Which Linux To Use On Laptop For Practice?

[adamorjames]

Arch Linux. It is a rolling-release distro which means you get new app versions, libs, etc which means some things are less buggy (kinda). The only thing about Arch Linux is you have to install the GUI stuff but that is a good learning experience and not hard if you have a wired connection. Wireless on Linux is a bit finicky still but Arch Linux has a great wiki at http://wiki.archlinux.org . My 1 dollar (inflation).

EDIT: I use Arch Linux on my laptop with a Broadcom wireless card and it works perfectly once I do the wiki stuff.
Great thing about Arch Linux is that you don't really have major upgrades like some other distros because like I said it's a rolling-release (new things start out in the testing repos and then move to the normal repos.)

 

[TaG]

There are many answers, and I'm sure the question has been asked many times. If Middo tuns into problems or anyone else is reading:

Squidge suggested Xubuntu as it is going to be the OS base on Pandora.

For simplicity some users may prefer straight Ubuntu for familiarisation.

Personally I have found more success with Linux Mint or Sabayon where there are troublesome hardware, especially with laptops/wireless, or when you cannot get media working - both take the idea of usability above openness.

 

[Reesy]

Arch Linux

 

[___]

I can't recommend any distro because there is so many and it really depends on what you need. I started with SuSe and then tried slackware later on. SuSe was a good choice at the time but slackware was way too complicated for me. I am now using ubuntu on both my laptop and desktop computers. It really doesn't matter which one you take as long as you are comfortable with learning the basics on your own... that is the case with pretty much any distro.

*buntu is a nice distro as you really only install it and then you are ready to start doing whatever. It's nice for beginners because there is an easy way to manage your software and hardware with built in apps and most things have a GUI but if you want to get in on the real linux fun you are free to open a shell and learn all the things you need to know about linux in general.

Whatever distro you choose, read up on linux' system structure, learn a couple of bash commands, try to understand how the system communicates with the hardware and you'll have a good start and some basic knowledge to get into any linux flavour you like. At the core they are all the same ^^.

 

[kevcal]

Mandriva or 'roll your own'.

 

[TaG]

Q: "Hi. I've never used linux. Could you recommend something for a total beginner?"
A: "Gentoo"
A: "No, roll your own"

Did you bother to read the question or just state your favourite distro?

 

[kevcal]

Yes..
I think Mandriva is fine for the total beginner and experienced user.
I tried switching to ubuntu a few months ago and didn't get on with it, although it seems the most popular.

Roll your own was a 'joke' - but it doesn't hurt to read about how OSes work.

 

[TaG]

Roll your own was a 'joke' - but it doesn't hurt to read about how OSes work.

Didn't realise it was a joke, so fair enough.

No it doesn't hurt to gain the knowledge - probably a step at a time though...

 

[Svartalf]

Q: "Hi. I've never used linux. Could you recommend something for a total beginner?"
A: "Gentoo"
A: "No, roll your own"

Did you bother to read the question or just state your favourite distro?

I caught that and LOLed on that one myself.

Arch, I've not used, but Ubuntu, Fedora, SuSE, Mandriva, and a few others I have.

Of them, Ubuntu (all variants) tends to be something that people can easily pick up. I've heard good things about Mint, so it's likely to be okay on that score as well.

 

[TaG]

Of them, Ubuntu (all variants) tends to be something that people can easily pick up. I've heard good things about Mint, so it's likely to be okay on that score as well.

Mint is based on Ubuntu and has far easier access to codecs and some settings - it gets rid of some of the annoyances built in to Ubuntu. I have found it better with hardware drivers. Well worth a spin as you already use Ubuntu. I like to use Ubuntu until Mint comes out, use that until the next Ubuntu comes out. Sad I know.

Sabayon is also particularly good with hardware and is based on Gentoo - as Mint is to Ubuntu, Sabayon is to Gentoo. I didn't get on with installing packages (the story sounds similar to paddy's, though I have never had that with Ubuntu or Mint except when I tried to load fenix and had various library conflicts afterwards).

