Do You Prefer Modern Or Traditional Linux Desktop Environments?

Somebody I have been conversing with for a while now asked me a very interesting question the other day and rather than answer it directly I thought it would be good to gauge the opinions of the Everyday Linux User readers.

Recently I have written a few articles about Debian and one of those articles suggested ways to improve some peripheral things about it such as the website and the installer.

I have become an advocate of GNOME recently and as such I have obviously mentioned this.

One of the comments that I received stated that because I liked GNOME I am therefore one of those people that needs things dumbed down.

This got me thinking. Is making something easier to use necessarily the same as dumbing down and indeed is there anything wrong with dumbing down if that makes something easier to use?

Whenever you look at technical videos online (and they don't have to be about Linux) you will quite often see Unity being used as the desktop environment.

Chris from the Linux Action Show uses Arch but quite often when you see demonstrations from one of their videos you will again see Unity being used.

The point is, do they use Unity because they need something dumbed down or do they use it because it is actually convenient and easy to use when you really just need to get a job done?

I think the beauty of desktop environments such as Unity, GNOME and for non-Linux users OSX and Windows 8.1 is that they are very intuitive and easy to use and they keep out of your way.

The keyboard shortcuts are definitely a good thing and the ability to search for applications, documents, audio files and videos with just a few key clicks is just great.

I think that the people who don't like the Unity and GNOME style interface fall into one of two categories.

The first category would be the people who like things to be the way they have always been. These people would appreciate Cinnamon, KDE and MATE.

The second category would say that the reason they don't like Unity and GNOME is that the developers have assumed the users want the desktop to work in a particular way but there is no way to change it if the user wants it to work in an alternative way.

To be honest I am not adverse to tinkering with a desktop environment and so I really like XFCE, LXDE and more recently Enlightenment. When it comes down to it though if I really need to get something done in a hurry I would turn to a machine with GNOME or Unity on it first.

So what kind of Linux desktop environments do you prefer?

Do you prefer the modern desktop environments with maybe less flexibility but perhaps better desktop integration and slightly more intuitive or do you like things more traditional with menus and panels? Maybe you don't care so long as you can make it the way you want it. Let me know in the comments below.

Thankyou for reading

28 comments

Posted at 22:19 |  by Gary Newell

Why Linux Web Hosting Is Good For Bloggers And Entrepreneurs

I have been writing this blog since 2012 and I have been asked a number of times by other bloggers why I still use Google's Blogger service as opposed to a hosted Wordpress site.

The truth is that I still very much see Everyday Linux User as a hobby. It isn't a job and I am not actively trying to make money by doing it. I find the Blogger interface easy to use and the spam filters work quite well. I tried using Wordpress a while back and it became quickly apparent that with more power came more responsibility as I spent more time trying to keep Wordpress from being bombed by spammers than actually writing.

People more serious about their work use Wordpress because it supposedly has 1000s of plugins and is far more powerful than the Blogger style interface provided by Google.

Whilst web sites are built on technologies such as HTML, CSS, PHP, AJAX and .NET, most bloggers and small business owners don't really care because with the adoption of site builders and blogging platforms you don't need to have any coding experience to create a website.

Obviously big companies still use web developers and software developers to create bespoke websites and software but your average hairdressers and driving instructors are quite happy with a point and click template builder where they can set up a logo, add a few images and accompany the images with text about their business.

People wanting to sell products can use off the shelf shopping carts and there are loads of add-ons for creating polls, charts, chat rooms and photo galleries.

Everyday Linux User wasn't my first foray into doing stuff on the web. I had a web site about 10 years ago called "Easy Web Page Design". I won't post the link because I can't guarantee the content that is on there anymore but you can still find it on the wayback machine.

 The point of "Easy Web Page Design" was to teach HTML, CSS and JavaScript to ordinary people in the same way that Everyday Linux User is about promoting and teaching Linux to the average computer user who doesn't necessarily come from an IT background.

The site Easy Web Page Design did really well for a while especially when MySpace became a big thing and everybody wanted to learn how to customise their MySpace profiles.

You can still find some of the tools and scripts that I gave away for free at hotscripts.com. For instance there was the JS Menu Maker which was used to generate CSS sliding menus. Remember there was no JQuery at the time. Obviously I wouldn't recommend using any of the tools I created back then now because time has moved on and things change.

At the time that I created Easy Web Page Design I used Linux web hosting for various reasons and the main one was of course price. Other reasons included the support for PHP and MySQL which generally wasn't provided with web hosts selling Windows hosting.

The cost of Windows hosting back then was extremely prohibitive because not only did you have to pay for the cost of hosting but the database options were very limited. In many cases you had to use Microsoft Access unless you could afford to pay for Microsoft SQL Server hosting.

If you want to get a website up and running very quickly and you just need to use a shared web host (which is basically a virtual server running 100s or sometimes 1000s of websites on it) with a site builder or Wordpress pre-installed then there are literally hundreds or maybe even thousands of web hosts available.

