Very basic questions

[chchandler]

Yup, basic ones...

I'm ready to try Linux. Right now I am looking at some older Thinkpads, in the T4x series, trying to find a bargain. So, on to my questions...

1.) Is 8.04 stable enough for a laptop? Wireless, fan/cooling, etc. issues? Or, should I go with 7.10 for a while?

2.) Are there guides that go step by step through an install? My thought is to set up a dual boot unless I get a laptop w/o an OS. There are lots of web pages out there. Some are way too technical, others are for older versions.

Thanks in advance....

[mivo]

Thinkpads tend to work well with Linux (IBM's stuff is pretty good), but you can always try the Live CDs before you install anything. So, no risk. :) The installation process is graphical and straight-forward, so the only thing you really need to think about is how to partition the disk. See here (http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/partitioning) for lots of information for both single and dual OS partitioning.

Personally, I always go with 8-10 GB for / (root) and the rest for /home (plus a bit for swap).

Welcome to Ubuntu. :)

[dokdoom]

Most thinkpads work well, I have a T61P which requries an immediate change to the xorg.conf or it won't even start. But as far as 8.04 being stable enough for a laptop, yes. Yes it is stable enough to be installed on a machine.

[nineowls]

I have 7.10 running on 600e (almost everything works)
On A21, A22, A31 beautifully - everything works (plus the vmware image of my A31 with Windows XP works too)
My wife even uses it on her A31 (but she still dual-boots)

Every day gets easier with Ubuntu...

[Wobedraggled]

Best thing to do is boot the live cd, open a terminal and do a
lspci then check the hardware online for compatibility. Sometimes even though it doesnt work on the live cd (wireless for example) sometimes there is an easy fix post-install.

8.04 has been rock solid for me, but mileage may vary.

[steveneddy]

Lenovo and System76 are both great laptop companies