware, if you're new to linux
and want to get a "feel" of how it hangs together, you might want to
try VirtualBox (http://www.virtualbox.org) - it's like VMWare, and
will allow you to set up a "virtual PC" that runs in its' own window
under an existing operating system without risk of damaging it.

It's very easy to use, but as I say, it doesn't use native hardware,
so a "live CD" will be a better guide to performance and driver
availability than a VBox environment where hardware is emulated.

You can set up as many virtual machines as you like - at one point, I
had a choice of 13(?) different OSs from Win95 to the latest linux
beta test distributions, and you just click them to start them in a
window on your existing "screen"

Christopher Muto wrote:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H5Tj6WBb-8
> i would suggest that you flash the bios to the latest available before you
> install and that you enter the bios and change the boot order to ensure that
> you boot from the cd first to avoid any confusion. given how log it takes
> to load windows, i would also suggest that you remove the current drive with
> the windows build on it and get a cheap drive to practice the linux install
> on... it would be a shame if you didn't like it and then had to entirely
> reload windows again...

Which wouldn't be a total loss IMHO - Windows has always run best after
a fresh install in my experience.

As always, YMMV

fwiw, i downloaded the ubuntu 7.1 desktop iso image, burned it on a cd,
booted a dimension 8300 (with the latest a09 bios) by pressing f12 to direct
it to boot from the CD, and selected install... took a little while to get
started, produced a couple of i/o errors regarding fd0 (floppy disk?) and
then the desktop appeared with an install icon... doubled click the install
icon, followed prompts, installed in under an hour including
partitioning/formatting a 120gb drive. then the update tool kicked in and
downloaded about 265mb of updates (far better than the 580mb of uploads i
find that brand new dell windows xp sp2 machines require out of the box).
the updates took over an hour to download and install, but this was done
totally unattended. installation of ubuntu includes office applications
(openoffice), browser (firefox), games, lots of other software (cd/dvd
burner, photo organizer, etc), and advanced gui tools. enabling the 'extra'
visual effects forced a download of the correct ati driver. all other
system components were recognized and installed automatically (sound,
networking, etc). flash and java needed to be installed (like in windows).
very easy, very nice.

"Christopher Muto" <muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:ScudnRiZdebXKpvVnZ2dnUVZ_vmlnZ2d@earthlink.co m...
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H5Tj6WBb-8
> i would suggest that you flash the bios to the latest available before you
> install and that you enter the bios and change the boot order to ensure
> that you boot from the cd first to avoid any confusion. given how log it
> takes to load windows, i would also suggest that you remove the current
> drive with the windows build on it and get a cheap drive to practice the
> linux install on... it would be a shame if you didn't like it and then had
> to entirely reload windows again...
>
> "zynteq7" <zynteq7@NOSPAMnyc.rr.com> wrote in message
> news:4806a70a$0$7707$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
>>I have a Dell 8200 and using XP and considering going to Linnux. Will
>>there be problems re: drivers if I switched? And if it's ok to do so, what
>>should I use? Ubuntu? Red Hat? etc...
>
>

On Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:17:23 -0400, "Christopher Muto"
<muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote:

>fwiw, i downloaded the ubuntu 7.1 desktop iso image, burned it on a cd,
>booted a dimension 8300 (with the latest a09 bios) by pressing f12 to direct
>it to boot from the CD, and selected install... took a little while to get
>started, produced a couple of i/o errors regarding fd0 (floppy disk?) and
>then the desktop appeared with an install icon... doubled click the install
>icon, followed prompts, installed in under an hour including
>partitioning/formatting a 120gb drive. then the update tool kicked in and
>downloaded about 265mb of updates (far better than the 580mb of uploads i
>find that brand new dell windows xp sp2 machines require out of the box).
>the updates took over an hour to download and install, but this was done
>totally unattended. installation of ubuntu includes office applications
>(openoffice), browser (firefox), games, lots of other software (cd/dvd
>burner, photo organizer, etc), and advanced gui tools. enabling the 'extra'
>visual effects forced a download of the correct ati driver. all other
>system components were recognized and installed automatically (sound,
>networking, etc). flash and java needed to be installed (like in windows).
>very easy, very nice.
>

Sounds good Chris. I just wonder how the 3rd party software will
handle Linux. I know I see more 3rd party linux versions out there
every month so that will make linux easier to manage in time. That
said tho, others have said linux isn't ready for prime time. I don't
remember if they elaborated on why but I just recall their comments.
Personally I don't have any experience with Linux so I'm not trying to
argue with you just repeat what I see or heard. I also know I would
love to dump MS in favor of Linux... mainly because I don't like the
way MS does business.

Thanks Chris for the detail of your Linux installation.