Which distribution for a newbie?

LiamOSullivan · 18-12-2012 11:28am

Gave me 100% for OpenSuse, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, and Mint. :rolleyes:
The other three it recommended were Gentoo, Mandriva, and Slackware. Surprised it didn't mention Arch to me, but I'm kinda happy about that.
Overall it seems a decent quiz.

D'Agger · 18-12-2012 12:18pm

Skrynesaver wrote: »

Which distribution, well it depends on lots of things, so this guy put together a set of questions that will point you to the best option for you, your intended usage, your skillset and your hardware

Cheers for that link - like it alot - especially the links with screenshots to show you the different look and feel of the distributions.

jimmyfigrolls · 19-12-2012 3:04am

mint... mint..... mint.... everything else for a noob is hardship!!

Khannie · 27-12-2012 10:15am

Skrynesaver wrote: »

Which distribution, well it depends on lots of things, so this guy put together a set of questions that will point you to the best option for you, your intended usage, your skillset and your hardware

It recommended OpenSuse for me. Maybe I should give it a whirl. Haven't really considered it in an age.

Johnboy1951 · 27-12-2012 12:55pm

It gave me 100% for Fedora and Opensuse.
I consider Fedora more 'cutting edge' than 'stable' .... and when asked I specified stable.

The third recommendation for me was PCLinuxOS .... which is my distro of choice.

One thing that annoyed me about the test ...... it asks if you have a 64 bit PC ...... if you answer yes it automatically eliminates 32 bit distros from the results.

I run both 32 bit and 64 bit (not officially released yet) PCLinuxOS on my desktop.
PCLinuxOS is omitted from the results if I answer 64 bit!

There is little difference between the two for my normal use.
Maybe when the software catches up there will be a more noticeable difference.

For now though, selecting 64 bit in the questionnaire eliminates 32 bit distros from the result.
Not reasonable, IMO.

Also, it asks the 'age' of the PC, and makes an assumption that because the PC is more than a few years old it is low spec.
That also is a ridiculous assumption to make.
This old (and second hand) rig is a quad core, 2.7Ghz with 4GB RAM and SATA II drives.

Yet the results tell me that PCLinuxOS

May not be suitable because:
Your computer may be too slow

FAIL!

While I understand that doing a comprehensive questionnaire would be more difficult, and require detailed info from the user about hardware, to my way of thinking this questionnaire is less than useless .........

So recapping .....

I don't use Fedora because it is more cutting edge than stable! Yet this is #1 in the results.

All 32 bit distros are omitted from results based on the hardware.
Stupid! All 64 bit hardware can run 32 bit OSs.

It tells me that my PC might be too slow to run PCLOS 32 bit ..... yet is OK for Fedora and Opensuse?
More stupidity!

I would not normally take such a test ...... and the results remind me why!

A new user, IMO, would be better advised to go through the Distrowatch list of the first 15 or so and visit their forums and select a few to download and run live to see if they like the experience.

There is nothing better than comparing for oneself.

oscarBravo · 27-12-2012 6:58pm

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I consider Fedora more 'cutting edge' than 'stable' ....

As a long-time Ubuntu user fed up with crap like Unity and invisible scrollbars, I started using Fedora on this laptop a few weeks ago. I'd actually describe it as both cutting edge and stable - if by 'stable' you mean that it doesn't crash often.

If you're referring to stability of software versions, fair enough.

Johnboy1951 · 27-12-2012 9:45pm

oscarBravo wrote: »

As a long-time Ubuntu user fed up with crap like Unity and invisible scrollbars, I started using Fedora on this laptop a few weeks ago. I'd actually describe it as both cutting edge and stable - if by 'stable' you mean that it doesn't crash often.

If you're referring to stability of software versions, fair enough.

No, I was not referring to the OS crashing

oscarBravo · 28-12-2012 1:00am

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

No, I was not referring to the OS crashing

Fair enough. I'm actually very pleased with how much more up-to-date the software packages are on my laptop compared with when I was running Ubuntu on it. Stability of software versions is very important to me on my servers (where I generally run Ubuntu LTS), but not on desktop systems.

Squeaky the Squirrel · 31-12-2012 2:28am

Any try out the new E17 Desktop interface

Johnboy1951 · 31-12-2012 2:36am

I went retro today and tried EDE after a long number of years.

D'Agger · 02-01-2013 11:36am

Khannie wrote: »

It recommended OpenSuse for me. Maybe I should give it a whirl. Haven't really considered it in an age.

Did you give this a whirl Khannie?

Put it on an Acer Timeline laptop and haven't gotten around to properly looking to setup wifi on it since the holidays.

Rouniver · 05-01-2013 10:55pm

I think Mint is probaly best for a new user, followed by PC Linux. Both of those are fairly straightforward to set up and maintain.

human 19 · 12-01-2013 7:45pm

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I went retro today and tried EDE after a long number of years.

What is EDE....a distro or Enlightenment in a distro?

Ahh, now that I see the post above yours, that answers the question

Johnboy1951 · 12-01-2013 7:47pm

human 19 wrote: »

What is EDE....a distro or Enlightenment in a distro?

http://equinox-project.org/

human 19 · 12-01-2013 7:48pm

Rouniver wrote: »

I think Mint is probaly best for a new user, followed by PC Linux. Both of those are fairly straightforward to set up and maintain.

PC Linux was a nightmare for trying to set up my linux satellite box on LAN. Tried it for weeks with no success. Their network manager is the only reason I stopped using it (and Bodhi also). With gnome-applet, it only requires 1 click in a drop-down menu.

