Quote:I have different laptops, but the one i use the most at home is a cheap asus netbook (similar to hp stream/chromebooks).   I looked it up before and it would likely take more effort than makes sense for me to try to install Linux on it.  As far as Linux hardware compatability, I don't know much about that.  But I do know there is a list of "Ubuntu certified hardware" so I figured it was at least somewhat of an issue.      

 

I wouldn't mind Debian.  I'm already using "Raspbian".  But I really haven't thought much about Linux desktop environment.  I've used a few (whether in a virtual machine or not), but didn't play with the desktop environment enough to tell much of a difference.  I do want to maybe take advantage of multiple desktops but other than that I don't have a preference.   I just heard Mint was the best and it's Debian based so why not.

 

Mint is a very good choice in my opinion.  You have several options regarding the desktop environment.  I personally prefer Mate.

 

My advice to you would be to download a "live" image and either burn it to DVD, or better yet, install it on a thumb drive and test it on your target hardware.  If everything works like it should (sound, video, network, etc.) and you like it, installation is pretty straight forward.

 

As I said before, feel free to PM me if you have any questions or problems.  I'll be happy to help you out as much as I can.

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