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Best Linux OS?
- Thread starter sobe
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2003
Fedora is more or less the "windows" version of linux.
it doesnt get much easier then fedora.
it doesnt get much easier then fedora.
OP
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2005
- Thread Starter
- #3
So, what would be something easy to dive into for a Linux n00b? As I want to get into Linux, but just haven't. Now is the perfect time, I recently threw a PSU in an old rig.
366MHz Celeron
STB Velocity 128 4MB PCI vid card
ISA slot SoundBlaster sound card
336MB SDRAM
AOpen mobo
If that helps for specs on deciding. It currently has WinXP Pro on it.
366MHz Celeron
STB Velocity 128 4MB PCI vid card
ISA slot SoundBlaster sound card
336MB SDRAM
AOpen mobo
If that helps for specs on deciding. It currently has WinXP Pro on it.
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2001
- Location
- Yorkshire, UK
sobe said:
On a machine of that age, Gnome, KDE or any large desktop environment will feel a bit sluggish, you'd be better using a lighter DE/Window manager than the default in Fedora/Ubuntu (Gnome). Xubuntu is a version of Ubuntu that uses the XFCE Desktop Environment, a more lightweight DE, though not as cut down as something like Fluxbox.
I'd recommend Ubuntu (also Kubuntu or Xubuntu) as a good beginners distro, it is based on Debian. It is easy to install and provides the apt-get package manager from Debian, making it easy to install/upgrade packages and their dependencies.
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2002
well that is certinly somewhat of a limited system. how much ram is installed. as mentioned the biggest bottleneck will be your WM. if you just want something you can toy with to get a feel for working around linux any distro will work. however id definatly avoid suse 10.1, dont get me wrong its a wonderful OS and i have it installed on a few systems but YAST certinly bogs down slower coputers. you could use KDE but you will definatly want to minimise the number of extras that you throw at it. disable desktop and menu special effects. and a few of its fancier functions and its good. ive not tried Ubuntu but ive heard of it alot on this forum particularly. ive had good luck with older versions of Mandriva (previously mandrake).
i would also say ubuntu, kubuntu, or xubuntu. These are all pretty easy to grasp and userfriendly distro's and the community is huge and helpful which makes things much easier for newbs.
another distro you may want to consider is PclinuxOS, i had it installed on a 300mhz p2 for a while and it worked fine.
also, PcBSD is a very nice os and is very easy to use. (although not linux, it is a BSD which is very similar from an end user standpoint.)
another distro you may want to consider is PclinuxOS, i had it installed on a 300mhz p2 for a while and it worked fine.
also, PcBSD is a very nice os and is very easy to use. (although not linux, it is a BSD which is very similar from an end user standpoint.)
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2003
- Location
- Canberra, Down Under
Or just skip over Ubuntu and go straight for vanilla Debian Etch. Works out-of-the-box on most systems (with the usual exception of accelerated graphics drivers) I've put it on.
I'd say avoid Fedora. I've seen so many people (including very Linux-savvy people) having problems with it, from broken dependencies to incorrectly installed software to system instability. Most of it seems to stem from them trying to force a Windows-style (or in some cases, a Red Hat style which is different from both Windows and other Linux distributions) way of doing things onto software that is not designed for it.
I'd say avoid Fedora. I've seen so many people (including very Linux-savvy people) having problems with it, from broken dependencies to incorrectly installed software to system instability. Most of it seems to stem from them trying to force a Windows-style (or in some cases, a Red Hat style which is different from both Windows and other Linux distributions) way of doing things onto software that is not designed for it.
OP
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2005
- Thread Starter
- #9
Thanks for all the input =D
I think I'll just try the Ubuntu. And yes, the system is limited, yet it can run WinXP Pro at a pretty decent pace, thus the reason I would like to use it as a test machine so I can get into the basics of Linux
I think I'll just try the Ubuntu. And yes, the system is limited, yet it can run WinXP Pro at a pretty decent pace, thus the reason I would like to use it as a test machine so I can get into the basics of Linux
sobe said:I am looking for a relatively easy to use Linux OS.
I was told Ubuntu is pretty easy to use and understand. I wish to expand into the Linux field ^_^
Or, should I just go get Fedora?
Suggestions are welcome
My personal recommendation would be to use Slackware. Slackware is excellent, especially for gaining experience with Linux. I'm not going to tell you to use Ubuntu though, because I feel you are cradled with Ubuntu, because it does just about all the work for you, which allows you no real time to gain experience with Linux itself.
Mr.Guvernment said:
Fedora is absolutely horrible, due to the fact that the software is all RPM-Based, and it is merely a memory hog on the PC.
Depending on how much time you want to invest, tspier2 is absolutely right. When I was an undergrad, I spent every night for a week installing and configuring Gentoo. I learned more that one week than in the six years thereafter. If you are single, no kids, school or one job, go for Slackware or Gentoo. If time is an issue, stick to Ubuntu and expand as your needs or interests grow. I use Ubuntu on my clients now because it is quick, easy and everything works out of the box (plus my wife doesn't enjoy, or have the patience for, the thrill of compiling my own kernel).tspier2 said:My personal recommendation would be to use Slackware. Slackware is excellent, especially for gaining experience with Linux. I'm not going to tell you to use Ubuntu though, because I feel you are cradled with Ubuntu, because it does just about all the work for you, which allows you no real time to gain experience with Linux itself.
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2006
- Location
- Baltimore, MD
Agreed with the two post above, slackware or gentoo if you have time and patience to learn. Ubuntu is really user friendly from what i'm seeing, and it also has a great community.
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2002
I would not use Gentoo mainly because of the system specs. A slow system like that will take forever to compile packages. You should stick with a distro that has binary packages available like Debian and it's derivatives (Ubuntu, et. al.), or possibly PC-BSD, FreeBSD, or NetBSD. I think that the BSD's perform better on older systems, and you can easily add binary packages by using pkg_add, or PBI's in PC-BSD.
tspier2 said:
Have'nt tried Fedora, but I run some services (named) fine on virtuals with 128 - 256MB ram... Don't notice a huge differance between it and other distro's, but you might have to stop extra services from starting up automatically.
Once you get used to rpm it's not too bad, and ofcourse you are not forced to use it.
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2005
There is something wrong with every Distro. I think the problem with each is significant enough that it makes it hard to use it normally. For this reason I switched to FreeBSD. Its harder sometimes, but it rarely breaks.
- Joined
- May 17, 2005
- Location
- High Desert, Calif.
For my purposes ubuntu/kubuntu works great(doing SMP folding). I love apt-get...but hate dependency nightmare with Fedora Core 6.
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2005
Sorry for the threadjack, but
<threadjack on>
I wanna use linux on my main rig for seti@home (winders is acting wierd and I have to wait till january to go back to my old house in CT and pick up my winders cd). Should i use ubuntu/kubuntu like ihrsetrdr?
<Threadjack off>
<threadjack on>
I wanna use linux on my main rig for seti@home (winders is acting wierd and I have to wait till january to go back to my old house in CT and pick up my winders cd). Should i use ubuntu/kubuntu like ihrsetrdr?
<Threadjack off>
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