Ubuntu or XP Pro?

I've got Ubuntu on a dual-core Sony laptop with 1GB RAM, and it's fine. On the other hand, my old Pentium3 laptop wouldn't install the same Ubuntu edition - something about the disk format I think, so I've got it running Linux Mint Fluxbox (Flux is just another desktop manager), and it seems happy. I've also looked at Puppy and Damn Small Linux - very impressive what they squeeze into about 100MB!

cheers, Jon.

Perhaps give the light-weight spin-off "Lubuntu" a go (http://lubuntu.net/). It's based around the relatively new LXDE Desktop Environment. I've not tried it yet, but it's supposed to run well on slightly older hardware, and you'll still be running the latest *buntu release.

Hope that helps.

Graham

Ubuntu uses less than 350 MB of RAM, and no Windows can do that ;-)

You should ask yourself what software you need to day-by-day work, fun, etc., and if you are up to experience something that it's NOT a "free windows", it's a whole different system!!, with a lot of pros (freedom, hundreds of open-source and free packages for everything you may want, no spyware, no checking every corner of your system for "un-legitimate" versions of the OS or the office package, etc.) and maybe some cons (you may not find the "very exactly" substitute for some very specific program you were using in windows; maybe some professional software or games you have already purchased won't run as good as in windows inside Linux... even though Wine is quite good!; some sites are optimized for other explorer :-( etc.).

My suggestion based on my experience: go to GNU/Linux! Choose your distribution based on your taste (experience it! there are free boot-CDs for almost every Linux distro and you can download a few, 2 or 3, try them and choose freely and for-free :-D !). Then, for the things you really do not have an optimal choice, or one that make you comfortable, install a (non-pirate!) version of Windows inside a Virtual Machine (using VirtualBox, VMWare, etc.) and use it for the exceptional software you may need. I think for the rest of the day (work AND fun), you can live comfortably in Linux.

I have been using M$Windows since the 80's (Win 3.1) until now (Win7 64 bits), and for the past 5 years I have been playing in the shore of GNU/Linux, using it partially, getting to know it's logic, etc. Now my machine has a full 500 GB HD with only Poseidon Linux 64 bits (based on Ubuntu LTS) and I am perfectly fine. From OpenOffice to Gimp, from Firefox to Amarok and Media Player, I use it all day and are enjoying a SO that uses less RAM, updates everything (not only the SO and the office!) when needed, do not crash and I don't have to pay it.

Good luck!

Stick to XP, Linux or Ubuntu is not for you yet.

HI,

I'll add my contribution and encourage you to move toward the switch.

I agree with several of the points others have raised and I would say, first, get used to the software by running it on your Windows platform. When you're happy that you can use ALL the software you require and that the software is ALL available to run on a Linux platform then prepare for the move.

I think the hardware is a little old for new distributions but xubuntu8.04 should run well and continues to be supported. With newer hardware I have had no problems with 10.04, which runs better than 9.10 for me, but I enjoy DSL and very small footprint distributions on my older kit.

I use 8.04 extensively in the work's server installations, some of which are the same sort of spec as your hardware though, of course, I'm not running the desktop environments.

Good luck! Derek

Ubuntu 10.04 is way ahead of xp sp3....buddy,plz try ubuntu as it wil run fine on ur pc....i am having a similar config..

Ubuntu 10.04 rockzz

One more point.

You mentioned you don't like needing to use the command line.

I found that you can do most things without resorting to the command line.

However, it is much easier to give advice to someone by copying the commands he needs to use at the command line than by telling what buttons to click on and when.

The command line is a real plus when you need advice.

The person who knows the answer does not need to give you a lot of contextual descriptive information, telling you what to click and when, they can give you a quick definitive answer, in the form of one or more command lines.

Because of that, you get the answer. They have the time.

You may need to type a few things in, but your problem is solved quickly because the steps are clear and hard to misinterpret. The command line is usually the best way to give and get advice.

Thanks Pierre for your excellent answer. You make a lot of sense. I was tring 10.04 on my Mac using Vmware Fusion. Works fine. I had a problem when I pressed comnand - f2 or something close to this. I ended up with a black screen that prompted me to log in. Where was I and how do I get back to my desktop?

If you really want to try Ubuntu as opposed to any other Linux distribution, I'd suggest you install Wubi. The reason is, you don't need to partition your drive - the whole linux install lives in a file on your Windows partition. It allows you to test drive Ubuntu at faster than VM speed without messing with anything, because Wubi installs and uninstalls just like any other Windows application.

However, you said you're a Windows user. Now, if that means that you're planning on using KDE as your desktop of choice, here's some advice that will save you heaps of time and effort tweaking things to behave right in Ubuntu - use OpenSuse 11.2 instead. Its a KDE desktop and even Firefox has been themed to look like it just fits in. You can access any of the system config options from within KDE. If you're going the GNOME route, Ubuntu is what you want.

I'd say that you could make a dual-boot, but the size of your hard drive make me advice against that. 80 GB is not much these days, even with only XP Pro installed.

Your hardware seem to be okay for a clean install of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, but don't expect the graphical effects to blast of at lightning speed, (depends on the size of your graphics card).

If you deactivate Compiz Fusion your experience with Ubuntu, and the GNOME desktop would be great. After all Ubuntu 10.04 LTS is optimized for the very small Net-book computers so your hardware is sufficient to run most programs even better than they would run on Win XP Pro.

If you're fairly new on Linux I'd also advice against installing Debian 5.0 Lenny. Things are a tad to hard for newbies to grasp quickly. Instead I'd suggest you try out: Fedora, based on Red Hat, Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, Simply Mepis (newest version), Easy Peachy and distros like that. Don't jump onto the rocket science just yet. Some distros are unforgiving in case you make an error. If you enter a command, either by mouse or keyboard, things WILL be done with out asking further questions. Can get quite irritating if you delete the wrong file or directory.