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LoneYoShi
France1348 Posts
For a variety of reasons, I want to try Linux (I've never used it before). In order to do that, I'd like to go for a dual boot install (keeping my win10) on my current desktop computer. I'd like to use Linux mainly for entertainment (watching/DL'ing videos, browsing the web, etc) and work (programming). Any advice on which distribution to go for ? From what I've quickly searched for, it seems like Ubuntu, Debian, Mint or Fedora could be decent choices for me, any thoughts ?  | ||
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ZigguratOfUr
Iraq16955 Posts
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Integra
Sweden5626 Posts
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ZigguratOfUr
Iraq16955 Posts
On October 08 2016 01:34 Integra wrote: Download some sort of virtualizer, like Virtualbox for example and install Linux on that instead of using dual boot. Regarding Linux, Ubuntu is the more popular choice for private use since its really easy to use and it comes in many flavours, recommendation would be Ubuntu 16.04 since its the latest version. Whether to run it in a virtualizer or not really depends on your needs. If you want to primarily use Linux for example I'd dual boot rather than use a virtualizer. Here's a good run-down of the pros and cons: http://askubuntu.com/questions/119265/can-i-use-virtualbox-as-a-sandbox-for-12-04/119280#119280 | ||
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RoomOfMush
1296 Posts
However, even for her very limited needs there is a noticeable drop in quality over Windows 7. Every month or so she calls me over a new glitch / bug (and often times it is actually a real bug and not a user error) that she encountered and doesnt know how to handle. Most of them are graphical glitches which Ubuntu seems to be very fond of (perhaps a configuration problem on our part?) and sometimes it is problems with mouse / keyboard drivers, display drivers, etc which randomly seem to fail. A reboot / driver-restart usually fixes the problem though. | ||
tofucake
Hyrule19175 Posts
Anyway, I'd suggest Mint. Mint is based on Ubuntu which is in turn based on Debian. It's also the 3rd most used distro, and almost everything on Ubuntu will work in Mint. Cinnamon is closer to the Windows interface than Unity, so it's a bit easier to get used to, and it's also widely regarded as one of the best desktops out there currently. Regardless of what you want to use, shrink the paritioning in Windows first. | ||
Poopi
France12906 Posts
On October 08 2016 01:34 Integra wrote: Download some sort of virtualizer, like Virtualbox for example and install Linux on that instead of using dual boot. Regarding Linux, Ubuntu is the more popular choice for private use since its really easy to use and it comes in many flavours, recommendation would be Ubuntu 16.04 since its the latest version. I tried VirtualBox with my poor 4Gb ram desktop and it was shit performance wise, the mouse lagged and it didn't feel proper. So my advice is to dual boot as you planned. | ||
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sabas123
Netherlands3122 Posts
On October 08 2016 01:30 ZigguratOfUr wrote: As a new Linux user I'd shy away from Debian and Fedora, especially since you're not looking for anything special out of the OS. Ubuntu vs Mint is more a matter of taste than anything else. Ubuntu is more mainstream and has more support. This, especially if you don't have any experience working with an command line. | ||
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DickMcFanny
Ireland1076 Posts
I figured it would be like on the Raspberry Pi, but only a laptop, it kills the battery time and has the fans running all the time. I have yet to find settings to change that and I think I will just give up and try to remove all the spyware from Win10. The Windows 10 window management is just beautiful, I did not expect the window snapping to work this well. | ||
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LoneYoShi
France1348 Posts
One of the reason I intend to install Linux is actually to get experience with the command line interface, because I figured it will be a good skill to have for my work. But I suppose that even if you don't have to use the command line in Ubuntu doesn't mean you can't ? I think I'll start out with Ubuntu to see what's what. I can always switch to another distro later on, once I'm a bit more experienced. One more question for you guys: Gnome or KDE ? | ||
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Vivax
22098 Posts
I use mint for my laptop. | ||
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tofucake
Hyrule19175 Posts
On October 08 2016 16:07 LoneYoShi wrote: Thanks for the feedback people. One of the reason I intend to install Linux is actually to get experience with the command line interface, because I figured it will be a good skill to have for my work. But I suppose that even if you don't have to use the command line in Ubuntu doesn't mean you can't ? I think I'll start out with Ubuntu to see what's what. I can always switch to another distro later on, once I'm a bit more experienced. One more question for you guys: Gnome or KDE ? gnome | ||
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olabaz
United States298 Posts
Linux Mint is based off of ubuntu and so you get a very similar experience (in terms of ease of use, package manager, etc.) Ubuntu is falling out of flavor after they switched to Unity. Large community (can even benefit from some of the information for ubuntu) You can hop over to http://distrowatch.com/ and see the rankings/compare the distributions. You'll see Linux Mint has been the most popular for the passed few years. ![[image loading]](http://royal.pingdom.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/ubuntu-mint.0022.jpg) | ||
