Ubuntu 14.04

[NinjaRabbit]

many people want to try linux. good!
so they try ubuntu.
disaster!
the worst distro for beginners.

Oh goodness no. The worst distro for beginners was the horrible Xandros/Debian Stable hybrid that shipped on the very first model of the Asus EeePC. I tried it, realised there must surely be better, and then tried Kubuntu, which I stuck with until KDE became too heavy for my requirements and my hardware. It's been Xubuntu all the way, ever since, for me.

So, yes, rest assured, there are certainly far worse out there.

 

[morcar]

For me the best Linux to start off with is Zorin. I found it to look and act a lot like Windows (well actting better than Windows anyway).

It has a nice learning curve and does not scare you off when you see just how different Linux can be.

 

[NinjaRabbit]

For me, the ones that acted like Microsoft Windows were massively off-putting, because I'd always found Windows horrendous to use in the first place - that's probably why I found Xandros so bad.

Back in the day, I went straight from a C64 to Windows 95, and simply never got on with Windows' difficult-to-use layout, strange nonsensical metaphors, or its habit of providing deliberately obfuscated and unhelpful error messages to try to keep users feeling powerless. It never suited my requirements, never meshed with my way of working, and never did what I wanted it to do. When other options became easy to access, it was ditched immediately and I never looked back. Linux with a nicely-configurable desktop environment just made perfect sense to me from the off.

 

[AndyLandy]

LOL this just sounds like the green party bashing the rest of the political parties.

I've used both sets of OS's each have their uses windows is a well polished well hacked OS which has seen vast changes over the last 25 years, The same can be said of Linux I had my first Distro working on an Old 386 with 4MB ram but until it supports the games I want without wasting hours and hours trying to get a windows environment to first work then run the games without Lag, it for me is still just a toy to play with from time to time.
Windows 8 made some big strides but also some massive mistakes, its just following in the strides of all Microsoft development we have had Windows 95, Windows ME, Windows Vista and now Windows 8 they all sucked and had major problems but what came after people still love and use Windows 98SE, Windows XP Windows 7 Ive bought them all and until Linux becomes the developers platform of choice will continue to.

Linux is a fantastic platform but its not seen outside of the server platform as cutting edge or the norm which is why we keep seeing new titles only on windows, It needs steam to find a way to emulate windows within its software running on Linux then you might finally see the end of Microsoft but waiting forever for a game I want to play to be ported is a nightmare.

I wonder how many serious Linux programers or support staff use Amibay would be interesting to see!
AL

Opps forgot Windows 1,2,3,3.1,3.11,NT,2000

Well, I'm a UNIX sysadmin by trade. (Well, was. I'm an IT manager nowadays, but Linux was my life for ten years)

I won't be 'upgrading' to Ubuntu 14.4 as I'm a complete RedHat boy, through and through. I have a Linux server at home that runs Fedora, and the systems we run at work are RHEL. I've tried Ubuntu and it's always done my head in, just cannot get on with it.

I gave up on Linux as a desktop OS quite some time ago. It's great as a server and has a whole load of neat features that I use quite regularly, but I never had a graphical environment I was happy with. Maybe it's time to try it again, but I remain skeptical.

For my desktop OS, I'm a Mac user to the core and have been for many years. It really is the best of both worlds, with a slick, fast and reliable UI, built on top of a UNIX core.

However, I confess that I do keep a couple PC laptops about the place to run Windows when I need to. Just upgraded one to Win 8.1 and surprisingly I don't hate it. Still far prefer the Mac of course, but I don't think W8 deserves all the bad press it gets.

 

[Tuxbar81]

ubuntu is a mix of debian unstable and experimental(!)
the packages are frozen just few weeks before the release.
how can you thoroughly test (experimental) distro in couple of weeks???

We are fully agree!

There is a Mint Debian version. Little bit better... but Debian is always the best distro.
Not so easy to install for beginers, but the best.

 

[iRetrOVolver]

I am done with Windows as it is too much hassle

I second that.. but for gaming (for those interested) it is a must have.. I am sure that if games were running on linux too.. they would ditch windows in a blink!

mint=ubuntu

Both are Linux but they are not the same.. or am I not seeing something here?

many people want to try linux. good!
so they try ubuntu.
disaster!
the worst distro for beginners.

So it seems... what a letdown!

 

[NinjaRabbit]

I'm actually curious, now. What happened to make Ubuntu "the worst" in that category, above, say, distros like Fedora, which in my personal experience are a nightmare for newcomers?

I should note that I've never used mainline Ubuntu - only derivatives.

 

[bebek]

I have installed Mint today on 2GHZ PIV mobile lptop and found it painfully slow, way slower, less responsive than XP so XP is back on.

 

[robinsonb5]

I have installed Mint today on 2GHZ PIV mobile lptop and found it painfully slow, way slower, less responsive than XP so XP is back on.

Which version? Mate is much more responsive than Cinnamon. The vista-like start-menu thing is still sluggish, but frankly I still use the old-style menus and never touch it.

