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Linux Recommendation?

D

Durntdude

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 22, 2011
Messages
87
So I have almost no experience with linux besides fiddling with live cds/usbs. However I decided that I want to try to break some ground and get into it more. I have a LOT of free time right now as I am unemployed =(.

The computer I will be using for my fiddling is my Dell Vostro 1500. It is a fairly low power machine (1.4 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, Geforce 8600M) Any idea on the distro's I should try out? I hate Ubuntu's Unity desktop, ZorinOS is having misc issues causing it to lock up for no apparant reason, and no matter what I do, I can't get Linux Mint Maya 64 bit to connect wirelessly. Actually, I can't get it to connect with ethernet either. That was working but not anymore. All I did was use ndiswrapper to install the recommended driver for more wireless since the "Additional Drivers" driver failed to work.

So, anyone have any additional ideas for distros to try?
 
Durntdude said:
So I have almost no experience with linux besides fiddling with live cds/usbs. However I decided that I want to try to break some ground and get into it more. I have a LOT of free time right now as I am unemployed =(.

The computer I will be using for my fiddling is my Dell Vostro 1500. It is a fairly low power machine (1.4 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, Geforce 8600M) Any idea on the distro's I should try out? I hate Ubuntu's Unity desktop, ZorinOS is having misc issues causing it to lock up for no apparant reason, and no matter what I do, I can't get Linux Mint Maya 64 bit to connect wirelessly. Actually, I can't get it to connect with ethernet either. That was working but not anymore. All I did was use ndiswrapper to install the recommended driver for more wireless since the "Additional Drivers" driver failed to work.

So, anyone have any additional ideas for distros to try?
Click to expand...

Have you tried Kubuntu? It is Ubuntu with KDE instead of Unity.

What kind of wireless card are you using? Most common wireless chipsets are supported by the Linux kernel; NDISWrapper should only be used as a last resort. You might get more help by posting your problems at a GNU/Linux oriented forum such as LinuxQuestions because the number of GNU/Linux users here on [H] is limited.

If you are adventurous, and have a lot of time on your hands, you could give Gentoo a try. It has an excellent handbook that describes the installation process. A word of caution however, as Gentoo is not for the faint of the heart. It is not targeted at novice users or even expert Windows users, but it is one of the fastest ways to become a GNU/Linux expert (having knowledge beyond that expected or required of an average computer user). Just be prepared to have another computer accessible to look things up or ask for help.
 
If you have no idea what you're doing, the best place to start is where you did with Linux Mint. If something ain't working, the next rung down is any of the horde of Ubuntu derivatives. Chances are if none of those will talk to your wireless card automagically you're in for a bit of a headache with Ndiswrapper.

Don't even think about Arch or Gentoo until you know something of bash and command-line editing of config files without a GUI holding your hand.
 
maya cinnamon x64, start with a clean install, it will work. you *have* to read stuff before start fiddling with things ;)
 
I recently switched to Xubuntu, it's pretty nice. It's Ubuntu with Xfce desktop.

On the other hand since you are starting out, maybe pure Ubuntu is better, at least for learning. Not that the others are any harder to use, but sometimes it's just easier to find info online when you are using "the real thing" so to speak.
 
Red Squirrel said:
I recently switched to Xubuntu, it's pretty nice. It's Ubuntu with Xfce desktop.

On the other hand since you are starting out, maybe pure Ubuntu is better, at least for learning. Not that the others are any harder to use, but sometimes it's just easier to find info online when you are using "the real thing" so to speak.
Click to expand...

man, i use linux for more than a decade, for me mint 12 seemed the same as mandrake with kde and gnome that i used in 2002, lets give the newbie a break :p
 
Red Squirrel said:
I recently switched to Xubuntu, it's pretty nice. It's Ubuntu with Xfce desktop.

On the other hand since you are starting out, maybe pure Ubuntu is better, at least for learning. Not that the others are any harder to use, but sometimes it's just easier to find info online when you are using "the real thing" so to speak.
Click to expand...

id also say just start with vanilla ubuntu. You will have the massive community at your fingertips.
 
4saken said:
id also say just start with vanilla ubuntu. You will have the massive community at your fingertips.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I would just try out Ubuntu 12.04 LTS as finding info on it will be easier than anything else out there. Then once you get used to Linux if you want to switch to something else you will have a little bit of experience behind you.
 
