Simple Linux OS with a browser, email and Youtube for an old person?

Rainmaker · 9 Apr 2014 at 22:42

Woden said:
Xubuntu is worth a shot too. XFCE is pretty light.

Getting Linux really, really light can be done if you dont mind spending a night or two on it. Look at Arch and Gentoo.

If it's an XP laptop I second XFCE. My choice is Linux Mint XFCE though, as it's much nicer on the eyes and you could be forgiven for mistaking it for MATE if you don't look too closely. It's also mega light.

Failing that try something like ArchBang which has a super fast OpenBox DE and has auto-updating menus unlike CrunchBang.

warren_1979 · 10 Apr 2014 at 11:38

Quick update.

I tried Lubuntu and it worked! At first it was doing the same as elementary - not booting from the boot cd and just giving me a blinking cursor. Luckily I read a post on the internet from some geezer with the exact same laptop and same problem and he used the boot cd within XP and installed a custom boot loader then rebooted and used the bootloader to choose Lubuntu, so I did that it it booted from the CD and I installed Lubuntu!

Loving it so far. The only problem I have is that I tried to install Dropbox and it just keeps syncing and when I close the terminal the icon in the system tray disappears. I really don't know what I am doing when it comes to Linux.

Can anyone recommend a Ubuntu beginners guide for stuff like installing programs and using the terminal.

Cheers.

Rainmaker · 10 Apr 2014 at 11:57

warren_1979 said:
Quick update.

I tried Lubuntu and it worked! At first it was doing the same as elementary - not booting from the boot cd and just giving me a blinking cursor. Luckily I read a post on the internet from some geezer with the exact same laptop and same problem and he used the boot cd within XP and installed a custom boot loader then rebooted and used the bootloader to choose Lubuntu, so I did that it it booted from the CD and I installed Lubuntu!

Loving it so far. The only problem I have is that I tried to install Dropbox and it just keeps syncing and when I close the terminal the icon in the system tray disappears. I really don't know what I am doing when it comes to Linux.

Can anyone recommend a Ubuntu beginners guide for stuff like installing programs and using the terminal.

Cheers.

Glad to hear you got it sorted. Check your Trust email account.

tbh · 10 Apr 2014 at 18:00

New long term support versions of Ubuntu being released later this month incidentally, and elementary OS 3.

jcr · 14 Apr 2014 at 08:39

I'm using mint. It's quite easy to get to grips with and has a good forum for support

tomb.raid-er · 16 Apr 2014 at 07:49

I personally would not choose Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Elementary as they are far to different to Windows XP.

I think you made a good choose with Lubuntu. PCLinuxOS or ZorinOS that Grimley mentioned are also good choices.

jsmoke · 16 Apr 2014 at 12:23

Puppy is simple. Maybe too simple.

Rainmaker · 18 Apr 2014 at 18:04

OP here's another great guide from ubuntuguide.org which I couldn't remember the link to when I last replied. I will email you anyway, but for the sake of anyone who finds the thread in future:

Ubuntu Guide's Wiki.

warren_1979 · 18 Apr 2014 at 23:28

Cheers Rainmaker.

Those guides will come in super handy while I prepare to move over to Ubuntu. Many thanks!

Just a quick update on my dads netbook. It was running XP remember and its a really old thing running with a single core Atom processor. He was going on at me 'I'm going to get a Chromebook, I'm going to get a Chromebook' and I was like 'just wait a few days will you while I put elementary on your netbook, just wait and see what you think'.

Well I put elementary on at the weekend and my dad was pretty skeptical when I gave him the netbook back, but he has since changed his tune and loves the thing! It does everything he needs and runs a lot better than XP. Score! He saved £200 to boot.

CaptainCrash · 18 Apr 2014 at 23:56

warren_1979 said:
Just a quick update on my dads netbook. It was running XP remember and its a really old thing running with a single core Atom processor. He was going on at me 'I'm going to get a Chromebook, I'm going to get a Chromebook' and I was like 'just wait a few days will you while I put elementary on your netbook, just wait and see what you think'.

Well I put elementary on at the weekend and my dad was pretty skeptical when I gave him the netbook back, but he has since changed his tune and loves the thing! It does everything he needs and runs a lot better than XP. Score! He saved £200 to boot.

Elementary is the dogs whatsits; it's "Ubuntu done right" IMO, even more so than Mint. It's made as simple as possible but no simpler (to quote Einstein), it looks fabulous out-of-the-box with no tinkering, and as the icing on the cake it seems faster in my experience than any of the other Ubuntu derivatives, particularly on low-spec hardware, apart from the depressingly ugly Lubuntu.

I can honestly say it's the first Linux distro I've come across that I'd genuinely be happy using on a day-to-day basis, not just as a zero-cost alternative for old hardware which couldn't justify the expense of a Windows licence, but as a slick, attractive, functional OS in its own right.

tbh · 20 Apr 2014 at 14:58

CaptainCrash said:
Elementary is the dogs whatsits

Just installed it on a friend's netbook because her copy of Win 7 starter had become corrupted. Had a few problems initially because the right click function on the touchpad wouldn't work, but a quick bit of Googling revealed that it's a common Ubuntu problem and a fix was found.

Working perfect now and she loves it, runs much faster than Win 7 did and makes a humble acer netbook look like a mini Apple product. She was skeptical when I told her that she didn't need to install an antivirus, but overall I think I've won a new convert.

lurkio · 21 Apr 2014 at 15:09

Zorin is pretty good I have put it on several customers laptops that had worn
windows keys and most were very happy with it (it looks like windows)

Outcast · 22 Apr 2014 at 15:23

If the laptop is capable enough then just install Ubuntu.

My 70 year old in-laws asked me to put it on their machine as XP was doing weird things.

It's been 3 months now and they said they MUCH prefer Unity bar over XP style.

Evil-I · 7 May 2014 at 17:21

Hades said:
Mint.

+1

emu · 8 May 2014 at 09:52

ubuntu 14.04 is superb if you bin unity

they must have done something with the kernel and power options as every other os including windows really stressed out the fan and made my laptop really hot

ubuntu running cairo dock and the fan is hardly kicking in and the heat is reduced loads

install infinality as well to improve the fonts

http://www.webupd8.org/2013/06/better-font-rendering-in-linux-with.html

then install this

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2014/01/iris-flat-gtk-theme-for-linux

and this
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/08/moka

and you end up with the best looking os thats available at the mo

my distro hopping ended after doing this and im talking probably about 30 different distros this year

windows 8 is gone on all my machines now and i have yet to find a program that i cant find an equivalent to in ubuntu

even my football streaming works flawless now (acestream)

Totality · 10 May 2014 at 14:49

I also found Ubuntu 14.04 to run better battery life wise. Can't stand Unity and came across a few bugs in 14.04 so waiting for Mint 17 or Elementary OS to come out based on 14.04 but with no Unity nonsense.