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Old 06-03-2008, 01:43 PM   #1
pockie
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Which Linux OS Do I Want For My Laptop?


I have a pretty low-end laptop that I use as a main PC. It has a 1.8ghz processor, a gig of ram, and a 100 gig hard drive. I'm not sure about the video card or most of the other specs. I don't do gaming, obviously, but I do watch movies and such on it. I was wondering which version of Linux I should use on it. I downloaded Kubuntu, but after seeing just how many others there were, I decided that maybe I should ask around.

Any ideas? Are there more things I should consider?
 
Old 06-03-2008, 01:49 PM   #2
watcher69b
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distrowatch.com
is a great place to look.
 
Old 06-03-2008, 01:54 PM   #3
pwc101
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Second distrowatch. Pick one of the top 10 and try it. I liked Slackware; you may not.

Also: 1.8GHz, 1GB RAM and 100GB HDD is not "pretty low end"! You should see some of my machines...
 
Old 06-03-2008, 02:02 PM   #4
pockie
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Middle-end, then? :P I guess it's just my wishful thinking of having something top of the line that makes me look down on what I have.

But it looks like one of the Ubuntus will be my choice... I just have to decide which.
 
Old 06-03-2008, 02:40 PM   #5
ewolf
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Low-end hmm?

I just upgraded to a 1.8Ghz machine.

I don't think you'll have any trouble at all running any modern linux distribution on that setup. If you're particularly concerned with speed and performance but want to stick with Ubuntu, Xubuntu is probably lighter than the KDE or GNOME based ones.
 
Old 06-03-2008, 03:01 PM   #6
divyashree
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hello brother,use fedora,use mplayer and xine to run all type of video,mp3.
u have 1.83 ghz processor,its enough for fedora,its good u r not playing games.thats all....any problem ,contact me :divyashree_imca@hotmail.com
 
Old 06-03-2008, 06:49 PM   #7
salasi
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pockie View Post
But it looks like one of the Ubuntus will be my choice... I just have to decide which.
I don't particularly like Ubuntu, but lots of people do, so give Kubuntu a try.

Do note that you are not deciding against using Gnome Ubuntu (Ubuntu) or Xubuntu by installing Kubuntu. You can install one Ubuntu (err, arrgghh, I mean any of the ubuntus....I wish they'd change the naming convention) and add other gui front ends without de-installing the first one.

You should just have a 'chooser' and one of the buttons on that allows you to choose which gui to boot into.
 
Old 06-03-2008, 07:13 PM   #8
pinniped
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Aww ... I want a new computer. I thought mine was top end but it's only 1.8GHz with 512M memory.

Debian is pretty easy to maintain with its packaging system and I find the startup scripts and networking setup to be less confusing than RedHat (Mac OSX makes the RedHat setup look very clear and simple though - easy for the point-n-click generation but confusing to an old fogey like me). But since you already have Kubuntu I can't really say you'll gain anything by switching to Debian.
 
Old 06-03-2008, 07:31 PM   #9
Bobber47
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relative performance

Kubuntu may be noticeably slower than Ubuntu, which may be noticeably slower than Xubuntu on a modest machine due to relative resource consumption (KDE>Gnome>XFCE). So if you want to maximize responsiveness, Xubuntu would be best. But you can choose alternates later - you'd just have some excess baggage later.

Mint Linux is Ubuntu derived but supposed to have greater OTB support for media, though I haven't tried it myself. Ubuntu support largely applies to it.
 
Old 06-04-2008, 07:37 AM   #10
pockie
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I would prefer to use a KDE system, but I don't have a reason why. I am used to using Fedora/RedHat (Class/Work computers respectively) but I hear that they're not the best for personal use. I guess I probably should have gotten Xubuntu, simply for the responsiveness, but it's not too late; I haven't installed anything yet. I think I'll probably order a new lappy before I do anything.
 
Old 06-04-2008, 07:59 AM   #11
pwc101
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Try not to think that because a distro comes with a particular desktop environment as default that you can't add another one. For example, in Ubuntu, changing the desktop environment should be as straight forward as
Code:
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop
Log out, select KDE as the desktop environment, log in and there you go.

Also, Fedora is perfectly suited for personal use. It may be partially true that Red Hat Enterprise Linux installations aren't as tailored to home use, but they are still perfectly usable as desktop OSes.
 
  


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