There are loads of adverts on television and on the web for sites such as Godaddy, Host Gator and 1-and-1 hosting where they show point and click web site creation at incredibly low prices and quite often they will throw in a free domain name.

What is clear is that each of these web hosts prefer to sell Linux based web hosting. I looked at http://www.top10bestwebsitehosting.com/ which is a web hosting comparison site and clicked on each of the links.

Most of the hosts don't even bother telling you it is Linux hosting they are selling and very few offer Windows hosting at all and if they do you get a lot less for your money.

For web hosts, Linux is heaven. They provide a bit of disk space and bandwidth and the rest of the tools that they provide are available to them for nothing, yet make them look like they are giving you everything.


For instance web.com boast that their hosting gives you PERL, Python, PHP, MySQL, Wordpress, Ruby On Rails, Drupal and Joomla. (Wow, do people still use Joomla? I remember creating sites for Dressage Scotland and British Riding Clubs using Joomla over 10 years ago). What price do web.com offer for this service? Less than $1 a month.

Linux makes it possible for small businesses, entrepreneurs and bloggers to take a punt on a domain name and cheap hosting. Basically if you have an idea you can test it first using one of the cheap web hosts first and if it takes off scale up to dedicated servers.

Obviously there is an issue that many of the cheap web hosts offer the world's best service at the world's lowest price yet many fail to deliver. In addition because web hosting is so cheap scammers can quickly spin up a dodgy shop front and steal from thousands of people and shut the site down again before anyone has noticed.

The only real solution to this is to use comparison sites for comparing prices and user reviews and to search for bad reviews of the companies listed, using Google or on Youtube. When people have had a bad experience they aren't frightened to let the world know.

Thankyou for reading

2 comments

Posted at 23:47 |  by Gary Newell

Is Linux A Labour Of Love?

A lot has been made this week about a blog post which appeared on the Elementary OS website discussing the monetisation of the project.

If you visit the Elementary OS website there is a box with the value of $10 already filled in and a download button.

Underneath the download button there is a link which lets you download the distribution for free.

The blog post on the Elementary OS website states that the current download options are changing and there will be more encouragement aimed at getting users to part with their money.

We want users to understand that paying for software is important and not paying for it is an active choice. We didn’t exclude a $0 button to deceive you; we believe our software really is worth something. And it’s not an attempt to get rich quick; currently the only people who have received money for working on elementary OS have been community members through our bounty program. 

It’s about asking a fair price to offset the costs of development. It’s about securing the future of elementary OS to ensure we can keep making software that millions of people love and use every day.

Elementary isn't the first Linux based operation to complain that they aren't making money. I remember reading an article about a Linux blogger who stated that he either needed to start getting donations or he would have to close the blog down. (Click here for the article)

This article by Bruce Byfield on DataMation looks at the difficulties games publishers face when developing for Linux. (Click here for the article)

Then there is Ubuntu. Now the article I am linking to here is from 2013 but it states clearly that Ubuntu is still not making money despite being around for a decade. (Click here for the article).

So the question is, can you really make money from Desktop Linux? If Ubuntu doesn't make a profit how can others achieve success. Does it even matter? Is Linux just a labour of love?

Clearly sooner or later Ubuntu needs to make money. Canonical are a company and so either Ubuntu works as a loss leader in order to make Canonical money in other ways or it generates profit for itself. If neither of these things happen then it will all come crashing down.

The key for me though is in the last paragraph. You don't need the distribution itself to make money in order to make money for the company. It is all about generating income from more than one revenue stream and that is what this article is about.

If Mark Shuttleworth didn't believe he was going to make money at some point he would have stopped already.

Over the years a number of avenues have been attempted to increase the income for Ubuntu including Amazon adverts within the Unity desktop interface, the Ubuntu One music store and now the Ubuntu phone.

Some distributions use a default landing page within the web browser installed with the distribution which include a set of affiliate links or a search tool which generates income for every search made.

The trouble with the Elementary OS stance is that you are asking people to spend money for something that 100 other distributions offer for free. I appreciate that a huge amount of effort has gone into the look and feel of Elementary but an equal amount of effort will have been put into Cinnamon for Linux Mint or Enlightenment for Bodhi Linux.

Effort doesn't always translate into cold hard cash. I can state that as a fact based on the amount of money this site makes.

Now this site is clearly a labour of love. I am a software developer and SQL DBA by trade and the hourly rate returned by writing on this blog is miniscule by comparison.

The site does return an income each and every month however and from a number of different revenue streams.

For instance, you will have seen the adverts at the top of the page and down the right side of the page. Google Ads are a great way to make enough money to pay for hosting fees (and a few pints of beer). Every time somebody clicks on an advert this site makes a little bit of money.

There are also a number of affiliate links used within the site. I use Amazon adverts to link to items users might need such as .

I have tried a number of ways to increase the income. I even tried writing a book and to be fair I have had a little bit of success with it. It has sold about 100 copies thus far. Not everything works though. My attempt at humour failed spectacularly with  It turns out I'm not half as funny as I like to think I am.

