Hi,

Recently I bought a samsung q330 (intel core i3, 64bit) with Win7 preinstalled on it. Obviously, I want to run Linux on it, so I had to choose a distro. I picked Ubuntu 10.10 64bit, because Ubuntu has the best builtin driver support (right?). So now I have a dual-boot system with Win7 and Ubuntu. I'm running this configuration now for several months; so far so good.

The thing is, I'm not satisfied with my Linux system. It is quite instable: some features seem to broken at random times (i.e. speakers are sometimes mysteriously disabled, network interface is unstable, etc) Biggest problem though, is that the drivers for my videocard (nVIDIA GeForce 310 M) cannot be installed. The result of this is that I am stuck with some default graphics-drivers that provide only a bare minimum of graphics.

This all is quite bothersome, so after keeping manually patching all these disconforts (with medium succes), I decided that it might be an idea to tackle the problem at the root: Changing the OS.

My questions to you is: Is there a reasonable chance that this will fix my problems? And if so, which disto should I pick? Or is this a hopeless mission because there simply are no 'good' linux drivers for my hardware available? As mentioned before, I am/was under the impression that Ubuntu had the best driver-support, which makes me think that changing a distro (or changing to 10.10 32bit) is not going to help much. Although, I hope this assumption is ill-founded.

So, I was hoping you guys could shed your linux-light on my problem

Thanks in advance!

I usually download a half dozen unrelated Linux distributions when I get a new computer. I use the live Linux feature of most of them to test hardware compatibility. That is not a perfect method. Sometimes a live CD will use all of the hardware correctly but the same is not true after I install the distribution onto my disk drive. Nevertheless testing distributions by using their "live CD/DVD" helps to weed out candidates that don't work well with the hardware in the computer.

Some distributions are legendary with regard to working with hardware. This can change from one version to another though so I am reluctant to mention any specific distribution. (okay, PCLinuxOS comes to mind)

Re: the sound problem, some people say that Ubuntu's use of pulseaudio is buggy. I have not had a problem with it.

You might try using Google and searching for phrases like "Linux distribution hardware compatibility problem". That particular phrase didn't yield good results but try refining it.

I looked for Linux support for your motherboard chip set, which I found on the Samsung support web site. I did not find anything specific.

Just try some live CDs/DVDs and see what happens.

I'm sorry that I could not be more specific.

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The various distros have characteristics which make them more or less suitable for different users and roles. Ubuntu is not noted for stability so if that is a high priority for you, another distro would suit you better. 2handband's recent blog post on the state of Linux on the desktop has relevant commentary: http://genek.net/wordpress

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Ubuntu is a fantastic distro, but it is not particulary known for its stability. (It is derived from the "Unstable" branch of Debian.) If you want to stick with Ubuntu, you might consider the 10.04 release instead; being a "Long Term Support" release it might solve your stability issues.

You can read a great comparison of the Top 10 distros here: http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

Personally I have found Debian (choose Squeeze, not Lenny at this moment in time) and CentOS to be more stable for my needs than Ubuntu. However, I recommend trying a bunch and seeing for yourself, which is a rite of passage for new Linux users.

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I am a huge fan if virtual machines. Consider them if you have enough ram to cover the uses. Your system is fully supported.

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Thanks for the quick replies, you guys! I guess I'll just spend some time on trying out some of other distros; from your responses I can conclude that this might solve the problem.

I had also considered the VM option, but I figured that in order to run a VM properly, the underlying OS should be at least stable, which is exactly the problem here Then again, I could run the VM on Windows, but then I have the overhead of a sluggish OS, which will probably already consume a lot of memory. Or is this too simple a conculsion? Anyway, thanks again!

The longer a release has been tested by usage and resulting bugs fixed the more stable it should become. An LTS has longer for that process to operate. Assuming equal effort put into bugfixes amongst all versions, an LTS should be more stable that a non-LTS version when it is older than the period that non-LTS versions are supported.

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OSes are not uniformly un/stable; a flakey desktop distro might be solid as a VirtualBox host and probably is. 1 GB memory is plenty for most VMs. As long as the host OS is not busy, even a sluggish host should give adequate VM performance. Evaluating in a VM is useful as long as you do not want to test hardware compatibility, especially extreme graphics.

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Hello stobbej,for stability try Slackware.

But be aware that the support for Samsung-laptops seems not to be well with Linux and this doesn't depend on the distribution. I have a Samsung Laptop and the hardware isn't well supported by Linux (here graphics and function-keys). But at least it works

Markus

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I have a somewhat related question:
I'm running FC14 on an older HP computer, but it seems the wireless doesn't work. (see my posts)
I was considering installing Ubuntu, because i was told it's easier to get support, and i was told it was easier to use...?

would you recomment maybe using an older Ubuntu, or even an older FC?
could i perhaps dualboot FC14 and Ubuntu 10?

let me know if there's any suggestions .

cheerz
./Santiago

You cannot expect stability from distros like Ubuntu & Fedora which have focus on latest packages and UI and release cycle of just 6 months. Try Debian, CentOS, Slackware which are designed for stability. You can try Linux Mint a derivative of Ubuntu for stability if you like Ubuntu, but don't expect stability like former distros.
Nvidia drivers are proprietary and hence not installed by default on both Fedora and Ubuntu. On Ubuntu under 'Adminstration' find 'Hardware Drivers' to get list on missing drivers for hardware and option to install the driver.
Other option is to search 'nvidia' in snaptics package manager to find and install 'nvidia-current-release' package.
I had to run 'nvidia -Xconfig' (don't remember exact command) to enable nvidia driver.
Under preference->display enable desktop effects.

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Most Wireless cards don't have linux drivers but can use Windows drivers using 'ndiswrappper'. read http://m.techrepublic.com/blog/opens...ndiswrapper/91 . It is for mandriva linux, but the procedure is same for all distributions.

I have a Samsung R620 and Debian runs good on it; no stability problems. Wireless with the realtek drivers and firmware was spotty, but replaced that with an Intel mini pci card and fixed that problem. You should also be able to install the nvidia proprietary driver without too much hassle.

I didn't look too hard, but I didn't see what wireless chipset your laptop uses. That may be the only issue you run into, and even that shouldn't be too difficult to resolve.

would i be able to dual boot fedora and ubuntu, and have them installed on the same partition?
or would they conflict?

just wondering. I have so much information that i'd need to save, i'm wondering if it would be faster to just install on top or something..

./Satiago

you can dual boot but they need to be on separate partitions