installing linux on a sony vaio pgc-fx310

hdeck

Lifer
Sep 26, 2002
14,530
1
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i want to put linux on my laptop. this would be my first time to install linux on anything and my roomate tells me that it is often times difficult to get the OS to install. i was just wondering if any of you guys could offer me some help. i've already visited www.linux-laptop.net and they had help for seemingly every vaio model except my own. thanks for any help you can give.
 

cleverhandle

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 2001
3,566
3
81
I didn't see anything on Google either. If Sony has similar models, you could scope the web for those, but with laptops even apparently similar models can sometimes work quite differently. If windows is still on there, it could be productive to search the individual components. Video and modem are usually the worst culprits, followed by sound. NIC is usually no problem. Anything more esoteric than those (docking stations, hotkeys, etc.) are a gift if they work. Power management might work, might not - totally depends on the model.

Could make for a fun challenge, but if you're not ready to do some serious reading and searching, you might want to reconsider.

Then double that, since you haven't used linux before...
 

hdeck

Lifer
Sep 26, 2002
14,530
1
0
:( and my hopes of becoming a linux fanboi are crushed in one post. thanks anyway.
 

hnsn82

Member
Mar 9, 2001
166
0
0
u might want to try the latest edition of the popular distro ( like 8.0 for RedHat )
it usually detect most of your hardware which leave you with less headache

cheers
 

Abzstrak

Platinum Member
Mar 11, 2000
2,450
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you might wanna try one of the live cd's from suse, or maybe knoppix.... if they run ok then you should be golden... even if they dont run ok, then you can still probably get things to work, just will take some time.

The key with setting up Linux is that you must "KNOW" your hardware, so figure out what all your hardware is and then you should be able to look up each component for compatibility... if your using something like redhat, they have a very comprehensive hardware compatibility list.