I have written dozens of Linux distribution reviews and within each review I link to a site called  as a resource for buying Linux DVDs and USB drives. I try to only include affiliate links that are useful.

OSDisc.com sell for $5.95. The Elementary OS team are asking for $10 at the moment and hope to generate much more than that with their new site design.

Potential users have the option to download for free, buy a DVD for $5.95 or download from the Elementary OS website and donate more than this.

Jeff Hoogland made a great point on the LXER discussion board:

If they were serious about getting payment out of folks they'd pull an elive and add a step to the installer that requires a "donation", but that would require you know - actual work.

Asking people to donate at the point of download is perhaps a bit counter-intuitive. How do users know that they are going to use the product long term before trying it out first? The only way to try out the product is to download it, try it as a live DVD or USB and then possibly install it from there. Even then many distrohoppers only use a distribution for a short period of time before moving on. It would therefore be more beneficial to add a payment option when actually installing the product or after 30 days of continued use.

The new layout for the payment options made by the Elementary OS team may well actually work to a certain extent.

There is a term used by bloggers called a "Call To Action". The idea is to basically ask the readers of an article to do something such as retweet a link to the page, subscribe to an email list or add a comment. Simply having an email box on the right of the screen isn't enough to attract subscribers and just having social media buttons doesn't mean people will click on them. You have to point them out to people in the first place. More than that though if you want people to sign up to your email list you have to offer to give them something.

How many of you even noticed the email signup box on this site let alone be tempted to enter your email address?

By making it easier to make a donation and harder to get the download for free, the Elementary developers will lose the users who were never going to pay them any money anyway and only get users who are serious about using their product. This might be considered a good thing as it gets rid of the people who aren't real customers.

The main issue with this approach is that you reduce your ability to generate income from other revenue streams. If you have 1,000 users every day downloading your distribution without paying then at the end of the month you could have between 28,000 and 31,000 users who could buy other things that you sell based on your distribution.

If you start charging for the distribution then perhaps 1% of the people that currently download the distribution will now actually pay for it and so you only have between 280 and 310 new people to sell extra products to.

Wouldn't it be better to create extra revenue streams and encourage people to buy extra add-ons or features? You can get $10 out of a few people now or upsell add-ons again and again. It is all about providing extra value.

Android and IOS developers worked this out ages ago. Most casual games found on tablets now include in-game purchases and they work. I am far less likely to buy a game without trying it first than one that lets me play for free but charges me for extra features.

Zorin OS utilises this method to generate income. The core Zorin distribution is free but for features such as the OSX look you have to pay money.

You don't have to make money from the distribution itself to make money. You can make money by selling services such as selling training courses, webinars or technical support.

Sometimes putting effort into one project gets you rewarded in a completely different way altogether. For instance, I might not make much money from this blog and I never started the blog with the intention of making money but by doing so I was asked to write for About.com which does actually pay quite well.

So is Linux a labour of love? I think that there is money to be made but not in the traditional sense of just making a single product and selling it. If distributions are out to generate income then they have to be a bit creative about how they do that. Multiple revenue streams are definitely going to be important.

I think charging for a download may help to generate income in the short term but it will ultimately mean missing out on possible revenue streams later on.

The debate is much like the newspaper paywalls. Would you really pay to read a newspaper online when the BBC provide similar or sometimes better information for free? Therein lies the problem for Elementary.

Thankyou for reading.

4 comments

Posted at 23:15 |  by Gary Newell

Analysis Of The Top 10 Linux Distributions Of 2014

Introduction

Last year I wrote an article called "Analysis Of The Top 10 Linux Operating Systems". 

The premise behind that article was to look at the top 10 distributions of 2013, as listed on Distrowatch, in order to define their suitability for the average computer user.

There was a little bit of confusion with that article because in the comments some people thought it was just a list of my favourite distributions:

"I may be a bit fanboy-ish, but, what about Enlightenment DE?"

"I think Gentoo as well deserves few words in this article. Maybe the most complex user experience, the real hard way...I am not using it, maybe never will, but it is there... "

Another complaint that I received was that I called them the "top 10 Linux Operating Systems". I have therefore changed the title this year to say the "top 10 Linux Distributions".

Just to be clear then, this is a list of the top 10 Linux distributions of 2014 as defined by Distrowatch. The point is to show how suitable the distributions are for the Everyday Linux User.
.

1. Linux Mint

It is quite clear to me why Linux Mint is number one in the list. It is easy to install, provides a very familiar desktop experience and provides access to a massive repository of free software.

Linux Mint takes everything that Ubuntu has to offer and packages it in a non-complicated yet stylish manner.

Everything you need to get you started is ready without having to install codecs, drivers and extra packages.

LibreOffice, GIMP, FireFox, Thunderbird, Banshee and VLC are all included by default and the Mint Installer provides a nicer interface than Ubuntu's Software Centre.

