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| Thread ID: 137014 | 2014-05-13 00:53:00 | Which Linux for a beginner? | advena (13666) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1374842 | 2014-05-13 00:53:00 | Am in the process of emptying out my older XP laptop, (still working very well, Acer Aspire, 70GB h/d, 1.5GB RAM) and have the idea of installing Linux onto it just so I can learn how that works, perhaps with the possibility of changing over completely later on. However I realise there are several variations of Linux available so am looking for suggestions on which one would be best for me to start with, to learn the ropes, so to speak. Have used Windows for many years now but am not really very technically minded. Hopefully my techie brother will help me sort it but I need to decide what I want. Any suggestions from any of you on what version to use and perhaps the reason why that would be the best choice would be really appreciated. Thank you. |
advena (13666) | ||
| 1374843 | 2014-05-13 00:57:00 | just boot puppy linux from a usbstick. rufus will get it onto the usb stick. otherwise you could use tails. or xubuntu, or mint, or ultimate edition. puppy linux gets a firm vote from me though. as for a reason to use puppy linux? it wont touch the harddrive unless you tell it to, will save progress to the usb stick (or CD-R even) uses very little memory and is very very fast. |
Mirddes (10) | ||
| 1374844 | 2014-05-13 01:05:00 | Another vote for puppy or mint | gary67 (56) | ||
| 1374845 | 2014-05-13 02:06:00 | My choice for that laptop (guessing age and lower spec) would be Xubuntu (distrowatch.com) or Lubuntu (distrowatch.com). There are so many options with Linux though ... we're spoilt for choice really! ;) | Rod J (451) | ||
| 1374846 | 2014-05-13 02:23:00 | If the laptop has a decent CPU though (Intel Core2Duo or similar) you could go for Kubuntu (distrowatch.com) (my distro of choice now for over two years). The latest version (14.04) has just come out and is a LTS (Long Term Support) version supported for five years. Xubuntu 14.04 and Lubuntu 14.04 are also LTS (three years). |
Rod J (451) | ||
| 1374847 | 2014-05-13 04:10:00 | I like MINT for beginners for it's similarity to windows myself. A bit easier to get around in initially. Couldn't try puppy though because it doesn't have drivers for my laptops graphics chipset and fails to start. The install disks for all these are bootable live disks you can trial without installing and I even installed mint on a usb flash drive for a while when I had no hard drive. If you have the bandwidth I'd suggest downloading a few and creating install disks so you can try them out and see - no need to install untill you choose. |
dugimodo (138) | ||
| 1374848 | 2014-05-13 04:25:00 | Puppy is small and light, but I wouldn't recommend it to a beginner. If it can handle XP, it should be able to handle Linux Mint MATE - www.linuxmint.com Mint 16 is the latest, but 17 should be out pretty soon. |
Nick G (16709) | ||
| 1374849 | 2014-05-13 04:58:00 | 4th vote here for Linux Mint :) | Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 1374850 | 2014-05-13 10:31:00 | Linux Mint user for two years and very happy with it. | lazydog (148) | ||
| 1374851 | 2014-05-13 10:48:00 | Thank you all for these tips and suggestions. Yes, as Rod J says 'we're spoilt for choice really' and that's why I needed some direction. I have that now and will try a couple of these and see how it goes. Thanks again. | advena (13666) | ||
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