Best Linux for slightly old system of a non-tech person

sakumar79 · 06-01-2010, 02:04 PM

Hi all,
My uncle has a reasonably old system (1.4GHz P4 CPU with 768MB RAM, 80+40GB HDD). He is a non-technical person and is currently using XP Pro. He frequently gets virus problems... So, I am suggesting to him to install Linux side-by-side and try it out... He has agreed to check it out... His main needs are browsing, chatting (skype, yahoo), office work (OOo), and listening to music/watching movies...
I want to setup a distro which should be reasonably easy to use and be light-weight... I dont think Ubuntu will run very smoothly, hence I want some other distro...Will Fedora LXDE fit the bill? Does it have OOo pre-installed? What other distro would you recommend?

Arun

gopi_vbboy · 06-01-2010, 02:07 PM

linux mint

ghost at rest · 06-01-2010, 02:54 PM

Try Xubuntu. Its best for your machine's configuration. Solid sources and very good support.

**staticsid** · 06-01-2010, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gopi_vbboy

linux mint

Yup Mint Felecia was nice... The latest one is Helena...

sakumar79 · 06-01-2010, 05:22 PM

Last time I tried Linux Mint, it was even slower than Ubuntu... This was a couple of years ago... Is it lighter now?

Cool G5 · 06-01-2010, 05:27 PM

Stick with Linux Mint or Ubuntu.

j1n M@tt · 06-01-2010, 05:31 PM

ya +1 for Mint or Ubuntu

Dark Core · 07-01-2010, 06:32 PM

Go for Linux Mint - Sure its' a lightweight distro with lot of eye-candy features. XP Users should feel home using Mint. Ubuntu is good option too.

But I strongly recommend to start wth Mint Distro

sakumar79 · 07-01-2010, 07:05 PM

I am trying XUbuntu now, and will post my comments and doubts after some time...

krabhishek · 26-01-2010, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sakumar79

I am trying XUbuntu now, and will post my comments and doubts after some time...

Xubuntu uses XFCE desktop env. which is quite good in a sense, but a newbie might find it a little difficult.

Ubuntu 9.10 is impressive. It might be a little slow in terms of response times but fair enough.

FilledVoid · 26-01-2010, 02:56 PM

I know this is kind of an old thread but in case it doesn;t work and if your computer resources permit I suggest giving Sabayon 5.0 Live DVD try. It comes with the KDE , Gnome and Home Theatre Build I believe. At the moment Im using it on an Internet CXafe computer and Im quite amazed that it found every single piece of hardware on both this system and my Hp Pavilion dv6125 (not sure about Web cam didnt test it). At the moment I have 3 Nautilus Windows open. Firefox with 4 tabs, XChat and its using about 530 MB of RAM. It seems to be friendly enough but definitely I would try the Live DVD first and see if you can use it all. I haven't installed it on my system yet though.

**ico** · 26-01-2010, 03:04 PM

Sabayon 5 is buggy IMO.

sakumar79 · 26-01-2010, 05:33 PM

As mentioned by some, I was having some difficulties configuring XUbuntu...While I have some experience with Linux (limited) and am very comfortable with computers in general, the actual user was to be a non-tech person, so I decided to ditch it... I tried out Linux Mint Helena and found it much easier to use... So, I installed it and have given it in dual boot with XP... So far I havent heard back from him regarding problems, so either (a) he has not faced any problems so far, or (b) he found it difficult and stuck to XP... Will check with him later...

Arun

Cool G5 · 26-01-2010, 09:15 PM

Sabayon 5 is much better than Sabayon 4.2.

@FilledVoid - Which CPU does your system have?

FilledVoid · 26-01-2010, 09:33 PM

The above screen shot was from a Sempron . but thats all I know about it I don't recall the exact speed. As far as bugginess is concerned I must be luck then since I have not yet experienced a single problem.

Cool G5 · 26-01-2010, 10:20 PM

@FilledVoid - I have tried Sabayon at a friend's place via Live CD. I too didn't find any bugs. The 4.2 version was buggier & even threw unsupported hardware for the AMD Phenom II X2 550B.E processor of my friend. But the latest 5n is really good. Fast & works as it should. Sabayon is really a good distro but I never thought of installing it onto older PC's. Maybe your ram is helping you. My 512MB DDR RAM machine will definitely get bogged down.

rahul941400 · 02-02-2010, 10:47 PM

yep linux mint shall work fine for you... or u can go for an old distro of ubuntu.!

hellknight · 05-02-2010, 02:07 AM

How about PC-BSD.. ??

aashish.joshi · 28-02-2010, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rahul941400

yep linux mint shall work fine for you... or u can go for an old distro of ubuntu.!