 

[iRetrOVolver]

Not sure here but I am thinking mainboard/PCI drivers not supported for that hardware?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bebek]

I have installed Mint today on 2GHZ PIV mobile lptop and found it painfully slow, way slower, less responsive than XP so XP is back on.

Which version? Mate is much more responsive than Cinnamon. The vista-like start-menu thing is still sluggish, but frankly I still use the old-style menus and never touch it.

Cinnamon , maybe will try Mate, thanks

Which version would be the quickest one? I need all in one (if possible)?

 

[robinsonb5]

Cinnamon , maybe will try Mate, thanks

Which version would be the quickest one? I need all in one (if possible)?

I've only really used Mate in depth, and taken a quick glance at Cinnamon. If you want to try something really different, lightweight and quirky, take a look at Bodhi Linux too. Ironic that when I first got into Linux, Enlightenment was considered to be a resource-intensive heavyweight in comparison with Gnome and KDE - and now it's a lightweight option!

 

[mt12345]

Ironic that when I first got into Linux, Enlightenment was considered to be a resource-intensive heavyweight in comparison with Gnome and KDE

What?!

- - - Updated - - -

Can I have a APT-based Linux distro with a small footprint on my hardware?

Crunchbang or Antix - Debian Stable based
Semplice or Aptosid (xfce version) or Siduction (lxde version) - Debian unstable based

- - - Updated - - -

There is a Mint Debian version.

It doesnt work well

 

[Justin]

i like this thread it makes me smile

for gaming even with the Steam OS the game list will be a lot smaller, linux (whatever version) is not an easy to use 1st person install, you have to know what you are doing and the masses don't know and don't want to know. what is the current usage? 1.45% pah, hobby OS.

linux is a geek os so geeks can think themselves cool and techie.

more problems, how do you get linux? download it? but i'll need an OS to be able to get it, oh i already have windows so why bother.

I have said this many, many times DO NOT think person in the street is like you, we (all of us me included) are guilty of thinking everyone has the same ability/interest as us, and they don't.

what os has access to most software? or what OS came on my shiney new PC/lappy? windows it is then

 

[AndyLandy]

Ironic that when I first got into Linux, Enlightenment was considered to be a resource-intensive heavyweight in comparison with Gnome and KDE

What?!

Hehe, yep, I remember those days. Enlightenment was the window manager that shipped with GNOME, but it was known for being really big and bloaty. As I recall, they switched to Sawfish soon after.

I have said this many, many times DO NOT think person in the street is like you, we (all of us me included) are guilty of thinking everyone has the same ability/interest as us, and they don't.

what os has access to most software? or what OS came on my shiney new PC/lappy? windows it is then :smile:

Well, quite. Linux is great as a server OS, but it's still no rival for Windows in the home user market.

 

[NinjaRabbit]

linux is a geek os so geeks can think themselves cool and techie.

This sounds like a broad stereotype, to me.

Maybe I'm an exception to the rule, but I'm not like this, the older folks I know (including my own parents) who've chosen to use it aren't like it, and I've also never met anyone like this in my years of using Linux (which, at the time of writing, is six - not many by most standards, for sure!).

For some of us, at least, we just happen to own computers for the purpose of getting things done, and require an OS that will do what it's told and stay out of the way. Personally, I don't have time to babysit a system, myself...

what os has access to most software? or what OS came on my shiney new PC/lappy? windows it is then

Or, for those buying Android devices and Chromebooks instead, which is a growing number, Linux.

 

[Justin]

fair point, but it is still only 1.54% of the market, it is going to have to grow a lot, as for getting things done.......this is my point you are thinking like a user, not the masses, all they want is email, internet and maybe games, which is why mobile devices are so popular, facebook on the go

 

[NinjaRabbit]

as for getting things done.......this is my point you are thinking like a user, not the masses, all they want is email, internet and maybe games, which is why mobile devices are so popular, facebook on the go

I don't do the social media thing, but as a matter of fact that's my use-case, too, with the addition of needing a good plain-text editor (I write for entertainment, and it tends to go on for many years at a time, so one that doesn't choke on large files is my only real want and probably the only oddity about my requirements), and an image-editor for dealing with my sewing patterns. I am naught but a toy-maker and writer, and I reserve my time for those (as for games, myself I stick to devices designed for them).

So, I'm not sure I'm too far removed from "them"! Same for the rest I know, too...

 

[r0jaws]

You're right, which is why I have installed Linux Mint on my parents, my mother in laws and my families computers. All of a sudden the "tech-support" calls stopped, as it just works. Plus they were delighted that they no longer have to maintain and scan their systems on a regular basis, as there is no maintenance to do.
My Dad was even happier to get rid of Windows 8, which he hated, and my MiL was terrified of using a computer online once she heard about how insecure XP was going to become.
None of them give a monkey's about Steam, or gaming apart from maybe Facebook, so Linux is perfect for them.