Click here for a full review of Linux Mint 17

or

Click here for a full review of Linux Mint 17.1

2. Ubuntu

If Linux Mint is the most popular distribution on Distrowatch then Ubuntu is the most well known.

Personally I actually prefer Ubuntu to Linux Mint but I can understand why some users prefer Linux Mint.

The Unity Desktop is great when you get used to it but some people prefer the more traditional offering provided by the Cinnamon or MATE desktops.

Ubuntu is easy to install and comes with a fairly complete set of applications installed by default including LibreOffice and Rhythmbox. 

You can install Fluendo during installation in order to play MP3 files or you can install the Ubuntu Restricted Extras package post installation.

Ubuntu runs better on modern hardware so if you have an older computer you might prefer to use one of the other flavours such as Xubuntu, Lubuntu or Ubuntu MATE.

Click here for a full review of Ubuntu

3. Debian

Debian is the Linux distribution that many other distributions are based on. Debian has a huge set of repositories and makes itself easy to build upon.

Last year I suggested that Debian was a next step distribution as it is harder to install and doesn't come with all the features of Ubuntu or Mint.

When I tried Debian a few months ago my opinion changed somewhat. It is still easier to install and use Linux Mint and Ubuntu but if you download and use the minimal Debian ISO you are able to choose everything you want as you go along and there are options for installing a desktop with a base set of applications.

The most confusing thing about Debian is the website. For instance here is a link to the downloads page. Pretend that you are a new user and try to find the correct download image to install Debian.

If you are an average computer user you might want to try either Ubuntu or Mint first and then move to Debian later. 

Click here for a review of Debian.

4. openSUSE

openSUSE is the first distribution in this list that doesn't have any links to Debian. (Other than the fact that they are both Linux distributions).

There are various desktop variations available for openSUSE including Gnome 3 and KDE. 

I tried the KDE version of openSUSE in 2014 and I really liked it. Ubuntu and Mint are in my opinion easier to use but openSUSE is a great alternative.

The KDE desktop provides a level of familiarity for ex-Windows users and the default installation of openSUSE includes LibreOffice, Firefox and Amarok.

Multimedia codecs aren't included by default and you have to connect to an alternative repository in order to install them.

The graphical package installer is called Yast and is a little bit rough and ready compared to the Mint installer and the Ubuntu Software Centre but it is less fussy.

Click here for a full review of openSUSE.

5. Fedora

Fedora is based on Red Hat Linux and has been used as a place to try out new things. This generally means that Fedora is cutting edge with all the latest features but at the same time some things work well and some things don't.

The Anaconda installer has matured and is much easier than on previous versions.

The Gnome desktop is incredibly good and with Wayland included it performs brilliantly.

Getting non-free codecs to install is simply a case of adding the RPMFusion repository although the graphical installer doesn't always seem to return all of the applications available. The command line Yum installer does however.

Click here for my review of Fedora 21.

This review of Fedora 21 by Dedoimedo  states that the installation turned out to be a very difficult task. There were also issues with installing the codecs.

Dedoimedo installed the KDE version and the default applications were Firefox, KMail, Amarok and the Calligra suite.

To get a balanced opinion here is a review of Fedora 21 by Jim Lynch. Jim went for the Gnome desktop environment.

Jim's opinion of the installer is that it is quite good albeit different from the type of installer that many Ubuntu and Mint users will be used to.

The Gnome version of Fedora comes with LibreOffice, Rhythmbox and Firefox.

I think the most important part of either review that Everyday Linux Users should be aware of is in Jim's summing up of Fedora:

Now one question remains: should you use Fedora? You most certainly can use it as your main desktop distribution, but remember that Fedora 21 Workstation is geared toward developers. Casual users can and should check it out, but there are things in it that might have no appeal to non-developers (such as the DevAssistant). If that’s a deal breaker for you then Linux Mint, one of the Ubuntus or some other distribution might be a better option. 

6. Mageia

Mageia is my "Eleanor". For those of you who haven't seen "Gone In 60 Seconds", "Eleanor" is the term that Nicholas Cage gives to a Ford Mustang which is a beauty of a car that has always managed to get him into trouble.

Mageia is clearly popular and I know of many users who swear by Mageia but I have always found it tricky to use when compared to Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, PCLinuxOS and many other distributions.

Mageia is based on what used to be Mandriva (Mandrake) Linux.  

When I last used Mageia I found the installation fairly straight forward and I could play MP3s straight away but I had to install the Flash player so that it worked with Firefox. 

The last version I tried was version 3 and version 4 is now out and therefore it is worth looking at other people's reviews to determine whether it is suitable for the average computer user.

I couldn't find a review of Mageia 4 from Dedoimedo so here is a link to his review of version 3. It is very short. It won't take long to read.

For a more positive review of Mageia, read this one from the "My Linux Explore" website. Arindem Sen rates it 8.7 out of 10.

