Windows is pissing me off for lots of reasons. Im thinking about dual booting, I need to get some more linux experience anyways. It's been many years since I've used it.

What linux distro should I get? Does it matter at all? What GUI should I be using?

I am mostly doing this to become more proficient with the operating system. But actual functionality matters to me as well. As it stands right now I don't really know anything about the different distros.

I realize this isn't the most exciting or interesting blog post for people who don't care about linux. So if you don't care about linux you should probably just leave the thread.

bITt.mAN

Switzerland3689 Posts

July 24 2010 23:36 GMT

My friend got Ubuntu and he really liked it, but it was really music and sound-oriented so I don't know if that fits your desires

celious

United States195 Posts

July 24 2010 23:39 GMT

Go with ubuntu however if you want to make a efficient system, learn a lot, and get many headaches try out gentoo but its definitely not recommended for a first time user.

tarpman

Canada717 Posts

July 24 2010 23:39 GMT

If it's not obvious to you that you should be using something else, just go with Ubuntu. Whether or not you stick with it in the long term it's a good introductory distro that tries to soften the transition from Windows.

On July 25 2010 08:36 bITt.mAN wrote:
My friend got Ubuntu and he really liked it, but it was really music and sound-oriented so I don't know if that fits your desires

Maybe he was using Ubuntu Studio? The standard Ubuntu doesn't fit that description as far as I know.

Deleted User 3420

24492 Posts

July 24 2010 23:40 GMT

What about GUI?
Is KDE or Gnome better? Which is more stable?

funkie

Venezuela9374 Posts

July 24 2010 23:41 GMT

perhaps Ubuntu is the closest to a "Windows-like" enviroment.

You might want to take a little peak at this: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Linux_distributions

celious

United States195 Posts

July 24 2010 23:41 GMT

they're both stable. KDE has a lot more features while gnome is slightly lighter then KDE

celious

United States195 Posts

July 24 2010 23:42 GMT

oh ubuntu the gnome version has the least amount of bugs for sure but the bugs in kubuntu may not even effect you

Belegorm

United States330 Posts

July 24 2010 23:44 GMT

Ubuntu is probably best, but it's not so fast imho; so I recommend crunchbang, a smaller distro that's compatible with most ubuntu stuff. Works better than xubuntu as a lighter ubuntu distro.

lu_cid

United States428 Posts

July 25 2010 00:04 GMT

#10

I am a huge fan of Slackware. It is one of the oldest distros still around, and is great for those wanting to learn a lot about how linux works (because you will have to learn to actaully do certain things)

Definitely a bit more hardcore than your typical distro, but well worth it in my opinion. Customizable to the extreme, lightweight, and stable.

beamerkun

Poland112 Posts

July 25 2010 00:11 GMT

#11

+1 for Slackware, it really helps to understand how things work in Linux and gives you opportunity to make really fast working envirnoment (especially if you have pretty old computer)

But, if you're afraid a bit, I can recommend you Arch Linux - Slackware based, quick, and most important - with built-in package manager, which makes installing/updating stuff real piece of cake (problems arise when you want to install something out of repo, but those are very rare cases, nearly all popular programs/libraries are there)

rockon1215

United States612 Posts

July 25 2010 00:12 GMT

#12

Ubuntu or Mint is good for a beginner

LaSt)ChAnCe

United States2179 Posts

July 25 2010 00:12 GMT

#13

i personally prefer fedora, the gui you use is irrelevant in most situations

debian is also good, and i've heard great things of gentoo

Aquafresh

United States824 Posts

July 25 2010 00:25 GMT

#14

I used to recommend Mandriva to people but recently Ubuntu has become so easy to switch to for Windows users that it is probably the best choice. So if you are just looking for something that is focused purely on usability than Ubuntu is what you should get.

It is generally considered downright evil to recommend a new Linux user get started with Gentoo, but I think it is the absolute best possible way to gain an in depth understanding of the software provided that is your goal. You will learn to compile a Linux kernel for a specific architecture (unless they've automated that since I last did this,) compile necessary software packages, and optimize software at compile time. It's definitely not for the faint of heart, and probably not the best choice for someone experimenting with a dual boot on their primary PC, but it is always nice to have near complete control of what you put on your system. It is a very time consuming process though.

Either way I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the various window managers; specifically the KDE and GNOME desktop environments. I believe vanilla Ubuntu uses GNOME/Metacity, Kubuntu uses KDE/Kwin. I've always thought KDE looked nicer out of the box and GNOME was easier to use, but I don't personally use either of these very much so I'm no expert.

Belegorm

United States330 Posts

July 25 2010 04:42 GMT

#15

BTW, as far as I know SC2 and BW don't normally work in Linux, so, just saying...

If it wasn't for my PC gaming I'd have completely switched over to Linux years ago.

LaSt)ChAnCe

United States2179 Posts

July 25 2010 05:01 GMT

#16

On July 25 2010 13:42 Belegorm wrote:
BTW, as far as I know SC2 and BW don't normally work in Linux, so, just saying...

If it wasn't for my PC gaming I'd have completely switched over to Linux years ago.

wine (give it some time for sc2)

Av4st

Canada92 Posts

July 25 2010 05:17 GMT

#17

Go with Slackware IMO. It might be a bit awkward at first, but as long as you are good at using google it will be worth it in the long run.

You probably wouldn't learn as much using Ubuntu, Debian, or Fedora because you hardly need to use the terminal with those distro's.

beamerkun

Poland112 Posts

July 25 2010 06:12 GMT

#18

BW with WINE worked fine (definitely not worse than Win7).

Gentoo, from my personal experience, is like a sado-masochistic fest - especially on P3@450MHz machine, compiling kernel and every program takes forever. But i have to admit that Portage is great piece of software :D

As regarding GUI - I'd go with Gnome, looked much more polished than KDE to me (dunno how is it now, last time I checked them was like 3 years ago - mostly used Linux as a router software, without any monitor connected to it 99% of time)

Bwenjarin Raffrack

United States322 Posts

July 25 2010 07:19 GMT

#19

For relative newcomers, I usually recommend Ubuntu under Wubi. Installs under Windows like any other program without having to worry about partitioning at all, and it is easily uninstalled just as any other program.

Probably the easiest and most painless way to get a working Linux environment. With how easy it is to set up and uninstall, try both GNOME and KDE (Kubuntu) for yourself.

As for functionality, it is a completely functional Ubuntu installation with no slow-down like a live CD.

Deleted User 3420

24492 Posts

July 26 2010 23:05 GMT

#20

So, I decided to go with ubuntu. I downloaded an iso, and installed from windows with wubi.

The problem is, when I reboot and pick ubuntu in the loader, it says it's finishing the installation.. then my screen goes blank. Nothing on the monitor whatsoever. I have had problems using this monitor before.. but did get linux to work under it somehow, with the same computer I am using now.

My monitor is an apple monitor.. some old widescreen cinema display.
what am I going to need to do to get this to work? is this going to require that I get another monitor to make this monitor work?

I saw I could hit esc for options as it loaded, so I did and i chose some "safe graphic mode". a bunch of text scrolled down but then it did the same thing and went blank.

i hit ctrl+alt+f1, nothing happened

i could turn num lock on and off so i know my computer isn't locking up
so i think it's just not recognizing my monitor

is there anything I can do about this?

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