PureBasic Forums - English

I don't want to start anything, but I've been looking over the distros of Linux for my ME latptop (to give it new life). It is still in good shape but won't do much since ME is out of date.

I installed Ubuntu on it and it works great (even recognized and signed onto the wireless net over the wireless card). PS2 mouse doesn't seem to work, but usb does.

I'm now looking at Freespire even though I am partial to the GNOME environment, it seems too sparce on settings though (GNOME does).

What are some good Linux distros that you can load without being a GURU or going on a driver hunt?

PB&J Lover wrote:I don't want to start anything

Then that was the wrong question to ask.

Seriously, Ubuntu.

Ubuntu? Is that because it is GNOME? It seems KDE has more settings available for the system.

I like Gnome much more but if you like you can always use Kubuntu which comes with KDE

openSUSE 10.1 is easier to configure, but there is no best distro

I don't want to start anything

I don't want to start anything

Then you should get Ubuntu. Many people has found that the default install cd doesn't start for them.

Straker wrote:

PB&J Lover wrote:I don't want to start anything

Then that was the wrong question to ask.

Seriously, Ubuntu.

Yeh, it's so stable that it wipes your home directory when it hibernates!

ts-soft wrote:openSUSE 10.1 is easier to configure, but there is no best distro

Easier than what?

>> Easier than what?
Easier than all other distro, that i have tested.

ts-soft wrote:>> Easier than what?
Easier than all other distro, that i have tested.

Well, we don't know what you have tested.

It is a hard question to answer. It is easy to get caught up in the selection process. The best thing to do is pick a distro and go with it. For me, it is Ubuntu. What I like about Ubuntu is the fact that it does not come with everything installed right off the bat. The downside to that is you need to know what is available when you get ready to do something not included on the distro CD. That is where the starter guide comes in... Just about anything you can think of is listed there in step-by-step format. I am sure other distros have something like this also - I just don't know about them..

Here is the starter guide's URL if you are interested:
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Dapper

Trond wrote:

ts-soft wrote:>> Easier than what?
Easier than all other distro, that i have tested.

Well, we don't know what you have tested.

(X)(K)Ubuntu
Fedora
Knoppix
Kanotix
and many more

Trond wrote:Yeh, it's so stable that it wipes your home directory when it hibernates!

Really? Not on my laptops. I do this all the time with no problem.

UBUNTU rocks!

Yeah, with Ubuntu you better have broadband.

Beach wrote:

Trond wrote:Yeh, it's so stable that it wipes your home directory when it hibernates!

Really? Not on my laptops. I do this all the time with no problem.

It has "only" happened once, all the files in the home directory were gone after I tried to start after an hibernation. (Sometimes hibernation works, sometimes not.)

Edit: I know people are telling me it's my hardware, but: for hibernation hardware support other than protected mode is not necessary. Drivers that don't support it must be unloaded.

http://www.ubuntu.com/
Ubuntu is probably one of the better newbie distros out there for free.
Plus you can use Gnome, KDE, XFCE or any other Window Manager
you want.

I keep Ubuntu around for testing myself.

http://www.xandros.com/
If you don't mind paying some money, then I recommend Xandros if
you're just coming from the Windows world. It's setup is even easier
than Ubuntu. And it's setup to mimic Windows rather well, making the
switch from Windows to Linux clean and easy. If you get the premium
edition then you get CrossOver Office which is a modified Wine, which
allows you to run quite a lot of Windows program from Linux. Xandros
is a bit strict though with respect to letting users just install anything.

Xandros uses only KDE for it's Window Manager.

I run Xandros Desktop 4 / Home Edition - Premium on three of my
computers here. The Wife's computer, and the house computer that
everyone else uses. Then I dual boot my laptop with XP and Xandros.

Personally, I was tired of the "Linux Distro Game" and went with what
I felt best suited my needs and my expectations. Xandros was the one
that covered just about everything I needed and expected.

You'll have to ask yourself some questions about what you want out of
a Linux and what you expect. Then check out the most common or
most known Linux distros, read up on them and see which one sounds
like it fits your list.

Trust me, you don't want to get into the game of trying every freaking
distro out there and switching from one to another everytime a new
distro pops up. I played that stupid game for a few years and wasted
a lot of time.

You can visit http://www.distrowatch.com/ to find out the latest distros
and read up on them.


-Garrett