Friendliest linux distro

Analoguesat

Analoguesat

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Whats the easiest linux distro to get to grips with? Ive got an old laptop at work to play with and it seems a shame just to put xp back onto it

Its not great spec - about 1gig ram and its seen better days.

Dont suggest crunchbang - Ive tried that one and it had roughly the same effect on me that the Vu+ Duo does!

(ie I want to put a pickaxe through the damn thing after about 5 minutes....)
 
I have used a few distributions.A lot use ubuntu.But not really good for a older computer.A favorite is mint.I have peppermint on my computers. It is a leaner version of mint.In fact I have peppermint ice on my netbook.very lean but no longer updated.Still safer than windows though.
 
Mint is probably the one, Ross.

Trouble with Crunchbang is it's so lean it needs a lot of initial setting up - but after that it's a breeze: 20 sec Boot-time and SWMBO loves it (she is NOT PC-Friendly, either). So do I - not for a moment been tempted to try another Distro for our mainstream usage.

So I mentioned it ......................... ^-J


My neighbour has just had an HDD failure - no Restore Media, so he just bought a new Laptop. But he is also going to get a new HDD for the dead Lappie and I am going to put Ubuntu on it for him as Ubuntu has been developed to be an easy transition for disaffected Windoze users with little in-depth knowledge.
 
I set my old Athlon XP2200+ laptop up for my Kids with Pupply Linux. They love it, its easy to use and it has a great gaming environment for kids with a lot of the old 90s games, It also runs very quickly :D

It can be run off a CD initially so you can try it to see if you like it or not.

Nano
 
Puppy is good and quick on older hardware. Ubuntu has a lot of followers. Older CPUs are not PAE compatible ...... PAE (Physical Address Extension) is a feature which allows 32-bit x86 processors to access more than 4GB of memory (RAM). So you'll need to search for non PAE versions. If you want to try that here are instructions h__p://www.webupd8.org/2012/05/how-to-install-ubuntu-1204-on-non-pae.html

I didn't get on too well with that but found a non pae iso which let me try as a live CD (DVD) before installing


h__p://people.canonical.com/~diwic/12.04-nonpae/
 
I'll go +1 for Linux Mint. It's what I went for when moving from Windows. It's very Windows user friendly.
You could also try Linux Lite, or Zorin 6 Lite, which will also be very familiar to Windows users.
Try Distrowatch.com for reviews and links to all the various flavours of linux, very useful site.
I installed Linux Mint 13 Mate onto a 10 year old Compaq Presario 2138ea laptop, with around 650mb ram, and it worked very well.
 
I downloaded peppermint on my lunchbreak & burned it to disk. Booting the laptop onto it was painless & first impressions were quite favourable. I shall have another look when Im not quite so zonked out.
 
Be ready to say goodbye to Windoze forever.........and try different distros before you go for a full install, or dual boot, it gets addictive.
 
Linux mint works well for me. It's based on Ubuntu as well.
 
I only got Fedora to run on my dell and that took some setting up too.
 
I spent yesterday Downloading Mint 14 Cinnamon (Two and a half hours), doing the Checksum thing then creating a Bootable USB Stick ready to fix my neighbour's dead Lappie - I'm a bit ahead of the game now, as I haven't yet had the time to remove the old drive nor get him to order a replacement.

As above, the original plan was Ubuntu, but this Thread prompted me to consider alternatives. My neighbour's idea of surmounting PC difficulties is to smack it hard with his crutches, so I needed to put on an OS that is especially easy for a dodo to comprehend!
 
Encouraged by what I've read on this thread, I've installed Linux Mint 14 (or Nadia I think) on my spare laptop. Very impressed actually, all connected up wirelessly to the interweb thingy seamlessly and just downloaded and installed the updates, which to be fair, did take well over an hour.

I haven't yet reached the level of computer frustration which would lead me to "smacking it hard with my crutch"......which sounds quite painful.......
 
""I haven't yet reached the level of computer frustration which would lead me to "smacking it hard with my crutch"......which sounds quite painful.......""


Dont worry,it'll happen in time!
 
sonnetpete said:
Encouraged by what I've read on this thread, I've installed Linux Mint 14 (or Nadia I think) on my spare laptop. Very impressed actually, all connected up wirelessly to the interweb thingy seamlessly and just downloaded and installed the updates, which to be fair, did take well over an hour.

I haven't yet reached the level of computer frustration which would lead me to "smacking it hard with my crutch"......which sounds quite painful.......
Click to expand...
It will stay up to date fairly seamlessly from now on, and no re-booting after each update.
 
Tivù said:
I spent yesterday Downloading Mint 14 Cinnamon (Two and a half hours), doing the Checksum thing then creating a Bootable USB Stick ready to fix my neighbour's dead Lappie - I'm a bit ahead of the game now, as I haven't yet had the time to remove the old drive nor get him to order a replacement.

As above, the original plan was Ubuntu, but this Thread prompted me to consider alternatives. My neighbour's idea of surmounting PC difficulties is to smack it hard with his crutches, so I needed to put on an OS that is especially easy for a dodo to comprehend!
Click to expand...
Peppermint took 3 minutes on my work system! Didnt even have time to make a cuppa
 
Well even at my new, astonishingly fast 1.02 Mbps Download Speed, Mint 14 is nigh on 900MB.
 
Always had Linux Mint as first boot on my PC, ever since Daryna. Nadya Cinnamon now, tried the Mate version of Nadya but wasn't to my taste. Also in the boot menu is Pinguy (nice simple distro) and the Ubuntu Unity desktop version, which I dislike intensely, so that's due to be wiped.
 
Yes, I find Unity rather gruesome, too. One of the reasons I got rid of Ubuntu in favour of CrunchBang.
 
Tivù said:
One of the reasons I got rid of Ubuntu in favour of CrunchBang.
Click to expand...
I didn't realise you were so influential in the politics of small African republics......I believe Goodluck Jonathon is still President of Nigeria....unless he is the next Linux release......
 
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