I have an old entertainment laptop, HP Pavilion DV7-1225ez, which I would like to turn into a portable development/learning computer. I am now going through various linux distros to find the most suitable one - Ubuntu seems to be a good starting point. Some of the points that I am struggling in choosing the OS is due to the following:my laptop has a fingerprint scanner which works brilliantly on Windows. Is there a specific distro that I have to bear in mind in order to use this functionality or is this not possible with linux? (I want to use it simply to log-in/access the computer - like in the log-in page on Windows)I am planning on getting both SSD and RAM upgrades on this laptop in the coming weeks - can I implement these upgrades after switching to Linux or should I get the upgrades first and then switch? Would the choice of distro has any affect?Many thanks in advance,
Installing Linux as the primary OS on HP Pavilion DV-7-1225-ez
linux;ubuntu;hardware
This post (http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/03/how-to-get-your-fingerprint-reader-working-in-ubuntu) has a simple fingerprint scanner with a gui. It has precompiled binaries for Ubuntu (in other words you can install it in Ubuntu). You're asking for an opinion, which is probably off topic, but for your needs Ubuntu Mate would be a great choice. It is both light-weight and easy to use.