Quote:
Originally Posted by linuxguy0481
I really want a KDE based distribution for them. I have a done trial version with Gnome on a laptop for them to borrow and they did not like it much. They preferred KDE.
|
Ahh, yes, but which version of kde? If 3.5.x is acceptable to you, I'd advise that you stick with this older version for the moment. If it has to be a kde 4.x version, try to go for an as up-to-date version of kde 4 as you can. Everyone will be different, but, for me, 4.3.1 was the first version that I'd describe as useful for an end user - still some rough edges and 4.3.2 is appreciably better, but if your distro of choice only makes 4.2.0 available, well, it shouldn't be your distro of choice (IMHO).
(Just to complicate this a little further, don't mistake the version that comes with your distro as the only thing that is available. For most distros, you can click an update button and get a newer version; the exact procedure will vary from distro to distro, and you may have to add some kind of update repository, but, if you have the bandwidth, it isn't a difficult procedure. This doesn't apply to kde 3.5.x, so if this older, less flashy, version is tolerable it does make life easier at the moment.)
Quote:
I would like it to be fast for them so maybe should I stick with a 64 bit distro?
|
I don't know what makes you think that this makes an appreciable difference, but it really doesn't. In some use cases 32 bit will be faster, in some 64. For most people, 64 will probably just edge it by a few percent, but unless you (or they) run benchmarking programs, you'll probably never notice, unless you have more than 4G of ram (which you don't) and need to use it and even then a PAE kernel may do the trick for you.
Quote:
Here are the distros I was thinking about not in any particular order.
1. Slackware.
2. Sabayon
3. Linux Mint KDE.
4. Kubuntu
5. Gentoo
6. Arch
7. Fedora KDE
8. PCLinuxOS
9. Mepis
10. Mandriva
11. Sidux
|
Slack, Saba, Gentoo and Arch are pretty techie distros; now I know you want to administer it rather than have your folks do it, but the question is are you happy with one of the techie-er distros.
Personally, I haven't tried a recent version of kubuntu, but I've always thought that they didn't do as good a job with kde as either other people do (eg openSuSE) or that Ubuntu does with Gnome.
Out of your list, Mint, Mepis and (just possibly, based on ancient experience) Mandriva would be my choices, and to that list I'd add OpenSuSE.
PCLOS isn't a bad choice if you want one of the 'I can't believe its not Windows' style things; I can't see the point myself as far my as own usage would be concerned, but for someone who is a devoted windows user, I suppose you can make a case for it.
Quote:
The primary use is Word 2003 with typing in Spanish with the toolbar, reading PDF documents, getting Powerpoint slideshows
|
Is Open Office acceptable; I haven't tried it in Spanish and issues with char sets may come into play (and there are detail differences between the basic OO version and the go-oo variant).
Quote:
After reading the viruses and especially a trojan that hijacks the browser and can steal your balance from your bank account got me worried to tell you the truth. My parents expect me to secure their computers.
|
Is there any chance of telling them not to do stupid things, and having it be effective? Whatever technical measures you take, having sensible users who are alert to, eg, phishing attacks, and don't fall for them is a big help.