Johnboy1951 · 12-01-2013 7:57pm

human 19 wrote: »

PC Linux was a nightmare for trying to set up my linux satellite box on LAN. Tried it for weeks with no success. Their network manager is the only reason I stopped using it (and Bodhi also). With gnome-applet, it only requires 1 click in a drop-down menu.

I am presently viewing Satellite from a box running PCLinuxOS with a TBS 6981 card.
I had to install the driver from TBS but that was about it as I recall.

... so your post made me wonder what did not work for you ....

human 19 · 12-01-2013 9:09pm

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I am presently viewing Satellite from a box running PCLinuxOS with a TBS 6981 card.
I had to install the driver from TBS but that was about it as I recall.

... so your post made me wonder what did not work for you ....

You were probably the person trying to help me on here about a year ago.
Basically,couldnt configure LAN to view the (VU+ duo) as another device.

human 19 · 11-05-2013 1:10am

I would now like to update my previous reccomendation of Mint as the best newbie distro, to Hybryde.

Ubuntu LTS fork with Ubuntu installer with an original default screen and an easy choice of numerous desktop environments/window managers to very easily log into from the default desktop.

A great way to play around with the likes of KDE, Enlightenment, Unity, Gnome 3, LXDE, XFCE, Openbox to see which one is preferred

J_A_F_A · 12-05-2013 8:17am

A live install? In French? Bonne chance avec ça.

Workaround here (not tried it myself) http://danatheteacher.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Change-The-Language-From-French-to-English-in-Hybryde-Evolution-Linux

human 19 wrote: »

I would now like to update my previous reccomendation of Mint as the best newbie distro, to Hybryde.

Ubuntu LTS fork with Ubuntu installer with an original default screen and an easy choice of numerous desktop environments/window managers to very easily log into from the default desktop.

A great way to play around with the likes of KDE, Enlightenment, Unity, Gnome 3, LXDE, XFCE, Openbox to see which one is preferred

human 19 · 12-05-2013 5:03pm

J_A_F_A wrote: »

A live install? In French? Bonne chance avec ça.

The installer was in english, or I at least got a chance to select english at the start ..cant remember which. It was no different to installing any other Ubuntu fork

J_A_F_A · 14-05-2013 2:17pm

Mea culpa.
Having given it another (longer) look I found Applications -->Systeme-->Install Hybryde Fusion and from there you can select language. Tried to install it but the installer crashed.

human 19 wrote: »

The installer was in english, or I at least got a chance to select english at the start ..cant remember which. It was no different to installing any other Ubuntu fork

human 19 · 15-05-2013 1:33pm

J_A_F_A wrote: »

Mea culpa.
Having given it another (longer) look I found Applications -->Systeme-->Install Hybryde Fusion and from there you can select language. Tried to install it but the installer crashed.

I decided to fire up the liversion I had downloaded months ago and it is all in english, including the menus. Maybe I was directed to an english version by geolocation. I dont know if they have changed the download isos since. Their layerjet page only has a link to 1 iso of the newer (fusion) version http://mirror.layerjet.com/hybryde/

human 19 · 20-05-2013 12:27am

TrenderLife · 21-02-2014 3:55am

Ubuntu linux is a beginner friendly OS with lots of simple features a newbie could understand.

D'Agger · 09-05-2014 10:43am

Hi All,

Running linux mint at home at the moment and getting on fairly okay with it.

I'm working as a sysadmin and recently we've had some fairly well looked after XP machines come back to us, as they're no longer receiving updates / covered.

What version of linux would you all suggest for testing in an office environment - remoting to servers, puttying onto devices etc.

Just wondering what would be a good enterprise version to use on a local machine rather than a server.

Kinet1c · 09-05-2014 10:55am

Centos should have enough flexibility and security for a work environment.

D'Agger · 09-05-2014 11:13am

Kinet1c wrote: »

Centos should have enough flexibility and security for a work environment.

Was thinking that CentOS would be the best choice but wasn't sure if Ubuntu would be worth looking at - especially if we needed spare laptops for training etc. - more user friendly. Thanks.

Kinet1c · 09-05-2014 1:49pm

For your average user's workflow it should be fine, I've not missed anything on the front end GUI to think it would not be useable by a windows user.

Dozen Wicked Words · 19-08-2014 4:01pm

Inheriting an old PC (7 or 8 years old I think) from my dad, hes not able to tell me specs and the like but just that its very slow! I think its on Windows XP.

Would Lubuntu be a decent option, for accessibility (for someone like me who has only ever really used windows and is the opposite of "power user") and maximising whatever small resources the PC may have? Maybe there wont be a difference performance wise between linux and XP, I have no idea, but I want to dip my toe into Linux if possible.

I know its not going to turn a sows ear into a silk purse but I only really want to use it for a bit of internet browsing and really basic oficey type things.

Thanks.

Johnboy1951 · 19-08-2014 4:10pm

Dozen Wicked Words wrote: »

Inheriting an old PC (7 or 8 years old I think) from my dad, hes not able to tell me specs and the like but just that its very slow! I think its on Windows XP.

Would Lubuntu be a decent option, for accessibility (for someone like me who has only ever really used windows and is the opposite of "power user") and maximising whatever small resources the PC may have? Maybe there wont be a difference performance wise between linux and XP, I have no idea, but I want to dip my toe into Linux if possible.

I know its not going to turn a sows ear into a silk purse but I only really want to use it for a bit of internet browsing and really basic oficey type things.

Thanks.

My main machine is 8 years old ..... but it has a 4 core processor and 4GB RAM.

Without knowing the hardware you mean it is not possible to be definite.

So the answer is probably .... but dependent on hardware present.

The same applies to a multitude of 'lightweight' distros.

There is always the likes of Puppy Linux which should run on the most frugal hardware.

Which distribution for a newbie?

Comments