Hi, I have a HP Pavillion dv9000 laptop. It runs XP, it’s old and runs an AMD turion 64 x2 tl60 at 2.00GHz 32bit and has 3Gb RAM. Can someone please advise how to install a linux system and which would be best for a novice such as I am. Also, the fan is running high. Will this stop or should I attempt to clean it? If so, how, for I had difficulty getting to it.
Thank you in advance, whomsoever you are, and hope one day I can speak your language!
BPJ
My advice would be to try the latest version of Ubuntu (11.10) … for no other reason than you’ll find help/support/documentation etc. easier to come by.
Here’s a link to the download page:
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download
Download the ISO image, then click the “Show me how” buttons to see how too burn the ISO image to a CD/DVD or a USB stick.
Once you’ve done that, you can test drive Ubuntu by booting directly from the LiveCD/LiveUSB (you just created) … this will give you a working desktop running from the CD/USB stick, but it will make no changes to your hard drive.
If you like what you see, you can then install it to the hard drive.
Be aware, when running Ubuntu from a CD/DVD or USB stick it will not be as fast as it will be when installed to the hard drive … so don’t draw any conclusions about speed from a LiveCD/LiveUSB.
If you have any other questions, or require any help, feel free to come back here and we’ll be happy to assist 
My advice would be to install Ubuntu, but one of the lighter versions since your on a laptop. Either Kubuntu or Lubuntu would be a good choice IMO. However, like Ubuntu itself, and all other Linux distro’s you can burn them onto a CD/DVD and see which you like best by “test driving” it like Mark said.
Lubuntu: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Lubuntu#Get_Lubuntu
Ubuntu: https://ubuntu.com/download
Lubuntu is the same as Ubuntu, only it uses a lighter desktop environment (LXDE) to be easier on your system resources.
Strictly speaking from a personal point of view, I have 3GB of RAM, Intel Duo 2 processor (not the most fanciest of processors) and I run Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) perfectly fine.
As regards to your fan. Take the botom cover of your laptop off, and just blow the dust away, or get a feather duster (or something similar) and dust away.