Best distro for guests to use

[Albaholic]

I have a few friends that i would rather not have touch my computer. I have an old 800mhz PIII with 512mb ram. I installed windows on it. But honestly all theyre going to do with it is go on myspace and xanga. So im guessing going with a linux distro would make things a little snappier. I dont ever plan on using this rig. I prefer it to be something i could setup and never have to touch it again. I just dont know what would be best. I dont want them being all confused and asking me questions.

Suggestions welcome

 

[Suicide Al]

personally i'd go with ubuntu or kubuntu. it's easy to set up and i did something similar for my girlfriend over spring break and she hasn't had a problem with it and her knowledge of computers is double click the icon and it works.

 

[Flamed_Chip]

I'd second the recommendation of Ubuntu or Kubuntu, probably leaning more towards Kubuntu as KDE works in a slightly more "Windows style" mannor. It is based on Debian and uses apt package manager, which makes installing and maintaining software easy.

 

[Captain Newbie]

Eh, ubuntu's pretty easy to do, but as far as I can say about guests: Don't. Nobody that you don't want poking around your system has any business on your system.

From a paranoid security perspective, it would probably be wise to not let them on.

 

[Albaholic]

Eh, ubuntu's pretty easy to do, but as far as I can say about guests: Don't. Nobody that you don't want poking around your system has any business on your system.

From a paranoid security perspective, it would probably be wise to not let them on.

I agree, which is why im letting them on this old P3 junker and not my rig
Thanks for the ubuntu suggestions. I was leaning toward that since thats my distro of choice, at least on my laptop.

 

[blkdiamond]

Ubuntu is one of the easiest Linux distros I have used, I would recommend it for your situation.

 

[Gnufsh]

Ubuntu sounds good, but set it up so their user can't use sudo (don't want them messing with anything).

 

[Captain Newbie]

Ubuntu sounds good, but set it up so their user can't use sudo (don't want them messing with anything).

Yeah, forgot to mention that, by default I believe ubuntu adds all the accounts created to /etc/sudoers unless you tell it not to, which is both handy and devastating simultaneously.

 

[Gnufsh]

I suspected that was the case, hence my comment about not letting the guests use sudo. I don't know if Ubuntu has a fuzzy GUI way of editing that file.

 

[Captain Newbie]

I suspected that was the case, hence my comment about not letting the guests use sudo. I don't know if Ubuntu has a fuzzy GUI way of editing that file.

Eh, I think you can gksudo gedit /etc/sudoers (although that does NOT trap any syntax errors and does NOT lock the file like visudo does, although I've gotten away with it) and edit it with gedit, the drool-proof text editor.

 

[JerMe]

Another suggestion on top of everyone else's: Kubuntu + KDE Kiosk Mode?
http://developer.kde.org/documentation/tutorials/kiosk/

 

[=ACID RAIN=]

I have tried PCLinuxOS recently and love it. I really recommend it personally. I haven't tried unbuntu yet, but it seems ok too from what I've read.

 

[Titeuf]

Yeah, forgot to mention that, by default I believe ubuntu adds all the accounts created to /etc/sudoers unless you tell it not to, which is both handy and devastating simultaneously.

Isn't sudo only allowed for the first user created in the installation ?
Ubuntu is a nice choice, but if you don't feel like installing a distro why not use something like Knoppix ?

 

[Albaholic]

I will be installing a distro. Not using a live cd.

 

[khiloa]

You will be installing it once you figure out what you like but you can try a few different liveCD's to see which distrobution you like better than the others a lot quicker than the time to install all the different ones.

btw: Albaholic: Is that avatar your gf/wife?

 

[Misfit138]

I have tried PCLinuxOS recently and love it. I really recommend it personally. I haven't tried unbuntu yet, but it seems ok too from what I've read.

I can't wait to try it too. I tried downloading it overnight (http) but it bombed.
Trying it ftp now as I type.
My favorite distro/easiest I've tried is Ark Linux. Even easier than Kubuntu, and has a 2-click graphical installer...(you can play tetris during the install too )

 

[Albaholic]

You will be installing it once you figure out what you like but you can try a few different liveCD's to see which distrobution you like better than the others a lot quicker than the time to install all the different ones.

btw: Albaholic: Is that avatar your gf/wife?

Oh how i wish

Doesnt really matter what i like. I wont be using it at all. Currently im using ubuntu

 

[Flamed_Chip]

Isn't sudo only allowed for the first user created in the installation ?
Ubuntu is a nice choice, but if you don't feel like installing a distro why not use something like Knoppix ?

Access to sudo using the users normal password is controlled by the admin group I believe. If you belong to it then you can sudo using your normal user password. The first user created during installation is added to this group automatically, subsequent users are not.

 

[itshondo]

Another option is to install Knoppix. Then download and install Opera, with it set to delete all cookies and such when exiting.