The odyssey seems to come to an end: This is me, having WLAN access, a working firefox, open office and thunderbird with enigmail.
On Linux.
The distribution that managed to convince me is named ubuntu and runs smoothly so far. It is debian-based and comes with gnome, but allows [via apt-get] to install all the software that is available for debian.
Sound and IrDA are not working continuously and the modem is not tested yet, but this is nothing compared to the troubles I had with earlier attempts to run linux on my laptop.
Yehaa!
For someone with little or no knowledge of Linux, will it be easy for me to make the transition from Windows to Ubuntu? I really want to crossover, but am a) inept, b) a little scared, c) lazy. I tried with SuSE but never really got anywhere.
Yes! For a longtime my machine (ASUS M2400N) seemed to be to hard to support for linux. But I - regardless of being the eternal n00b and being frustrated from earlier experiences - managed it to run.
Just give it a try. It helps if you know about partitioning and are not afraid to look at a config file. Since I’m in a rather enthusiastic mood when it comes to ubuntu I’ll not be wearing my “I will not fix your computer shirt” for some time. So if you have any questions that can’t be googled, ask away…