Hi! guys.Facing problems with my current distro linpus lite 1.9 desktop edition and I do not like it either.
I got an acer gateway 4250s laptop with specs

*AMD A4-3320apu 2ghz with radeon hd graphics
*It says it is some *86 type pc
*SMBIOS version 2.7
*RAM 2gb
*500gb hdd

I would also add that it is dualbooted with windows 7 home basic.I would like to replace the linpus lite with some other good distro of linux.It would be better if the distro comes with preloaded apps like openoffice ,media player etc.

So can any one please suggest me a good compact distro suitable for my lappy.Can I keep windows os after the replacement?

Distro Watch is a good place to starting Linux.

Welcome to the forum!

Linpus is widely considered one of the most horrible distros ever produced, so it's no wonder you don't like it. With your computer's specifications, any Linux will run well.

Use Linpus to find out how your hard drive is partitioned. You may have something like this, for example:
sda1: Windows
sda2: Linux
sda3: Linux swap
sda4: Windows backup copy
The Linux installer will allow you to re-use partition 2 and leave everything else alone. A better scheme would be
sda1: Windows
sda2: Linux extended partition, containing two logical partitions
sda5: / for Linux
sda6: /home for your personal files
sda3: Linux swap
sda4: Windows backup copy

As for the choice of distro, some good ideas are

Mint. Wait for version 17 which comes out this summer and will be supported for 5 years. Choose the desktop Mate (plain) or Cinnamon (fancy).
http://www.linuxquestions.org/review...p/product/2397

PCLinuxOS. This is rolling release: update regularly and you never need to reinstall. The default desktop is KDE: very fancy, with zooming and bouncing icons!
http://www.linuxquestions.org/review...p/product/2559

Both come will everything you need and excellent repositories of extra software.

One of our Mods has posted a list for persons considering Linux summarizing 50 distros.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...xp-4175502495/

Thanks guys for your suggestions.
Now I am in between ubuntu ,mint and robolinux. Can you say which one is better in terms of speed ,performance and usability. And if mint would be a good choice than which one mint, cinnamon or xfce ? I also like to know your personal reviews on them. AND ONE MORE THING I use a micromax mmx353g 3G dongle with windows .Will it be compatible with them cause it was not compatible with linpus lite.
Will I have to install stuffs like virtualbox or wine.I heard they cause virus. And again thank you all.

Thanks guys for your suggestions.
Now I am in between ubuntu ,mint and robolinux. Can you say which one is better in terms of speed ,performance and usability. And if mint would be a good choice than which one mint, cinnamon or xfce ? I also like to know your personal reviews on them.
AND ONE MORE THING I use a micromax mmx353g 3G dongle with windows .Will it be compatible with them cause it was not compatible with linpus lite.Will I have to install stuffs like virtualbox or wine.I heard they cause virus. And again thank you all.

really it's Robolinux, then Mint.
- xfce, then Mate then Cinnamon.

you will have to try your 3g dongle on a live cd,
to see if it works or not.

but, what make & model is your PC?

- memory & hdd size?.

I have used Ubuntu and Mint, but no idea about Robolinux. Personally, I don't like Ubuntu because of their Unity interface, and Ubuntu is little bit heavy too. Mint is a good looking distro and it's 100% compatible with Ubuntu. [Not LMDE] My opinion is use Mint with Xfce. [As I know Cinnamon is little bit buggy in these days.] As pierre2 said, you can test your dongle on live CD.

I got an acer gateway 4250s laptop with specs

*AMD A4-3320apu 2ghz with radeon hd graphics
*It says it is some *86 type pc
*SMBIOS version 2.7
*RAM 2gb
*500gb hdd

So whats your opinion ? And whats a live cd ?

The first paragraph at the wikepedia site below gives a general explanation. It is an operating system run off the CD in RAM and changes are lost on reboot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_CD

Firstly, viruses and malware. You don't have to worry about these in Linux. Linux is designed in such a way that it's very, very difficult to write malware for it. If it were easy, the idiots who write it would be taking down the big company webservers, rather than targeting home computers.

You should have no trouble with the dongle. An internet search for "linux mint 3g dongle" shows quite a lot. Setting up the device involves (1) turning it into a modem rather than a memory stick and (2) configuring Linux to use it. If you've set it up with Windows, you've already done (1), so it's just a matter of running Network Manager and telling it you want to use the modem.

Should run more then fine with Linux Mint.

Well , I am posting this for the fourth time,which may be annoying.But I need help.I am going to the country next week where there is no internet.So I have to get a distro now.And I am yet to learn how to install it.

I asked in LQ, yahoo and tried googling to choose between ubuntu 14 and mint 16 .Everyone says something different.And in mint some say cinnamon is ugly, some say mate is sluggish and some say xfce is old. I also heard ubuntu lacks inbuilt applications and slower than
mint.

So I am very very confused and need serious help for choosing one.And the last thing can some one say some good midrange( 2ghz, 2gb ram) action shooter game for windows to pass my time.

You never stated what your specs are, but lmde(linuxmint) Debian are easy to install, but you need free space on your hdd.

The beauty (or curse) of the Linux world is that it offers a wide range of choice, which can be overwhelming at first. Linux caters for all tastes and preferences. Each user has their own preferences likes. There have been thousands of 'wars' over which Linux distribution, graphical user interface, etc. is 'best'. The truth is that there is no 'best' linux distro, all of them are slightly different and will appeal to different people.

What you can do is

1. Ask a question (which you've already done)
2. Pick 2-3 distributions that people suggest
3. After you've picked them, stop reading the thread, other people's personal opinions do NOT matter to you.
4. Install the distros you had picked, and decide for yourself which one you like best.

After some time, when you get more experienced with Linux, you'll be able to make your own informed choices, not choices based on someone else's tastes. I had distro-hopped (= kept changing distributions) for 2-3 years until I settled with the one I feel most comfortable with.

At this stage the only thing we can help you with is to recommend a few distributions based on your specs (as mentioned above), some distros are more suitable for low-end specs, while some others require pretty modern hardware. Apart from that, it doesn't matter much for you now.
Have a look at this page: www.distrowatch.com
On the right-hand site, you'll see a distro ranking. That shows how popular particular distros are. It does NOT mean anything alse. My distro of choice is on the 25th place.