I rate Mageia's latest release quite high for the additional level of user control it provides in installation and usage. Mageia 4 is perfect for users looking for a stable KDE spin which is aesthetically pleasing and gives reasonably good performance. Personally I rate Mageia KDE as the best among Mandriva forked distros (including ROSA and PCLinuxOS).

I would personally check out PCLinuxOS first but Mageia should be an option for the Everyday Linux User.

7. Arch

There are different types of people who drive cars. For instance there are drivers who get in the car and drive from A to B but have no idea how to put petrol in it. At the other end of the scale there are the drivers who know everything about their car having customised it to within an inch of its life. There are obviously various other groups of driver in between.

The same analogies work for computer users. Some computer users know how to use a web browser but probably don't even know it is called a web browser. These users would definitely be better off using Linux Mint than Arch.

The average computer user might find learning Arch tricky and for many users it would be unnecessary to go down this route.

Bizarrely one of the questions I get asked the most is "Which distribution should I use?". Now that doesn't really sound too bizarre because I review distributions but when that question is backed up as follows it worries me a little bit:

I am thinking of switching to Linux for the first time, which distro would be best? I was thinking either Ubuntu or Arch.

I suspect that some of these users have been on Reddit which has an evangelical Arch following whereby the answer to the "which distro should I use" question is always Arch.

Arch has great documentation and if you decide you wish to go down the Arch route then there is a clear set of guidelines showing how to get where you want to be but there is a learning curve and if you are in the class of casual computer user who likes to surf the web and do a little bit of gaming then it might not be for you.

You know that you are entering unchartered waters when you find it difficult to find reviews of a Linux distribution. I suspect that many reviewers steer clear due to the complexity levels involved.

Click here for a review of Arch Linux.

8. Elementary

Elementary is the first entry into this list that wasn't in last year's list.

If Arch is one to be wary of then Elementary is certainly a Linux distribution that many Everyday Linux Users would appreciate.

Based on Ubuntu, Elementary provides a really stylish user interface which is clean and lean.

Elementary is more lightweight in nature than Linux Mint or Ubuntu and so works well on older hardware as well as modern computers.

I had issues getting Flash to work when I last tried Elementary but that was some time ago now. MP3s don't work from the outset but the moment you try and play one for the first time you are asked whether you want to install the necessary plugins.

Click here for my review of Elementary OS.

Here is a counter review of Elementary OS by Dedoimedo.

9. CentOS

I have never used CentOS and it is new to the list for this year. According to Wikipedia, CentOS is a community Linux distribution which aims to be functionally compatible with it's parent distributiion, Red Hat Linux.

If Fedora has been something of a playground for trying out new features then CentOS is more of a stable, secure and user centric distribution.

With that in mind CentOS should be perfect for the Everyday Linux User and I aim to review this distribution this year.

Here is something that doesn't really add up though. Whilst looking for reviews of CentOS I felt the impression was largely negative, for instance:

I feel CentOS 7 has been rushed out to market too early, with less than its flawless and most stringent QA that used to be in the past. It comes with a few glaring problems that do not belong in a serious distro. And since you can't be having any extras, its merit as a desktop candidate is even further reduced. - Dedoimedo

There is a thread at Linuxquestions.org which has a number of disgruntled would be users.

10. Zorin

ZorinOS is definitely a distribution worth checking out if you are an Everyday Linux User. If you come from a Windows background you will appreciate the attention to detail in making the transition as easy as possible.

Multimedia codecs are installed by default meaning you can play Flash videos and listen to MP3 audio without ferreting through software repositories.

The software that comes pre-installed is fairly extensive as well with GIMP, Firefox, LibreOffice and Rhythmbox all available.

Zorin has a lot of desktop gadgets and effects including wobbly windows and desktop cubes. 

Unique tools include the ability to change the desktop to look like Windows 2000, Windows 7, MacOS and Gnome 2.

Click here for a full review of ZorinOS.

Summary

For the average desktop computer user I would recommend Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Zorin, Elementary and openSUSE as first choices with Debian, Fedora, Mageia and CentOS as secondary options. I would only choose Arch if you really want to control every aspect of your computer from top to bottom or you have an interest in learning more about the underpinnings of using Linux.

The three distributions that were in the top 10 last year that aren't in this year are PCLinuxOS, Manjaro and Puppy Linux.

They haven't slipped far down the order with Puppy at number 11, PCLinuxOS as 15 and Manjaro at 16. You might want to check out them out. 

Click here for last year's analysis of the top 10 Linux distributions.

Thankyou for reading.

9 comments

Posted at 21:52 |  by Gary Newell

Is Devuan really a good idea?

I was idly looking through the press releases and news stories when I came across this article which talks about the new Debian fork called Devuan.

Devuan is a complete fork of the Debian system minus systemd.

I know that there are lots of people who aren't happy with the inclusion of systemd as part of the next release of Debian but to make such a radical decision to clone the entire thing and start your own project could be deemed overkill.

