Aqua-Soft Forumsmm, Could u tell me, can I install Linux on Compaq Evo N800w?? And which Linux would be better for my laptop?? plz advise me a Linux Distribute...
[question] Can I Install Linux On Laptop?
why woulnt you be able to install it? Personaly i would go for either mandrake or suse, being a beginer. The only problem with linux on a lapton, is drivers. Ive heard horror stories about linux not detecting stuff. I dont kinow the state its in now, but a couple years back it was bad.
Originally posted by lostspyder@Oct 12 2003, 07:20 PMwhy woulnt you be able to install it?
did you mean to answer your own question?
anyway, i don't know anything about your specific computer, but in general,
-your winmodem probably won't work
-its 50/50 for your wireless lan
-graphics card will "work" but you won't be able to utilise any fancy 3d features
most likely it will work and you'll get a computer which can do most things you want.
no games though and you'll need to connect to the internet or other computers by wired ethernet.
i think mandrake (mandrakelinux.com) keep a list of which laptops have worked with it. Also try google (mandrake 9.1 and your laptop) and you'll get links to mailing lists where people have tried to get it working
-fissy
ps... the only way is to try... backup your stuff first
GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND
Just searched for "Compaq Evo N800w linux" and got many many results, the first being a step by step guide in getting linux installed and working correctly on it.
It looks like you shouldn't really have a problem, as the tut. i read was RH8.0 and 9.0 has been out a while now, and i'm sure has better driver support.
I've got redhat 9 running on my laptop which is a compaq nx7000. Works fine, except intel refuses to release linux drivers for centrino. Which is irritating, to say the least. since speedstep doesnt work and battery drain is pretty bad. Battery doesnt read properly either so its at -1% permanently.
Got netgear pcmcia wireless card so at least i have wireless running.
Firstly Google hard out for it.... Secondly try Knopplix or Gnopplix I think they're called (G for gnome desktop or K for KDE) on your laptop first to check hardware.
I would recommend Mandrake for a start - I've had the most success with that, Redhat has given me no end of troubles.
Well, I don't know if _you_ can install Linux on a laptop, but it's certainly possible for it to be installed on a laptop. http://www.linux-laptop.net/ 
Be prepared for lots of reading and searching. Google is your friend. Get to know it.
there are linux drivers for winmodems, I have on in my Dell Inspiron and it is working fine. as foir the wireless cards, you can get working 95% of them. If your laptop uses en Nvidia chipset just download the drivers from nvidia.com and enjoy the fancy 3D
Sure you can, use a debian instead mandrake..
Should be hard to install, but after it'll be really great.