Best Linux distro for laptop and general Linux Noob?

[BlueWeasel]

Yeah, I know this question gets asked over and over, but it seems as though I'm having a hard time getting a definative answer. Also, I know there is no such thing as the *BEST* distro, but I'm looking for a little guidance.

I've got a Celeron 1.5Ghz laptop with 512mb RAM and a 16mb S3 video card. The laptop rarely gets used so I think I may wipe XP completely off of it and use it as a Linux testbed. I'm in the process of trying out some of the Live CD distros and have played around with Knoppix and Puppy Linux (downloading Gnoppix and Damn Small Linux right now). However, I've found I don't really like the KDE desktop of Knoppix but I like how INSERT looks (but I don't know the interface). I just booted off a Puppy Linux CD and I like what I've seen so far of it.

I keep hearing that Mandrake is the best way to go for newbies, but I've heard that Fedora is worth checking out. I certainly need a distro that's suited for N00bs, but I want to learn something in the process. Is Mandrake the best choice? What about Fedora?

 

[demon42]

Go gentoo!
Okay, so it's not "best for noobs" per se. But the thing is their installation manual is extremely well detailed, and installing is NOT all automated(a good thing, I say). So you get you get alot more experienced while installing than you would with something like fedora, a better feel for working around within linux, and also the install is optomized for your system.

So I say dive in head first with Gentoo

 

[Crusty]

Stay clear of Mandrake, Fedora is the best choice for someone that has never had any experience with Linux IMO.

 

[bersl2]

Either one is good. Fedora tends to be a more experimental distro, but other than that, as long as you have basic knowledge about how computers work, it's a coin flip.
http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/ftp.php3
http://torrent.dulug.duke.edu/

Note: I've not had personal experience with either one of these.

 

[BlueWeasel]

OK, looks like I'm gonna start with the Fedora core. I really like what I've seen so far of Gnoppix and Damn Small Linux (especially Gnome).

I know this is likely a stupid question, but what interface does Fedora use? KDE? Gnome?

 

[drag]

You can use either, but Gnome is going to be default and is the best supported under Fedora.

 

[phisrow]

Give Ubuntu a look (http://www.ubuntulinux.org/). All the advantages of Debian(be sure to enable the Debian apt sources in Synaptics) along with very easy installation and a fully modern 2.6 kernel and Gnome desktop. Your mileage may vary; but I've really grown to love the Apt repository system.

 

[DarkKnight]

i like suse, YAST is an awesome program where you can install ur rpms and even get nvidia drivers

 

[KoolDrew]

I agree MCrusty. Stay away from Mandrake. I would try Ubuntu or Fedora. Ubuntu is based off of Debian which is probally considered the best by many on this board. IT gives you a lot of the great feutures of Debian, but is much easier to install if you are new to Linux.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Yeah, I played around with Gnoppix last night, which is based on Ubuntu. So far, I've got the latest builds for Fedora3 and Unbuntu burned on a CD....now just to decide which one.

Also, I'm having a hard time finding minimum specifications for both distros....I would assume they'd both run fine on 1.5Ghz Celeron laptop?

 

[KoolDrew]

Yes they would run fine.

 

[BlueWeasel]

I've installed Ubuntu and everything went without a hitch. I think I'll give Fedora a try just for kicks.

Any other recommendations?

 

[phisrow]

If you want to give a portage based distro a go, Vidalinux (http://desktop.vidalinux.com/) is to Gentoo as Ubuntu is to Debian. In my experience, Vidalinux isn't as polished, and a bit more broken out of box; but it is the easiest way to a functioning Gentoo system that I know of(that said, I'm running Ubuntu right now).

 

[Nothinman]

Ubuntu would be much better over all because it includes a lot more software, once you enable universe and multiverse you get instant access to almost everything that's currently in Debian sid and sid currently contains over 16,000 packages. You won't get anywhere near that with another distribution and Fedora tends to go downhill really quickly after you put in some 3rd party repositories.

 

[REMF]

SUSE 9.2 has all the ACPI and wireless support a laptop user could need, and it is very user friendly.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Well, I tried Ubuntu first and Fedora. Granted, they are essentially the same (to me at least...a Linux N00b).

I found it odd that Fedora let me run the laptop (S3 Savage video card) at a higher color depth and it looked much better than Ubuntu. Ubuntu would only work at 1024x768 with a refresh rate of 60Hz, with a lower color depth, and just didn't look as good as Fedora.

How do I go about tracking down a newer, better driver for my S3 Savage video card for Ubuntu?

 

[xxichibanxx]

i had Gentoo running on my IBM T22 just fine.

 

[Nothinman]

I found it odd that Fedora let me run the laptop (S3 Savage video card) at a higher color depth and it looked much better than Ubuntu. Ubuntu would only work at 1024x768 with a refresh rate of 60Hz, with a lower color depth, and just didn't look as good as Fedora.

Unless your laptop has a CRT on it, the refresh rate is irrelevant.

 

[calyco]

Ive tried Fedora, for a laptop user go with Suse instead. Power management works out of the box once you enable acpi.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: xxichibanxx
i had Gentoo running on my IBM T22 just fine.

It's running on my laptop great too. Actually most of that power management and especially the wireless work better in gentoo than in XP...

 

[codemills]

i will be pimping http://slax.org

 

[Kevin]

I tried installing Ubuntu on an old Thinkpad (600X) and I couldn't get the damn thing to work. Installation is succesful and I'm greeted with the welcome screen, but after that, nothing will load. All I get is a brown screen and a mouse cursor. I've successfully installed Fedora 3 and VectorLinux so it angers/disappoints me I can't get Ubuntu to work. Vector was good but for the life I me I couldn't get it to automatically connect to my wireless network. Fedora works ok, and will probably be my failsafe if I can't get Ubuntu to work, but to me (opposite of a guru) Fedora seems somewhat stripped. The lack of a stock MP3 plugin bothers me (even though I easily installed one on my own) and the graphics didn't seem as nice as they were in Vector.

 

[andyhrn]

SimplyMEPIS. Install in one click.Detects hardware configuration w/o problem. I tested "SM" on Compaq notebook and two Pentium desktops(old one and new).
http://www.mepis.com/

 

[AmigaMan]

Another vote (well it would be if you had a poll) for Ubuntu. I just went through all of this as a former Linux noob/windows user. On my Inspiron 9200, I tried Suse 9.1 (nice but video card and LCD wasn't detected properly limiting me to 800x600 and KDE is ugly when I finally got it working), then FC3 (couldn't get it to work with my wireless and didn't come with a whole lot preinstalled), and finally Ubuntu which worked exactly like I wanted it to right out of the box/cd/net/whatever.
I like Gnome more than KDE and Ubuntu has apt which makes installing/updating things easier, although I never gave YAST a fair shake. Since Ubuntu worked so well at first go, it will go a long way towards making me switch from XP (except for games). It happened the same way with IE and Firefox. When Firefox matured, I switched when it became as easy to use as IE. Granted, it's only a browser but the concept is the same.

 

[Granorense]

You should try Xandros, I have used Mandrake, Red Hat, Fedora and now Xandros and I have to say I am impressed. It's based on Debian, one of the best kernels and it is definitely noob proof. It got a customized OpenOffice which is very nice.
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