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I need help choosing a linux distribution?
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Member
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27. June 2008 @ 14:13 |
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I don't run Linux I run XP but thats not the point. I am the tech guy in my family and my cousin had asked me if I could do some cleaning up on his family computer. He came over I plugged it up, and booted it up and I was in shock It had Windows ME, and it was loaded with spyware, and tons viruses and that ME is no longer supported by Microsoft. I thought about putting a copy of Windows 2000 on it since I had a disc laying around that wasn't installed on any computers anymore since every computer in my house has XP. Then I remember listening to a podcast and then talking about how Linux is great for old computers and has a lot of basic applications and doesn't need security software because there are next to no viruses on linux. So I think I am desiding to put linux on it since they don't use windows priority apps they only use it for surfing the web and typing up papers I figured they could use firefox and openoffice. So here is a little bit about the computer
It has a 20gig Harddrive
An Intel Celeron Processor
128 or 256 mbs of ram
I was looking through some websites and they said Xubuntu, or Edubuntu would be good. But honestly I don't know the only thing I know about linux is it is free. I need some suggestions.
Kindle Fire 1st Gen running Jelly Bean
Nexus S 4G running 4.1.1 Jelly Bean
PS3 Slim 3000 Model 4.3.1
PS3 ID: killbarney1123
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echoes73
Newbie
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27. June 2008 @ 14:27 |
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Here is a link to a little "quiz" which will help pick a Linux distribution for you situation http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/
I'm guessing based on your description, regardless of the quiz results that Mandriva would be a great choice, maybe OpenSuse too. Both are user friendly, OpenSuse requires a bit more technical smarts for installing applications and such.
Hope this helps
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27. June 2008 @ 14:34 |
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thanks for the help
Kindle Fire 1st Gen running Jelly Bean
Nexus S 4G running 4.1.1 Jelly Bean
PS3 Slim 3000 Model 4.3.1
PS3 ID: killbarney1123
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varnull
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27. June 2008 @ 15:54 |
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Which always seems to return suse or n00buntu...
What do you want to use it for? That's a better question than that "questionnaire" will ask.
128 ram.. go small, tiny-me or puppy.. 256.. the field is open, but to work well mandriva NEEDS a faster machine (and it's not easy to install)
Again.. the older the machine and the less the ram the smaller you want to go.. no point sticking a modern resource hog like mandriva or ubuntu on it.. and I don't think suse will even boot unless you have 256 ram (and it's broken too.. last was poor.. full of drm and missing drivers.. I couldn't play an ordinary audio cd)
For what you want running on what you have puppy linux is probably perfect, with tiny-me also well worth considering.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 27. June 2008 @ 15:58
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Moderator
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27. June 2008 @ 20:07 |
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There's nothing but good things to be said about TinyMe from me :)
Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS-WPA2/AES ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 3node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G2 v1. *** Forum Rules *** |
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varnull
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27. June 2008 @ 21:37 |
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Yup... don't you think the mandriva installer is very unfriendly? I have never ever managed to get it to work on anything. Either the installer breaks down on some error, or the update repositories are broken and it fails as soon as it boots with no obvious way to recover from the blue screen of death..
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Member
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27. June 2008 @ 22:37 |
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This machine is for my cousins family I repeat , they are not computer literate they don't want to spend money to get a newer computer because they have 5 kids to feed, so what distro would be a good choice I need something that I can boot from a cd because there is no dvd drive, I can't do crap until I go up to the store and buy a pack of cdrs though lol, i only have dvdrs and rws
Kindle Fire 1st Gen running Jelly Bean
Nexus S 4G running 4.1.1 Jelly Bean
PS3 Slim 3000 Model 4.3.1
PS3 ID: killbarney1123
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Moderator
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28. June 2008 @ 05:34 |
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Originally posted by varnull:
Yup... don't you think the mandriva installer is very unfriendly? I have never ever managed to get it to work on anything. Either the installer breaks down on some error, or the update repositories are broken and it fails as soon as it boots with no obvious way to recover from the blue screen of death..
Nope, never had any problems with it, even since the 8.1 days or the 7'ish Sparc version i've used. I know i've been using/raving about Mandriva since olden times but i honestly find it one of the easiest to use; (/remembers the pain that the FreeBSD installer used to sometimes be, back in the early '90s, for example).
