Which Linux To Use On Laptop For Practice?

[Middo]

Hi All, I have an old Laptop in which I wish to install a version of Linux and a GUI on to basically get some practise etc. with the Linux experience. I have ordered a Pandora and have many years experience with DOS and windows, but non in Linux. Which version etc. would you recomend to get the closest feel to that as the Pandora will have. Even perhaps to run some of the same software on both???

Thanks in advance.

 

[Squidge]

xubuntu?

 

[Dosfish]

Depends on how much ram you have, most (not all) distros have a preferred window manager, like ubuntu = gnome, kubuntu = kde and so on, i personally recommend gentoo if you want to learn all the ins and outs, the buntus generally speaking tries to minimise the use of the command line but are closer to looking and feeling like windows.

<-- Insert My Opinion -->
Personally I dislike debian based distros, I hate having to do things the debian way, I want my linux distro to behave how I want it to, currently I have gentoo with and xfce wm desktop and I run archlinux on my laptop with openbox. (kde and gnome are too bloated and memory hungry for my liking).

 

[crasherball]

maybe u should try ubuntu first to get the "windows-like"-experience first
and then switch to something else later...

u know u can just burn the live-cds of ubuntu (or almost any distro) to start it without even installing it....
so basicly u can try a new distro every day (if u happen to have a rewritable cd lol )

 

[gruso]

If you're completely new to Linux, it's not a bad idea to grab a Linux related mag with cover disc from the newsagent. You'll often get several distros included, which you can run as live CDs to get the feel of. And of course, you get nicely written articles and guides.

Naturally you can find all this stuff without forking out for a mag, but it does take the pain out of the process.

 

[Mutilator]

ive only used ubuntu, fedora and red hat so no idea how the others perform but some good suggestions so far. ubuntu is good but i always found slow on my laptop with 1gb ram.

 

[butscharoni]

I just recently started using ubuntu on my laptop.
As a total linux noob, I would recommend using a windows like system like ubuntu, because it means you will get a working enviroment to actually use the pc in daily life, but naturally you will get enough minor problems with hardware or software as to be forced to dig under the hood and learn something about linux.

I tried switching from windows several times now and it just does not work, if you got a linux pc where nothing works like you want it to and you can only use that thing for playing around with the OS. You do that for some hours, then get back to WIndows to do some real work and never really learned anything.

 

[mindlord]

I'd like to strongly recommend avoiding laptops as a first impression machine for Linux as well. They tend to have lots of fiddly bits of hardware that may not work correctly out of the box. A good example of this is the Fujitsu S6010's Intel video card. Everyone says it should work out of the box with *buntu, instead you get a corrupted display that looks like you've started a chain reaction that's about to cause your laptop to meltdown. Bleeding edge PC's are also problematic.

Not to discourage you, just do some research first.

 

[sindbad]

You'll be fine with ubuntu, since you don't have to install anything. Try the livecd and if you like it you can just install it on the windows hard drive, without repartitioning (just insert the ubuntu cd when in windows).

PS: you shouldn't need any linux experience and there are vast differences between different linux GUIs anyway

 

[hessiess]

Arch.

 

[eksasol]

jJust install Wubi to your Windows computer. it allows dual boot ubuntu, but it does not erase anything from your harddrive and you can uninstall the operating system from windows.

 

[Middo]

Thanks for all the advice and input. Soooooo many distros arround for Linux. Have decided to checkout xubuntu 8.04.1.

Cheers, Middo

 

[Yannick]

Thanks for all the advice and input. Soooooo many distros arround for Linux. Have decided to checkout xubuntu 8.04.1.

Cheers, Middo

good choice, that one has the most chance of being the *first* full blown replacement for the default pandora linux (it'll probably be 8.10 by then)

 

[pcklee123]

Do try out mamona on Xubuntu. It comes with qemu-arm-eabi which allows you to run arm binaries transparently.

 

[paddy]

i started using ubuntu 2 weeks ago and have had to format and reinstall 12 times now but the fact i have even bothered 12 times is that i am finding it a great os but very buggy ,the main problems are installing software and drivers,when installing it will either crash at 70% installing and mess everything up or once installed some software seems to mess up the memory settings or something as once you change desktop stuff and reboot it loads up totaly different stuff,im on about compiz btw.

the drivers are i found for my laptop really good apart from the intel 850i graphics chip,the standard driver gets everything looking nice but cant run games or anything via open gl without it crashing and rendering
a reboot not booting up either.

the plus is that wih ubuntu theres boot up options that repair half installed software when theres a system crash and a driver reset option
these seem to have worked for me the most ,if they didnt work or were not an option to use ,meaning using the commandline to run these fixes i would have had to reinstall prolly 40 times in last 2 weeks.

i do really love it when its working ,even tho i cant get a game to run ,nor an emulator i still like it but im one of these people who like messing around with stuff.

 

[Middo]

I am still installing it actually. Been going for a while flashing between a blank screen and an orange screen with a funng looking hippie bird picture or something. I am not sure if it is stuck in a loop and need rebooting or just to let it go. I guess I will just let it go. No status bar but which is interesting.
Thanks for the comments about the multiple install and problems you have had. etc.

 

[emip]

Paddy, it sounds like you might have a hardware issue if the installer is crashing halfway through. Have you tried to leave the memory tester (memtest) running overnight? You might also find it useful to try the ubuntu forums. These problems are quite common and usually fixable.

Also, what memory settings could get messed up?

 

[paddy]

my desktop settings would reset and in some cases change to completly new settings for compiz,the rightclick on the desktop would disapear,the multi screen panel would change from my 4 cube setup to 2 screens side by side without cube animation,this did this with a few reinstalls but this time round it seems to be fine.

the installer was ,after a format reinstall ,once loaded up i run the update manager ,150 updates ,it downlads them then crashes 60% through the updates installer ,this happend twice and messed everything up,mem test is a pass and the the only hardware problem
i had was with the display ,laptop s6120 intel graphics ,i couldnt get 3d to work so try'd other drivers but crashed the system so i had to revert to original driver,tho i can get cube working perfectly and the overall speed of the system with ubuntu is very fast,faster than win xp mce 2005.

some of the problems i had in the begining were my own fault as i had
installed apps from different distros and non trusted ones, just messing around with it ,breaking it gets you used to what it can and cant do.

still loving it tho and right now i have compiz working perfectly and all my fav plugins working so im happy with it till it crashes again.

 

[saboteur]

Ditto what EMip say's - sounds like a hardware issue, probably the disk or memory.

I had a machine just recently with the same symptoms - turned out the hard drive was on it's last legs.

I've got xubuntu running on my old gateway solo P3 900 with 256mb of ram and it runs pretty good.

As an aside, I run ubuntu or debian on all my servers and never have a problem, infact i've got a server that's been up for nearly 2 years without a reboot.

 

[WizardStan]

I'd like to know why so many people think they need experience with Linux to use the Pandora? TiVo runs linux, and no one has problems recording their shows. A lot of routers run Linux internally for their firewall, and no one has any problems just plugging in the cable.
The PS3, XBox, and Wii menu's are all quite original, and no one has any problems using those, no one was looking for advance versions so they could get used to them before each system came out.
What makes the Pandora so special in this respect? Can someone explain that to me? If it's designed properly, the menu will be no less intuitive than any other game console, or so I would hope.