I’m planning on reviving a pair of old XP based systems and I’d like to try a Linux distro. Anyone using Ubuntu or Mint or Zorin? I’d like to find out how you like your OS, any installation or update issues etc. Thanks.
I’m still running Ubuntu 10.4 
I should upgrade to 14.4 though… (or 16.10 or something)
10.4 is not supported anymore, i can’t even upgrade my Firefox, which means some sites don’t work too well anymore…
Well I recommend ebaying them and using the money on an odroid C2 with Ubuntu 16. That will save you some serious space and power. And you will have 4K HDMI.
I ran Mint on an old netbook for awhile, and thought it was pretty good. I didn’t seem to have too much trouble finding my way around, which is a problem I’ve had when trying different distro’s in the past.
Personally I prefer Fedora.
Mike
Been using Arch with KDE for a few years now, before that Kubuntu for a long time. Compatibility wise you want to pick something popular, hardware is really the biggest problem with linux for general use so something with a large user base means you can find solutions to problems quicker and updates are more likely to be better. After that you may want pick a desktop environment that you like or is similar to what you are used to. Many distros have default ones or some like Arch you can pick any. To perhaps oversimplify KDE is very windows like and Gnome which is probably the most common ubuntu flavor is more mac like with many many others all over the place. Since the desktop environment is what you mostly interact with it is perhaps the most preference based thing for a new user. The last thing I would take into account is really the type of user you want to be, a lot of very popular distros are made for people who really like to get under the hood and do things from scratch, some are in the middle and some are made to be plug and play. Arch for instance is in the middle, mostly a-la-carte but with good solid package base. Probably best to start with something plug and play with a good installer and package base.
My favorite distro is LMDE 2 Betsy,
Linux Mint Debian Edition: https://linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php
LOL I clicked your link and read the middle paragraph.
Me too, Ubuntu/Xubuntu 10.04 on my home PCs. I don’t feel like jumping through the hoops to reinstall and re-set up my PCs and retest all of my scripts and stuff. I have a mirror of the Ubuntu 10.04 packages on 2 of my home PCs, so if I want to install any new packages, I still can.
For sites that don’t work in the old Firefox, I try Chromium. If that doesn’t work, I just don’t go to that site. Actually, I don’t surf around the net much anymore.
Well, you can always use the “mainstream” version, although Betsy is very mature.
I would suggest Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa, because the newer distros, like Sarah (18.0) and Serena (18.1) are somewhat half-baked…
https://linuxmint.com/release.php?id=26
I’ll be honest part of the reason I left Kubuntu was the updating issues, it’s a pain, everything breaks and you have to reinstall anyway. So far Arch and it’s rolling release has seemed better but maybe it’s just because I have to get to fix the problems over a much more spread out time span and in total it’s no better.
I use Ubuntu. It was the first distro I could successfully install way back in 2004. I’ve tried others along the way, but kept going back to Ubuntu. I have Ubuntu 16.04 LTS installed on my main home computer, which I’m using right now. Over the years, I’ve come to feel that Ubuntu doesn’t have more problems, or fewer either, but different ones. Windows has had plenty of hardware incompatibility issues in its various versions. I’ve got hardware right now that is compatible with the newest linux version, but not supported any more by Windows. Linux doesn’t natively run Windows applications. But, I’ve found that I get along fine with the applications that are available. I’ve even found a couple that do what I need to do better than the applications available for Windows.
I use the standard Unity desktop in Ubuntu. In fact, I liked it when it was just the “netbook” version desktop. I’ve tried KDE several times throughout the years. I just never could get used to it. Before Unity came along, I used the old Gnome desktop. I’ve also tried several others. Enlightenment is actually my favorite, but it still needs to mature quite a bit I think.
Ubuntu is very quick and easy to install. In the last few years, I’ve had no trouble at all with the installation process. It is very mature, stable, and self-guiding. You can also run Ubuntu from live media (CD, DVD, Flash drive/card, etc.) to try it out before (or instead of) installing it to your hard drive. Updating Ubuntu is fairly straightforward. I’ve very rarely had any issues with it, mostly in the distant past.
I’ve tried Mint several times over the years as well. It’s supposed to be Ubuntu Improved. Well, it isn’t. Every time I used it I found multiple issues that weren’t present in Ubuntu. One serious flaw was Mint’s inability to share printers over the LAN. Ubuntu makes it simple and easy. Mint always made it impossible. Mint was overly complicated in several places where Ubuntu was refreshingly simple.
I’ve tried Zorin once or twice. I can’t remember what I thought of it. I didn’t try very hard, apparently. Probably just didn’t like the UI as well as the standard Ubuntu.
I’ve recently used Ubuntu, Mint, Lubuntu, XFCE and LXDE on PCs,
OpenSuse on a workstation, and RedHat Enterprise.
I use KDE Plasma desktop on OpenSuse.
I dual boot with Win7 on some PCs,
and have one Chromebook with extra disk with both ChromeOS and XFCE (was Ubuntu) via Crouton.
I moved non tech savvy relatives from Mint to Lubuntu about a year ago, everything works well.
Looked at Zorin and went with lubuntu, don’t remember why, possibly aesthetics.
I recommend Lubuntu, or XFCE for a basic experience.
Try them all !
Something about the eclectic niche nature of this forum seems to bring in a much higher percentage of alternative OS users than in other corners of the internet, so you’ll be in good company Gurthang. I would have already created BudgetLinuxForum.com except that Linux is usually free, so the “budget” theme doesn’t exactly fit…
Geeks. We’re a bunch of geeks doing weird and crazy things that a mainstream user does not.
Of course, the standard disclaimer applies: “Linux is only free if your time is worthless.” :weary: But in my opinion it’s definitely worth the investment. :money_mouth_face:
Ubuntu Server (headless) paired with a Chromebook (which is on dev mode and I occasionally boot Ubuntu on it as well. Used to do crouton, but decided to simplify). Been using Ubuntu back from the start when they would actually mail you an installation CD. I’m not huge on the newer interface so sometimes I’ll use the MATE or Gnome versions.
I like that
Sometimes a shtick is what you need :laughing:
Yes, have been using Linux since kernel version 0.99, back when we had to download the distro — SLS, and later Slackware — onto a stack of diskettes to do the installation, and apps needed to be compiled locally. We’ve come a long way since then. Currently running Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS on my main machines on the home network, and keep a Windows 10 box available.