Want a reletively user-friendly distro

SilverTongue

SilverTongue

SilverTongue

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Basically my GF's laptop has nothing but hassle running when running windows.

She bought it off my Dad about 8 months ago but he was running Linux (not sure which distro, and he can't remember either.)

So just after a Linux distro that is fairly easy to use for her, will only be used for browsing and a little bit of word proccessing and spreadsheet work. Possibly also msn.

I know which software i'd put on there for what she needs (Firefox, OpenOffice.org, aMSN, and possibly Gimp for the little bit of photo tweaking she does)

So which distro would you reccomend (my thoughts would be either ubuntu or kubuntu) but open to suggestions, also maybe suggestions for other software other than my list.

Thanks in advance
 
Celeron M 410 @ 1.46 GHz, 2Gb Memory, S3 Video chip using 32mb on the ram, 40Gb HDD.

I think it is a Fujitsu AMILO Pro 2055 but my dad upgraded a couple of things on it.

In theory it should run XP with no problems, but even with a clean install it is ****
 
It's probably the CPU if it's so slow. I assume you already ran all the hardware tests on it to rule that out?

Nothing wrong with ubuntu as you said. The hardware compatibility should be OK with most things, though to get 3D acceleration with that chip you might have to fiddle a bit. Anything like ubuntu or based on it should be able to handle that though. With 2GB RAM the normal release ought to work fine, or you can use kubuntu, but I don't like the interface as much, it's a bit nastier to use.

Have you tried windows 7?
 
yes, run various hardware tests that my dad e.g. memtest, one that tests CPU(can't remember whats its called though) one that tests GFX(again can't remember which one) all came back clear, tried Windows 7 (Build 7100) ran a little better however couldn't find ANY compatible drivers for the graphics.

Would you recommend the software package above or something different

btw thanks for the help mate
 
As long as you've run a hard disk test. I find that older laptop HDDs have a very high failure rate, and they often show poor speed and errors before they die, sometimes indefinitely.

Shame about the gfx, I doubt the Fujitsu siemens site will offer anything above XP. Which S3 chip is it? If it's a chrome S25 or S27 it should work with XP and vista, and although there are no drivers for 7, you could certainly try the vista ones on 7. Also, the windows 7 upgrade advisor might help identify if there is a problem with that chip. I think it should work fine on ubuntu, so I see no reason not to give it a try.

For students, you can get windows 7 for £30 now, which is a good deal. To try the final release first you can install without a key or try the enterprise 90-day trial. As you know, Ubuntu is free and a new version has just been released.
 
MINT is certainly one of the most user friendly linux options. Under the hood it is ubuntu which gives you access to all the ubuntu staff + debian. The gnome desktop also looks much nicer than ubuntu. The celeron processor could be a problem although you have 2 Mbyte ram which should be sufficient.

I have installed mint on a HP mini 2133 with 1 Gbyte ram and for office applications it runs fine.
 
any distro really, my distro of choice is Debian, but anything with GNOME desktop environment.. KDE will kill it for sure!

put it this way its the only thing I would install on a Netbook!
 
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