The spec of your laptop is your limitation. 256mb of ram is ok, but it is still iffy. I don't think suse would run swiftly on that.

I'd go for ubuntu, or if you want to be doubly safe go for xbuntu. It's a lighter version of the former.

Yeah, 1) Suse is buggy 2)Its crippled in terms of media and 3) Runs about as slow as Vista

I recommend ubuntu. Pure Debian Stable would probably run best on 256 but ubuntu would be a safer bet as its 1cd, has a livecd mode and has easy instilaltion and maintainance

I installed Ubuntu and it looks good is there anything you would recommend I should download for it any special programs please I only have 256 ram so no big programs please.

umm most things will be inluded

main apps and thier windows equovilents

Internet Explorer -> Mozilla Firefox/Seamonkey
Outlook Express -> Evolution / Thunderbird
MSN Messenger -> Gaim/Pidgin
MS Office -> Openoffice.org
Photoshop -> GIMP
Media Player -> Rythmbox
Nero -> GnomeBaker

some of these apps may run slow on 256 meg so you may want to look at more lighweight versions. e.g use epiphany instead of Mozilla or use gnome-office instead of openoffice

hi,
I recently got a ubuntu cd from a friend of mine. can I use it as a live cd to practice some C / C++ programming . would someone help me out in this as to how to go about it ?

yes first thing is to connect to the internet and type into the console:

apt-get update

(wait)

apt-get install build-essential


this will install the C compiler and associated files

I just found out that my wireless usb pen/dongle is not compatible with Linux. Can anybody recommend a usb wireless device for me as at the moment I cannot get any updates, it must be usb though. Is there a "package" that I can download and transfer to my laptop which I can then run and it will perform all the necessary updates until I can get a new wireless pen?

Many thanks

Harry

Also I cannot install anything while I am not connected to the internet so that is quite annoying

usb wireless = no-no for linux

very limited driver support.