I can understand a single developer or a handful of developers taking a Debian or Ubuntu base and then creating a new distribution with a specific purpose in mind. I actually think smaller distributions are a good thing because they come up with and implement ideas that might not reach the light of day in one of the base distributions.

Many people are of the opinion however that it is better to pool resources and have just a few distributions where everybody works together to make those distributions as good as they can possibly be.

I am not sure that the Devuan fork is a good thing. In a democracy, we vote for people to make decisions on our behalf and if we don't like the decisions they make we either vote them out again or we move to another country that is more aligned to our way of thinking. In Linux terms this would mean if we don't like Debian then we would switch to another distribution.

In the UK at the moment there is a rail project being implemented which aims to reduce journey times between the north and the south, called HS2. It has greatly divided opinions as to whether it is or isn't a good idea.

People who live in the areas where the new infrastructure is being implemented aren't particularly happy. Where they used to overlook rolling green fields as far as the eye could see they now have heavy machinery and rail tracks. They are obviously against the idea.

People who live in the north and who regularly visit London will see the rail link as a good idea and will be happy that it is being implemented.

There are of course another group of people. The unaffected. These people don't care if HS2 is or is not implemented. They can see the argument from both sides but are largely uninterested.

The one thing that nobody is thinking of doing is creating an exact clone of the United Kingdom and moving it slightly to the left.

If a few developers working on their own Linux distribution is seen as counterproductive then what effect does it have when a whole group of developers take a mammoth distribution such as Debian and decide to fork it?

The people who are against systemd may well go over to Devuan but at what cost? Is productivity going to be as good, is it going to move forward as a distribution at the same pace as Debian would have had they stuck with it?

The people who are for systemd now have less people working on the distribution but are partly responsible for the split.

The people that lose out the most are those who don't care either way about systemd. There are now two projects instead of one with less people working on each.

What do you think about the new Devuan project? Is it a good idea or should the people involved look for a comprimise?

20 comments

Posted at 10:08 |  by Gary Newell

8 Linux News Articles and How To Guides

Introduction

This post just highlights some of the other articles that I have been writing at linux.about.com.

Every week I have started writing a news roundup highlighting Linux based articles that I think will be useful to the wider community including general news and tutorials.

In addition I have started setting the scene for new Linux users by showing how to set up Linux in a virtual machine, how to use the Unity Launcher and Dashboard and by providing a list of things to do after installing Linux.

I have focussed on Ubuntu to start with as that is one of the easier distributions to get used to but the articles will become more and more generic for other distributions and there will be some more technical stuff as time goes on.

How to fix the BASH Shellshock Bug

The big news of the week is the major bug in BASH that could leave your system vulnerable to attack.

Most home Linux users probably wouldn't fall foul of this bug as it requires access to the shell in the first place but you should patch your systems and keep them up to date anyway.

Click here for my full article about the Shellshock Bug

About Linux Weekly News

15th September 2014 - The End Of The Road For Bodhi

Jeff Hoogland had announced that he was taking a less active role in Bodhi Linux and therefore it was predicted that Bodhi would stop being developed.

Another big story was the news that Turin would be swapping Windows XP for Ubuntu.

Matt Hartley discussed the myths that often touted about Linux and Dedoimedo looked at Plasma 5.

Also in the weekly news that week were guides showing how to set up a command line Twitter client and how to set up SSH using Linux.

Click here to read the news roundup

22nd September 2014 - Bodhi's Demise Greatly Exaggerated

A week is a long time in Linux. Jeff Hoogland announced that Bodhi was not going to be coming to an end and that new people had stepped forward to help with the project.

Dedoimedo asked the question "Has the Linux arena become boring?". Read the news roundup and then the article and then come back here and comment.

Datamation had an article questioning the viability of Linux gaming as many games developers are seeing less than adequate sales growth from the Linux platform.

In a week that included Microsoft buying Minecraft the news was a bit doom and gloom but there was a positive upbeat as it is unlikely that Minecraft will cease to exist on the Linux platform.

Tutorials included links to the PlayOnLinux articles found on this site and how to install and run Android applications on your Linux computer.

Click here to read all the articles in the news roundup

How To Guides

How to install Ubuntu in a virtual machine using Windows

Click here for the full guide

If you have Windows and you want to try Linux out for the first time then trying Ubuntu out in a virtual machine might be a good start.

30 things to do after installing Ubuntu

Click here for the full guide

After you have installed Ubuntu you might be wondering what you should do next. This article has 30 items of which some of them must be done and others are nice to haves.

The first few items actually look at learning how to use Ubuntu whereas later on it looks at setting up things like Skype, Dropbox and Netflix.

The final few steps are more about support and further development and also a little bit about entertainment such as listening to the Ubuntu UK Podcast.

The complete guide to the Unity Launcher

Click here for the full guide

Ubuntu's Unity desktop might be confusing for new users. This article shows you how the launcher works including how to set up new launcher icons, what all the symbols mean, why the icons flash sometimes and how to hide the launcher altogether.

