Linux: which variant is easiest for Win XP user to adapt to?
Discussion
dtmpower said:
I did try Lubuntu for a while, but all guides / hints / faqs are written for Ubuntu default packages, so why trouble yourself with Lubuntu for a slight performance upgrade.
I've tried to run Ubuntu on an older, low power laptop (Intel Atom, 1GB RAM!), and it just didn't run.Linux Mint on the other hand ran like a doddle.
On decent-powered machines, I'd recommend Ubuntu as well. It is, however, a bit resource-hungry in my experience.
I've never had any problems finding support/threads for Mint either.
After all the Mint love here, I tried it on an old XP machine I've just refurbed and I hate to say it was a ball-ache.
For some reason it wouldn't find the graphics card driver and as such had no hardware acceleration and it ran like a dog... Could not get it to play ball, gave up and went back to XP in the end. I'll let the buyer decide whether they want to risk it with XP.
For some reason it wouldn't find the graphics card driver and as such had no hardware acceleration and it ran like a dog... Could not get it to play ball, gave up and went back to XP in the end. I'll let the buyer decide whether they want to risk it with XP.
I've run Ubuntu on some old machines, and I mean near relics. The main tip I see with older machines is to not use Unity and use another desktop environment, there's a few to choose from but I find Cairo Dock is light on resources and fast. Very configurable and tweakable too if you want to tailor it.
Funk said:
After all the Mint love here, I tried it on an old XP machine I've just refurbed and I hate to say it was a ball-ache.
For some reason it wouldn't find the graphics card driver and as such had no hardware acceleration and it ran like a dog... Could not get it to play ball, gave up and went back to XP in the end. I'll let the buyer decide whether they want to risk it with XP.
You aren't alone, as great as the concept of Linux is (I use it relatively frequently & have no axe to grind), if you aren't a bit savvy (or prepared to learn to be) then it can be frustrating. Mint, Ubuntu etc do a good job of making it consumer ready but it's not always plain sailing.For some reason it wouldn't find the graphics card driver and as such had no hardware acceleration and it ran like a dog... Could not get it to play ball, gave up and went back to XP in the end. I'll let the buyer decide whether they want to risk it with XP.
bga said:
Funk said:
After all the Mint love here, I tried it on an old XP machine I've just refurbed and I hate to say it was a ball-ache.
For some reason it wouldn't find the graphics card driver and as such had no hardware acceleration and it ran like a dog... Could not get it to play ball, gave up and went back to XP in the end. I'll let the buyer decide whether they want to risk it with XP.
You aren't alone, as great as the concept of Linux is (I use it relatively frequently & have no axe to grind), if you aren't a bit savvy (or prepared to learn to be) then it can be frustrating. Mint, Ubuntu etc do a good job of making it consumer ready but it's not always plain sailing.For some reason it wouldn't find the graphics card driver and as such had no hardware acceleration and it ran like a dog... Could not get it to play ball, gave up and went back to XP in the end. I'll let the buyer decide whether they want to risk it with XP.
I think the main part is if the manufacturer puts out drivers for Linux. Lenovo seems to do just this, with support sites dedicated to them.
That's the ball ache: drivers.
Mint ran fine on my laptop from the DVD, but it has an oddball wireless card with an on/off switch that requires a specific driver just so it can be turned on!
After much digging around I failed to make it work, sadly.
I'm still going to try it on the desktop PC as that uses a USB wifi dongle, no silly switch to cause problems so it might work...
The laptop, however, is running much better now I've binned the AVG antivirus and installed MS Security Essentials instead. How long until that becomes obsolete and unsupported, probably not very, but for now it's usable and is doing a grand job of ripping hundreds of CDs to my new NAS so that I can play all my music through any PC, smartphone, tablet, smart telly, console or wifi enabled tea towel in the house!
Mint ran fine on my laptop from the DVD, but it has an oddball wireless card with an on/off switch that requires a specific driver just so it can be turned on!
After much digging around I failed to make it work, sadly.
I'm still going to try it on the desktop PC as that uses a USB wifi dongle, no silly switch to cause problems so it might work...
The laptop, however, is running much better now I've binned the AVG antivirus and installed MS Security Essentials instead. How long until that becomes obsolete and unsupported, probably not very, but for now it's usable and is doing a grand job of ripping hundreds of CDs to my new NAS so that I can play all my music through any PC, smartphone, tablet, smart telly, console or wifi enabled tea towel in the house!
Edited by Jonny_ on Wednesday 3rd September 11:02
dtmpower said:
I've been using Ubuntu 12.04 LTS since it came out (slowly moving to the new LTS) however not everyone gets on with Unity.
Therefore it might be worth trying http://ubuntugnome.org/
I did try Lubuntu for a while, but all guides / hints / faqs are written for Ubuntu default packages, so why trouble yourself with Lubuntu for a slight performance upgrade.
If you dont like/want Unity, then why not download the LTS version with either Mate ( like gnome ) or Cinammon as the default window manager ?Therefore it might be worth trying http://ubuntugnome.org/
I did try Lubuntu for a while, but all guides / hints / faqs are written for Ubuntu default packages, so why trouble yourself with Lubuntu for a slight performance upgrade.
Thats what I did, and Mate runs a treat
Mint is the best one to try for starters, and see whether you need to go any further from there. I've been using Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Bodhi/Puppy etc for the last five years and now have Mint on all my machines as my preferred interface. It works well on older, lower-spec hardware and goes like a raped ape on anything remotely modern (i3/i5 etc).
