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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Linux
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palcal Guru  Joined: 12/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1967 |
What is the best Linux OS to use. My workshop computer is running WinXP. I have installed another hard drive and want to try Linux. Paul. "It is better to be ignorant and ask a stupid question than to be plain Stupid and not ask at all" |
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BobDevries Senior Member  Joined: 08/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 266 |
Hehe, are you trying to start a war? 
IMHO it's Ubuntu. Others may disagree. Regards, Bob Devries Dalby, QLD, Australia Bob Devries Dalby, QLD, Australia |
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| ajkw Senior Member Joined: 29/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 290 |
Ubuntu for me. 12.04 LTS should be fine on a older box and is supported until April 2017. Mind you the box I write on now started with 9.04 and is now running 14.04 just fine. You can always put Ubuntu on a bootable CD/DVD and try it out. Cheers, Anthony. |
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| cosmic frog Senior Member Joined: 09/02/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 300 |
I use Puppy if I want to run a "live" version of Linux But I use Ubuntu as a great alternative to Win xp. Dave. |
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| robert.rozee Guru Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 2405 |
i've been playing with Mint; it can be made into a bootable 'live CD' for trying out, and can be customised to feel a good deal like XP. it also seems to play nicely with netbooks. rob :-) |
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| JohnS Guru Joined: 18/11/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 4004 |
How long IS a piece of string? From a typical do-everything version ("distro"), Linux is a bit less resource hungry than Windows. For a new user, ignore the fact that it can be shrunk and made much faster. Chances are you'll use common apps like firefox and they tend to be memory hogs. I've moved away from Ubuntu but it's an OK place to start. I put Mint (14) on a system a while back and could not recommend it. It's usable but I prefer Mageia by far. The mainstream distros aimed at joe public are probably all fine. If you plan to dual-boot, that tends to go OK unless you try more than one distro and then sometimes bad things occur that an experienced user can readily fix but a newbie... no. For trial use, disabling the WinXP drive and just putting Linux on another is easy. Bear in mind the BIOS wants to pick a drive to boot from and the knock-on is that it's easy for an OS to put the bootstrap on the "obvious" hdd (drive 0). No problem till you have 2 or more OSes. Windows is really good (meaning bad) at overwriting bootstraps. Linux tends to arrange multi-boot which is why the usual advice is to install Linux last (as in this case). John |
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| hitsware Guru Joined: 23/11/2012 Location: United StatesPosts: 535 |
I wrestled with what to use for literally years. After trying out dozens ended up with: http://www.slitaz.org/en/ It's small, fast, and elegant. For sure though Linux is a personal thing. The gander may not like what's good for the goose. Like a favorite author................. |
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| JohnS Guru Joined: 18/11/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 4004 |
At least the question wasn't "what's the best beer"... John |
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psergiu Regular Member  Joined: 09/02/2013 Location: United StatesPosts: 83 |
The best Linux Distribution is the one you build yourself: Linux From Scratch :-) But if you don't have time to read a lot of documentation and compile everything by hand - use Ubuntu (as a beginner) then later you can switch to Debian (Ubuntu is actually a user-friendly derivative of the full Debian). If you want to really learn Unix, read the FreeBSD Handbook and do what it says. Linux is the Arduino of the Unix world. The professionals know that there are better Micro-controllers than Arduino and it's ilk and there are better Unices than Linux. |
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9502 |
I 2nd Puppy - small, quick, does not need much of a computer to run it. It is "My" Linux of choice, but again - only MY 2c - everyone has their favourite distros.