The complete guide to the Unity Dash

Click here for the full guide

Having learned how to use the Unity Launcher the next step is to understand the Dash.

This guide looks at all the different scopes, how to filter the scopes and how to integrate online accounts and various other applications into the Dash.

How to choose a distribution

Click here for the full guide

This week has been a bit fraught for System Admins with the Shellshock bug coming to the fore. One thing that has become prevalent is that it is important to know how well your system is supported.

This guide takes a unique twist on the way you might decide to choose the best Linux distribution by looking at distributions in a tree type structure where the top of the tree is the base distribution and the branches are derivatives. The further you get from the top of the tree the harder it is to keep up to date and get support.

No comments

Posted at 18:18 |  by Gary Newell

10 Answers To The Most Frequently Asked Linux Questions On Google

Introduction

Go to Google and type in a query. As you type you will notice that Google suggests some questions and topics for you.

The suggestions that appear are based on the most searched for topics based on the keywords provided. There is a caviat and that is each person may receive a slightly different list based on things they have naturally searched for in the past.

The concept of todays article is to provide answers to the most commonly asked questions using terms such as Why is Linux, What does Linux, Can Linux and Which Linux.

I borrowed the concept of this article from the Going Linux podcast which did something similar in episode 253.

1. Why Is Linux Better Than Windows?

I have incorporated the first three items on the list into the answer for this question because on their own they are meaningless.

Why is Linux better than Windows?

This question is at the best subjective and many Windows users would probably suggest otherwise. In fact there was an article that appeared last week, by John Dvorak, who suggested that Linux had failed to win over the desktop and was nothing more than an operating system for hobbyists.

You can read my response to that article by clicking here.

Here are some reasons where it can be argued that Linux is better than Windows:

• Performance
• Security
• Customisability
• Price
• Community 
• Support

Linux can be made to work on the oldest hardware or the most modern hardware. By tweaking the desktop environment and the applications you use it is possible to make Linux perform in a much more efficient way than Windows.

Another reason Linux performs better is the fact that it doesn't deteriorate over time.

When you first get a computer with Windows on it the performance is usually pretty decent.

Antivirus software instantly places a load onto the computer that just isn't required on a day to day basis for home Linux computers.

Windows tends to slow down after a period of use. This is due to installing applications, system updates and various other tasks that fill up the registry and leave junk on the computer.

Windows 7 is definitely an improvement on Window Vista and XP because it automatically defragments the hard drive but it is noticeably slower running either Windows 7 or Windows 8 compared with any version of Linux that I run on the same machines.

With regards to security, Linux is better for various reasons. The use of a normal account as opposed to an administrator account certainly helps as it limits the amount of exposure to potential hackers.

Viruses are less likely to affect Linux than Windows as well and this can be attributed to the use of package managers in Linux, the ability for viruses to spread and the level of chaos that virus developers can generate by writing viruses for Linux. This is covered again later on in the article.

If I want to download a Windows application then I have a choice of the whole internet to download from but how do you know a reputable site for a non-reputable site. Even so called reputable sites bundle search tools, optimisers and toolbars with the applications that you download from them. The use of package managers as repositories is a far better way to distribute software.

Linux is ultimately more customisable than Windows. Everything on Linux can be built the way you want it to be. You can choose the display manager (login manager), the window manager, the docks that appear, the terminal, the applications, the fonts, menus and widgets. In Windows you can change the desktop wallpaper, what else?

Linux at the point of use is free. Now many people would say that because Windows came with the computer they are using it is also free. With Windows everything costs money. You buy the computer and the Windows fee is already included. Then you have to pay for the antivirus subscription. If you want to use an office suite you have to pay for it.

Also consider about what happens when something goes wrong with Windows. Can you fix it? How much is it going to cost for you to get it fixed? With Linux there is such a great community and support network that you can probably fix most problems for free and you don't have to worry whether you lost the disks that came with your computer because you can create them again for free.

It is unfair to do a ying without a yang and so whilst searching on Why Linux I noticed that second on the list is "Why linux sucks".

Nobody answers this question better than Brian Lunduke

2. Can Linux Read NTFS?

NTFS is the native Windows file system and has been for quite some time.

Can linux read NTFS?

I can prove this one by example. The computer I am using is running Windows 8 and Linux Mint 17. If I open up the Nemo file manager I am able to see the Windows 8 partition.

As you can see from the image above I am able to access the files and folders in the Windows partition formatted to NTFS and I can open photos, music, documents etc.

The answer to the question is therefore yes you can.

A better question might have been "how safe is it to write to NTFS partitions using Linux".

3. Can Linux Get Viruses?

Every operating system can catch a virus but a better thing to consider is the purpose of a virus.

Malware comes in many different forms and the aim of malware is to either extract money or to cause chaos. In order to do either the reach of the malware has to be wide spread.

To get one person on one computer to run an application to install Cryptolocker
will earn the reward of one person paying the ransom. In order to make real money the people spreading ransomware need to get as many people as possible to install it.

