New to Linux

benjo

benjo

benjo

Soldato
Joined
4 Sep 2005
Posts
12,792
Location
London
Hi there,

I've decided to install ubuntu 11.04 on my laptop, as all I use it for is browsing the web and the occasional film.

Firstly, is Mint worth a look as well? I wasn't a fan of the Unity side bar so I'm using ubuntu classic at the moment with Docky.

Secondly, are there any "essential" programs I should have, or anywhere I can have a browse? The Ubuntu Software Center seems a bit unorganized.

Lastly, when I run

Code: 
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

in terminal, I get an error towards the end

W: Failed to fetch http://ubuntu.org.ua/getdeb/Packages 404 Not Found

E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
Click to expand...

Any other tips and advice is welcome :) I really don't know where to start!
 
Its not fair for me to comment on mint as iv never used it . Though im a virgin to linux and never knowing anything but windows . I took the plunge n downloaded ubuntu on me spare HD space . I can say I spend more time using linex ubuntu than windows 7 . Prehaps because it is a challenge and of course it is free source . But as I grow into it I gain knowlege to use it and spend more time in ubuntu than windows . I can say im nearly at the point if windows was plug pulled I could be self sufficiant in linux . Stick with it and if more people can become independent from windows , then better for all !
 
Hi Benjo

Yeah Mint is well worth a look. I used to be a big Ubuntu user and still use it every now and again but started using Mint a few years ago and the Distro has really come a long way. It's much more user friendly, in my opinion without the Unity interface even tho Unity gets a harsh wrap and does work well when you get used to it. Granted Mint 11 doesn't look as polished out of the box as Ubuntu but its Gnome2 environment is highly customizable and I personally think the Mint community (forums and IRC chat etc) is much more helpful to Linux newcomers than Ubuntu. Mint 11 is based on the 10.10 Ubuntu Distro and runs pretty much everything that you can run on Ubuntu.

Mint 11 out of the box,
mintupdate.jpg


Mint 11 after playing around with it,
screenshotdh.png


Linux Mint has a better performance too. Even if you have a powerful graphics card, the quality of proprietary drivers available aren't great, so, Unity having features that take advantage of the graphics card, many users may feel a significant drop in performance.

As far as software goes its worth trying as much as you can, I use Rhythmbox for music, VLC and Gnome Mplayer for Movies, Pidgin as a messenger service (MSN, Facebook Chat etc), Deluge for torrents, OpenShot for video editing, XBMC (is great if you want to use your system as a media center), Compiz and Emerald for customizing Gnome2.
 
I think it is wrong to pigeon hole new linux people. I suggest trying the following :

Opensuse
Ubuntu
Kubuntu
Mint
Fedora
Debian
Pclinuxos
Mandriva

There are others but they are the most popular.

Don't let anyone tell you what to use, try for your self and decide
 
Oxy said:
I think it is wrong to pigeon hole new linux people. I suggest trying the following :

Opensuse
Ubuntu
Kubuntu
Mint
Fedora
Debian
Pclinuxos
Mandriva

There are others but they are the most popular.

Don't let anyone tell you what to use, try for your self and decide
Click to expand...

lol agree but i wasnt telling him what to use, HE asked if he should try Mint, i replied to that question and listed the what i thought the benefits of Mint are, and clearly stated it was MY OPINION, so i also wasnt telling him what to do. Id at PinguyOs to that list too!
 
Oxy said:
I think it is wrong to pigeon hole new linux people. I suggest trying the following :

Opensuse
Ubuntu
Kubuntu
Mint
Fedora
Debian
Pclinuxos
Mandriva

There are others but they are the most popular.

Don't let anyone tell you what to use, try for your self and decide
Click to expand...

Let the distro-hopping commence! :p

You're absolutely right though, if time and bandwidth issues are not a problem then I'd thoroughly recommend trying all of the above. Running them in a virtual machine before doing full installs is also very useful.
 
Thanks for the replies :) Is it worth having a certain partition layout for linux? For example having the OS on a 20gb partition, and then my home folder stuff on the rest? My laptop has a 250gb hdd.

deadite66 said:
getdeb repository is unstable from my experience, is it one you've added?
Click to expand...

I believe so yes, I did read around after googling the error that the repository is often offline.
 
benjo said:
Thanks for the replies :) Is it worth having a certain partition layout for linux? For example having the OS on a 20gb partition, and then my home folder stuff on the rest? My laptop has a 250gb hdd.
Click to expand...

Yeah. Say 20 GB for the root partition (some distros seem to use much less than that, others recommend about 20 GB). 512 MB for swap. The rest should be home. If you intend to do a bit of distro-hopping (which I thoroughly recommend) you will quickly be very grateful for keeping your home partition separate!

I believe so yes, I did read around after googling the error that the repository is often offline.
Click to expand...

As you're new to Linux, I'd recommend using your distro's graphical tools to upgrade your system. Don't be afraid of the command line though! Learn it at your own pace. It's extremely powerful.
 
i would recommend having / and /home as separate partitions, makes upgrades, reinstalls and backup/restore much easier.

i have 12GB for / and have near 6GB free on my htpc, 20GB is overkill imo.
 
Last edited:
I use Ubuntu on my lappy. I've tried them all and i amreally getting into Ubuntu again. Unity is actually quite good when you've got used to it. It makes sense.

As above for partitions. I use 15GB for / (the main partition) and the rest of the drive for /home.
 
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