Linux, like UNIX, has multiple “terminal” sessions going on. The Alt-F1 through Alt-F6 change between them. X, the GUI that you are used to seeing only runs on one of them; the others are shells. When you see the “angry disco strobe” with the flashing and colors, that means that X cannot initialize the video driver, but that only really affects that terminal.
To put terminal switching another way, the canned soup you are looking for is in aisle 6 but you are in aisle 3 wondering where the soup is.
It’s obvious that Linux runs on that machine, but there are many diistros, and you chose a rather obscure one that may not like HP netbooks. That is why I prefer to stick with the major ones you see in the Top 10 list at Distrowatch ; they arepopular for a reason, and that reason is that they work and work well. Then again, Fuduntu works well when installed properly….
But if you want to experiment, Mint is a good choice. They don’t do all the crazy stuff Ubuntu does.
OpenSUSE is a resource hog that will slow your machine to a crawl.
PCLinuxOS is a storng contender.
Mageia intrigues me, but I haven’t tried it. It’s a fork from Mandriva though,and I have had good luck with Mandriva.
Thing is, any distro can be improperly installed. Video drivers and bad GRUB configs are the prime problems. Somehow, people seem to have the most issues with thise two things despite how automated the installers are.