SO OVER MICROBLOAT! (Microsoft) Newby question
Hi all,
I did some preliminary noodling around this site but wanted to narrow my search for a suitable start point for my research...if that makes sense.
Here are the specifications for my current machine:
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer Sony Corporation
System Model VGN-A270P(UC)
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 13 Stepping 6 GenuineIntel ~1594 Mhz
Total Physical Memory 512.00 MB ......................(Note: I am upgrading to a pair of 1GB Cards from Crucial)
Available Physical Memory 123.77 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
OK, now on with my question. I have had enough of Microsoft products, but I get the fact that the world pretty much runs on this stuff. Ideally what I am hoping is that I would be able to find a linux based OS that would replace the Windows crap I am currently running. I have already gutted the office products in favor of OpenOffice.org products and am very happy with that. I am thinking that when I finally upgrade the memory on this laptop, I would do my research and perhaps switch to a linux based platform instead.
What I am hoping for is something that is more or less "plug and play" I am by no means a guru, I do ok with current applications, but am hoping to find a ROCK stable, user friendly, easy to assimilate, linux OS for my Laptop. Something that does not require a ton of linux experience to use efficiently. Ideally it would be a 1:1 swap with the Windows OS that I am using now.
If any of you can point me in a direction to start my search I would appreciate it. Names of distros, places to do research that are written for the newbie etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Comments
As you have probably read from other threads on here, the push in ubuntu 9.10 to add more user-fiendly and cutting edge features has compromised it's stability. In my opinion the most stable distros you can get that fit the plug and play and userfriendly needs would be Ubuntu 9.04 or linux mint.
Surfing the internet - no problem
Basic Office Operations - The OpenOffice Suite can handle most of what you can throw at it, it just doesn't have all the advanced features of the MS Office suite. Although it does what I need it to do.
Chatting on Gmail - Although I've never tried it, it does come up on my igoogle.
Watching DVD's - no problem.
As for you needs pretty much all of the distros fix your needs, the only difficulty will be dvd playback to address that you will need to make sure to install libdvdread and libdvdcss on your chosen distro.
There are literally hundreds to choose from, so most people narrow it down to a choice of the desktop environment (Gnome, KDE, Xfce, LXDE, Enlightenment, or none at all), package management (how software is installed), and for a newbie, community support is a major, extremely important factor. Ubuntu, Mepis, and PCLinuxOS certainly have awesome support forums! Friendly, patient, helpful, and fun. If you choose Linux Mint, your best bet is still the Ubuntu support forums, since Linux Mint is Ubuntu with "green paint" and multimedia codecs pre-installed.
-Robin
I haven't used PCLinuxOS in a while, but it is also very user friendly, but yet needs tweaking to get multimedia going. At the moment, with Ubuntu having problems with it's latest release, Mint still gets my vote as the most user friendly. Although keep your eyes out for Pardus. This Turkish distro has been recommended to me by some of my German friends, and it also comes fully loaded and very user friendly.
GNU/Linux on the desktop comes in layers. You do not have to install this distro or that distro to get a particular look or feel. For example, if you like KDE you can get it with dozens of distros. Same with GNOME, XFCE4, and a bunch of others. Most of what you see is the window manager/display manager when you start. You can change both. GNOME and KDE are Cadillacs of desktop environments. They try to do everything whether you need/want it or not. I prefer something like XFCE4 which will do anything I want done and in a lot less bloat. Why copy what you don't like about that other OS?
I like Debian GNU/Linux because packages are tested very thoroughly before they are put into the stable branch. You won't get cutting edge with Debian stable but you don't need blood all over your desktop. You need a desktop that is reliable. There are 25000 packages in the Debian repository so you can find almost anything you want in there. That really simplifies maintenance. Replace hours of fiddling with that other OS with minutes per year with Debian.
There are dozens of ways of installing Debian, too. You can install from your own server, a mirror on the web, CD, DVD, USB, fully-automated, etc. It's pretty easy if you just take the defaults. I like multiple drives in RAID so I have to add a few more clicks, but on a newish machine you can be done in 15 minutes, perhaps longer for a newbie.
Debian has been around a long time and is the base upon which Ubuntu is built.
-Robin
Frankly, I understand the want for a clean and simple desktop environement. In fact, this is why I've gone back to gnome, believe it not. I had been hapilly using KDE 3.5 for a long time, when all of a sudden, Kubuntu dropped support for 3.5 and moved me over to KDE4. Wow. What a pain in the but that was.
I, myself, may go back to XFCE, soon. But before I settle on that, I am planning on trying fluxbox, again.
In the past, though, I've referred to XCFE as the goldilocks desktop environement. It's ribust enough to be usefull to a wide variety of users, without being unbearably slow and cluttered w/ features and eye candy that you'll never want / need / use.
I'm testing the next release of that, Xubuntu Lucid Lynx (Alpha 2 currently). It's not only faster than Karmic was, but seems much more stable. It has the easy installer that I wish Debian had (but it won't be long - Debian is working on one), and it is not nearly as bloated with unnecessary stuff as its predecessors.
Until now, even the LTS releases of the 'buntu family were built on Debian Unstable. Lucid Lynx (10.4) is being built on Debian Testing, which is hopefully a sign that it will be more stable. I think Canonical should do that with every LTS release.
I like that! Xfce4 is great so far. If it's been awhile since you tried it, have another look. The latest version is light and fast and pretty.
-Robin