EDIT: Had never heard of Slitaz before this thread, so am checking it out - this also seems like a very possible distro to try, especially as it is so small - smaller even then Puppy now is. I will download this and have a play over the weekend. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| hitsware Guru Joined: 23/11/2012 Location: United StatesPosts: 535 |
> Had never heard of Slitaz before this thread Try version 4. ... 5 may have some bugs ? One problem (if ran 'live' from usbstick) is persistence is somewhat awkward. I ended up putting it on the HD of my lab PC. 'Minicom' (terminal) does great with MMBasic. With Wine I can run BBCBasic and WooferTester fine. I tried lots of versions of Puppy, but for some reason my in house PC won't go on line with it. Also it seems to be missing something with Wine ............ If you want to run live from usbstick (and want persistence)try Slax. (a little slower, but persistence is automatic) For a challenge try TinyCore. I got Minicom to work, but that was about it..... |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9502 |
Ta.  I tried to download Slitaz, but the server keeps saying it is offline - I will try it again later, but in the meantime, will give Slax a whirl.Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5111 |
For a server I've used CentOS. For home use I've tried a few, and liked Ubuntu and Mint. But I always walked away after a few hours. My problem is the tools I use are only available on Windows. If I could I would prefer to use Linux, its cool. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| hitsware Guru Joined: 23/11/2012 Location: United StatesPosts: 535 |
> My problem is the tools I use are only available on Windows. Yes ...... > If I could I would prefer to use Linux, its cool. Have you tried Wine ? Some Windows apps run better than in Windows 
And some won't even install ... |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9502 |
For my current server, I use a Linux-based OS called NASLite-2. This is NOT a GUI based system, it is text-mode only on the actual install, and remote administer via TELNET and web-page type GUI via a web browser. I like this cos of it's simplicity. 11MB for the entire system. Although, this is commercial software, so not free..... It's more expensive then FreeNAS, but much MUCH less complicated. It is considerably cheaper then Windows Server. I am always on the lookout for another server OS though, so quite keen to see how Slax and Slitaz may work in that area - depends on if they have the required Windows Samba shares and depending on how difficult or not, it is to configure. NASLite-2 was simplicity itself to get working, once I got a few install hurdles figured out - I am a Windows man, and Linux confuses me to some extent, as I am not that familiar with it! Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5111 |
Yeah tried wine, but the programs I use daily ( Dreamweaver, IIS, Access, etc ) are Windows only, and wont run in wine. These are the tools of my trade, there are no worthy Linux equivalents, so its Windows for me. The best Linux distro I've ever used was Coyote Firewall. Turned a PC into a dedicated hardware firewall, the complete system ran off a floppy disk, and was brilliant! Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| palcal Guru Joined: 12/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1967 |
Thanks for all the response. I had Ubuntu 12.4 on disc so loaded that and then upgraded to 14.something and had problems with missing files so went back to 12.4. However I downloaded MMedit.2 Linux version and cant get it installed. I found a thread on 'Ask Ubuntu' that said there should be a read me file with instructions. Can anyone guide me. Paul. "It is better to be ignorant and ask a stupid question than to be plain Stupid and not ask at all" |
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| hitsware Guru Joined: 23/11/2012 Location: United StatesPosts: 535 |
No luck with Slitaz either (but I'm no ace by a long shot) Seems to install, but doesn't run ? You might try Minicom .... |
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| JohnS Guru Joined: 18/11/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 4004 |
palcal - when I tried MMedit2 it was a .tar.gz file so assumes you're a command line user. If you don't know how to open a "shell" please ask. This will "untar" it: tar xzf file.tar.gz (I think file was MMedit2 but it's been a while) Add v if you want it to be verbose e.g. tar xvzf MMedit2.tar.gz For me it put the files in ~/MMedit2 (~ means your home directory, oops nowadays Microsoft trained us to say folder) If you downloaded to other than your home dir, say to ~/Downloads, then you need e.g. tar xvzf Downloads/MMedit2.tar.gz be sure to use a slash not backslash as good ole MS even changed that. John |
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TassyJim Guru Joined: 07/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 6224 |
I tried Ubuntu 12.4 but my laptop didn't want to install it so I went to Kubuntu which did install OK on the same laptop. When my laptop finally died with an expensive sounding 'pop' I tried another almost as old laptop and this time Ubuntu 14.04 did install. I hated the look and feel of the GUI so I went back to Kubuntu (14.04 this time). Much as I like Linux for servers and command line devices, I find the GUI is going as silly as Windows. You can extract the MMEdit2 archive using the GUI file manager. Once extracted, use the file manager to navigate to the folder created and run MMEdit2. There are so many different file managers that I am unable to give step by step instructions. If MMEdit2 doesn't run, you will be given a list of missing dependancies. The gnome print ones are very likely to be missing. In Ubuntu 14.04, If you are unable to find the gnomeprint items: Go to system settings -> software & updates -> other software 1) click add 2) in the APT line field type: "deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise main universe" 3) confirm the refresh request I do find Windows easier to support! Jim VK7JH MMedit |
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