[ltp] Newbie w/ T30 & Wi-Fi -- which distro?

[Evan Leibovitch]

Anthony Gee wrote:

> Hi.. new here, anyways I have a T30 2366-B2U coming in very shortly... 
> and want to explore Linux with it. I plan to just use Partition Magic 
> and shrink the main partition down and install Linux...
> My only concern is with the hardware. I really want my integrated 
> wi-fi to work (I noticed T30s came with either the Intel 802.11b or 
> Cisco Aironet -- mine having the Intel). Is there a difference between 
> the two (if so, which ones better or worse)? I'm not trying to do 
> anything fancy, so I guess as long as it has support under Linux I 
> should be okay. Lastly, which distribution should I use? I think I 
> either want to use Red Hat 8 or Mandrake 9. My only extent of Linux 
> knowledge is doing a few kernel projects under Mandrake 8.1 for an OS 
> class. I hope to learn Linux better so in the future it will perhaps 
> help me land a job... any advice from you gurus??

I'm using Mandrake 9 (actually 9.1 beta 3) and I have running on it:
- Wireless (Intel) and Ethernet fine
- USB Mouse (works fine until hibernation, then I need to restart X to 
get it recognized again)
- stick and touchpad work, but the middle button on the touchpad doesn't
- DVDs play fine using Xine and addons from the Penguin Liberation Front
- Suspend works fine but standby doesn't (just wakes up to a frozen 
screen -- in and out of suspend fixes it)
- KDE recognizes my digital camera (Kodak)

I have not yet tested the Bluetooth, CD-writing or the modem. I also 
don't know how to configure X to send a 1024x768 signal out on the video 
port while using the maximum resolution on the internal LCD. But so far 
it's done everything asked of it.

- Evan