[SOLVED] Which Linux would be best for an old computer and a new Linux user?
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I would like something user-friendly (my younger sister (15yo) will be the primary user) that can run Steam.
At the moment I have antiX on it, but after days of messing around in the terminal the Steam client is still crashing. After uninstalling and reinstalling through the terminal, it won't connect to the Steam network. When I try the command [steam --reset] it says the bootstrap is missing.
I'm throwing in the towel. All I want is an OS that functions well on the computer and runs Steam so I can play games with my sister.
Well, if all you're going to be using it for is Steam, you might want to give SteamOS a try (just be aware as it is still beta)
A close second choice would be Ubuntu as it is Valve's distro of choice, and is supported by Valve pretty well. Also gives better than average performance, especially compared to the "the world's most advanced operating system"...even on Apple's home turf.
There's only so much an older CPU and video card can do to play Steam-delivered games (some of which might require new hardware to be playable with decent graphics and performance).
antiX already is supposed to be rather lightweight and ideal for older computers; if you're having issues with the Steam client on antiX there I'm not sure if a "fuller-featured" system will be any better.
However, if you don't have anything you need to back up on the machine, I'd try experimenting with a few different distributions to see what works the best; you could always be pleasantly surprised.
I'd give Linux Mint 17.2 MATE a go, as well as maybe Lubuntu (LXDE-based Ubuntu) and/or Ubuntu MATE, and see if things appear any better or worse. In any of these, I'd also recommend trying to enable the "proprietary" nVidia graphics video drivers (if available), which can make a big difference in gaming performance.
antiX works fine but there's something wrong with the Steam download. It crashes once I try to login. My problem with antiX (and why I'm looking into other OSs) is the lack of google results. I could probably get Steam to work through antiX, but I can't find much on how to do it. Everything is targeted towards other Linux systems. So I figured I'd try something else.
I have tried Ubuntu and it kept freezing whenever I tried to use more than one application at once. Since everyone in the family multitasks I figured it wouldn't work out.
I just finished making a disk for Lubuntu and I am currently making on for Linux Mint. I will test them both out.
SteamOS looks interesting, but it makes me nervous since it's so new. I'll keep it in mind for the future if other OSs fail to work the way I want them to.
Also, I realize most games will require newer systems. The only game my sister wants to play at the moment is GMod. I personally wanted to upgrade the hardware, but my mom doesn't have the funds for it right now. So I'm doing what I can for her without needing to buy anything.
I really like the look of Linux Mint, so much so that I installed it to try Steam. Once again I get to the login and it starts to connect, then crashes and brings me back to the login screen. I'm thinking there must be something wrong/missing with my driver. Does anyone know what to type in the terminal to check this? It's an old graphics card, so maybe I need to install something to update it?
I really like the look of Linux Mint, so much so that I installed it to try Steam. Once again I get to the login and it starts to connect, then crashes and brings me back to the login screen. I'm thinking there must be something wrong/missing with my driver. Does anyone know what to type in the terminal to check this? It's an old graphics card, so maybe I need to install something to update it?
The ppa repository stuff gave me a long list of warnings. It's asking if I want to continue and I honestly have no clue if I should.
Code:
You are about to add the following PPA to your system:
==Xorg packages fresh from git ==
Currently supported releases are Trusty/14.04, Utopic/14.10, and Utopic/15.04
* WARNING: Do not use this PPA with the precise X backport stacks, aka if you fresh install of 12.04.2 or newer. You can switch back to a compatible one by installing xserver-xorg-lts-precise instead if you do want to use these packages but horrible things will happen if you don't.
Be sure to revert this PPA before doing a release upgrade or the upgrade will not succeed. To revert to official packages, install the ppa-purge package and run "sudo ppa-purge xorg-edgers".
==Important notice ==
This PPA is currently meant to be used as a whole. Please do _not_ individually install packages from it, add it to your sources and let your package manager pull in every update. The packages here build against each other and compile different features based on what's available at build time. Do not assume that because it lets you install a DDX with just the driver and libdrm update that it will work. These packages are made with scripts that use the current packages as the base, so some dependencies can be wrong and your package manager will not resolve that for you. If you want to individually install something from here, grab the source and rebuild it in your current environment instead.
**Please do not publish instructions for how to install from this archive without linking to this page! Anyone using packages from this archive is expected to read this page first and it is recommended to check back occasionally for notice on problems that may arise. **
** Please use ppa-purge to remove this PPA. It is *particularly* recommended to do this before upgrading to a new Ubuntu release! **
More info: http://launchpad.net/=xorg-edgers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa
Press [ENTER] to continue or ctrl-c to cancel adding it
What should I do?! Should I continue following the instructions? The last thing I want is to crash this computer making it completely unusable...
Open the system settings on Linux mint. Go to the part about hardware drivers, the icon looks like a little pci card. Install the nVidia legacy drivers, not the newest drivers but the legacy ones. You should be good after that with the graphics card.
What should I do?! Should I continue following the instructions? The last thing I want is to crash this computer making it completely unusable...
Hi...
Wow, I didn't expect these kind of messages! Yes, stop here and try using the driver manager instead, as mentioned here, (although you may be using a slightly newer version of Mint.) Do a search on the OS if you can't find it. If this doesn't work, let us know.
EDIT: jkirchner's instructions should work on finding the driver manager. I would install at least version 304, if it's available.
Regards...
Last edited by ardvark71; 08-26-2015 at 05:47 PM.
Reason: Added information.
Open the system settings on Linux mint. Go to the part about hardware drivers, the icon looks like a little pci card. Install the nVidia legacy drivers, not the newest drivers but the legacy ones. You should be good after that with the graphics card.
Thank you! That was incredibly easy! I've been messing around with this stuff for days and with one click Steam is working!!! It crashed the desktop, but after rebooting everything is working fine!
Thanks to everyone who gave me recommendations! I really like Linux Mint, but if it's too much for my system I will look into the Sparky Linux Game Over. Nothing is set in stone.
Thank you! That was incredibly easy! I've been messing around with this stuff for days and with one click Steam is working!!! It crashed the desktop, but after rebooting everything is working fine!
Thanks to everyone who gave me recommendations!
You're welcome, glad you got it working.
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