Xubuntu is awesome. No point looking any further if you’re a beginner, I’m in the industry and many of the best Linux admin’s I know use Ubuntu.
What you should be looking out for is what has the best range of packages, is reliable and secure and provides timely security/software updates.
I’d stay away from Mint, not sure what they really offer ontop of Ubuntu but their server hacked really turned me off.
I’m kind of proud to say that i bought this laptop (of which only the main board still works lol) in 2008 with Windows on it, but i NEVER used it.
I also started on linux when ubuntu was sending out free cd’s. I switched to Linux Mint when Ubuntu switched to the Unity desktop. For older hardware Linux Mint Mate or one of the lightweight ubuntus, like Lubuntu or Xubuntu would be a good place to start.
I’ve got a laptop I’ve started playing with Qubes OS on that is not a starter linux, but it should be reasonably secure.
That is too funny
That’s one of the many reasons I stick with Ubuntu… it’s so widespread that things usually work well, documentation is all over the Internet, updates are well planned and happen exactly every 6 months… Doesn’t get much better than that.
Lubuntu only…just because I like it, my computer would have a fit if I tried to install windos <—— see it will not even let me type it :innocent:
Cheers David
Elementary OS is a nice option that isn’t mentioned much.
A shout out for the classic DSL - “Damn Small Linux”.
Alright, enough vodka for me. I’m out.
I dual-boot Windows 10/64 and Linux Mint 17.3/64...
I use Windows rarely...sometimes for gaming, but I use Linux Mint 99% of the time for many years....
My preference is Linux Mint, although there are many other very good distro's, it's just personal taste-
I even have my Linux setup to look and feel very much like Windows...
I second that. I’ve been using ElementaryOS for couple of years and it’s my second laptop with Elementary OS installed for working.
i was fascinated by the idea of “free OS”.
The first couple times i checked on Linux? i could not do anything or get it working. One time i had to answer “about 10,000” questions to get it to not boot. I kept going back and choosing different options for questions i didnt understand anf finally got a “boot”…
i quickly found out I had a “neato” rotating “cube” for multiple desktops… but couldnt get on dialup internet (remember dialup? LMAO)
===
i kept coming BACK and playing, and was finally rewarded years ago? with the ability to download MANY linux distro’s, same them in a folder, and i burn them to USB sticks and run from there. By then Linux had gotten easy enough i could install, run and play with it, many versions.
over time? i have a few rotating favorites.
NOW? on A-N-Y computer i do, laptop or desktop. (I can build and repair them at will, so, in the true spirit of “budget” I pick up computers out of the GARBAGE and take it home and get a perfect computer out of it, lol)
but on any computer i do for myself? and i always have several… I always put on:
1) windows. old version. XP and 7 are my “goto” windows. I use exclusively “mini” versions off the internet, lol. They run faster and more stable, LMAO. I give this sterile windows its own partition.
2) I also install a “fatdog64” or “puppy linux” tiny fast distro in a small partition, too. Whole OS and all software is loaded into memory AT ONCE. perfect for general internet, email, etc etc. When you click the mouse? sh!t opens INSTANTLY.
3) I also install a bigger “general LINUX”, whatever strikes my fancy, in its own partition, too.
4) i am prone to install a second “general LINUX” as well in another partition.
5) i have a BUNCH of small to large distros of linux. These and others, and i burn them as i wish amongst several USB drives i have. Sometimes i have a favorite “USB version” and i give it its OWN 32 or 64 gig USB keychain drive… this i can plug into someone elses computer? boot up from it, and repair their computer.
6) I resize partitions if i have to, as i go along.
in this manner? i run whatever easy to find windows software i want… in windows. I use internet and email in LINUX where its safe, usually in a “tiny” runs-in-memory distro, like puppy linux/fatdog64
as a matter of fact? ZORIN is actually one of the boot menu options on THIS very laptop i am writing this on. I like it. ZORIN was one of the LINUX versions i found when i went on a “linux that looks like windows” kick. My desktop has a MINT on it dual booting with a stripped down version of Win 7 ultimate, with a “minimalist” FATDOG64 on it too. Each has their own groovy partition.
==
actually, i have never HAD a linux install “go bad” and require a partition wipe… its always windows. When windoze either slows to a crawl, or worse gets a virus or locks up and shits kittens all over its partition?? I dont skip a heartbeat… I ust boot up to fatdog64, and go into the windows partition and retrieve all my important folders… and wipe the windoze partition from linux and then do an install on just the windoze.
I will third elementary OS. I installed Luna not long after it released and am currently using Freya. My computer is an old thinkpad from 2005 or 2006, Luna worked fine, but Freya had an occasional odd graphics issue that lasted a couple of weeks until there was an update. I will give Loki another couple of months and then see how that goes.
I have been using Bluestar (an Arch linux live disk distribution with installer) for several years.
I run Mint 17.3 and 18. Usually the xfce version.
In the past I ran 2 other lightweight distros: Bodhi and Vector.
I’ve used Ubuntu, Mint and Puppy. Mint is the best for me and Puppy is perfect for a bootable memory stick I like to use on problem machines to see if the hardware will boot and to access drives on machines that no longer boot up.
I like Linux but have also installed and used a more Unix like clone, FreeBSD too. For daily use I like another Unix derivation called OS X.
I use Kali Linux on a Macbook Pro. Raspbian on raspberries, armbian on orange pi.
Unfortunately Armbian is the only distro I could get to work on my Orange Pis
32-bit Linux Mint, if those laptop are very old will not work otherwise, all modern distributions require CPU with PAE support. Most laptops from XP era (Centrino, Cruose, etc) do not have it.
Occasionally using Linux Mint from second boot drive.
Gaming almost everytime when I start up my PC so Linux is not so often used…
Otherwise it serves my needs well…
I don’t see what this thread has to do with flashlights… Anyway, one more linux user, for ~18 years. I use Debian, the rolling “unstable” branch. I use it in the notebook, desktops and central servers of the department.
Another Linux user here when I feel like it. Generally Ubuntu simply because it is what I have been using the longest and I don’t seem to have as many compatibility issues with it.
Although mint is also nice. I keep a Linux stick around so I can boot up any computer I want with it (also have a windows 8.1 TO GO stick that is great to have in a pinch).
I would use Linux exclusively if the programs I need would run on it.
Adobe suite, DXO, ect are all windows only programs and I need them all to various degrees although the single largest reason I don’t fully switch to linuix is gaming. I love me some good games and linuix simply doesn’t have good games lol.