Win XP Replacement
 

Hey guys I have a question concerning replacing Window XP with a Linux distro. I rebuilt my XP box the other day and it just doesn't run like it use to and I don't want to spend the time fine tuning it again so I'm thinking it's time to get rid of XP, since support will be ending soon, and replace it with Linux. I just use it mainly to watch videos (TV).

Any suggestions on the best and easiest to install distro to use? I was thinking about Mint??

Thanks in Advance

Depends on the Hardware horsepower. Specs?

http://www.tuxradar.com/content/tuxr...istro-picker-0

It suggested Puppy, I will check it out.

Thanks

@ waynevnc

Since you had Mint in mind, try it out. Maybe your desktop can handle it, if not, you can install a lighter desktop manager like xfce4 or LMDE.

If you do install xfce4 and/or LMDE, on your next reboot or logout choose the xfce4 or LMDE session on the login screen.

LMDE is not a desktop manager it is a variant of Linux Mint built on Debian instead of Ubuntu the the name LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition). One version of LMDE is Cinnamon (not lightweight at all as it is a modified Gnome 3) and the other is MATE which is relatively lightweight.

Win XP Replacement
 

check out Kubuntu LTS. I prefer this over mint or puppy. though your hardware might like puppy better

Tell us about your hardware: memory, CPU, video card. Then we'll know what will run. If it was built for XP and the distro chooser suggested Puppy, then it certainly won't run Kubuntu, for example.

Regardless, try the Mint flavors... Mint Xfce will work well even on older hardware..

Of course, if you really are interested in Linux, you could try Salix ;)

I would suggest you try Linux Mint LMDE with the Mate Desktop. I run this combination on all the boxes in my network, this has serveral reasons:

• Debian based. It tends to share many qualities that Debian provides: stable, reliable, steady course of action
• The Mate Desktop relies on tried and tested (might call it oldschool or non-intuitive) concept of operation
• The Distro ships with Media-Codec, FlashPlayer and many other things included.
• Alot of information found on the Debian (and partly Ubuntu) wikis and forumes is true for Mint aswell
• More Up2date than Debian stable, thanks to semirolling releases.

I moved the box of my parents and the one of my sister to Linux Mint LMDE/Mate and they adapted quiet fast to it, tough they wer all three accostumed to work with WinXP or Win7. As mentioned above XFCE is also available on LMDE so you stil have a way to go if your box cant handle the Mate desktop.

If the sole purpose of the box is watching TV it might be worth your while to take a look at MythTV related Distros like Mythbuntu, tough I cant tell you how well your box will handle the distro in terms of performance.