I have quite a lot of questions.

[rokumanxes]

I apologize, but... I'm new.

Anyway, to begin, this is the laptop I have:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=8261131

Well, basically... to make a long story short,
it came equipped with Vista.

It kept randomly shutting off, and that's quite a bother.
So, I thought it was a possible virus, and a system restore could fix the problem. Relatively new, so I didn't need to worry about TONS of lost files.

In the middle of "installing vista for the first time" it shut off...
I panicked, restarted, it gave me a prompt saying installation cannot be completed, please restart and try again. Restart, it was stuck in this never ending loop.

Skip a long while....

Now, I'm running vista again. But, as it was pre-installed, I had no install dvd, so I am technically running an illegal version...

I'd rather not be doing that, so here I am.

Questions:
My laptop monitor displays at 1280x800px.
Will Ubuntu support this? I don't much like blurry screens.

I have a Broadcom 801g something or other wireless adapter built in.
Does Ubuntu support this? I'd really rather not lose my internet capabilities...

iTunes. I really don't much care for it, but I have an iPod, and if any of you have one, you know it's the only way to put music on the danged thing.
Does ubuntu work with itunes? If not, are there other ways to get music onto an ipod with ubuntu?

Drivers.
Drivers, drivers, drivers. Man, I hate these things. As necessary as they are...

I had to go through the Acer website just to get my nvidia GeForce 7000m drivers, and they're only available for vista...
I don't much care, but after installing that driver, I was able to get my 1280x800 resolution back. Are there at least GENERAL drivers for most things such as this, or at least ones that do... pretty much the same thing?

I apologize again for, well, being new to all of this, but...
I'm new, and I just can't help it.

I've already downloaded ubuntu, and I've burned it to a DVD.
I must say it's pretty cool looking, but it didn't detect my wireless adapter so, I couldn't get online.

I may dual boot, because quite often I hear that the con of linux is gaming. I don't use my PC for gaming much, but I do enjoy a game once in a while.
((Right now, American Mcgee's Alice.))

And I also read that there was someone else playing this game
on ubuntu, but... It's... for windows...
Any explanation?

Is there some support for .exe windows files or something?
Or was it patched...?

Either way, thank you all who help!
And those who at least to the time read this.

Thanks guys!

[hackle577]

My laptop monitor displays at 1280x800px.
Will Ubuntu support this? I don't much like blurry screens.

I have a Broadcom 801g something or other wireless adapter built in.
Does Ubuntu support this? I'd really rather not lose my internet capabilities...

iTunes. I really don't much care for it, but I have an iPod, and if any of you have one, you know it's the only way to put music on the danged thing.
Does ubuntu work with itunes? If not, are there other ways to get music onto an ipod with ubuntu?

Yes, yes, no, and yes.

Resolutions can take a bit of fiddling around, but you'll get it working alright.

Broadcom wireless devices are supported, but again, it won't be as easy as it was in Windows.

iTunes can't be installed in Ubuntu, even with WINE, so you're out of luck there.

However, you can still move music back and forth between your mp3 player and your computer.

[caro]

My laptop is running 1280x800 but I had to install the 915resolution package for my Intel graphics card.

There are quite a few apps for music, but I don't have an iPod so I can't recommend one of them. However, iTunes will not run in Ubuntu.

[PYKAB]

have you tried running a live cd, nothing gets installed if you don't need,
there are MANY places to download - copy music with linux based system,
btw - you should use xp not vista - the manufacturer should help you out with compiling and setup of software.

[american.swan]

Sounds like the original problem is it was overheating. That will make a laptop shut off

[rokumanxes]

Sounds like the original problem is it was overheating. That will make a laptop shut off

That's what I had suspected, but it just turned off at random.
Hot, or off for hours and on for 5 minutes....

[zman14321]

I'd boot up a live cd (The ubuntu install cds are live cds just stick one in your disk drive and restart, you can try gnu/linux without any change to your computer). You can see if screen resolution and wireless are automatic before you install. Do you have a new ipod? If it is a very new classic or touch there is a hash which makes it only work with itunes. If it is an older one I believe amaroK (a music program you can install) recognizes them easily. The disk will be SLOW don't worry about it though if you install it, ubuntu will run faster than vista did.

[Crafty Kisses]

iTunes can't be installed in Ubuntu, even with WINE, so you're out of luck there.

Not true, some people have been able to get iTunes working with WINE.

[Paqman]

Getting a Broadcom card to work will be a major hassle. Probably more hassle than you'd want when you're just starting out. I'd be tempted to get a 2nd hand Intel wifi card off eBay and dodge that bullet completely. I did the same with my girlfriend's Broadcom-equipped Acer lappy just recently. As long as you've got a panel on the bottom giving you access to the wifi card (like mine did) it's just a matter of slotting it in.

Re Ipods: You can use most of them quite happily with Amarok, which is a music player (and a damn good one at that...) I don't think the Touches are supported, but the regular ones are.

Screen res: Looks like your graphics card is an Nvidia. They're well supported. You'll have to enable the driver, but that's just a few mouse clicks. Should give you lots of nice visual effects, too.