If you REALLY want to get your hands dirty and learn a lot about linux, try out Gentoo. However, considering you are unable to get networking working on Mint you may not be up to the challenge.
 
@damicatz: Wireless chip: BCM4311. I tried the broadcom sta driver that was recommended in the additional drivers menu and had zero luck. Maybe I'll re-install it, or perhaps try Kubuntu. Just looking for something new.

@D4rkn3ss: I had a fresh install of linux mint 64 bit maya cinnamon, but didn't set up wireless in setup as I didn't have wireless net access at that time. Once I found wireless wasn't working, I started looking and just didn't find anything that would get it to work (only spent a couple hours though). Unfortunately, I no longer have any net access on said laptop since after reboot I lost the wired connection. Probably will nuke it and try again or use another Ubuntu or its derivative.

As for what I plan to do, basically I want to use my laptop for almost all the general purpose stuff (websurfing/videos/music/light gaming/communication) and reserve my desktop for gaming since it pulls 200-250 watts of power doing nothing while the laptop pulls maybe 30-40 watts at max load (need to measure again but it's probably close to that).
 
Durntdude said:
@damicatz: Wireless chip: BCM4311. I tried the broadcom sta driver that was recommended in the additional drivers menu and had zero luck. Maybe I'll re-install it, or perhaps try Kubuntu. Just looking for something new.

@D4rkn3ss: I had a fresh install of linux mint 64 bit maya cinnamon, but didn't set up wireless in setup as I didn't have wireless net access at that time. Once I found wireless wasn't working, I started looking and just didn't find anything that would get it to work (only spent a couple hours though). Unfortunately, I no longer have any net access on said laptop since after reboot I lost the wired connection. Probably will nuke it and try again or use another Ubuntu or its derivative.

As for what I plan to do, basically I want to use my laptop for almost all the general purpose stuff (websurfing/videos/music/light gaming/communication) and reserve my desktop for gaming since it pulls 200-250 watts of power doing nothing while the laptop pulls maybe 30-40 watts at max load (need to measure again but it's probably close to that).
Click to expand...

Are you running the latest BIOS for your computer? After doing some research, it seems that updating the BIOS has helped some people with your particular computer model.
 
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Be a real nerd and build your own Arch Linux. The process will give you lots of learning experiences, and it can be as much or as little as you want it to be. The only Ubuntu related distro I use now is BackTrack5r2. Ubuntu's latest changes were too obnoxious for me.
 
If you're willing to endure the pain Linux will give you as a novice to learn quickly, go for something like Slackware, Arch, or Gentoo. If not, I'd try Mint, *buntu LTS, Fedora, Mageia, or Opensuse. Either of those should be to get your feet then you can work your way up.
 
the best place to start is vanilla ubuntu... and then see where ur desires take you :)
 
for I noob LMDE is best. stop suggesting the op install gentoo or something. that requires alot of know how he can't possibly have
 
I've been running Mint on my mother's laptop for awhile now. It's very simple and easy to use and I like it better than Ubuntu.

That said, if you are willing to learn, I suggest Slackware or ArchLinux. I personally started with Slack and had great experiences with it while learning quite a bit. Arch took this a step further for me as it pretty much is like building your own custom OS without the need to compile everything (I'm looking at you, Gentoo).

It really comes down to how much time you are willing to put into it and how much reading you want to do. It's extremely simple to install Ubuntu and be done with it but I was always tweaking when I was using Slack or Arch as it just seemed more focused on such things.
 
If you actually want to learn Linux extensively and be an 'expert', I would say just go straight for the deep-end and try Arch or Slackware or something well documented like that. This of course also requires you to be a very involved learning, however.

If you just want to use Linux to try something new, I'd say go for Linux Mint or OpenSuSE. I would say avoid Ubuntu just because it's Ubuntu and tends to breed 'Ubuntuiness'.
 
xxEIEIOxx said:
Agreed. I would just try out Ubuntu 12.04 LTS as finding info on it will be easier than anything else out there. Then once you get used to Linux if you want to switch to something else you will have a little bit of experience behind you.
Click to expand...

He said he doesn't like Unity.

Starting with Xubuntu gets you pretty much all the standard Ubuntu benefits, but in a lightweight traditional UI.

I am running Xubutu 12.04 on my main machine. I like XFCE better than Unity, or KDE, bonus that it is one the lighter weight UIs.

Xubuntu is also my recommendation.
 
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