Drivers did cause problems a few years ago but the driver support in the *nix community has improved hugely in the last 18 months/2 years so if you had problems a while ago then try a more modern distro.
Oli.
Drivers did cause problems a few years ago but the driver support in the *nix community has improved hugely in the last 18 months/2 years so if you had problems a while ago then try a more modern distro.
Oli.
zcacogp said:
Drivers did cause problems a few years ago but the driver support in the *nix community has improved hugely in the last 18 months/2 years so if you had problems a while ago then try a more modern distro.
My experience as well!Manufacturers have been focussing on this, Lenovo and Samsung usually have great Linux support.
i've been using linux for about the last ten years, in general especially now it will just work. However like others have mentioned I have encountered a few drivers issues - almost always graphics. There are generally a number of different drivers to try and you can download them and try. These issues are not always experienced in the live version so beaware.
I have used lots of distros and would recommend ubuntu for a new user, (mint is fine too) - one thing to mention is that new fully featured distros will need a reasonable spec to perform well - you mention its for an older laptop. therefore take a look at xbuntu or lubuntu - i prefer xubuntu. Note that the current kernel has experienced issues with AMD graphics (3.13-3.15) 3.16 is reported to have fixed these issues.
You will need to spend some time getting it all working - its not like mac! but its also free/donateware! Enjoy
I have used lots of distros and would recommend ubuntu for a new user, (mint is fine too) - one thing to mention is that new fully featured distros will need a reasonable spec to perform well - you mention its for an older laptop. therefore take a look at xbuntu or lubuntu - i prefer xubuntu. Note that the current kernel has experienced issues with AMD graphics (3.13-3.15) 3.16 is reported to have fixed these issues.
You will need to spend some time getting it all working - its not like mac! but its also free/donateware! Enjoy
ecotec said:
... Note that the current kernel has experienced issues with AMD graphics ...
That's a good point actually; I have found that pretty much everything in the *nix world plays better with Intel than with AMD. I had a bunch of odd problems with video drivers until I swapped my video card from ATI to nVidia, and the same goes for other bits as well. If yuo are looking for an OS to spin up on an old system then you obviously won't have a choice of hardware to play with, but if you are choosing between machines (or speccing a new one) then spend the extra and go for Intel - your life will be simpler for it. Oli.
Mint is good but expect a lot of faffing around and potentially running into a brick wall with any linux distro when you try to get something that isn't supported working. I managed to get both Virgin TV Anywhere and Sky Sports streaming working on Mint, but Jesus Christ .. patched version of Wine, Pipelight, PlayOnLinux, User-Agent Switcher with custom user-agent strings, etc, etc. Just one example where you get absolutely no support from the service provider. I also remember years ago trying to get a NETGEAR wireless USB adapter with no driver support working with Ubuntu and I never did get it working despite trying absolutely everything under the sun.
Bringing this thread back from the dead.
I've tried a number of distros and enjoy mint. I've used Ubuntu for quite a while but generally find mint runs better on my kit. I've installed Pinguy OS in my uncles PC and he hasn't had any problems with it at all, he only uses it for the odd word document and internet related searches as well.
I did notice that Mint has an issue with Intel HD graphics though. Never managed to fix that issue. The video playback and YouTube et al was jerky.
I've tried a number of distros and enjoy mint. I've used Ubuntu for quite a while but generally find mint runs better on my kit. I've installed Pinguy OS in my uncles PC and he hasn't had any problems with it at all, he only uses it for the odd word document and internet related searches as well.
I did notice that Mint has an issue with Intel HD graphics though. Never managed to fix that issue. The video playback and YouTube et al was jerky.
TotalControl said:
Bringing this thread back from the dead.
I've tried a number of distros and enjoy mint. I've used Ubuntu for quite a while but generally find mint runs better on my kit. I've installed Pinguy OS in my uncles PC and he hasn't had any problems with it at all, he only uses it for the odd word document and internet related searches as well.
I did notice that Mint has an issue with Intel HD graphics though. Never managed to fix that issue. The video playback and YouTube et al was jerky.
Had a few issues with Intel graphics and Mint - try the other drivers (not the latest) and you might get some improvement. I've tried a number of distros and enjoy mint. I've used Ubuntu for quite a while but generally find mint runs better on my kit. I've installed Pinguy OS in my uncles PC and he hasn't had any problems with it at all, he only uses it for the odd word document and internet related searches as well.
I did notice that Mint has an issue with Intel HD graphics though. Never managed to fix that issue. The video playback and YouTube et al was jerky.
It's no better or worse than any other desktop OS - the difficulties I've had with win8 installs (GPU driver causing a completely borked system requiring an OS re-install - got stuck in a loop - NVidia quadro 3500 - a bit old for win8 I know but didn't expect that) and XP was a dog before service pack 2 (and vista before service pack 1).
OS-X has it's problems and Apple are terrible for older tech support. Linux Mint Mate (not cinnamon) has probably been the most forgiving version for multiple set ups I've used so would normally suggest that to newcomers.
OS-X has it's problems and Apple are terrible for older tech support. Linux Mint Mate (not cinnamon) has probably been the most forgiving version for multiple set ups I've used so would normally suggest that to newcomers.
Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff