I'd like to use Linux but...

otm

? this is not a thing

http://i.imgur.com/goi2m.png

ok but lol you use safari

didn't the ubuntu guy say he thought the future of linux was tablets/touch hence the push for these stupid new user interfaces that slow everything down? i fundamentally disagree with him really. h8 touchscreen so much - they slow down everything.

windows 7 is good yeah but i want to go back to linux soon.

desktop pc's themselves are for grahpic designers and radiologists and such - u can ILE on your tabby while you shatty on your enemy. ease of portability is pc on da potty. S Jobbs induringlegacy

very deep bow

ladies and gentlemen, Latham Green

lmao

ok but lol you use safari

i use chrome!!!

otm

what is a nice lightweight distro for an old laptop?

I put lubuntu on a old laptop I gave to my nephew and it worked pretty well.

i always suggest puppy if you can deal with Win98-inspired GUI

CrunchBang Linux is another goodie for reviving old gear.

Just program your own OS.

I like the disclaimer (x-post):

CrunchBang Linux is not recommended for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. CrunchBang Linux could possibly make your computer go CRUNCH! BANG!

or anyone who dislikes black.

seriously, i tried it recently and the theme is white and black for everything. changing the openbox theme / background was easy enough but even things like the firefox url box were white on black.

(dark backgrounds on glossy screens = lots of reflections. maybe ok if you program in the a basement...)

Yup can't say I'm a huge fan of the CrunchBang colour scheme (or lack of it).

I ran Linux Mint Xfce on an old net book last year and that worked a treat. Not sure what the current release is like however - the relentless release schedule is a bit overwhelming.

what about one of the red hat enterprise derived distros like centos or scientific linux? they seem relatively stable / well supported

http://www.junauza.com/2008/11/7-deadly-linux-commands.html

mv /home/yourhomedirectory/* /dev/null

have heard good things about centos from our server guys at work

i just want something that i can incrementally upgrade forever, no reinstalling every couple of years, too much of a wrench. am on ubuntu 10.04 so have another year to find something. not keen on unity. tried kubuntu but didn't like it... don't like the idiot menu in mint (how reconfigurable is that?) but cinnamon / mate sounds useful.

Arch Linux!

Now I remember why I didn't dual boot on that laptop, it has that wireless problem with the Broadcom card. :-/

Anyways, I couldn't install puppy, but Lubuntu seems to be okay (booting from CD). Tried Tiny Core too, but I hate those Apple-y pop up icons.

I am using virtual Ubuntu on oracle virtual box at work. I feel special. now I can use clementine

there is some CHinese Mach kernal linux distro - now THAT would be solitude to use that

i am trying out Mint 12. new modemmanager breaks E220 support (same is true of lots of debian-based distros), and, of course, with no modem you can't investigate a fix without constant rebooting.

mate (their gnome2 hack) looks ok, but is missing a couple of my most-used gnome bits. and i still don't like the menu.

is there a "one distro to find them all and in the darkness bind them"?

lots of modern linuxen depend on debian so i'd say it would be The One Distro

Debian as a project though has had some struggles though as a partial result of Ubuntu's success; for a while they were really hurting for developers.

I always recommend Arch Linux for advanced users who want their computers to work exactly how they want and have bleeding edge software and don't mind having to do lots of stuff by hand and also sometimes X will break!

what about Red Hat

Red Hat is for IT departments terrified of using anything they can't buy a very expensive support contract for.

(but fedora or centos are v similar, and free)

what about MAC OS and its celebrated Steve Jobbs hack of unix?

OS X is the most popular commercial Unix out there!

ACTUALLY ios is

eh same thing

Shitload of machines running Linux derivatives these days, too. Samsung televisions, half a dozen wireless router brands, video players, loads of things.

Is the PS3 operating system a unix derivative?

i think they'd be compelled to release the source if it was...

not all unix is foss though

oh sorry.. i read leenux instead of unix... it would seem like a lot of trouble to roll your own os from scratch though.

Nah, it's proprietary

I recently hacked my way through a 2nd Hackintosh install (now running OSX 10.6.8!) cos I need FCP for work. It was a huge pain, i think all the distros come packaged with kexts (drivers) and you have to pick THE RIGHT ONE and if you pick something else or say just decide to install a bunch of video kexts in the hope that one works, your machine will lock up and crash and you pretty much have to start the re-install from scratch.

I figured since it's Unix-based like Linux that you have to go through the same thing, tho the one time I installed Ubuntu I didn't have any problems. Except I just could not get my network card to recognize, and that's a deal-breaker.

As much as I hate to say it, I'm a Windows/DOS guy born and raised, and there are a number of Win-only programs that I just can't do without. Mainly Fruity Loops.

DOS is heaven

I recently updated to Onieric Ocelot. actually my daughter did it when I was nto looking by mashing keys madly - linux IS easy to use!

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/08/stephen-fry-i-use-ubuntu

My sister's got this laptop w xp service pack 3, works fine except for freezing sometimes online, worst on firefox, but also some noticeable slowing down on chrome, safari. She doesn't want to invest in more memory and windows 7, not yet so hey why not try linux. I checked zorin, burned it to disc as site instructed, but her laptop couldn't open it, neither could mine, which does have win 7. anyway, I'vr twice tried ubuntu with the Wubi installed (can also choose variants, like xpost lubuntu I think) it's here
http://download.cnet.com/Wubi/3000-2094_4-10701841.html?tag=mncol;3#editorsreview Rebooted as it instructed, chose Ubuntu as OS,got black screen, blinking cursor, did contl alt del, chose debugging mode, tried again, got black screen, w message
GNU GRUB version 2.00-7ubuntu11
BASH-Line editing is supported for the first word, TAB lists possible command completion anywhere else TAB lists possible device or file completion so I tried commmands open, start, s few others, said didn't recognize then, tried c:// and \\ with a couple more, same results. How do I open this fucker? thanks for your consideration.

I don't know the answer to your question.

That said, different manufacturers can have issues with Linux, and I've read of people have problems with Wubi. Do you have the disc to reinstall Windows XP if things go wrong?

If so, I would say get Xubuntu or Lubuntu 12.04 or earlier from the official Ubuntu site, burn to a live CD, and test on the machine. You should be able to dual boot the XP or the 'buntu from the installer on the disc. I made it work with a friends ancient desktop a few years ago.