Please recommend a linux os for my pc

Hi Amit,

Have a look at List of Ubuntu Based Linux Distributions and Live Cd’s. Note: this list is quite comprehensive (not sure if it has more or less than Distrowatch).

I agree that you should (if possible) add more RAM to your machine to get the best performance. With regard to a Windows-like-XP interface you might want to try a KDE based Ubuntu with a lightweight Xfce user interface as an alternative (if available).

-- Tom

 

Thanks for the info. Tried it last night with Yumi real quick but was unable to get it to boot. Need to try this when I have more time to mess around with it.

Thanks.

 

Check your BIOS settings to see if it's set to boot USB devices. This is often turned off by default. More info at http://www.pendrivelinux.com/category/bios-usb-boot-options/
Also check your boot order. On many PCs you'll need to call up a boot menu. Depending on BIOS settings, it may or may not be visible. On my Dell, pressing F12 displays the boot menu.

 

If the mint distribution .ISO file is close to 1 gig, how big the flash drive should be to try all this?

Edit-solved, ignore, see below

 

Yes sir did all that but it failed to boot. Will have to give it another go when I have more time.

Thanks.

 

@noone_particular,
THANK YOU for telling us about Yumi on page1.
Yumi is great, nice simple menu and now that I tried it, I see that for Min13-Mate minimum space needed was the .iso size. Big flash drive will permit adding more systems. Great.
- Curiously gparted reports that it mounts as /cdrom.
- More curious for me was Phoenix BIOS list where the USB stick was not under Removeable devices but under +Hard Drive. It took few failed boots to see that location.

 

It took some experimenting here as well to find the right settings. I'm not sure what BIOS this Dell actually uses. On mine, the options I needed were under legacy settings. One was boot menu options. The other was USB emulation, which was originally set to "No Boot".

 

Good to see that expert person also had to hunt for it
Lavalys' Everest reports it under Motherboard > BIOS. Mine is an old, 2005 version 2.x, but it appears to still exist on oldversion and is ok for XP or 9x windows, you just have to allow it in securities to snoop out all sorts of stuff
http://www.oldversion.com/search?query=everest

Doesn't the booting title show BIOS name on your box? like this - btw that's how it looked here

 

Sorry for the late reply.

Okay I'm trying to go through all the suggestions. Wow really lot to go through!

I'll just trim down my needs. I wish to use the linux system only for browsing and occasional office apps while I'm traveling. It's a little netbook you see.

I've no plans to spend for more ram in this pc. It's an old machine and I'm a little short of money.

 

you can't go wrong with Puppy Linux then.
burn an ISO and give it a try

 

I'm dual-booting Linux MInt at the moment and enjoying using it .

If you're looking for a lighter Linux maybe try Lubuntu. It's a stripped down Ubuntu and is an official spin-off, so pretty reliable.

I'm new to Linux and heard good things about Puppy, however the website and layout of the OS looked a bit gnarly to me.

Ran Bodhi for a while but just can't get used to the Enlightenment thing.

Burn some ISO's and see what suits you

Have fun.

 

Also, a little Googling for "light linux distros" for example, yields plenty of information and recommendations...

 

The big issue with Linux, IMO, is the inverse relationship between user friendliness and everything else. In this case, user friendliness vs. performance on old hardware.

Personally I would recommend something with Xfce as the desktop, and not based on Ubuntu.

Salix is my current favorite for usability, but it has some potentially serious issues - the kernel is generally not updated, there's no easily configurable firewall, and security updates (especially for unpopular packages) may be slow to arrive.

Fedora has a decent Xfce spin, and is much better on security, but usability is a problem; e.g. you have to install MP3 support from a third-party repo. Also, updates are extremely frequent and may break stuff.

Debian has an Xfce version, available as a CD. It might be more usable than Fedora once installed, though the installer is strictly text mode.

The most promising one, I think, might be Debian Live. There are versions for both Stable and Testing, both with installers last I checked. But the installers are still IIRC text mode only; and I've never used these versions of Debian. Also, Debian has problems with some computers that require non-FOSS firmware.

Re Puppy, I would avoid it. It is very insecure, cannot be easily updated, and is not configured sanely for use as an installed OS. The concept is admirable, but IMO the implementation is problematic, at least for use as anything other than a rescue CD.

 

Okay thanks. Will try that.

 

Hmm.....currently looking at Mint Xfce in another tab. Thanks.

 

@Wild Hunter
Okay I'll try out Xubuntu.

 

Thanks.

 

Wow that's a great post. I get a lot of stuffs now. Thanks.

 

I think you should try and fuduntu distribution.

 

Which Linux OS do you recommend for a newbie-which is light and fast,stable and eye candy for a system specification of 2 GB RAM and Intel Core i3 CPU M 350 @ 2.27GHz?Mainly used for browsing and playing media files.

 

Any of the major ones (Ubuntu, Mageia, OpenSUSE). A Core i3 and 2 GB of RAM will run any current Linux distribution comfortably, and the performance will not degrade over time if you partition your disk properly.

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

Agree with Gullible, and would add that Linux Mint is even a bit easier as it has literally everything you need already installed out of the box for video, mp3 playing, flash, java, the whole works. It's extremely user friendly.

 

Please elaborate on partitioning the disk

 

Which one should i use KDE or Xfce of Linux Mint 14?What are the differences between KDE and Xfce?