Linux based OS v. suggestions

I am looking to install a linux distro on a spare laptop and I was wonder what a good destro would be to put on an asus 64bit intel centrino2 laptop.

 

well we obviously need to know how much you know about computers, and linux, and what you want to do with it, and whatever else....

 

I guess I would just use it for internet browsing and watching netflix/youtube on the go. I really would just like to play around with a linux distro. The last one I installed on an old laptop made my wireless card driver not work and I couldn't find anyway other than a direct connection to get internet.

 

Wireless may take some hacking, no matter what distro or hardware you have.

Ubuntu is quite usable, and mostly sets itself up for out of the box media/whatever. If you want a usable GUI os out of the box and have no linux experiance, it's probly the way to go.

 

Yeah that is one of them that came up in my research, and I noticed it had some destros itself such as Kubuntu which uses KDE where as Ubuntu is GNOME. I have limited linux knowledge so I don't know weather Ubuntu or Kubuntu would be best.

 

Depends if you like the GNOME or K environment best.

I really prefer KDE, but I use ubuntu. (typing this from ubuntu 10 )

 

I think I'm going to put Ubuntu on it since I have a friend that uses it on his ASUS so may be he can be of some assistance to me as far as getting wireless to work.

 

Use Linux Mint (Google it). It's based off of ubuntu but it has all the codecs and stuff needed for playing media pre-installed.

 

Ok. Here is what I have noticed...

Ubuntu - Brown
Kubuntu - Blue
Mint - Green

They are all color coded lol.


But nice share transducer. I wonder why that isn't more popular on the search results.

 

Ubuntu has millionaire (billionaire?) Mark Shuttleworth backing it financially via Canonical Inc.
Linux Mint has... appreciative users backing it.

 

Stick with the 32 bit edition you'll have less problems with drivers etc

 

Posting from Linux Mint. So far it is pretty amazing. I think I am in love with it.

 

I seem to recall that linux mint is pretty light, or something?

I like me full strength ubuntu, kthx.

 

I know that as soon as I booted up the live CD it had found the wireless networks and I didn't have to do anything. I am looking into Ubuntu a little deeper now.

 

That's good about your wireless! That's usually the hardest part about linux, that and sound.

LM isn't "Lighter" than Ubuntu. It's built off the exact same repositories. The only difference is that the default GNOME desktop is laid out a bit differently and CODECS are pre-installed.

Learn how to use apt-get and apt-cache and you'll a happy man. But you don't even have to as both ubuntu and LM have a software center installed.

Any questions just ask

 

Keep in mind running off a live CD will be multiple times slower than running off a native installation. When you do decide to install, I recommend having a separate partition for /home so you can install different distributions over each other and still keep all your personal files and settings.

 

I don't think that that'll be an issue. Seeing as the x86_32 and x86_64 builds will have been built from the same source.

I've not used Ubuntu myself, though I've heard may good things about it.
I must admit to not being too fond of GNOME, but you can decide on that for yourself and/or change it after installing, if you want...

The only (non-live CD) Linux distros I've used are Slackware at home, Red Hat at Uni, and Arch which I never got working, but I wouldn't recommend any of those for a beginner.

In general you should check here: http://distrowatch.com/ for all the information you need on the various distros.

 

I have LM on the Asus and downloading Ubuntu on my laptop that stays at the house. I am really liking LM, I hope Ubuntu on this computer works as LM does on the Asus.

 

was gonna recommend mint cos of the youtube/netflix thing

don't know about ubuntu, but in debian [ubuntu's daddy and mint's grandpa] it's a small bit of extra work to get real flash

since i have not bothered, all youtube is just a big arrow for me . . .

 

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