Linux Os on desktop
 

I am considering downloading a Linux OS onto a clean computer and was wondering which platform would be the best and also how much ram would be optimal.

Ive had the N800 for a few months now and I enjoy linux more than windows.

I've heard of a few names like Ubuntu and Fedora, but my experience is more with Dos and Windows, so this would be a first.

Any advice would be appreciated.


Paul

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

Ubuntu, 512M but try the "live" distro first if you just want to get a feel for it (these run straight from cd). Expect to have to learn a bit more "low level" stuff than you would on Windows but IMHO that's the stuff that provides a refreshing sense of freedom and control that you don't get on Windows. In my experience 99/100 times I have had a problem or simply want to "do something" GNU-Linux (to use the proper term) has the solution, if not several.

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

From the point of view of a non-linux person, I found Ubuntu remarkable easy to set up and use for a linux.
As to ram, well, linux can get away with less of it than windows but you know how it goes, the more the merrier!

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

It's too bad Ubuntu doesn't like my hardware.

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

Depends on what you want to do with the computer. For KDE + some office software, web browsing... even 256 MB RAM would be more than sufficient. But if you are buying a new computer anyways, 1 or 2 GB would certainly the better choice.
Nowadays hardware detection/support on Linux is *much* better than it used to be 3-4 year ago. Most hardware will run out of the box without problems. But with certain types of peripherals (e.g. printers, special game controllers, scanners) it's better to do some googling before, to see if a usable Linux driver exists.

I would suggest that you first download a Linux live DVD. This way, without installing Linux, you can have a look how Linux feels on a desktop computer, what the KDE desktop environment looks like compared to Gnome, how the hardware detection is working for your computer...
A very good Linux live DVD is Knoppix.
http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

If you are switching from Windows to Linux, you'll probably feel more at home with the KDE desktop environment instead of Gnome. Two popular distiributions which have KDE as default desktop are Kubuntu and Opensuse. So when installing Linux, you might want to have a look at these. Both Opensuse and Kubuntu also have live CDs, so you can also try them out before installing. Though these distributions are mainly meant for installation, therefore their live CDs don't have all the bells and whistles Knoppix has.
http://www.opensuse.org/
http://www.kubuntu.org/
For both (especially for Kubuntu) a very big community exists, so it's easy to find help in case any problems arise.
(In case you decide to use Kubuntu you should wait some more days, as the next version Kunbuntu 8.04 will be released end of April. Afair the next Opensuse version is scheduled for June).

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

Ubuntu is excellent. I, for one, recommend you try the Hardy Heron (8.04) release. It is not quite out yet, but ready enough (release in 4 days) that I would be delighted for it to be someone's first step into desktop Linux. It also comes packaged on a Live CD, so you can see whether it works (or you like it) ahead of time.

As for DOS experience, there is one thing I feel I should mention. DOS has given a bad connotation to command line interface, and has given people an assumption that it is bad; they simply do not expect the great features available in modern shells.

For example, the Dash shell used for terminals in Ubuntu has contextual tab completion for practically everything. If you enter apt-get, it will tab complete for one of the operations that program does, such as install. Then it will tab complete actual packages, depending on the operation selected. That shell is simply incredible, and most distros use either it or Bash.

Oh, and the GUI is nice, too :)

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

A good place to be bewildered by choice is

DistroWatch.

The overall most trouble-free Linux out of the box, for me, has been Linux Mint.

I have had mixed results with OpenSuse lately.

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

GreenOS ..... stupid too short message restriction

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

I second that Linux Mint is a great choice. It is based on Ubuntu, so you get the stable version without the ugly orange and brown. (Instead you get ugly green!)

The ubuntu.org forums are a great place to learn how to fix what you willl break. Kubuntu is not as easy to learn, and my experience was 60-75% of the apps I used were Gnome instead of KDE. I had 4.0 running on a clean install and I uninstalled KDE and tweaked Gnome. With Compiz.

I disagree that anyone new to Linux should install a recently released distro of Ubuntu. When released, they are barely stable.

