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Which Linux for me?

7

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macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 11, 2004
2,365
0
NYC
Sorry for starting yet another linux advice thread but I have a few questions.
I want to run linux on the pc in my sig. I want a free version of linux with a nice looking interface. I am a linux retard so I want an easy to use version. Also I will install it on my LaCie porsche USB2 external. How do I boot from a usb2 external drive from pc?
Also if I install linux will my adsl still work or will I have to reconfigure it through linux?

Cheers,
Patmian212
 
Debian has a Beautiful interface. Fedora is pretty good, also. But it's interface isn't as pretty as Debians. Both are fairly easy to install.

Hope it helps :)
 
Your PC is pretty decent, so you have your pick of the litter. If you want to go Debian, get it at

http://www.debian.org

A lot of people like Ubuntu Linux, which is a form of Debian:

http://www.ubuntulinux.org

If you want a decent distro that is a little more advanced, I would recommend Arch Linux:

http://www.archlinux.org

Each one has their set of pros and cons. If you are really green to the whole linux/unix thing, I'd start with Ubuntu. I liked it when I tried it. Feel free to ask more questions if you need more info. Many of us know about linux and will try to help as much as possible.

Jim
 
I was reading install instructions for ubuntu and fedora and they said I have to partition the hard drive. Is there any way of installing it on my external usb2 drive in windows then restarting and booting from the external?

Also are gentoo and dam small linux any good?
 
jim. said:
Your PC is pretty decent, so you have your pick of the litter. If you want to go Debian, get it at

http://www.debian.org

A lot of people like Ubuntu Linux, which is a form of Debian:

http://www.ubuntulinux.org

If you want a decent distro that is a little more advanced, I would recommend Arch Linux:

http://www.archlinux.org

Each one has their set of pros and cons. If you are really green to the whole linux/unix thing, I'd start with Ubuntu. I liked it when I tried it. Feel free to ask more questions if you need more info. Many of us know about linux and will try to help as much as possible.

Jim
Click to expand...


I am about to pension off my ancient dell 500mhz, 256 RAM, 32VRAM 12Gig HDD...but maybe Linux could give it a new lease of life.

Again, I dont want anything compicated but it would be great to get soemthing that worked well for file transfers with my PB.

Would Ubuntu work, or is my machine too under speced?
 
Patmian212 said:
I was reading install instructions for ubuntu and fedora and they said I have to partition the hard drive. Is there any way of installing it on my external usb2 drive in windows then restarting and booting from the external?

Also are gentoo and dam small linux any good?
Click to expand...

I don't know about installing to an external drive. It all depends on whether or not the drive is recognized on boot. If it is, you just partition it and select it for the install. Most distros you have to install outside of Windows. There is one project called colinux that you can install within windows, but I think it runs from within windows also. I'm not entirely sure since I have never tried it.

You probably don't want Damn Small Linux as it is designed for very low end systems. Well, if you want to get a crash course in working entirely from the command line then DSL would be ok.

Gentoo is a good distro. It has its advantages, none of which you hear from the people that use it. The optimization argument for it is crap, so don't get drawn in on it (I have already shown this in another topic, so you'll have to look for it if you are curious). The real power of gentoo comes with the control you have on the features that are installed. portage with the USE flags make for a system that is entirely customized to what you want and how you use your computer. It just takes time to learn what you need and how to get it. Gentoo is unique with this amongst Linux distros to my knowledge.

Jim
 
aswitcher said:
I am about to pension off my ancient dell 500mhz, 256 RAM, 32VRAM 12Gig HDD...but maybe Linux could give it a new lease of life.

Again, I dont want anything compicated but it would be great to get soemthing that worked well for file transfers with my PB.

Would Ubuntu work, or is my machine too under speced?
Click to expand...

500mhz isn't too bad. I remember running slackware 8 pretty comfortably on my AMD 550mhz a few years ago. The only thing that gives me pause is the 256 RAM. You'll have to use a lighter environment like xfce, but it should run well. You could go with ubuntu, but I think that you will find it pretty sluggish in its full gnome environment. I think there is a distro called Mepis or Gnoppix that offers a lower spec live CD that is based on xfce4. I would go that way.

As far as file sharing with your pb is concerned. The easiest was would be to set up samba on the linux box and use the windows sharing feature in OSX. They could both communicate that way. There is a project called zeroconf, which is the basis for Rendezvous. I'm not sure how to work with it or if it can help you in this.

Jim
 
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