I'm lost in the Linux jungle, please TL, help me find the way out!

I need a new OS for my laptop, but I don't know which one to choose. Must be a free distro.

I'm mostly gonna surf the web and do java programming. I'd prefer to be able to play bw, wc3 and cs through some kind of virtual box (these are different in different distros, aren't they?). I want it to boot up as quickly as possible and I don't care much about the desktop graphics.

Can someone recommend me a distro? Thanks.

jobiasRKD

United States38 Posts

July 28 2009 13:47 GMT

If you've never really used Linux before, I suggest Ubuntu. It has a very large community that (as far as I know) has an unusually large focus on newcomers to Linux. In addition, there is a lot of documentation on using Wine within Ubuntu to play games such as BW, WC3 etc.

meathook

1289 Posts

July 28 2009 13:47 GMT

~~All~~ Most distros are free.

You should read a bit about the top distros: http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

and pick the one you find most interestin.

Edit: Yeah yeah.. not all.

haduken

Australia8267 Posts

July 28 2009 13:52 GMT

Ubuntu for starters.

The best thing about Ubuntu are it's package manager (Well, Debian's manager really) and community support.

foeffa

Belgium2115 Posts

July 28 2009 14:08 GMT

Real men use Slackware, a'ight. ^^

The Raurosaur

198 Posts

July 28 2009 14:11 GMT

On July 28 2009 22:47 meathook wrote:
All distros are free.

Not all. Redhat and SUSE, for instance, cost money.

United States496 Posts

July 28 2009 14:35 GMT

All distros are free.

lol ?

And yeah, if you never used Linux, go ubuntu.

cujo2k

Canada1044 Posts

July 28 2009 14:57 GMT

Ubuntu rocks :D Only complaint i've had with it in like 9 months is that sometimes updates cause shit to not work as well

EsX_Raptor

United States2801 Posts

July 28 2009 15:00 GMT

im a computer scientist and say: get ubuntu.

meathook

1289 Posts

July 28 2009 15:03 GMT

#10

On July 28 2009 23:11 The Raurosaur wrote:

Show nested quote +

Not all. Redhat and SUSE, for instance, cost money.

Oh.. right. RHEL and SLE does cost money. However, both Redhat and SUSE offer free distros and most other distros are free.

HeaDStrong

Scotland785 Posts

July 28 2009 15:47 GMT

#11

my ubuntu doesnt really like my wirless card and people around me also have trouble with linux and wireless net cards.

StorrZerg

United States13910 Posts

July 28 2009 16:26 GMT

#12

linux and games don't mix well.

I'd suggest ubuntu though over anything else

samachking

Bahrain4949 Posts

July 28 2009 16:30 GMT

#13

Ubuntu is great and has a slick easy to manage interface. Im on it right now, use Ubuntu for sure.

rredtooth

5458 Posts

July 28 2009 16:45 GMT

#14

first off, it's going to be very hard to play SC, WC3, etc. on a virtual box
you're better off using cedega but even that can't handle iccup

second, ubuntu is a great choice but i suggest linux mint for the absolute beginner
its like ubuntu but with more features and is easier to use
they use the same updates as ubuntu and you can sneak questions into the amazing userbase ubuntu has because they are very similar distros

crunchbang is a very fast distro (using lxde instad of gnome) but could take a while to get used to if you use it as your first distribution
because it doesn't take too long to make a livecd (or a live usb if you don't like wasting CDs), just poke your head around as many distributions as possible and try to settle on one

you definitely want to try out each of the major desktop environments which are:
Gnome (ubuntu, mint default)
KDE (mandriva default)
Xfce (xubuntu, zenwalk, vector default)
LXDE (crunchbang default)

for choosing a linux distribution, www.distrowatch.com will be your best friend
the panel on the right shows you how popular each distribution is
as for now, i'd highly suggest trying out a bunch (use unetbootin to make live USBs) but i think you'll find Mint to suit your needs the best

Hamster1800

United States175 Posts

July 28 2009 16:46 GMT

#15

Seriously go Ubuntu if you're a first time user. It's basically got the easiest default interface. If you're a move advanced user (like if you've used linux before, prefer the command line to a GUE, etc), then it depends on what you want. I would probably recommend Debian or Gentoo, although I've never actually used Debian, so I'm not actually sure if it's good.

One thing I would definitely say is that you should ditch GNOME (Ubuntu's default window manager) and install KDE. GNOME is extremely outdated and KDE will probably make you much happier (this is assuming you are an average user, I personally prefer minimalistic window managers and am using fluxbox). The easiest way to do that is to get Kubuntu rather than straigth Ubuntu. Everything else is the same, as far as I know, but some people say there are a few differences.

I'm not sure of any linux based VMs that are sure to be able to run bw, wc3, and cs, but wine is a compatibility layer which allows windows programs to be run almost-natively in linux, meaning that there is very little slowdown for most programs. I know that bw works fine in it, but I can't say anything about wc3 or cs.

Shad0w59

United Kingdom43 Posts

July 28 2009 16:50 GMT

#16

Definately Ubuntu.

I tried a few and got terribly confused as it seems that most other distros assume a lot of knowledge of Linux.

I would disagree with Hamster1800 though, I found the default GNOME shell easier to use than KDE. Go with Ubuntu with all the defaults and you can worry about tweaking later.

ZerG~LegenD

Sweden1179 Posts

July 28 2009 17:10 GMT

#17

How is the window manager in kde? At work I use Redhat (Gnome I think) and whenever I open a folder it opens in a new window, which I really don't like so I've kinda stopped using the desktop system there. I do prefer using a graphic interface unless it sucks though.

kemoryan

Spain1506 Posts

July 28 2009 17:30 GMT

#18

I'd go for Ubuntu 9.04 or Fedora 11. Can't go wrong with either.

King K. Rool

Canada4408 Posts

July 28 2009 17:51 GMT

#19

dual boot for games though my buddy has warcraft (or sc I forget) working fine on wine in Ubuntu.

miseiler

United States1389 Posts

July 28 2009 18:10 GMT

#20

Damn times have changed. Someone used to say "which distro?" and get a thousand different responses and ten thousand more flaming the first.

I use Arch now, but I'm certainly not afraid to say I used Ubuntu for a couple years first, and I'll recommend it along with everyone else here.