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HornyHerring
Papua New Guinea1059 Posts
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tofucake
Hyrule19175 Posts
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beg
991 Posts
On October 08 2016 10:23 DickMcFanny wrote: I'm honestly disappointed after using Ubuntu on my laptop for a while. I figured it would be like on the Raspberry Pi, but only a laptop, it kills the battery time and has the fans running all the time. I have yet to find settings to change that and I think I will just give up and try to remove all the spyware from Win10. The Windows 10 window management is just beautiful, I did not expect the window snapping to work this well. Try a more lightweight distribution. Sorry, I don't have any specific recommendations here. I recently formatted my Laptop and installed the newest Mint. The newer version runs abysmally slower on my (outdated) laptop, compared to the older Mint version I used. Luckily, the Linux world is very diverse and you can fix such things by choosing a more appropriate distribution  (Or maybe you are experiencing bad drivers or similar hardware incompatibilities. Turns out it's kinda hard to build a mainstream OS that supports every possible hardware configuration.) (Linux is awesome. Loving it for programming, Dota2 and CSGO ))) ) | ||
FO-nTTaX
Johto4957 Posts
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olabaz
United States298 Posts
On October 08 2016 10:23 DickMcFanny wrote: I'm honestly disappointed after using Ubuntu on my laptop for a while. I figured it would be like on the Raspberry Pi, but only a laptop, it kills the battery time and has the fans running all the time. I have yet to find settings to change that and I think I will just give up and try to remove all the spyware from Win10. The Windows 10 window management is just beautiful, I did not expect the window snapping to work this well. That's a very common problem with laptops. You should be able to fix it with proper power management packages/settings (TLP). These things usually come preconfigured on windows but for linux they usually require some work. | ||
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Deleted User 3420
24492 Posts
On October 08 2016 03:35 tofucake wrote: If you have an AMD video card in the R7 or R9 series, don't get Linux yet. There aren't drivers for it. If you have an nVidia card you'll be fine. Anyway, I'd suggest Mint. Mint is based on Ubuntu which is in turn based on Debian. It's also the 3rd most used distro, and almost everything on Ubuntu will work in Mint. Cinnamon is closer to the Windows interface than Unity, so it's a bit easier to get used to, and it's also widely regarded as one of the best desktops out there currently. Regardless of what you want to use, shrink the paritioning in Windows first. lol really? how long it take to get some drivers, damn | ||
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Endymion
United States3701 Posts
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Djagulingu
Germany3605 Posts
On October 08 2016 10:23 DickMcFanny wrote: I'm honestly disappointed after using Ubuntu on my laptop for a while. I figured it would be like on the Raspberry Pi, but only a laptop, it kills the battery time and has the fans running all the time. I have yet to find settings to change that and I think I will just give up and try to remove all the spyware from Win10. The Windows 10 window management is just beautiful, I did not expect the window snapping to work this well. I switched to Ubuntu 16.04 after my Windows 10 randomly stopped working and my battery time actually increased and I don't have temperature problems either. All I can say is: Nothing about Windows is better than ubuntu. | ||
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tofucake
Hyrule19175 Posts
On October 10 2016 20:27 travis wrote: lol really? how long it take to get some drivers, damn Forever. ATI keeps their drivers proprietary, but nVidia develops their own unix drivers | ||
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FO-nTTaX
Johto4957 Posts
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tofucake
Hyrule19175 Posts
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FO-nTTaX
Johto4957 Posts
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tofucake
Hyrule19175 Posts
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Poopi
France12906 Posts
On October 10 2016 21:33 Djagulingu wrote: I switched to Ubuntu 16.04 after my Windows 10 randomly stopped working and my battery time actually increased and I don't have temperature problems either. All I can say is: Nothing about Windows is better than ubuntu. Except maybe playing games  | ||
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iFU.pauline
France1660 Posts
Once you have a grasp on it and feel that you want to dig deeper and do things manually, then you could switch to Debian. | ||
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Djagulingu
Germany3605 Posts
And accessing GIS software Windows has all types of GIS software, Ubuntu only has QGIS. | ||
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DickMcFanny
Ireland1076 Posts
On October 10 2016 21:33 Djagulingu wrote: I switched to Ubuntu 16.04 after my Windows 10 randomly stopped working and my battery time actually increased and I don't have temperature problems either. All I can say is: Nothing about Windows is better than ubuntu. Sorry to drag this up again, but I don't understand how you guys got ubuntu to work like that on a laptop. Can you give me some pointers here? I'd love to get rid of Windows for good (though good luck doing that in Germany, where Windows still reigns supreme), but the performance issues really make that difficult. Thanks for any advice! | ||
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FO-nTTaX
Johto4957 Posts
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