 

[Klepto]

Q: "Hi. I've never used linux. Could you recommend something for a total beginner?"
A: "Gentoo"
A: "No, roll your own"

Did you bother to read the question or just state your favourite distro?

+1, Insightful

It depends on your needs and your hardware's capability. You have stated your needs, you want to prepare yourself for the Pandora. Since that is the case it would seem sensible to use the Pandora's specs as a target (128MB RAM). Xunbuntu is a very good choice IMO, it's pretty easy to pick up. Arch and Gentoo are both very good distros (there are other source based ones, but those are the most popular), but they are not designed for newcomers. I suspect a lot of people have been put off Linux by trying them first and getting out of their depth. IMO it's irresponsible to suggest them to new converts, it's kinda like saying: "So you wanna learn to drive? I suggest you build a kit car!"

If you really want to learn how Linux works then free up some space on your desktop machine and work your way through Linux From Scratch, taking time out to read up on anything you don't understand or would like more information on. This option is not for the faint of heart however, expect to take hundreds or thousands of hours to learn all the ins and outs of a full featured Linux system.

 

[trooper]

Linux Mint

The best noob linux distro, Bar none.

Trooper

 

[timothee]

The best noob distro I've used was mepis.

 

[Sphinxter]

If you firmly believe that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger gentoo or roll your own are great answers.

 

[rokdcasbah]

FWIW I tried a few distros and Arch was the one that "stuck" for me. It sounds like other people have had the same experience.

It seems to be getting really popular all of a sudden. The wiki is pretty good, lots of tutorials and such.

If you're using wireless, one of two things will happen: (a) you will be fine because your driver is in the kernel (b ) you will have a frustrating but ultimately rewarding experience getting everything going.

It depends on how you want to learn. Arch has a pretty minimal installer, so you are forced to get familiar with its package management and startup scripts right away. If you just want to get going with a GUI immediately, then Arch is not good. Consider it more of a "trial by fire" experience than a distro with a graphical installer (but still simpler than Gentoo and definitely simpler than rolling your own).

But perhaps the best thing would be to go with something Debian based, and learn to use bash and apt.

 

[lizard808uk]

Gentoo?? I tried that a couple of years ago.. for a newbie that is total deep end stuff. I'll chime in and say that Ubuntu or one of its derivatives is the way to go. I think installing a distro and to find it doesnt recognise my wifi is a killer for it. Both Fedora and Ubuntu seem pretty easy to configure - I'm having issues with opensuse at the mo. (on an enterprise level with vmware.. ^_^)

On a side note.. if you don't want the hassle of dl'ing a live cd or installing a distro - why not try Cygwin?? I use Linux command line all the time on Govt applications and Cygwin gives you the bash command line in a Windows environment.

 

[Middo]

xubuntu up and away. Let the practice begin. As per the recent news it looks like Ångström Linux is the default OS.

Thanks!

 

[rokdcasbah]

xubuntu up and away. Let the practice begin. As per the recent news it looks like Ångström Linux is the default OS.

Thanks!

Cool. Ubuntu and its derivatives are always a good choice because so much information has sprung up online to support them. The Ubuntu forums have become a great resource, and since it's so popular it's more likely someone has tried to run it on the same hardware as you and written about their experiences.

The first thing you are going to want to do, after installing, is get familiar with how "sudo" works

 

[___]

yeah, check out the ubuntu forums immediately. There is a couple of newbie howtos online which go into different depth and are a very helpful way to learn all the beginners stuff and concepts.

 

[lizard808uk]

Recently I put Ubuntu and Opensuse head to head.. the thing about Ubuntu thats a winner in my mind is that everything is in the one repository. I got DVD playback for example in one easy package to dl from the Synaptic Manager. Opensuse took a lot more effort and frustration 'til I worked out that you can only have libs from one repository (e.g. Packman vs Videolan).. steep learning curve but I guess thats how Linux is - at least you can now tailor the experience to what you want to get out of it (wasn't like this a few years ago!).

Oh yeh Sudo - great command; comes in handy when your distro heads south and you want to unmount, zap the partition, edit the grub thingy and then start over