What linux distro for a windows user

[Simon Says]

All in the title what distro 32/64 bit its for a work PC that is used for general duties browsing etc,its a Dell Precision 470 dual Xeon machine with only 1gb of ram,thanks in advance

[JamieBeeston]

Simon Says said:

All in the title what distro 32/64 bit its for a work PC that is used for general duties browsing etc,its a Dell Precision 470 dual Xeon machine with only 1gb of ram,thanks in advance

Why use linux for a general desktop.. never understood it?

If its a desktop, you cant beat windows.. simples..

its cheap as chips so cant be a cost thing..

If you want to learn linux for work, then no point playing with a desktop OS version..

I have hundreds and hundreds of linux servers, and use windows and Mac for my laptops!

[powerandtorque]

I'm running Linux Mint (based on Ubuntu) at home and it works well and has just about everything included that the average home user would need, and is a doddle to install even compared to the simplicity of Windows.

You're not going to learn much of the finer nitty-gritty of Linux using it, but if you want something that is simple to install and use, and works out of the box with no real worries of viruses, spyware and the like, then it's great.

[Mr E]

Personally, Ubuntu. But hearing good things about Mint also.

An important point - the linux kernel and the user GUI are two different things. Most Linux distributions will offer you both Gnome and KDE as GUI options, so feel free to experiment with both.

JamieBeeston said:

Why use linux for a general desktop.. never understood it?

Why not? I personally prefer it over every variant of windows desktop I've used. You, evidentially, do not.

JamieBeeston said:

If its a desktop, you cant beat windows.. simples..

I suggest that for my requirements you can.

JamieBeeston said:

its cheap as chips so cant be a cost thing..

Cheaper than free? Win 7 cost me 60 quid I think. Ubuntu cost nothing and does everything I want. Tough to argue against that.

JamieBeeston said:

If you want to learn linux for work, then no point playing with a desktop OS version..

Command line is the same. If you're experimenting for a commercial application, install Centos and go play.

JamieBeeston said:

I have hundreds and hundreds of linux servers, and use windows and Mac for my laptops!

Good, I'm pleased for you.
I spend all day working on a linux platform via a windows laptop and choose to run Ubuntu on my personal desktop, Win 7 on the media centre and Linspire on a netbook.

Win7 is superior for media playback and control via a remote. It also has (much) better support for the graphics cards which is important for HD playback. And, though I hate to say it, Windows Media Centre is actually quite a nice bit of software.

My desktop is a photo editing tool and general work horse, and Ubuntu does absolutely everything I want for pretty much zero cost.

The netbook has low memory and 8gig of SSD. While XP can be made to work in those constraints, using something that was lightweight to start with seems more sensible.

[130R]

powerandtorque said:

Linux Mint

+1

If you are coming from windows this is what I would install too.

[Nimbus]

I'd read this http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm first.

oh, and I'm liking kubuntu, tho Mint is fine too.

[Simon Says]

Thanks for the input guys,i will give Mint a go i know i could load XP for freeeeeee(well pre installed on the Dell)but i like a play and its my 1st go at Linux i will load it onto the 2nd HD

[marshalla]

Simon Says said:

Thanks for the input guys,i will give Mint a go i know i could load XP for freeeeeee(well pre installed on the Dell)but i like a play and its my 1st go at Linux i will load it onto the 2nd HD

Try some of CD/DVD based "live" distros first - they'll let you experience Linux before you commit to installing it.

[CommanderJameson]

130R said:

powerandtorque said:

Linux Mint

+1

If you are coming from windows this is what I would install too.

I'd say Mint, too. It's basically Ubuntu with a bit of the post-install faffing about done for you.

And it's green.

[Jubal]

Can anyone show me a distro that renders fonts as nicely as windows? Cleartype etc. Tweaks don't count beyond running a wizard. I've tried several and they all look pants in the font dept.

