Hello.. my name is Phil and I am a Newbie :-)

[pdmurray]

Hi everyone...

Well, the title says it all.. I'm a "newbie".. and a very "ignorant of Linux" one at that. Although I have watched and read about Linux over the years, and even had thoughts of installing it on a computer - I have never done so until now. I'm not a computer idiot however.. and I started back in the days when you wrote your own BASIC.. through DOS and then reluctantly Windows. With the newest Win8 now out.. and nearly losing my dinner when messing around with it - I had had enough. So.. a friend told me about Linux Mint and how easy it was to use and install, I took an older laptop and finally did it.

So far I love what I see.. . but I must confess, the lingo / terminology and processes have me at a loss. I am sure that with time I will figure things out - I HOPE!

Right now .. this is what I have..

HP Paviion zv6000
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
502172 KB of RAM
ATI Graphics

The only issue I am having is getting the wireless card to work. But I'm about to delve into some of the forums to see if I can figure it out. Looking forward to a great experience.

[overthetop]

Welcome aboard Phil!

[Orbmiser]

Welcome and yep take it slow and digest in Bite-Size Swallowable chunks. A little new learning something during the day.
Regular use will slowly evolve your understanding and skills in using.

Forums and Google search are most valuable tools to use during your experience learning Linux.

Welcome and Good Luck! for a more pleasant and less hair pulling experience.
.

[The-Wizard]

Welcome to the Mint family forums

the wireless adaptor on the HP vz6000 series was notoriously UN-reliable, the main options were to strip out the current wireless card and install a new one, or easiest would be use a usb wireless adaptor,
the original adaptor used broadcom chipsets which generally are well supported in Linux

wizard

[jesica]

welcome to the forum

[pdmurray]

Welcome to the Mint family forums

the wireless adaptor on the HP vz6000 series was notoriously UN-reliable, the main options were to strip out the current wireless card and install a new one, or easiest would be use a usb wireless adaptor,
the original adaptor used broadcom chipsets which generally are well supported in Linux

wizard

Thanks for the info... I was having a hard time getting it to connect when the system was running WInXP.. so I am actually not surprised that it was / is unreliable. I may get an adapter..