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#1 2012-07-23 02:35:30
Which flavour of linux?
So I've got this slow, rubbish laptop with windows xp on and I have decided I will install linux on it. I don't know much about linux but there is only one way to learn 
Which linux version should I get?
What I'm after:
Needs to be relatively light weight and run well with only 512Mb ram
Needs to be simple to use and to install extra things like Java
I also might decided to run a server on it so it would need to be able to do that. 
Thanks,
Daffy.
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#3 2012-07-23 03:23:36
- jji7skyline
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- Registered: 2010-03-08
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Re: Which flavour of linux?
TRocket wrote:
i normally use OpenSuSE it has very quick startup times and you can select lightweight desktops (XFCE and LDXE) when you install. it has YaST as the software setup tool
I would have to disagree, OpenSUSE is practically the heaviest and largest Linux Distro out there.
I would recommend LuBuntu or KuBuntu because they are both very lightweight, but have access to the Ubuntu Software Centre which means Java and things can be installed quickly and easily.
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello!
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#4 2012-07-23 06:53:34
- nathanprocks
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Re: Which flavour of linux?
jji7skyline wrote:
TRocket wrote:
i normally use OpenSuSE it has very quick startup times and you can select lightweight desktops (XFCE and LDXE) when you install. it has YaST as the software setup tool
I would have to disagree, OpenSUSE is practically the heaviest and largest Linux Distro out there.
I would recommend LuBuntu or KuBuntu because they are both very lightweight, but have access to the Ubuntu Software Centre which means Java and things can be installed quickly and easily.
+1 Ubuntu/Ubuntu based Linux distributions have very fast start-up times (and for me it was noticeable in the 11.10 update, which starts up in a couple of seconds). In Ubuntu Software Centre, you can install the package "Ubuntu Restricted Extras" which includes Java, Flash, and lots of essential audio and video codecs.
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#5 2012-07-23 09:34:48
Re: Which flavour of linux?
Yea, Lubuntu and Kubuntu are pretty lightweight, and even plain old Ubuntu would probably run fine on 512MB of RAM, though it would depend on the rest of the specs of the laptop.
And by "server", do you mean a Minecraft server? I am pretty sure that would need 512MB by itself with 3 or 4 people on.
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#6 2012-07-23 10:29:35
- IHeartGaming
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Re: Which flavour of linux?
Ubuntu. My old Windows XP computer with 1 GB of RAM and a 2.4 GHZ Pentium 4 processor took 45 minutes from pushing the power button to getting on Firefox, and the same thing in Ubuntu took one, maybe two minutes.
Edit:
nathanprocks wrote:
In Ubuntu Software Centre, you can install the package "Ubuntu Restricted Extras" which includes Java, Flash, and lots of essential audio and video codecs.
Ubuntu Restricted Extras is great, and I also install Wine (a Windows program emulator) to use some Windows programs on Linux/Ubuntu.
Last edited by IHeartGaming (2012-07-23 10:31:28)
IHeartGaming
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#8 2012-07-23 12:40:28
- 16Skittles
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Re: Which flavour of linux?
If you're limited to 512MB of RAM you will need to have a command-line, low resource distro or else you will have just 200MB or so to run a server.
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#10 2012-07-23 18:45:49
- jji7skyline
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Re: Which flavour of linux?
Harakou wrote:
@jji7skyline, fire219: I would agree with Lubuntu, but why Kubuntu? I love KDE but it's not the best choice if you're trying to conserve memory.
Kubuntu is still a relatively light distro and would run fine with 512MB and light applications such as web browsing.
I think if you wanted to have a server though, you'd need more RAM. You can get them cheap on eBay. For example, I upgraded an old XP computer that my family had which was preinstalled with just 256MB of RAM. I upgraded it to 1GB for just $7 or something by buying a 1GB stick on eBay.
If you just wanted a Web Server though, you can get a server version of Ubuntu. This comes preinstalled with LAMP, and it does not come with a desktop. You can get a desktop though, from the command line using apt-get or something. I've done it before.
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello!
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#11 2012-07-24 02:13:59
Re: Which flavour of linux?
Thanks everyone for your replies, I've looked into Ubuntu and I think it sounds best for a linux begginer like me
If my laptop struggles with it then I will get a lighter version of Ubuntu.
As for the server, forget it. It was just a thought I had
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#12 2012-07-24 02:38:03
- nathanprocks
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Re: Which flavour of linux?
IHeartGaming wrote:
Ubuntu. My old Windows XP computer with 1 GB of RAM and a 2.4 GHZ Pentium 4 processor took 45 minutes from pushing the power button to getting on Firefox, and the same thing in Ubuntu took one, maybe two minutes.
Edit:nathanprocks wrote:
In Ubuntu Software Centre, you can install the package "Ubuntu Restricted Extras" which includes Java, Flash, and lots of essential audio and video codecs.
Ubuntu Restricted Extras is great, and I also install Wine (a Windows program emulator) to use some Windows programs on Linux/Ubuntu.
WINE Is Not an Emulator... which is weird because it originally was WINdows Emulator.
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#13 2012-07-24 03:32:41
- jji7skyline
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Re: Which flavour of linux?
Never knew that
Ubuntu with the Unity desktop is probably going to be a bit too much for 512MB of RAM but feel free to try it
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello!
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