Originally posted by tucker001:
This machine is for my cousins family I repeat , they are not computer literate they don't want to spend money to get a newer computer because they have 5 kids to feed, so what distro would be a good choice I need something that I can boot from a cd because there is no dvd drive, I can't do crap until I go up to the store and buy a pack of cdrs though lol, i only have dvdrs and rws
TinyMe is my personal recommendation for your particular scenario; what i would suggest is to download & burn TinyMe to a CD-R (or maybe a CD-RW) - (it's only a 200MB'ish ISO image btw). You could then install that and presuming it works it's only cost you a single CD-R or reusable disc; then, if you wanted to try other distributions you could install VirtualBox. VirtualBox is great (allows you run virtual machines) though i haven't yet figured out things like how to bridge the networking etc. Anyways, my thinking behind VirtualBox here is that you don't need to use up any more CD-R's - you just download the ISO images for any distributions and install them via VirtualBox ie no cost in CD-R's or time used for rebuilding the machine each time. Without setting up networking in VirtualBox etc you can still see how well a given distribution runs on the machine; if it doesn't run/run well enough, or you don't like it, remove the virtual machine or install more (disk space permitting) 'til you find the right distribution. Then if you wanted you could just wipe the machine and install the one you want.
Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS-WPA2/AES ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 3node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G2 v1. *** Forum Rules ***
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. June 2008 @ 05:36
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varnull
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28. June 2008 @ 05:53 |
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The lack of previous experience is good.. They don't have any Gates/MS instilled bad habits.
Pick one and go for it.. The minimal ones we mentioned earlier can even be installed from a usb drive. http://www.pendrivelinux.com/ but the old hardware probably doesn't support installing or booting that way. So long as it is a p3 450 with more than 128 ram (and no REALLY odd hardware) it should run debian or one of the majors without too much trouble ;) Chose something up to date, and see if it has a netinstaller because that guarantees the latest software, and is a much smaller initial download.
I will drop you some links to read, and I strongly suggest you pop these into the browser bookmarks when installed to help your relations.. after all.. you don't want to be running round there every 5 minutes do you?
http://www.linuxlots.com/~jam/
http://techgage.com/article/beginners_guide_to_linux_desktops/
which starts with KDE. and I can't stand KDE.. personal reasons, mainly because it's slow and resource heavy.
http://www.techwarelabs.com/articles/software/Intro_To_Linux/
http://www.freeos.com/articles/4414/
http://www.aboutdebian.com/linux.htm
and the debian motherload.. Lots of linux variants are built on the debian core.. including my minimal system.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=l...le+Search&meta=
Now remember.. If you get stuck or don't understand something come back and ask and we will point you to the answers if it is possible to do so...
You can even find a couple of us on irc.. irc.villageirc.net #linux-chat
creakster.. 4 attempts and 4 fails.. That's where I gave up. Maybe I got unlucky on days when the repositories were down, but it all seemed overly paranoid and security oriented... what's with that weird partitioning scheme?
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. June 2008 @ 05:58
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Moderator
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28. June 2008 @ 05:58 |
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Good idea re the USB drive installs, didn't recommend that as have never got around to trying it.. will have to do that sometime, it does look very straightforward.
Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS-WPA2/AES ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 3node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G2 v1. *** Forum Rules ***
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. June 2008 @ 05:58
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Member
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28. June 2008 @ 10:01 |
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thanks for the suggestions I appreciate them very much the computer won't even boot from a usb drive, so it looks like I have to get my lazy a$$ up and buy some cdrs later.
Kindle Fire 1st Gen running Jelly Bean
Nexus S 4G running 4.1.1 Jelly Bean
PS3 Slim 3000 Model 4.3.1
PS3 ID: killbarney1123
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Member
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28. June 2008 @ 10:07 |
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I'm assuming the machine won't need to have any security software am I right.
Kindle Fire 1st Gen running Jelly Bean
Nexus S 4G running 4.1.1 Jelly Bean
PS3 Slim 3000 Model 4.3.1
PS3 ID: killbarney1123
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Moderator
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28. June 2008 @ 10:14 |
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I personally just use ClamAV, i'm sure Varnull can fill in the gaps :)
..suffice it to say that Linux is just not like Microsoft Virus
Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS-WPA2/AES ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 3node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G2 v1. *** Forum Rules ***
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varnull
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28. June 2008 @ 15:05 |
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I don't usually bother.. Just run tripwire and rkhunter once a week or so. If you want a tougher system then run Bastille, though it's higher level of security might be a bit of a PITA until you get more familiar with teh way it works and what it changes.
I never install wine ( I think you run linux because you like to be free and use free open software, not so you can run all the same buggy commercial bloatware you are used to on doze..) No windows type files can run. Exit 99.9% of all known malware. All the linux malware has ben dealt with by the devs, and as patches happen on a daily basis the risk of actually catching something before it is found and patched is very very small. The only risk is direct hack.. and I'm behind 2 layers of hardware firewall soooooo.
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