Linux Mint 16 "Petra"

[Topper]

Have tried Kwheezy on a couple of old pc's and two old laptops but it seems the processors in them cannot handle it, I have managed to have a bit of a play though on Live Kwheezy from DVD and it seems to be well appointed

 

[excollier]

KWheezy is not for old equipment, or less than 1.5GB ram, realistically, unless you strip packages out of it, but that defeats the purpose. It still, fully featured, idles at around 600MB ram compared to a similarly feature rich Windows 7 which idles around 1.3GB ram, so it is very light by comparison.
Lubuntu or similar is the way to go for old (former XP) machines, a friend of mine has an old netbook, 512 ram, Lubuntu boots to desktop on it in 7 seconds.
For me, personally, KWheezy has ended my distro hopping, and the need to ever use Windows again (at home), so goodbye Micro$oft, game over.
Other Linux distros could easily be built up to a similar level of included packages and functionality (see how much that would cost with Windows, done legally), but KWheezy does this out of the box, so why bother

 

[sonnetpete]

Have downloaded KWheezy, burnt it to a disc, created a bootable USB stick and loaded it from that onto my spare laptop, which came with Windows Vista and is running an AMD Athlon X2 64 with 3.6Gb of memory. Took a while to boot up and load and after was a tiny bit stuttery.

It certainly comes with all the bells and whistles, Firefox and it's own browser, loads of system info and more programs than you could ever need I think. If I was to use it, I'd want to delete some of the ones I'd never find a use for. Looks good though, much better than anything Microsmurft has produced. Jury is still out as to whether it will end up on a hard drive though as I think Cinnamon 16 has the edge, especially if you just want to surf, play the occasional game and use an office package.

 

[Lazarus]

Sounds like you've just saved me some time, Pete.

My next project will be a fresh install of Mint 17 when it is released in two or three weeks.

 

[hexah]

Have downloaded KWheezy . . . Looks good though, much better than anything Microsmurft has produced. Jury is still out as to whether it will end up on a hard drive though as I think Cinnamon 16 has the edge, especially if you just want to surf, play the occasional game and use an office package.

If you get a second internal hard drive, it can be a small and cheap one, you could use the original one for all your files (don't forget to have external backups, I use bluray and usb hdd for that) and you can change the operating system any time you like on the new one.

 

[sonnetpete]

If you get a second internal hard drive, it can be a small and cheap one, you could use the original one for all your files (don't forget to have external backups, I use bluray and usb hdd for that) and you can change the operating system any time you like on the new one.

Can already do that as the spare laptop has three Linux flavours on the boot menu, while this one has two.....obviously nothing I have stored on my desktop shows up in the other flavours but I can still access all stored files.....I also have a 1TB media player that could be pressed into service as a USB hard drive.....

 

[hexah]

Sounds good.

Entertainingly complex as Mr Tivù might say.

I've generally tried to avoid multiboots with windows and linux, though its easier if it is varieties of linux.

 

[Lazarus]

I ran Win 7 and Ubuntu as dual-boot for a while. Hated Ubuntu's "Unity" Interface (Doesn't everyone?) and replaced Ubuntu with Mint.

It was that last act which finally made me see the light and ditch Micros*t for ever.

Catharsis, or what.

 

[hexah]

I think the consensus is that ubuntu is dull. No one seems to like it.

Still, I am stuck with windoze for DVB Viewer.

 

[Lazarus]

Yep. No system is going to tick all the boxes for everyone and it's certainly the case that a fair few "specialist" applications don't come with Linux flavours.

But the number of users is growing all the time, so presumably authors will increasingly look to produce multi-platform offerings.

 

[sonnetpete]

I've now installed KWheezy on the spare laptop and had a chance to delve a little deeper. Big bonus to have Google Earth included. Loads of games and so many screensavers it warrants an alphabetical list (currently loaded is the 'bouncing cow'). Many, many programs that look too complicated for me to ever use them. The KWeezy browser is pretty good but they include Firefox as well. There's a neat little desktop app showing cpu/memory etc but also your up and download speed in realtime. Lots to like about it for sure.

 

[mbsnr]

The big(ish) issue for those wanting to put Linux on newer hardware (and retain dual boot) is UEFI by all accounts. I only use Mint 16 at home and can live without MS Windows for everything except one of the kids electronic devices. The trouble is my netbook is nearing the end of it's useful life and a replacement either has me buying into Win8 (with UEFI) and then either attempting to dual boot without wiping it or getting a refurb/2nd hand laptop and not caring about the Windows that's on it...

 

[Lazarus]

For those, like me, who didn't know what UEFI meant, here's a nice article which not only demystifies it, but discusses implications for Linux Users.

 

[sonnetpete]

Interesting article, though I don't pretend to have comprehended it fully. It does explain why, when confronted by the BIOS, I decided to stop trying to load KWeezy onto my Windows 8 netbook last night (though with a little perseverence I probably could have). I was toying with the idea of building a 'bare bones' desktop computer so I could run a tuner card and operate the whole thing under Linux. I suppose that's still possible but it's made me think twice about it.

 

[Lazarus]

I've done a bit more searching and it looks (Unsurprisingly) as if solutions are already available/in the offing.

A problem to resolve if and when it's met, not before, methinks.

But the idea of Microsoft controlling Keys strikes me as hugely anti-competitive, in principle.

 

[hexah]

But the idea of Microsoft controlling Keys strikes me as hugely anti-competitive, in principle.

Yes, for the billionth time Microsoft have created yet another anti-competitive non-user friendly nightmare. Its why so many followers of tech hate Microsoft so much, its not just the awful bloat, the sluggishness, lack of basic file utilities, etc etc.

 

[hexah]

I was toying with the idea of building a 'bare bones' desktop computer so I could run a tuner card and operate the whole thing under Linux. I suppose that's still possible but it's made me think twice about it.

Always a great idea.

There is bound to be a few bits and pieces you can reuse. Any old case will do. One important thing is not to get the cheapest PCU but get a reasonably priced good unit like a Corsair CX. The components are much more durable for a longer life and the fan is quiet.

 

[PaulR]

For those, like me, who didn't know what UEFI meant, here's a nice article which not only demystifies it, but discusses implications for Linux Users.

No conspiracy here but trying to view the link my IE8 crashed and recovered twice and then gave me the error message "We were unable to return you to techradar.com."