View Full Version : Advice needed for a Linux newbie
astraman 24-01-2008, 10:15 My old workhorse of a PC as just become redundant, so I thought I might give Linux a try.
The PC specs are: Twin Intel Xeon 500mhz processors
256 mb PC133 ram
10 gig HD
Radeon 9800 gfx card
CD rom
Bit of a tatty old thing, but bulletproof.
Can anyone recommend a free, downloadable distro of Linux suitable for an absolute novice.
My old workhorse of a PC as just become redundant, so I thought I might give Linux a try.
The PC specs are: Twin Intel Xeon 500mhz processors
256 mb PC133 ram
10 gig HD
Radeon 9800 gfx card
CD rom
Bit of a tatty old thing, but bulletproof.
Can anyone recommend a free, downloadable distro of Linux suitable for an absolute novice.
Ubuntu is good and streight forward, although personalyl i dislike gnome so i use kubuntu. Both are free and ready for download, they have a great comunity and an armada of tutorials :)
sallonoroff 24-01-2008, 10:28 PClinuxOS is probably my favourite at the mo.
Ubuntu/Kubuntu(etc) are very good though.
.
shakermaker 24-01-2008, 10:30 another shout for ubuntu
Also, yay for Ubuntu. It's probably the easiest for a novice to start using, and there's a lot of support from the forums too.
ubuntu is a good place to start, if you don't fancy the idea of downloading a CD's worth of software there's a copy of both the server and desktop version 7.1 iso on the DVD edition of PCPRO issue 161
KUbuntu here, too. Was used to Debian and arguing with a mate about which was best, so I tried it just to shut him up and now wouldn't go back.
astraman 24-01-2008, 11:15 Thanks for the replies.
I'm d/loading Ubuntu at the moment (14 mins to go).
I'll give that a try first.
i'd go for fedora or centos, depending on whether you want the latest apps, or stability.
astraman 24-01-2008, 11:29 I just want one that will run OK on that machine and is easy for a novice.
I have ubuntu/kubuntu, pclinuxos Cd's, but my home machine is still on mandrake/mandriva.
Fedora for me... easy to use? As much as any other distro.
I have heard good things about Ubuntu from the guys at the office that have been using it.
The latest issue of Computeractive mag (no.259) has an article on installing Ubuntu linux on a virtual pc on your hard disc using a program called Virtualbox.
This program and ubunta can be downloaded from Computeractive's website.
I'm going to give it a go.
This is the link:
www.computeractive.co.uk/2205723
watch out when you burn the iso to cd, keep the writing speed low, say around 12x maximum, you can hit problems reading the disk otherwise
if do you hit problems burning the image theres an ISO burning tool for XP and Vista at http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm
fnkysknky 24-01-2008, 13:23 I'd go with Ubuntu for a first distro.
sallonoroff 24-01-2008, 14:04 Just an aside... anyone tried gOS yet?
http://thinkgos.com/
.
The latest issue of Computeractive mag (no.259) has an article on installing Ubuntu linux on a virtual pc on your hard disc using a program called Virtualbox.
This program and ubunta can be downloaded from Computeractive's website.
I'm going to give it a go.
This is the link:
www.computeractive.co.uk/2205723
the ubuntu file is 698MB and at 512 B/B it's taking an age to download:o
|