Linux Desktop Users

[keithostertag]

HI all- I am a Linux newbie. I had tried Linux several years ago and haven't seen it since. I was a little familiar with RedHat and Suse, though I never got used to the graphical interface- I like the text interface better for most things. I'd like to try it again, mostly for the fun. I am interested in learning computer programming, and Unix in general. I'm in my mid-50's and college educated in an art related field though I also have some engineering background. I want to put it on an old extra computer I have that only has 124MB of RAM. I have read that the install for Ubuntu requires 384MB of RAM, so I am assuming I can't use that.... Can someone recommend to me a distribution package? Other than programming I will only use it for minimal Internet browsing and downloads- won't need to play music or videos. Thanks.

 

[Lee L]

Keith,

Try distrowatch.com They have many descriptions and reviews of small distributions. There should be a way to view only the small distributions and compare them. Xubuntu is smaller than Ubuntu, but will need more RAM than 128 to run. See if you can find some memory to bulk up the old computer to 256Mb RAM and you'll have a wider choice of distributions. You can lighten the burden on your hardware significantly if you don't need Gnome or KDE as your desktop.

Lee

 

[q_x]

Hi keithostertag. First of all - Ubuntu is a fork of Debian. Debian will install on machine with 124 (128?)MB ram. If you have some OS there - you can try Dyne:bolic (from dynebolic.org), wich is "strange" and not as user-friendly, as it should be, but working livecd distro brewed for media-activists and artists. Docking/nesting makes running from hdd extremly easy and fast. But, because it is fully free, you won't find any non-free drivers there. You can try it before it will consume your space on hdd. Any distro with XFCE or Fluxbox should run reasonably fast on such machine. Be sure to try also Puppy Linux (or DSL).
Cheers,
Luke

 

[keithostertag]

Thanks guys, that's what I needed to hear. I will check them out.

 

[arigram]

So, what distro is everyone running?
I have Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron i386 and I am only moderately satisfied. There are many bugs (some serious), some areas than need definitive improvement in usability and not all my hardware is well supported. Yet, I am not going back to Windows (even though I have to dual boot for some things) and I am not experienced in Linux nor have the time to really try out other distros.

 

[argentic]

Hi,

I have been a happy Linux user for about 8 years now. The last 3 years I've used LinuxOS, Mandriva and Ubuntu except for.... Photoshop. I use GIMP a lot, but Photoshop is really so much more powerfull. And GIMP ergonomics are not really my tast either. I only use the GIMP because there isn't really anything else in Linux. Photoshop CS2 under wine works, but veeeeery slowly. So I keep a dual boot exclusively for Photoshop and Lightroom.

I make my websites with joomla (e.. Dead Link Removed), and the latest 1.5 version is really everything I need. For years I've used Homesite, Frontpage and Dreamweaver. But Joomla is simply the best there is at this moment. Very stable, losts of great plugins, a very large community, and a joy to use.

 

[argentic]

BTW, I think that this reading posts backwards is a real PITA. Why not stick with the habitual APUG ways?

 

[Alex Bishop-Thorpe]

I'm running Ubuntu 8.04 on a HP Compaq Presario C700 laptop, previously dual booted with vista, now with XP. It's remarkably compatible with my hardware though, a few things I had to fix but I'm happy. It's sitting next to me playing some music and downloading apache. The house wifi reaches to my darkroom, I found out

 

[q_x]

I'm currently using mash of legacy pure:dyne and dyne:bolic. There are some tools i *love*, the distros was bild to use it (PD with extras and Veejay). Dual-booting is very easy, it takes only about 600MB of disk, without need of repartitioning (just need to copy folder from CD to HD). I've been using Debian for a year or so, and it was much better, but bigger also (I have 20GB disk). Hopefully i will install it back soon. I will travel less, so Windoze - needed to work only - will be kicked off. Both distros sometimes need serious tweaking. Day to day use of d:b can be hard, there is very little software packaged, but for sound/visual/video artists and to do some performances - it rocks.

 

[arigram]

Does anyone have trouble burning DVDs with Ubuntu 8.04? I've tried all the burning programs out there and even though they report no errors, the DVDs appear empty in Windows and often unmountable in Linux.

 

[reverend jay]

Hey arigram if you haven't tried it already go ahead and give K3B a whirl http://k3b.plainblack.com/download
I've never had a problem with burning DVD's with that. Also you may even want to try some other distros if you haven't already. I've tried just about every major distro and Ubuntu is probably my least favorite. I think it's popularity only stems from the many support groups that are out there. Just like cameras Linux distros have their fans but I don't think there is a more polished distro right now than OpenSuse. There Enterprise SUSE is even more polished.

 

[Phillip P. Dimor]

Hi all. I first ran Slackware 1.2.13 a looong time ago, loved it. Eventually I migrated to FreeBSD (sorry) but have liked Ubuntu as it is very user-friendly. Also have ran LinuxPPC on an powermac 8100av (painful but it made a great mp3 server that was hooked up to my stereo)
and had a neat little sun sparcstation ipc that once ran SunOS 4.1 but later threw NetBSD on it. Just wanted to introduce myself and say hi.

 

[titrisol]

Do you guys know of any distro that can be run from a CD/DVD?
I have a new laptop (TOSHIBA) and want to try-before-install

PS. Never mind, found the ubuntu Live DVD option

 

[arigram]

I wait to try out Ubuntu 8.10.
If I am displeased with it, I will try some other distro such as SUSE and Mandrake.
At the same time I am paying close attention to KDE but until it gets up to 4.2 or 4.3 I won't bother with it.

 

[argentic]

I have been experimenting with The Gimp, Digikam, Bibble Pro, Rawtherapee and Pixel for some time. Under Linux ofcourse. Every program has its own advantages, but I haven't found the ideal replacemnt for Lightroom + Photoshop yet. Any experiences from you guys?

 

[reverend jay]

I think the Gimp is as close to photoshop as you are going to get in Linux although I have been successful running photoshop under crossover office and wine. These days though i run dual boots on everything that way if I need an app I at least have it on one OS or another.

 

[titrisol]

Argentic, have you tried LIGHTZONE?
I liked it quite a lor.
I'm pleased with GIMP+UFRAW for what I do (mostly scanning in flat bed)

 

[thomasw_]

Hi, I have used both Slackware and Debian, but in the last 6 or 7 years I have been using a combination of OpenBSD and OS X.

 

[titrisol]

OS X and BSD are not the same?

 

[Polybun]

Linux Only since 2000, before that, I used windows for a short while after finally retiring my Amiga 1200. The first distro I played with was slackware 2.x. I stuck with slackware till around 7.x, where I made the move to Gentoo, which I still use today.

 

[arigram]

I seem to have a problem with the chatroom. I'm running Ubuntu 8.10 x64 and I've read somewhere that there is trouble with Java on 64bit linux. Is that so?

 

[titrisol]

Arigram It works fine on Fedora9 x64
You may have to unisntall/upgrade your java
HERE Dead Link Removed

 

[monkeykoder]

I've been out of the Linux world for a while and am wondering if there are any new distros similar to Gentoo but without the 12hr install (ok it might be less if you're not running a P3)...

 

[monkeykoder]

Well it doesn't seem like it is going to take 12hrs at least...

 

[argentic]

quote : Argentic, have you tried LIGHTZONE?

Yes I have several times. I like the Bibble Pro features and plugins better. But maybe that's only because I am using it longer. I admit that I really have to give Lightzone a better try.