All,

I just ran across this article today and it lists a couple of other alternatives not mentioned yet. Personally, I don't use anything more complicated than text-only IM (i'd just use Unix talk if i could get away with it). but maybe this will be of use to somebody.

http://dasublogbyprashanth.blogspot.com/2011/05/practical-alternatives-to-skype-for-me.html

shawnhcorey wrote:

[b]Goineasy9 wrote:[/b]
[quote]What do you want you machine to do for you?

Some development, some web development, and, of course, games. :)[/quote]
I use Fedora for dev/web dev and I'm very happy with it. I don't use the latest/greatest release, but you don't have to worry about Unity, anyway. I don't run any games (unless you count Doom)

Hi,

What Linux OS are you using?

You can see if the kernel bluetooth stack is loaded by checking for the bluetooth driver in your list of loaded modules, e.g.:

lsmod|grep bluetooth

service bluetooth start

Is Bluetooth enabled in the BIOS of your machine?

Is there are hardware on/off switch (or Function key combo) for Bluetooth/Radio on your laptop?

I'd be surprised if the sound card is not supported. Have you attempted to find ways to turn up the volume using desktop tools? I'm not that familiar w/PCLinuxOS, but I think they have a speaker icon in the lower right corner of the system panel. There might be a System > Preferences (or something) entry for sound/multimedia in the start panel, also.

As for sluggishness, in my experience, the Live version of any Linux distro is always more sluggish when compared to its installed version. For the most part (for me) the Live version is usually meant to just get you introduced to the distro, or help you in an emergency.

I've never tried it, but Linux Mint is heavily billed as a distro that *just works*, especially when it comes to multimedia.

Yes, it appears you're right about that - sorry, I didn't realize. That's good they did that, though. Also, check out PCLinuxOS for a Linux distro that is friendly to Windows users.

Specifically, it appears that the Ubuntu Netbook Remix 8.04 works well on it.
http://broadcast.oreilly.com/2009/03/a-linux-netbook-done-the-right.html