Ubuntu or Linux

[Oakblossoms]

My dh got a laptop from the local CC.  The Windows won't update for us because it must be a copy licensed to the CC.  Anywhooooo.....

 

I am thinking it would be easier to use Ubuntu or Linux.  I like the look of Ubuntu.  Any thoughts or suggestions or preferences or......

[Rebel Yell]

We've done both- one of our cheap-o secondhand laptops is running Ubuntu.  Not everything works, but it isn;t our primary machine for work/assignments/etc.

[Lanny]

Ubuntu is one of the most popular Linux distributions. I have been using CentOS Linux (a free clone of  Red Hat Enterprise Linux, which is not free) for many years, but that distribution is primarily used on Servers and would be harder for a "newbie" to use on the Desktop.

 

In January, we bought a very used IBM Desktop and a CRT monitor and I am using Linux Mint 15 (the "mate" version) on it.

 

Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu, but it is now more popular and probably has some advantages for you.

 

If you have a very recent Laptop, with some very strange hardware in it, you may have a problem with something on Linux.

 

Burn a "Live DVD" for LinuxMint and then you can boot from it and try it and see if everything on the laptop works properly, and, if you like it, install to the hard drive. It will run slowly, because you are running off the DVD, and not the hard drive, but you will see what it is like, without installing to your hard drive or modifying your hard drive in any way.

 

This is the URL for the Linux Mint project:

http://www.linuxmint.com/

 

Linux is free.

 

I have Skype working on Linux Mint (audio only) with no problems.

 

The web camera I had wasn't recognized by Linux and my wife took it with her, to give to her sister.

 

I have "WINE" installed on Linux Mint and have Amazon's "KindleForPC" (a Windows application) running perfectly on that. Many Windows applications will run under "WINE"

 

I have one very ancient Windows program, M$ FrontPage 2000, that I use for our web sites. I couldn't get that to run under "WINE" so I installed "VirtualBox".  I was able to get M$ FrontPage 2000 running on VirtualBox. The problem with VirtualBox is that then you need to install M$ Windows, do all of the updates, install an Anti Virus utility, etc.  A PITA...

 

After you download the File for Linux Mint or another Linux distribution, you "BURN" the file to the DVD and there will then be a ton of files on your DVD. Check the MD5 sum, after you finish downloading, before you burn the DVD.  That is a "checksum" to verify that the file you downloaded is not corrupted.  GL

 

ETA: I am running the 32 bit version of Linux Mint  15 (the Mate desktop) and it seems very stable on the Desktop so far. I think the IBM Desktop I am using is a 64 bit machine, but, often, 32 bit software doesn't run well on a 64 bit operating system. So, I am using the 32 bit version of the OS.  Also, there may be some issues with the latest version (16) of Linux Mint. Frequently, it is not good, to have the "latest and greatest" versions of software.

 

ETA#2:  The standard web browser on LinuxMint 15 is Mozilla Firefox which I have been using for years. I use it on this box, which is dual boot (Windows and CentOS Linux ) and it works great on Linux. However, on the LinuxMint 15 installation, the video was very rough. I read somewhere in a thread on their Forum to install Google's Chrome browser, because Google keeps the Adobe Flash optimized, for their Linux version. That works perfectly, and watching videos is like watching TV. Very smooth and very clear. So, if you go with LinuxMint, I suggest you install Google Chrome after the installation is finished.