Please help me choose a distro

[Morla Phlint]

Hello!

I have been away from Planeshift for quite a while and now I want to return. However I have to start from scratch now. I mean I'm waiting for my brand-new notebook to be delivered to me in the next days and then I want to install Linux on it. Yeah  I have finally decided to get rid of Windows  !
So my question actually is what Linux distro to choose? I haven't tried Linux before. The laptop I have chosen is HP 6715s(it comes with Free-DOS) (I don't have enough money at the moment in order to buy a better one, just a poor student  ) and I want to get the best out of that notebook in order to be able to play Planeshift.

What do you say? Which one to choose?

greetings
morla

[evil scotsman]

If as you say you haven't tried linux before, then i'd probably have to recommend one of the Ubuntu flavours, easy enough to set up, pretty easy to install standard software. There are always plenty of alternative distros, and each has it's own particular strengths and weaknesses, Ubuntu, ( and Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc), has a decent balance of features, designed with new users in mind, it's not what I use, but it's what i recommend for a first-time user.

However as with everything linux there are a few major differences to get to grips with, it can be a steep learning curve at first, i'd prehaps suggest a dual boot configuration, as that way you can still access a familiar OS until you are ready to move to linux full time.

As it's a laptop you may find some issues with graphics drivers, however the forums here are pretty good if you know your graphics chipset   

[Morla Phlint]

Thank you for the fast reply, evil scotsman!

I was thinking whether I should choose Ubuntu (&co) or OpenSuse for example... I have read they are beginner-friendly but what are actually the differences and especually the pluses and minuses?

Which distro are you using by the way?

I think I'll accept the challenge and do it without dual boot. I'm mad enough for it 
I don't have a Windows copy here and don't have the slightest willingness to buy it. So when I have said I turn my back at Windows, I won't go back. I have postponed this enough and I really enjoy leaving the cheeky Microsoft. Even if I would have a bit problems with Linux later 

greetings
morla

[sanxx]

 

Morla................I miss you.......please hurry back...........love  Sanxx

[miadon]

use this page to help you:

http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/

[Elvicat]

you could always try freespire to, it's very easy to get into if your mostly used to windows like me i almost emidietly found stuff that i needed to use tho... i hav't yet used version 2.03 as for some odd reason it refuses to run on the computer i have the older version 1.0.13 on heh

[Morla Phlint]

Thank you!

@miadon I know the site and have used it for first orientation. It's really very good. But I want also to know which distro Planeshift runs well on.

@Elvi Thanks, I'll think/read about it a bit more 

greetings
morla

[Why Not?]

Hi,

Breifly, the ubuntu(kubuntu for a windows like environment, but that doesn't matter) is a good choice for start.
I suggest you, if you want to get more comfortable to read about linux system itself (some basis like changing dir etc)

Why Ubuntu:
- Realy stable distro
- Easy up to date and well maintened.
- A good user community (check out the ubuntu forum, i guess all your problems, if you have some, will be already listed)

Now, on my personnal comp i just have some "troubles" with ATI drivers (it's just a matter of choice in fact, no game but a fancy display: Beryl).

Note: I have no share in the Ubuntu project, neither on linux.

Note(bis): I suggest you also making at list a dedicated partition for /home dir and maybe for /usr
And install the game in /usr/local/game if it exist, and if you share your comp, or in your home dir

Regards.

[Morla Phlint]

Thank you!

Now the question is Kubuntu or Freespire?  I just can't wait for my laptop to start testing.
I think the Linux-client will be ready for downloading by then so I will have the new Planeshift as well

greetings
morla

[Araye]

Go for OpenSuse 10.3.  It is BY FAR the best SuSE distro to date.  All of the problems I've had in the past have been fixed.  It is blazing fast compared to other installs I've tried.  Now I have never tried gentoo or slack so I can't say it is the fastest.  OpenOffice opens as soon as you press the button.  Press and BAM, there it is.     The only problem I had with the install was the ati driver (I also have a box with an nvidia card which had no problems).  It tries to install the latest ati driver (which is only for HD cards) and of course that won't work (unless you have an HD card).  A quick google search will reveal the howto fix the driver issue.  Everything else, installed out of the box, including the biometric scanner.

There are two cds to download now (only one is needed) and the rest is installed via the online repositories.  The updater is extremely quick (compared to previous releases) but not nearly as quick as the updater in ubuntu (which is insanely awesome).

Ubuntu, Kunbuntu would be my second choice.

Araye

Here is my lspci so you know the hardware I have installed.

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M52 [Mobility Radeon X1300]
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82573L Gigabit Ethernet Controller
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)
15:00.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1510 PC card Cardbus Controller

[Dihenis]

i vote for (k)ubuntu. APT is a great installer/whatever and the new release will make it much easier to work with X.

if you are going to use ubuntu, you could wait a few more days when gutsy 7.10 officially comes out, so then you can download it, or order a cd (takes 6-10 weeks, but is free)

[evil scotsman]

Actually I use Zenwalk mostly, a slackware based distro I first discovered when I was hunting for one that was small, fast, and worked with my wi-fi card, zenwalk worked with minimum fuss, so i stayed with it, it isn't the most beginner friendly distro, but I know it well enough now, but I can't honestly recommend it for everyone

[TheBlunderbuss]

My first distro was Mepis.  Laptop and wireless support is second to none.
I now use Sidux since , at the time, Mepis went to an Ubuntu-base and I had compiling issues.

You can use Distrowatch to check out other distros.

[bilbous]

One decision you need to make apart from the distribution you are going to use is which desktop you will be more comfortable with. You can choose a GNOME desktop or a KDE desktop or an also-ran such as XFCE, Fluxbox or whatnot. The two most widely used are Gnome and KDE, the others tend to have a lighter load on your resources and less features. Ubuntu has a Gnome desktop and Kubuntu is the same distribution with a KDE desktop. You can run applications interchangeably but issues can crop up. I prefer KDE, Gnome hides too much of the configuration in XML files for my liking, or so it seems to me anyway.

As far as ease of installation and use goes, all the majors have their own quirks as well as their own package management systems. SuSE has Yast, Mandriva has Urpmi, Fedora has Yum, all using RPM packages generally, Ubuntu has Aptitude or Synaptic using DEB packages. Those are the GUI package managers, there are command line ones and some of these can be used on the command line as well. Actually I do not think Yum is graphical, Fedora has a script that uses Yum in the background, I usually use the command line with yum.

I tend to like Mandriva although currently I am in windows and Fedora is my most completely configured linux on this machine. I have a Mandriva on it too but am using the Fedora as it was what I had on hand when my hard drive died. It got configured (mail and newsgroups mostly)first and I did not really feel like duplicating the effort when I installed the latest Mandriva. I think I have an orphan Slackware partition on one of my drives too.

[Mordraugion]

I would suggest opensuse 10.3 too if you check these forums a lot of people have had issues running ps with Ubuntu