Printable View
Any Linux peeps hang out here? I'm looking for a distro to run on an old laptop. Current finances call for free/super cheap distribution. I'm trying Ubuntu, but I really am not liking it. Its too "Mac-ish"...except without as much user friendliness. I work with a Redhat Enterprise 5 server at work, and would be perfectly happy with something that acted like that.
It's probably the Unity interface that you don't like. And you're not alone. Nobody likes it. I hate it too. I actually have been turned off to Ubuntu lately because of it. But instead of getting the latest, you could always get 12.04 LTS though. That has the normal Gnome interface and will be supported for awhile (when downloading Ubuntu, always go for the LTS version). Although there will be things you'll want that probably won't work because it's getting kinda dated. Like I think Chrome is difficult to install on it. Firefox will work fine though.
Maybe a better solution is to try 14.04 LTS and replace Unity with Gnome? Not sure if that's possible or not but you can Google on how to do that.
As for Red Hat,... take a look at CentOS. CentOS is a community version of it. Same exact software,... just coming from a different repository. But again, even the latest version of CentOS is fairly dated. For the latest and greatest in that world, you would get Fedora. For reliability and stability, you go for Red Hat or CentOS. CentOS 5.5 (which will update to 5.9) is probably what you'd be happiest with I think.
EDIT:
Wow, I see CentOS is up to version 7 now. I might have to check that out. Hopefully it's not using Unity. http://www.centos.org/
I think this is what you might want: http://vault.centos.org/5.5/isos/x86..._64-LiveCD.iso
Agree with webby. I have an old laptop that I use just for recording my IP camera I have outside my house and also for remoting into to download torrents, etc. and when I need to get at my home network from outside that I run Ubuntu 12.04 on, it's not near as bad.
i believe I am running 12.04 on a free laptop I got from work.
I'm going to use it on a rather old laptop...close to 10 years old, perhaps. So maybe an older version is exactly what I need...and probably stick with 32 bit, since 2GB is the max RAM. Thanks for the suggestions!
That's what I'm using - an old Dell Inspiron 6400. I bet it's easily 8-10 years old.Quote:
Originally Posted by FatalException0E
32-bit should be fine. Even if it's ancient you can still put 64-bit on it. I think it really depends on the compatibility of whatever is going to run on it. For example, some software require a 64-bit OS. Also driver compatibility. In some cases I've had better luck with 32. In other cases 64. It all depends.
If it's ancient the CPU may not be 64-bit.Quote:
Originally Posted by Webhead
True. But then again it might be. Heck, even many P4's are 64-bit. I install 64-bit CentOS on old P4 systems I have laying around all the time.Quote:
Originally Posted by CeeBee
For what it is worth, this is what I am running on. http://www.pcworld.com/product/44873...-10-black.html
Not exactly a powerhouse
Will it take an SSD? If so, and if you can afford it,.. I would highly recommend it. Night and day difference in performance.Quote:
Originally Posted by Larommi
I am sure it would, but since I did not pay anything for it, it sort of became a toy that I don't want to spend money onQuote:
Originally Posted by Webhead
Maybe I was asleep when this thread was current, but I'm surprised nobody mentioned Mint. Particularly Mint Cinnamon.
Well sure. There's Mint and then there's all these: http://futurist.se/gldt/wp-content/u...0/gldt1210.pngQuote:
Originally Posted by slgrieb
Or why not Kali?
I ran mint once for a bit and didn't see any real big advantages/differences to it over others.........but that was probably 6-8 years ago at this point so who knows?
I think was popular in the tech blogs for a minute years ago because it had a prettier interface than the others. Otherwise, under the hood it's just Ubuntu.
That's what I had found when I installed it. Not enough differences from what I could see (other than eye candy) to make it worth deviating from Ubuntu (especially with Ubuntu having such a wide support structure).Quote:
Originally Posted by Webhead
I am running it now. Just loaded it. A year later of course.Quote:
Originally Posted by slgrieb
I like it. I dumped Ubuntu for it on my primary machine. Ubuntu is one my backup laptop and CentOS is on my backup backup laptop. Really enjoying having access to some of my steam games on linux. I still have not finished loading Win 10 yet