xubuntu, or what?

I have a Asus laptop... Intel T5300 (1.7x2) one gig of ram and a radeon x2300.

Vista is full of fail.
Fedora was also full of fail. (Works on my old desktop. not my laptop)
Ubuntu is on atm but is plagued by problems. (7.10)

A few friends have had alot of success with xubuntu and various Asus computers.

Getting to my question. Should I install xubuntu (7.10/8.*) or what should I try in my laptop?

Btw I need a quick-ish answer...

[Prometheum]

Ubuntu IS Xubuntu.

Linux is Linux is Linux. Some things will require configuration, and usually those things will be the same on various distros, even among the "user-safe" ones. Just stick to a distro and learn how to actually USE Linux.

With Vista you couldn't change the amount of fail; with GNU/Linux you can change everything down to the source, and go from lose to win is pretty damn easy (without delving into any source).

What are the problems with Ubuntu?

I have lots of video problems with ubuntu. (Fedora just refuses to do most... Pretty stuff, ubuntu tries and crashes) My wireless is setup properly, and it works most of the time. Most isnt really good enough because its the main thing I use my laptop for. And bluetooth also crashes ubuntu, but thats ok, I dont use it.

my wifi is - Intel pro/wireless 594AGB
the only identification I can find for my bluetooth is Asus BT-183
And my graphics card is a Radeon X2300.

It should be more than enough to run ubuntu.

btw i've had a few people look at setting and say it 'should' work nicely. (I kinda think it could be Gnome's fault, hence xubuntu)

[Prometheum]

Well, are you using the right drivers for everything?

Yes. Yes I am.

That was the first thing I checked.
Any other ideas?

[Prometheum]

Are you absolutely sure you're using the right drivers? Have you asked on the Ubuntu forums? Have you checked the wiki for your hardware?

Again, linux is linux and Xubuntu IS Ubuntu. You might not have certain problems if you change up the graphics enough that you aren't using them, but I'm betting that you're not actually using the right drivers and you're only assuming or going on faulty information.

However, its way better to make something work than to just distro-hop, and if you go into linux on non-linux hardware and expect it to work without your doing anything, you'll be wrong. Check the forums, then come back and tell us what they say.

[RDProgrammer]

Try the new Ubuntu 8.04 beta before writing Ubuntu off. We're just a few weeks away from the next release and I am running the beta full time and love it. So many improvements over 7.10, most are just menial, but they add up to a much better experience. If you suspect the desktop manager, then yes, try Xubuntu or even Kubuntu.

RDP

Originally Posted by RDProgrammer

Try the new Ubuntu 8.04 beta before writing Ubuntu off.
RDP

I've been trying to download it for a few days from http://mirror.internode.on.net/pub/u...ntu/8.04/beta/
But people keep closing my laptop and stopping the download. Or the power went out and the router died. I'll give torrent a go...

(btw, Net is going slow becasue im over the max amount of downloads)

edit : I havent liked KDE since I had it on redhat-fedora 4. (might try it again someday)


http://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/linux_8.32.5.html -- latest catalyst® Linux software driver recognises and works with my card. (X2300 denotes a RV550 based card.)

Although there is no 3d acceleration 'Yet'. -- http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/ATIRadeon

Couldnt find much else.

[Prometheum]

The lack of 3d acceleration is what's screwing with you if you're trying to enable eye candy.

Originally Posted by Prometheum

The lack of 3d acceleration is what's screwing with you if you're trying to enable eye candy.

Official sources say there is no 3D acceleration. However I disagree. WoW on my ubuntu was getting about 50fps.

I just cant see how I can not have 3D and run WoW like that.

But. As it doesn't work I'll have to stick to no eye-candy.