OSes Linux discussion

[Second Summer]

A thread to discuss all things Linux-related!

I've recently switched from regular Ubuntu using GNOME desktop environment and GNOME GUI (having previously used the notorious Unity interface) to Xubuntu with Xfce4 which was supposed to be faster and much less resource hungry. Well, at first it didn't really seem a lot faster, but yesterday I realized I was still using GNOME Display Manager (gdm), not the Light Display Manager (lightdm) which is supposed to be the default for Xubuntu. So I changed to lightdm and now it feels much less bloated.

That said, of course now I was just reading up about Xubuntu on Wikipedia, and apparently it got some less than stellar reviews in the past, as it's more memory-hungry than should be anticipated. It was compared in some reviews with Debian using the Xfce desktop, and at one time found to be using more than twice as much RAM. That was a couple of years ago though, so not sure if it's still true, but it makes me want to try out Debian!

 

[Digger]

Slackware + Xfce4 = quite peppy!

 

[Second Summer]

Slackware + Xfce4 = quite peppy!

Yes, that would be interesting ... I still have an old Windows XP partition on my computer (it's a tiny netbook), and I plan to install something more interesting there as I haven't been using the despicable XP at all. I really want something that is lightning fast even on this small computer (1GB RAM, 2GHz cpu, i686 32-bit).

 

[ledboots]

This is a couple of years old, but still has good information about linux distros for older computers. http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-lightweight-linux-distributions-give-pc-lease-life/

Eta, I had an old desktop with Damn Small Linux on it, and it was easy and speedy. I think the computer had 512 RAM. http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

 

[Chryssie]

This is a couple of years old, but still has good information about linux distros for older computers. http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-lightweight-linux-distributions-give-pc-lease-life/

Eta, I had an old desktop with Damn Small Linux on it, and it was easy and speedy. I think the computer had 512 RAM. http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

I have an old Dell laptop that has XP on it and it is very slow though still usable; since XP is at the end of it's life something else will have to go on that computer. I will check out that DSL distro for it. I already have put Ubuntu on another older Dell laptop and it works quite well. I think Linux is a great way to extend the life of older computers!

 

[ledboots]

I have an old Dell laptop that has XP on it and it is very slow though still usable; since XP is at the end of it's life something else will have to go on that computer. I will check out that DSL distro for it. I already have put Ubuntu on another older Dell laptop and it works quite well. I think Linux is a great way to extend the life of older computers!

Me too! My son is very into Linux, and we have a netbook with Ubuntu 10 point something, a desktop that dual boots windows 7 and I think he has xubuntu on that one, or Mint, he has switched around. He also rooted his android phone and installed a little ubuntu on it.

I have a nice laptop with Windows 8, which he said he will put a nice linux on when I get completely sick of that slow, user-unfriendly Windows 8 bloatfest.

My son also gave a very old and slow desktop that he put Puppy linux on to a kid we know who had no computers in the house.

I like the idea of teams of people working on open-source stuff that (hopefully) won't be stolen and copyrighted by Apple, Google, Microsoft, or whomever.

 

[Chryssie]

I have been a "fan" of Linux since my husband introduced me to Slackware way back in the late 90's! He had me using that most difficult distribution for years; we also used the obsolete OS/2 operating system for years. We were those geeks who totally despised Microsoft and were not shy about it!! Of course I have turned "traitor" and been using the evil Windows for years now though I still utilize Linux sometimes. I think he has that horrible Windows 8 now and no Linux at all!!

 

[Second Summer]

I've just switched to Lubuntu! This is clearly much better!

 

[das_nut]

I'm quite happy with Debian here.

 

[Second Summer]

I'm quite happy with Debian here.

I understand that stable Debian versions are pretty infrequent though, and when they're finally released, they are already a bit behind the times. Or so I have been led to believe.

In other news:

Valve has announced that its made-for-gaming Linux-based Steam OS will be available to download on 13 December.

It recommends that only "intrepid Linux hackers" download Steam OS for the time being, until it's more polished next year, but we're sure that won't stop PC gamers with itchy feet from jumping in as soon as possible.

http://www.stuff.tv/steam-box/valve-announces-steam-os-will-be-released-13-december/news

 

[ledboots]

In other news:

http://www.stuff.tv/steam-box/valve-announces-steam-os-will-be-released-13-december/news

My son will be interested in this; I sent him the link, thanks.

 

[das_nut]

I understand that stable Debian versions are pretty infrequent though, and when they're finally released, they are already a bit behind the times. Or so I have been led to believe.

You can always run "testing", which is pretty stable, as well as being mostly up to date.

 

[Second Summer]

I've just installed Fedora 20 with GNOME 3 on my work laptop. Quite pleased with it so far. It's not the most exotic Linux distro, but I wanted something suitable for work.

 

[Second Summer]

Having used Fedora for several months now, I have to say I don't like it as much as Ubuntu. Fedora just seems to have several smaller issues which just makes life harder than it needs to be.

If you were going to make a recommendation for a Linux distro for someone who's moving from Windows XP, which one(s) would you pick?

Ubuntu has this not-so-well-liked default interface called Unity, but it can be turned off and replaced with something more sensible.

I really only have recent experience the two distros mentioned above, but I've heard good things about other Debian-based distros such as Mint. For Win XP users, I suspect it has the edge over Ubuntu since it's using some proprietary plug-ins and codecs that just makes life easier.

 

[ledboots]

My son likes Mint, I have kubuntu. Mint has more video game capability, I believe he said.

As an older person who tries to keep up with this crazy technology, I like kubuntu very much. I've had it for years on an old cheap netbook that runs great.

 

[Second Summer]

Just installing Redhat Enterprise Linux 6 on my workstation at work. It will be nice to get away from version 5, though 6 is still old now. I think 7 was released recently, but 6 is what our company supports.

 

[Amy SF]

Linux is the quiet revolution that will leave Microsoft eating dust

 

[Second Summer]

I'm upgrading my work laptop from Fedora 21 to 22. It's definitely not as straightforward to upgrade Fedora as e.g. Ubuntu. I wonder if this is true in general for Redhat-based vs Debian-based distros.

In other news, I'm hearing that the latest Mint Linux is really good. I wish I had a proper laptop at home so I could play with it.

Arch Linux has also been talked up a lot in recent times, but it sounded like it was aimed more at the nerd brigade.

 

[ledboots]

I'm upgrading my work laptop from Fedora 21 to 22. It's definitely not as straightforward to upgrade Fedora as e.g. Ubuntu. I wonder if this is true in general for Redhat-based vs Debian-based distros.

In other news, I'm hearing that the latest Mint Linux is really good. I wish I had a proper laptop at home so I could play with it.

Arch Linux has also been talked up a lot in recent times, but it sounded like it was aimed more at the nerd brigade.

My son put mint on my old netbook recently, it is nice and easy. He likes Debian distros for his computers, but for me, no.

 

[Second Summer]

My son put mint on my old netbook recently, it is nice and easy. He likes Debian distros for his computers, but for me, no.

I've sort of gotten used to both Debian-based and Redhat-based distros. I suspect in general the Debian-based ones have the edge.

Ubuntu, which is Debian-based, has gotten some bad press in recent times due to its Mir display server instead of Wayland and criticism over its licencing.