Doubtful User

I have been trying(with little sucess) to migrate to a Linux distro for a few months. I cannot spend a great deal of time struggeling with an OS that need a lot of fine tuning to perform basic functions. I have tried ever release of Ubuntu to date and cannot get a working wireless network connection.

Before I dive in, I'd like to hear from an experienced user.

I am using a Toshiba P25, with an ATHEROS AR 500 1X wireless adaptor.

Also, how avbailable are printer and other periferal drivers?

Thankis for your time.

I have been trying(with little sucess) to migrate to a Linux distro for a few months. .... I am using a Toshiba P25, with an ATHEROS AR 500 1X wireless adaptor. Also, how avbailable are printer and other periferal drivers?[/b]

If you are looking for users with similar laptop's to yours, or looking for users with a laptop that maybe you are thinking to purchase, please visit the following sites:
a. the openSUSE Hardware Compatibility List: http://en.opensuse.org/HCL/Laptops
b. linlap: http://www.linlap.com/
c. Linux Laptop: http://www.linux-laptop.net/
d. Tux Mobile: http://tuxmobil.org/mylaptops.html

From the first link (a) above, it appears to me at least one variant of the P25 works with openSUSE. Biggest problem appears to be suspend to RAM.

Reference printers, take a look here:
http://en.opensuse.org/HCL/Printers
and here:
http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/OpenPrinting

Often the biggest problem with newbies and getting their hardware to work, is they don't take the time to learn Linux philosophy nor Linux basics, and they waste 99% of the time making mistakes as a result.

Here is a page on openSUSE Linux concepts:
http://en.opensuse.org/Concepts

I have been trying(with little sucess) to migrate to a Linux distro for a few months. I cannot spend a great deal of time struggeling with an OS that need a lot of fine tuning to perform basic functions. I have tried ever release of Ubuntu to date and cannot get a working wireless network connection.

Before I dive in, I'd like to hear from an experienced user.

I am using a Toshiba P25, with an ATHEROS AR 500 1X wireless adaptor.

Also, how avbailable are printer and other periferal drivers?

Thankis for your time.
[/b]

Linux is an excellent distro for a Toshiba laptop. The most common problems are:

1 - wireless networking
2 - audio issues
3 - video drivers
4 - power management issues
5 - codecs needed to play dvds etc.

This is not because linux does not work or because there are no solutions. This is because there are a lot of 3rd party software issues related to different pieced of equipment. OpenSuse (A Novell Product) is more likely to take the conservative route with regard to copyrights in their distro than others at times (such as Ubuntu) on these issues. Overall, OpenSuse is my choice.

I can tell you that I have all of these things working! I am on a Satellite A215 with running OpenSuse now.

For networking. Start with ndiswrapper.
http://en.opensuse.org/Ndiswrapper_howto

Cheers!