Should I install Linux

kalvindeane

kalvindeane

kalvindeane

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As the title says, I'd like to know if it's worth me putting linux on my friend's old desktop and my notebook. The desktop has windows 7, the notebook has xp. Both computers will be used mainly for browsing the net, and the notebook will occasionally be used for uploading/downloading hd vids. Could I expect any performance increase in them for these purposes, or is it not worth the hassle?
 
Linux is completely capable of these tasks, the issue you'll face is getting used to Linux, you're almost guaranteed to get frustrated and give up. Then a year later you try again and see the light.
 
I did use it for ~6months before, but switched to win7 for games on my own desktop, I don't think I'll have trouble using Linux at all; but, the question is; will I see a performance increase in these areas? Bear in mind when I browse the web I run millions of tabs :D
 
I would give Xubuntu a try, I use it on an ultra portable laptop, with a core solo cpu, it's faster than windows in most desktop tasks ...especially moving around the os, using Abiword etc, OpenOffice is a good deal slower of course, probably more akin to launching a recent MS office app on W7. Flash is poor though yes, but it works.

So yes I think you should try it, it can do what you want it to and a lighter weight desktop environment like Xfce which is what Xubuntu uses could work really well for you.

I thought Mint was my personal favourite, which I use on my desktop, but I'm starting to think I like Xubuntu even more in many ways.
 
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Dual boot Windows and Linux. Use linux and then if you don't like it or don't see any performance improvements then just switch back to windows and wipe your linux partition. I would also recommend xubuntu for a lighter choice of distro, based on the fact that you've ubuntu before. If you are wanting to learn a lot and delve a bit deeper with performance improvements then try out ArchLinux.
 
I gave Xubuntu a go for a year, and frankly it's no faster than Gnome, but has less features, such as no samba support in the file browser.

On my netbook it was actually a good deal slower than regular ubuntu, likely do to one or more performance bugs.

I can believe that Crunchbang using fluxbox might be faster, but I'd approach with scepticism.
 
I've used Crunchbang for a bit, it is perhaps a tad faster than Xubuntu ...but really I wouldn't say there is a big difference between Ubuntu, Xunbuntu or Crunchbang in terms of system speed though really. I just like the Xfce environment myself, a lot like Gnome lite really I suppose, but I like Gnome just fine, I've just been messing with different things really, Gnome really feels more complete and robust than the others though.

I don't like KDE very much, I'm sure it works fine though, I gave KDE 4 a go a month or so ago and it seemed very bloated, I didn't like the feel of it at all.
 
I think I was using XFCE just to be different. Sort of; "You're just a n00b who uses the default desktop." at everyone else. But gnome is the default in so many distros because it works.

The next distro I try on a desktop will be gnome based, or maybe I'll go to the other extreme and try fluxbox or something else tiny.

I actually started out with KDE, and Debian. It's based on a better toolkit (Qt, frankly GTK is pants). But the results have always been far less pleasing to look at. And there's too many switches for settings in the GUI. And the less said about KDE4 the better, it's part of the reason I switched to Ubuntu.
 
Apart from games and specific software suites Linux can do as much as windows 7 (and in some cases, more - i.e. Multiple Desktops)
 
Moeks said:
I don't like KDE very much, I'm sure it works fine though, I gave KDE 4 a go a month or so ago and it seemed very bloated, I didn't like the feel of it at all.
Click to expand...

I felt the same, but it is a "cool" desktop environment with lots of "eye-candy".
 
The one thing I find the most ...annoying when using a Windows machine/miss most about Linux is the lack of 'workspaces' the multiple workspaces or desktops makes multitasking so much more streamlined and easier to manage ...Windows has nothing comparable and as far as I know there isn't any program that can really get close to providing that feature on windows ...not in the same seamless and streamlined way that Linux does.

I have no issue with Windows though, I'm not a Windows hater in any way, I like Windows 7 ...I actually had a fine time with Vista too but one major improvement MS could make is to have flexible workspace system like Linux ...once you get used to it, it's really hard to do without.
 
I only really use multiple desktops at work, not so often on my own machine.

I gave up on the standard gnome and KDE implementations and used compiz to get the animations.

I've tried a Windows XP power-toy for multiple desktops, but it's a bit buggy, Excell doesn't like you switching windows around.
 
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