+1 for using an older version of ubuntu, maybe 8.04 as it is a LTS version. so you get some updates if you have a decent internet connection..

Ecko · 28-02-2010, 01:16 PM

Ubuntu or Xubuntu both are gud and will work fyn
Just dont try to customize dem wid compiz

**MetalheadGautham** · 28-02-2010, 03:05 PM

Instead of Xubuntu think of PCLinuxOS 2009.4 "Phoenix". It runs an attractive looking Xfce desktop. Just install and add more apps to it later.

sakumar79 · 28-02-2010, 03:51 PM

As already informed in post #13, I have installed Linux Mint with XP dual boot... I visited him last weekend... He has used Mint for some time... He had a few doubts like working with cds, pendrive, etc... which I helped out... He is now having skype and pidgin (for yahoo messenger)... He wants to use webcam... It is a Indian brand named Smart Infocomm... A look at their website indicate they have only Windows drivers... Any idea how to get it working in Linux?

Arun

mrbean · 01-03-2010, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sakumar79

Hi all,
My uncle has a reasonably old system (1.4GHz P4 CPU with 768MB RAM, 80+40GB HDD). He is a non-technical person and is currently using XP Pro. He frequently gets virus problems... So, I am suggesting to him to install Linux side-by-side and try it out... He has agreed to check it out... His main needs are browsing, chatting (skype, yahoo), office work (OOo), and listening to music/watching movies...
I want to setup a distro which should be reasonably easy to use and be light-weight... I dont think Ubuntu will run very smoothly, hence I want some other distro...Will Fedora LXDE fit the bill? Does it have OOo pre-installed? What other distro would you recommend?

Arun

you system is not old because it is P4 not P3. so please continue with the XP. if he gets virus problem use antivirus cracked. How you know in linux you will not have virus problem. linux will be confusing for him and he will not like it. many packages will not work in linux so better to continue with xp.

aashish.joshi · 01-03-2010, 12:10 PM

you can try Cheese for webcams..i use it with my notebook webcam, works flawlessly!!

sakumar79 · 01-03-2010, 03:23 PM

@aashish, can you give details how to install it and how to get it to work with Skype?

Thanks in advance
Arun

Cool G5 · 01-03-2010, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sakumar79

@aashish, can you give details how to install it and how to get it to work with Skype?

Thanks in advance
Arun

Use the following to install Cheese under Ubuntu.

Unfortunately many people seem to have issues using Skype under Cheese under Ubuntu.

prashanthnbhat · 02-03-2010, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrbean

you system is not old because it is P4 not P3. so please continue with the XP. if he gets virus problem use antivirus cracked. How you know in linux you will not have virus problem. linux will be confusing for him and he will not like it. many packages will not work in linux so better to continue with xp.

Don't suggest piracy or any other illegal measures. Also do your research when you reply. I have been using linux for 4 years now, I visit all kinds of websites, I haven't heard of virus in Linux systems. Also, for a non tech user, most of the stuff can be easily done in Linux. Its only games and specialised apps like Photoshop that won't run under linux perfectly

Rahim · 02-03-2010, 09:43 PM

@ashish: Thanks for the app. I have just installed Mint 8 on my freind's laptop and most of the hardware works pretty well, (even Reliance Netconnect albeit through wvdial and not Reliance Profile built in), but when I press webcam key on the top, nothing happens. SO would try this Cheese this weekend and get back if it works.

Bit off topic, he has a wireless bluetooth headset which works with his Nokia but Mint cant seem to find and pair it.(though the mobile can be paired with Mint).

---------- Post added at 09:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:38 PM ----------

As for sticking with XP, doesn't XP require a learning curve? I have seen new users who panic when they accidentally hide/delete their quick launch bar. They shout my "Internet" is deleted

considering "e" as internet.

Linux can be what you want it to be.

Everything does have its learning phase, even riding a bicycle needs practice.

Cool G5 · 02-03-2010, 10:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by a_rahim

As for sticking with XP, doesn't XP require a learning curve? I have seen new users who panic when they accidentally hide/delete their quick launch bar. They shout my "Internet" is deleted

considering "e" as internet.

Linux can be what you want it to be.

Everything does have its learning phase, even riding a bicycle needs practice.

LOL
Agree

+Infinity