Easiest and simplest way to switch to Linux

[MC Bodge]

Right, I'm looking for the easiest, simplest way to swap (dual boot for now) to Linux on an old Dell Djmension desktop.

Open office or preferably MSOffice, Spotify, BBC iPlayer/flash, Firefox

I don't need the "best", just functionality, quick boot and faster than XP, off possible.

It might need setting up, but I don't want to spend 6 weeks configuring it.

My wife doesn't want to learn Unix to use it and if it feels like XP, even better.

Thanks.

[MC Bodge]

Is installing Spotify, Flash and the like straight-forward?

What is the best(ok, MS-alike) Linux "Office" software? Wife sometimes uses it for work spreadsheets and doesn't really want to learn a non-Excel package.

Thanks

[MC Bodge]

Thanks all for the useful advice

[MC Bodge]

Nimbus said:

Whatever you change to, win 7 / 8, mac, or linux, its going to be different to win xp, so if she's not going to go into it with an open mind, and prepared for at least a bit of a learning curve then you are wasting your time, and might as well stick with xp.

I agree.

She uses WinXP in classic mode, Win7 and occasionally Win8(that I've added a retro windows shell to).

My point was basically that the fewer the differences the better, to reduce the amount of learning for her (and for me to help with).

[MC Bodge]

Nimbus said:

One of the older versions of Mint, eg release 13 would do the job admirably.

Very stable, and security updates until 2017..

http://www.linuxmint.com/release.php?id=18

I'd suggest the cinammon version, the others are the same underlying system, just different window managers.

Booting the .iso from a USB stick resulted in display problems.

The start menu was not showing properly and all windows were blue, with no text.

I'm now going to try the KDE version.

Edit: That isn't even reaching the desktop. This is beginning to display all the signs of my previous abortive attempts at Linux.

Admittedly, there appears to be less command line work than there was in the past.

Edited by MC Bodge on Monday 25th August 22:10

[MC Bodge]

I have used that.

It appears to be a graphics issue.

I've now re-tried using advice on here http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&amp...

I have a black screen with a mouse pointer and nothing else. I'm going to leave the PC to think about it.

The Cinnamon version got further, but didn't display properly.

[MC Bodge]

It is a desktop.

I'll gave to re-visit this when I have time again to tinker next week.

I was hoping for something "plug and play", but that was probably a little optimistic.

[MC Bodge]

The desktop was a freebie a few years ago.it is old although it runs ok. I was just hoping to extend its useful life a bit.

No, I'm not interested enough to want to spend hours and hours setting up an old PC to run Linux for he little use it gets. I'll probably give it one more attempt.

Failing that, a cheap replacement with a newer OS would be the next option.

[MC Bodge]

Well, Lubuntu seems to be working well so far booting from USB.

I'm now installing it, so let's hope that it stays that way.

Other than it defaulting to installing itself on the ancient, tiny slave drive I fitted when I installed Ubuntu in the past, it appears to have worked well.

I did have to play about with the sound settings to get the right sound channel to work.

I'm not sure if Lubuntu is any quicker than XP, but I'll have a tinker with it.

Edited by MC Bodge on Monday 1st September 00:01

Edited by MC Bodge on Monday 1st September 18:33

[MC Bodge]

MC Bodge said:

Well, Lubuntu seems to be working well so far booting from USB.

I'm now installing it, so let's hope that it stays that way.

I'm very, very impressed with Lubuntu so far

Other than sound initially being only one channel, it has been very easy to install and to use.

It is still on my small 2nd hard drive, but I will move it to a bigger one at some point.

I'm now tempted to try (L)Ubuntu on my 3 year old Win7 web browsing/kitchen/garage/living room laptop.

-Would Lubuntu lose any features that I would miss from Win7?

I use Win7 in 'classic' mode with all graphic effects/aero themes etc. turned off for improved performance.

Would Ubuntu be a better choice than Lubuntu?

Edited by MC Bodge on Thursday 4th September 16:21

[MC Bodge]

Skodasupercar said:

I use Ubuntu on a couple of old laptops. It works well, is faster than the windows operating system it replaced and does everything I need it to (like email, web browsing and word/excel activities).

That is basically what I use my PC and laptop for.

The software centre certainly makes it easier to install extras than it was when I tried Linux in the past.

To be honest, Win7 works fine on my laptop, but the old machine with Lubuntu is a pleasure to use.

[MC Bodge]

I'm still enjoying the Lubuntu (and tweaking the preferences a bit), albeit with some Firefox loading and scrolling slowness issues

-browsing the WWW suggests that I'm not the only one to experience this. I've improved it a little, but more work will be required.

HD Youtube videos appear to play smoothly.

Interestingly, the sound seems(placebo?) to be of a better quality (through my old Akai amp and Mission bookshelf Speakers, no tinny pc speakers here) than it was under Win XP with the Dell-supplied sound software (that I can't remember the name of).

[MC Bodge]

MC Bodge said:

I'm still enjoying the Lubuntu (and tweaking the preferences a bit), albeit with some Firefox loading and scrolling slowness issues

The Firefox slowness issues have now been solved ...with Google Chrome. Having been a Firefox and Netscape user for many years, it is just too clunky on this os.

I'm a big fan of this Lubuntu thing.

I'm planning to install Lubuntu (or similar), and a bigger SD card, on an old Eee PC Netbook.