FWIW, I am in my 4th year of Ubuntu only. I started out 10 yrs ago with RH 5.0 and then Mandriva (then called Mandrake) and debian apt-get in synaptic is waaaaaaaaaaaay easier than RPM was with disk drake.

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

I didn't even know that gOS was called GreenOS. Yes, a good one to try.

People with somewhat tricky hardware and not much expertise tend to try different Linux versions until they get the one that works well for them. That's why Live CDs, as mentioned above, are so popular. You can try most distros out before permanently installing them.

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

I would also recommend Ubuntu but look at the Xubuntu version (Xfce4), it requires less computer resources than Ubuntu or Kubuntu (KDE).
DistroWatch is an excellent recommendation as a starting point. Welcome. :D

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

Have tried everything since 1996. I like Fedora very much as my main system on my laptop and Slackware for self made packages.

Ubuntu is nice too on some laptops, but I don't like their release versions for some minor packages that I use a lot. And I'm at home with rpm & tgz, I can't build packages with dependencies for Debian.

It's your personal joice. If you feel at home, you've found your right distribution.

Only if you choose programs that doesn't need Gnome and/or KDE libraries... it's a myth: the newest Xfce4 requires nearly the same memory resources than Gnome or KDE. Xfce is not faster/slower than Gnome as it use the same GTK lib.

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

"Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for various *NIX systems. Designed for productivity, it loads and executes applications fast, while conserving system resources." - Olivier Fourdan, creator of Xfce.
I guess you better give the creator a call.

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

I third Linux Mint, it is much prettier and is derived from the latest Ubuntu.

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

I don't know about Mint, but gOS, is IMHO vastly inferior to Ubuntu. Try the Ubuntu Live CD. The Knoppix Live CD is kinda useless for "trying out" a distro since it's non-trivial to get Knoppix as a permanent Linux distribution. It's kinda beside the point anyways, as Knoppix is specificalyl designed to be a Live CD. However, the Ubuntu Live CD will give you a good idea how the actual Ubunut will feel like (and the Live CD IS the install CD - so if you like it, you just double click on the installer). Just expect the installed versions to be orders of magnitude faster than the Live CD, especially when it comes to program start up times.

Martin

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

Since you'll be new to linux I recommend ubuntu, you don't feel like its a huge change from windows to ubuntu. Actually, I just installed it last week and haven't had any problems and it automatically installed my hardware and there are a lot of forums to help with ubuntu.

I also switched after using N800 for a month.

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

Now lets see what impression the (K)ubuntu live CD is giving to somebody who is new to Linux.

No fancy desktop effects (Compiz is not working out of the box), disappointing websufing experience (flash and some other important plugings not preinstalled), DVD playback not possible, duh! (at least for encrypted DVDs), hardware xyz not working (for some reason the hardware detection of the (K)ubuntu live CD seems to be worse than the hardware detection of (K)ubuntu when being installed on disk).....

I guess if this live CD was my first encounter with Linux I would turn right back to Windows.

Funny enough all these things are working like a charm once (K)ubuntu is installed on disk. Or at least you can get them running without much effort.

So in my opinion distributions like Knoppix, which are designed to be used mainly as a live CD and where as many features as possible are actually working in live CD mode are quite useful when somebody want's to explore Linux.

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

I tried Ubuntu, but it kept randomly rebooting on me while using flash. And it was a pain in the rear to get my wireless adapter working, though from checking Ubuntu's supported hardware list, it seems they've fixed it with Hardy Heron. I'll give that a spin when it officially comes out.

*edit* Not saying don't try it, just saying things don't always work. But I guess that's Vista for you also.

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

If you're still interested in Ubuntu after the livecd; and you want to keep your windows partition "clean" and don't fancy messing about with resizing partitions and the like, check out Wubi here: http://wubi-installer.org/

It's a "Windows Installer" for Ubuntu 8.04 that sets up Ubuntu inside a large file on your Windows partition which is bootable from the Windows boot menu. Works wonderfully well, safe as a very safe thing, etc

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

Actually, resizing partitions was really a snap. The Windows partition is left as normal after it's sized down. I even added an extra 20G partition just for media and the like to share between Ubuntu/Windows.
I guess Wubi's good if you want to be completely safe, though. (However, it did leave an entry in the add/remove programs list, guess I'm just griping...)

