Solved Can anyone recommend a good Linux distro?

[Mellon Head]

Hi guys,

I just inherited an old laptop that I'm fixing up. Since it's old, I don't feel like wasting a Win 7 license on it and I was thinking of putting on Linux.

I'm not too knowledgeable with Linux, so ease of use is a factor here. I was leaning toward Ubuntu because I've used it before.

Can anyone recommend something a bit better?

Thanks


Laptop:

Toshiba Satellite L-200
AMD TK-57 Dual Core
4 GB RAM
250 GB HDD

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

Well some people here did talk about the Zorin OS here a couple of months/weeks ago.

It's really close to what the M$W universe looks like so maybe it would suit your needs?

 

[Digital Life]

I personally like Linux mint, I would try the XFCE edition it uses less resource's

https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php

Almost all distro's will have a XFCE edition

 

[Mellon Head]

I have a colleague at work who uses Mint. He seems to have to do an awful lot of typing of obscure commands in order to get anything done.

It's one of the reasons that I have avoided Linux for this long, other than playing with Ubuntu on an older laptop.

 

[AddRAM]

Zorin OS 11 Core 64 Bit

Zorin OS - Tour

Zorin OS - Download

Zorin OS - Home

or 9

Zorin OS - Download

 

[Digital Life]

I have a colleague at work who uses Mint. He seems to have to do an awful lot of typing of obscure commands in order to get anything done.

It's one of the reasons that I have avoided Linux for this long, other than playing with Ubuntu on an older laptop.

[trying to be a smarty-pants]
Using a lot of commands in linux terminal usually means he is either trying to overthrow a small Government or he is being really sneaky and using Bash to view new posts on Reddit at work

content=$(wget 
reddit.com -q -O -) echo $content

[/trying to be a smarty-pants]



Linux has come a long way and there is not really any need to learn how to code, Like windows you can start all your programs from an icon or what we would call the start menu.

 

[ThrashZone]

My nephew likes linuz lite might be best for an older laptop = "lite"

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Zorin OS 11 Core 64 Bit

Zorin OS - Tour

Zorin OS - Download

Zorin OS - Home

or 9

Zorin OS - Download

Thanks for the links! I would rep you if I could.

 

[Mellon Head]

Trying Zorin. Thanks AddRAM. And Boris!

EDIT: Oh boy, a four hour download... lol

 

[ThrashZone]

Just so you know Zorin 11 is very beta
9 is a bit more stable I'd imagine.

 

[Mellon Head]

[trying to be a smarty-pants]
Using a lot of commands in linux terminal usually means he is either trying to overthrow a small Government or he is being really sneaky and using Bash to view new posts on Reddit at work

content=$(wget 
reddit.com -q -O -) echo $content

[/trying to be a smarty-pants]

Lol. I wouldn't put it past him.

Linux has come a long way and there is not really any need to learn how to code, Like windows you can start all your programs from an icon or what we would call the start menu.

Oh good. The excessive typing is what turned me off. (If I want to do that much typing, I'll use DOS). That and we have some real Linux snobs at work whom I find intolerable, insufferable, and just plain annoying. Every OS has it's place and niche. Just like Windows is not good for everything, neither is Linux good for everything. In this case, Linux is more suited for what I need to do.

Zorin it is,

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Mellon:

Report back on your opinion of Zorin.

I installed Linux Mint with the Mate disktop about 6 months ago after several dozen hours of research. Since installation, I have not spent more than 10 hours on it, mainly due to confusion about folder structure, backups, and file management generally. I just haven't been able to force myself into total immersion for a couple of hundred hours to get halfway slick with it. Old habits dying hard.

With Mint, you still have to use the command line at times. I have no idea if Zorin requires less use of it.

I'm trying to get off the Windows train generally, without a lot of success given my misgivings about Mint. In fact, the whole deal has caused me to postpone a long-planned upgrade to Skylake---never mind all of the Windows 10 issues. I just can't justify a hardware upgrade considering that this 5 year old i5-2500 is more than snappy enough.

 

[Mellon Head]

Mellon:

Report back on your opinion of Zorin.

Definitely will do. I'll post in this thread.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Mellon:

Report back on your opinion of Zorin.

Definitely will do. I'll post in this thread.

Thank you!

 

[Mellon Head]

Well, a couple of days with Zorin are under my belt. So far I like it quite a bit. It seems to be a skin on Ubuntu. In fact, a couple of options took me to a Ubuntu sign up menu.

But anyway, it behaves a lot like Windows 7. The menus are laid out the same, and it has a task bar. It's pretty fast on the laptop that I have it on. It's a dual core at 2 GHz, so it shouldn't be that bad. I'm going to install it on a single core laptop and see how it runs on the weekend.

Overall, I'm impressed with it, and it's very easy to use. It's also not resource heavy like Seven was on this laptop. The only thing that I don't have is drivers for the special keys on the keyboard, but I can live with that.

I'll give it an 8 out of 10 so far.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I'll give it an 8 out of 10 so far.

Please continue to comment on such items as these:

Total system backup methods.

Keeping Zorin itself "updated", like Windows Update.

Finding, adding and updating individual applications.

File management generally---such as copying files across multiple drives and partitions, backing up data only.

Shortcomings and frustrations?

Any sound or video issues? Did they work "out of the box"?

I have trouble grasping the overall Linux folder structure as compared to Windows, so I was becoming frustrated as to where a given thing might be located.

 

[Mellon Head]

Please continue to comment on such items as these:

I'll be working with it more this weekend. I'll investigate these things and post Sunday or Monday.

 

[Berton]

I've worked with Zorin LiveCD/LiveDVD and seems good. I have Linux Mint 17.3 on a Desktop and a Notebook, typing on the Notebook now. I also have Linux Mint 13 on a Notebook with an Intel Centrino process because it couldn't be upgraded to anything later, hardware limitations. Both Linux Mint and Zorin are good replacements for older computers that used WinXP and earlier, lower System Requirements.

 

[jgiels]

I have used Zorin but most recently tried elementary os and liked it more.

 

[Berton]

Looking at Elementary OS screenshot shows it has a 'dock' similar to that on Mac OS X. I also have a MacBook Pro with OS X El Capitan [the latest] and its dock is easy to work with.