Linux for newbie

Wossi

Wossi

Wossi

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Joined
27 Oct 2003
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East Mids.
I "tried" linux a few years ago but never gave it enough time, so figured I would try and install it on my laptop so I have to use it every day, only I have no idea which one would be best for me. Also, how much hassle is there when it comes to laptops?

Thanks.
 
Try Live CD's to find out which one you like.

I suspect your'll end up with a *buntu flavoured distro though. (including Mint)
Being a laptop Xubuntu might be a good choice
 
It depends on the spec of your laptop. Some linux versions are very basic (such as Puppy) for old machines. Check out a website called Distrowatch and try the most popular versions for the best support. I tried about 6 before settling on one for my desktop (Pardus 2008).
 
A search will yield hundreds of threads similar to yours.

Linux is just a kernel and group of core utilities, a Linux distribution is a complete packed OS with kernel, tools and applications etc.

A lot of people reccomend Ubuntu, but it's requirements are steeper than some. The particular distro also depends on your needs and ability to research (this is key) if you aren;t willing to research and use your noodle ,i wouldn't bother.

I recently installed ubuntu on my laptop (Dell insprion 1300) and i had no problems, wirless (with WPA) worked out of box as did sound and graphics, those 3 areas are normally plagued with problems due to crappy/non existent drivers.

You can try a distro chooser: http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/index.php?lang=en

or use distrowatch: http://distrowatch.com/
 
I'll recommend Ubuntu entirely for the fact that it has the most vocal user community, especially its high percentage of beginning and intermediate Linux users. The Ubuntu forums are huge to the point that pretty much any problem you'll experience already has a thread about it. It's got some of the best hardware support, is reasonably stable, and offers a good feature set. It has some of the best howtos written about it, and a lot of time, money, and energy go into making it easy.

You can post up here as well and we can see if we can help you with any issues that may present themselves.
 
Might d'l and give ubunutu and try, just need to check everything on the laptop will work still, I don't see why not as it's only a couple of years old.
 
Wossi said:
Might d'l and give ubunutu and try, just need to check everything on the laptop will work still, I don't see why not as it's only a couple of years old.
Click to expand...

Generally the old ther better for some hardware as it's had more time to mature and kernel modules written for it and/or becom OSS.

You can try it as a livecd before installign anything
 
Just had a play using the livecd and liked it, just in the process of backing up the laptop and creating a recovery cd in case I go to sell it in the future as Acer very kindly don't give you one and expect you to sort it out :o

Checking the Ubuntu forums, it appears that there shouldn't be a problem with my laptop and 8.04 :D
 
All installed with no problems. Just have to transfer all my files over now. I tell a lie, only problem I have is mozbackup doesn't work with linux :( so have to remember all my bookmarks now :(
 
Might give foxmarks a go then. What's everyone use for a mediaplayer? The one that comes as standard doesn't seem to play .ogm files and locks the laptop up meaning a hard restart :(
 
That's rather odd. I use VLC for just about everything. For listening to music for long periods of time I use Rhythmbox as its playlists are better and such. Think if VLC as being like Winamp; small, light, plays lots of stuff. Think of Rhythmbox like iTunes; database-based library search, extensive playlist features.

EDIT: Really, if you want to just migrate a Firefox profile from a Windows installation you can just copy the profile directory from one to another. It'll bring along all your extensions (assuming they aren't Windows-specific, which most aren't), all of your themes, and all of your bookmarks.
 
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Just d/l and installing vlc now, have to say, it seems a lot easier to download and install on linux, sudo apt-get install and it's away :D

EDIT: and vlc is playing the videos :D
 
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Yep, using repositories is a great way of installing software... no worries about dodgy installers. I always find it funny when people say installing software in Linux is too difficult. They've obviously never used a repository-based distro.
 
Umm, that's a little broad for me to come up with any good ideas.

Have you installed ubuntu-restricted-extras? It's a metapackage (a package made of many other packages) that contains loads of useful stuff; restricted codecs, Java, the Mozilla Flash plugin, and more.

You may also be interested in some games. Lincity NG is pretty cool, as is AlienArena, and a few others.
 
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