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I'm considering installing Linux on my home PC, which is essentially my wife's PC. She really only uses for Web Browsing, Email (via a Web Interface), for our family photos (Picasa is what she currently uses). If I were to get her on the Linux Bandwagon, what distribution do you recommend? We have Athlon Dual Core machine with 6 gigs of RAM and a 500 MB hard drive. I'm currently leaning towards the following:
I've heard StudioUbuntu is good as well which may be the logical course based on her current use.
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Personally I would recommend Linux Mint. You literally have to do nothing, just install it and you have everything the basic user would need. No searching around for codecs, flash or any of that stuff. Just a nice stable OS with a good range of basic software. I have read several people comment on the fact a clean install of Mint is like like having an Ubuntu installation you have spent a couple of weeks with. You can find it here.
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I would strongly recommend Linux Mint 9 (standard Gnome edition), however, PCLinuxOS is also a great choice. Both these two distros are ready to go. I advise against Fedora while Mint is really a more ready to go version of Ubuntu with features such as mp3 & flash playback already installed. Mint has all the advantages of Ubuntu being fully compatible but done of the disadvantages - the green (minty) desktop is easily changed if this is not to your liking. PCLinuxOs is particularly nice although I give Mint the edge but I admit this is purely my choice and I am happy to accept those who'd recommend PCLinuxOS over Mint. Try both! Mandriva is recommended by some but I give PCLinuxOs my vote ahead. I am surprised you narrowed down to Fedora - advise avoid.
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Run away and be careful of even looking at RPM-based distros they are not for normal users I tried to use openSUSE it is very difficult compared with Ubuntu and Kubuntu. They are very easy and you get support in less than an hour.
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PCLinuxOS, Mandriva, OpenSuSe, Mint BTW Picasa works in Linux. Picasa does not require wine to be installed, it is built in. You can use the Google repository to install, Chrome,Picasa 3.0 and Google-Desktop. There are two repositories 'stable' and 'testing'. http://www.google.com/linuxrepositories/index.html
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I'm not overly crazy about installing wine just for Picasa but will consider it.
(19 Jul '10, 19:16)
Andy
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Hi, Andy, also take a look at the Linux distribution flow chart. :) http://www.ghacks.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/choosing_linux.jpg PCLinuxOS and Mandriva are also good choices.
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Great Link and Flowchart!
(19 Jul '10, 19:17)
Andy
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The North Texas Linux Users Group has an installation project that meets every month. If a LUG near you has something similar, take your computer to them and let them install the Linux they prefer. They'll also update the software of your choice to the latest versions and check the installation. Regards, Bill Drissel
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Studio is good, but not ideal for this particular case. Linux Mint is the way to go.
In the end, decided to go with Linux Mint.