BLUEMOMENT

I hoped one day linux would be a replacement for micro soft.I have XP pro which i update with care.XP is easy to use and best of all has lots of free software which is great.

I see once free programs are now pay with vista,and other applications that should work dont because of anti piracy micro soft updates.I hope ill be using XP for years to come.I dont want to debate microsoft now.

Ive been looking at the new small laptops.The Acer one,Asus eee,HP 2133,&Medion which orange has been selling for 340€ with XP! As orange are selling it there must be a reason for the low price??

All the Linux based laptops are priced between 300 & 399€ the same with XP adding up to 99€.

All have a different Linux.HP has SUSE enterprise,Asus eee has Ubanto, Acer one Linpus lite.

Can all run the same Linux software?Or would SUSE & Linpus be uncompatable when say loading an photo program written for SUSE?

Which of the Linux systems is the best?Which will be developed?which has the largest choice of programs?

Im not going to buy a small linux laptop as my IBM is better often not a heavy!And i dont have 300€ to spare,if i did id put it towards a new SSB i would like to have a better idea about the value usefulness of linux for someone that wants to have ease of use.

Many or the Asus eees are selling for around 100€ now but the screens far to small then i prefer my pda but soon the 9/10inch models will be found second hand.Is Linux going to be able to compeat with XP for ease of use??Which Linux version???

My son just bought one of the new Acer linux notebooks, and in France (Darty) they are selling for around 180 euros.

It runs Linux Lite on the new intel Atom chip and for emails, wordprocessing and general internet stuff it works a treat and only weighs 1 kg battery life is 4 hours and very quick as linux is not memory hungry.

If i didn't already have a laptop for use on board i would be out buying one now, it is worth looking at one.

I run Fedora version 9 which puts vista 64bit ultimate in the shade for speed of processing, and am seriously thinking of dumping vista off this machine

My personal preference is Ubuntu. My web site http://www.sailfun.co.uk runs on a Dell desktop with Ubuntu server edition running on it.

However, you are talking about Laptops and end users. I built an old Toshiba Laptop with Ubuntu on it. There are quite a lot of 'issues' switching to Linux from XP or Vista, it doesn't all work the same way. You get a LOT more performance out of the hardware using Linux, but you loose a lot in 'learning curve'.

So much so, when I recently bought my wife a 'NetBook' I opted for a Samsung NC10 with XP on it, she isn't that familiar with computers and a change would have caused a lot of issues.

One advantage of Linux, is there are lots of free - opensource - products, such as GIMP for graphical editing, once you find out about these you will also find that many also have Windows versions too!

If you have an old computer that struggles with Windows (XP), try rebuilding it with Ubuntu (you only need to burn a CD and follow the instructions), you can even make a dual-bootable system simply, so you can switch between the two.

Try it and see. But dont try it on your bestest PC - just incase you muck it all up!

During my absence hear due to no internet connections outside very large towns/macdonalds ive bought an ASUS which out of box had the wrong keyboard,

When the BIOS gave up went back to asus returned with a keyboard that dosnt correspond with hardware! @ is now alt GR & Q £ $ etc i still havnt found but it passes the time trying to find the keys

Best was when i installed the French Version from the recovery disc with that i photocopied my X40 cut out the letters and stuck them on the keys-- ok untill they got damp!

Once i get the keyboard list at last from asus ill stay with Linux which is proving very good & better still when im able to hit the correct keys!