After many kind of frustrating attempts, I got Ubuntu 11.10 Desktop (32 bit) running on my Lenovo Thinkpad T500 (Laptop). Biggest barrier was getting display working right because the laptop came with an Nvidia graphics card not supported by default. Even after installing the "not free" drivers, the graphics card still doesn't quite do everything it should.

I always found it much easier to run on a desktop PC, but maybe that was just cause my hardware was old and the support was already baked in.

Ubuntu has a list of "certified hardware" that play nicely, which helps if you are starting from scratch.
http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/

Chad

Chad Nelson
Web Services Programmer
University Library
Georgia State University

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________________________________________
From: Code for Libraries [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Chris Fitzpatrick [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2011 11:31 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [CODE4LIB] Linux Laptop

I just had a Howard Beale moment with Apple. I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.

I'm curious what people can suggest for linux laptop?
Any suggestions for distros and hardware?

thanks. b,chris.