[CommanderJameson]

Jubal said:

Can anyone show me a distro that renders fonts as nicely as windows? Cleartype etc. Tweaks don't count beyond running a wizard. I've tried several and they all look pants in the font dept.

Difficult call, but then I think Windows fonts look like arse.

Turn on sub-pixel anti-aliasing and maximum hinting, and that'll give you the same horrid type of font smoothing as Windows.

[Frederick]

Jubal said:

Can anyone show me a distro that renders fonts as nicely as windows? Cleartype etc. Tweaks don't count beyond running a wizard. I've tried several and they all look pants in the font dept.

Install the TrueType Fonts library (depending on your distro it could vary from clicking on an installer to firing loads of instructions in a terminal prompt) and make the default font in your window manager a TTF font instead of the boggo Linux unicode Serif.

[Jubal]

CommanderJameson said:

Difficult call, but then I think Windows fonts look like arse.

Turn on sub-pixel anti-aliasing and maximum hinting, and that'll give you the same horrid type of font smoothing as Windows.

I guess it's subjective but the above process results in the font equivalent of the kid from Deliverance for me. It's smoother but hardly good looking. I note the other poster's comment about installing fonts but that's only part of the issue. They still look tosh. In recent times I've only ever tried Linux on a widescreen notebook. Does the screen aspect ratio have a bearing on font quality?

[CommanderJameson]

Jubal said:

CommanderJameson said:

Difficult call, but then I think Windows fonts look like arse.

Turn on sub-pixel anti-aliasing and maximum hinting, and that'll give you the same horrid type of font smoothing as Windows.

I guess it's subjective but the above process results in the font equivalent of the kid from Deliverance for me. It's smoother but hardly good looking. I note the other poster's comment about installing fonts but that's only part of the issue. They still look tosh. In recent times I've only ever tried Linux on a widescreen notebook. Does the screen aspect ratio have a bearing on font quality?

Wouldn't have thought so.

Got a screenshot of what you're not happy with? I've just twiddled my (virtualised) Mint installation as I described, and it looks much like ClearType to me...

[Jubal]

CommanderJameson said:

Wouldn't have thought so.

Got a screenshot of what you're not happy with? I've just twiddled my (virtualised) Mint installation as I described, and it looks much like ClearType to me...

That falls into the more hassle than it's worth camp. I have no current install. I recently hosed ubuntu netbook remix because of this issue. Maybe I just like the windows fonts and that's that. I was hoping I'd been missing an obvious trick but googling around seems I'm not alone in my view on linux fonts. Why not post a full res screenshot of yours?

[sonic_2k_uk]

Simon Says said:

All in the title what distro 32/64 bit its for a work PC that is used for general duties browsing etc,its a Dell Precision 470 dual Xeon machine with only 1gb of ram,thanks in advance

Jump in the deep end and go with something like debian console only, no GUI. That's what i did.

You won't have much of a browser though

Edited by sonic_2k_uk on Wednesday 17th March 13:02

[Mr E]

sonic_2k_uk said:

You won't have much of a browser though

Lynx is a fine browser. Not too good at flash...

[CommanderJameson]

Mr E said:

sonic_2k_uk said:

You won't have much of a browser though

Lynx is a fine browser. Not too good at flash...

Lynx? Feh.

w3m is where it's at for CLI browsing.

[grumbledoak]

CommanderJameson said:

w3m is where it's at for CLI browsing.

Bah! telnet...

[amir_j]

marshalla said:

Simon Says said:

Thanks for the input guys,i will give Mint a go i know i could load XP for freeeeeee(well pre installed on the Dell)but i like a play and its my 1st go at Linux i will load it onto the 2nd HD

Try some of CD/DVD based "live" distros first - they'll let you experience Linux before you commit to installing it.

+1

On of my laptops went down (own fault.... partitioning errored midway), used 'Puppy linux' iso as a live cd to recover files. Suprised how easy, even connected my phone and it recognised as a modem and allowed web surfing.

Live cd way is just fantastic.