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

Ubuntu was easy for me to install when I started out. Currently using MEPIS, it's been really low maintenance

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

This might sound obvious to most of us, but if you do check out a Live CD (e.g. Ubuntu), keep in mind that it is running from the CD, so load times are S-L-O-W.

Once installed, however, Ubuntu loads and runs very quickly...and that's on a Pentium M 1.1GHz machine.

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

Thanks for everyone's responses,

If I dual boot it with windows, which OS is easier.....Win xp or Vista?

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

I don't think it makes much difference, but it seems to me xp was easier.

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

Bewildered by choice on Distrowatch, no kidding! Let's say I decide on Linux Mint based on some of the recommendations here. Then I look at this list of downloads. I figure that 4.0 is the latest while at the same time it's been around a while, so it sounds good. Then I have to decide which of the "editions" I want. I see that some are KDE, which is enticing since I see threads about KDE on the N800 desktop. But the Gnome Main seems maybe best developed? Any suggestions?

Additionally, I would like to run Linux on my Thinkpad X22 (800 MHz, which indicates its vintage). It's maybe tricky for hardware recognition since it's a subcompact in which the CD drive is not integrated, rather it's in a dock. I've come across an old post with someone talking about running an old Red Hat distribution on his X22, so I was tempted to copy what he had done. But that's way old stuff and I understand Linux usability has come a long way since then. Should I anticipate problems arising from using a newer Linux distribution on my old-ish and subcompact+dock hardware? All the distros equivalent at handling those types of issues? Thanks.

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

The Mint folks seem to have veered away from Gnome and toward KDE, so I'd go with their latest and greatest.

I am partial to Puppy Linux for old computers. I would just try the current non-beta release, which is 3.01. However, there are substantial nests of old users who swear by older versions and keep updating them.

If you read the Distrowatch descriptions of distros you will see that quite a few specify that they are made with older computers in mind, so I think a good solution is waiting for you and your Thinkpad. The trick is in finding it.

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

In general, hardware support will be better the older your machine is, as there has been enough time to get everything working on the driver level.

That being said, the laptop (ca. 2001, I'd guess) is probably too old to have ACPI, so don't be too surprised if there's some problems with power management (esp. hibernation).

There's really no point in using an older distribution just because the machine is older. Most software on Linux actually becomes more efficient over the years. Also for every 'rich' application there is always a lightweight alternative.

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

Tried to download this and the install stopped at 135mb of 600+.....took all night.

do you know of a good download site where it wont take 24hrs to download?

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

My Daughters' laptop is a Thinkpad X20 PIII 600mhz, W/380 meg ram running Linux Mint quite well, she has been using it this way for 2 years now, so your X22 is more than enough to run it.

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

This sentence is years old. Please give your console a chance and type top, if you have an equivalent(*) desktop running with Gnome, KDE and Xfce.

(*) for example: don't activate a Network Manager in Gnome if you haven't it running in Xfce or activate all panel applets in KDE if you haven't running any applets in Gnome or Xfce and vice versa.

Xfce feels a bit faster if you open for example Thunar with few files in a directory. If you have a lot of files in a directory, Thunar cache as fast as Nautilus as Konqueror: every file manager feels and caches slow 1st time with an usual PC (~1ghz+, ~256mb+, ~80gb+), even Rox-Filer with Fluxbox

And please don't tell me you use Dillo instead of Firefox to save memory because you use Xfce... ;)

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

For all the basics like word processing and web browsing, Ubuntu is very very easy to install and use. Anyone who has used Windows should be completely at home on Ubuntu.

Re: Linux Os on desktop
 

i use freespire. it's based on ubuntu, and includes dvd,mp3, etc support. in that way it's similar to mint, but i couldn't get ubuntu or mint installed on my system