Why are there more burglaries in city centres than in country villages? It is easier to burgle a number of properties in close proximity than go from village to village and do one house at a time.
Real life viruses spread in the places that are most populated and with the least protection against that virus.

The same can be said for computer viruses. Windows has the larger userbase and so it is easier and more profitable to create viruses for Windows.

People using Linux for the first time are more likely to stick with installing applications via the package managers and by following guides from recognised sources. These users are unlikely to contract any sort of virus as the package managers are kept clean by the wider community.

Long term Linux users are technically savvy and therefore ultimately less likely to install a virus and even if they do they can probably fix the damage caused anyway and therefore there is little point targeting them.

The biggest danger to new Linux users is following instructions on websites that give false information. Entering commands into a terminal window without fully understanding the commands is potentially very dangerous.

4. Can Linux Run Windows Games?

Linux can do better than run Windows games, Linux can run Linux games as well.

This question therefore also incorporates "Can Linux Run Games?" and "Can Linux Run Steam?"

Steam has over 500 games available for the Linux platform and GOG.com have started releasing games with full Linux support

There are native Linux games as well. I wrote an article a while back discussing the games installed with the KDE desktop.

Are there any Minecraft players out there? You can play Minecraft using Linux as well.

To answer the actual question, Windows games can be played using WINE and PlayOnLinux. A full article on WINE and gaming is coming up shortly.

5. Can Linux Replace Windows?

Can Linux replace Windows? Which version of Windows are you looking to replace?

For Windows 7 you can follow this guide to switch to Linux Mint.
For Windows XP you can follow this guide to switch to Lubuntu.

Like the Windows look but not the functionality? Follow this guide to switch to Zorin OS 9.

6. Can Linux Read exFAT?

What is exFAT?

exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table) is a Microsoft file system optimized for flash drives.^[3] It is proprietary and patented.^[2]
exFAT can be used where the NTFS file system is not a feasible solution (due to data structure overhead), or where the file size limit of the standard FAT32 file system (that is, without FAT32+ extension^[4]) is unacceptable.
Although the industry-standard FAT32 file system supports volumes up to 2 TiB, exFAT has been adopted by the SD Card Association as the default file system for SDXC cards larger than 32 GiB.

The above snippet was taken from Wikipedia. exFAT appears to be the file system used on large USB drives and SD cards.

The answer to the question is yes. Linux can read exFAT partitions. You will need to install exfat-fuse and exfat-utils. (See here for details).

7. Can Linux run exe?

Linux works in a different way to Windows. Files with the .exe extension are executable programs in Windows, they have no meaning in Linux.

In Linux programs are installed via a package manager and are stored as binary files. You can start a program in most versions of Linux by double clicking it or by running it via the command line.

Simply downloading and double clicking an "exe" file in Linux will not work. If you have WINE installed it is possible to run executable files.

8. Can Linux Run On Mac?

It is possible to get Linux to run on Macs and I have written a guide showing how to dual boot Linux Mint and OSx on a MacBook Air.

This article appears if you ask the same question in Google and there is a really detailed response by someone who has tried Debian and Arch.

The MacBook Air internet connection issue has been solved in my article above but the other points raised are worth thinking about.

I am not a big Mac fan so maybe you can provide your experiences with running Linux on a Mac in the comments below.

9. Can Linux Run Windows Applications?

I feel like I am covering this question to death. The answer is yes (and no). Using WINE it is possible to run many Windows applications and in a lot of cases the applications run perfectly well.

An application designed for Windows will probably never work quite as well on Linux as it does for Windows because it wasn't built for the Linux architecture and you are relying 100% on WINE.

The simplest solution is to either find a good alternative (and believe me there are loads of great alternatives for most Windows applications) or try out the application in WINE to see how well it works.

Another alternative is to dual boot Windows and Linux or run Windows in a virtual machine for the odd piece of software that you need that requires Windows use.

10. Which Linux Distro?

This is the question that I get asked most every single day. Which Linux distro is best on this machine or which Linux distro is best on that machine?

Choosing a Linux distribution is a personal thing. I recommend trying a few out in virtual machines or as live distributions and then decide which Linux version suits you the best.

I recently ran a series of articles designed to help in this quest:

• 5 Linux Distributions For Very Old Computers 
• 5 Linux Distributions For Old Computers 
• 5 Linux Distributions For Modern Computers

I have added to that series by producing an article for linux.about.com.

• The Complete Guide To Choosing The Right Linux Distribution For You

Here are a couple of articles for those of you looking to put Linux on a netbook:

• 12 Great Linux Distributions For Netbooks 
• 6 More Great Linux Distributions For Netbooks

  

Bonus Question. What Does Linux Look Like?

That is an almost impossible question to answer. I did say almost. Linux can be made to look however you want it to look.

I have a Pinterest page that has a selection of the wallpapers and images that have appeared on this site over the past few years.

Summary

The Google search tool throws up some interesting questions and the 10 that I answered just scratched the surface.

Just by adding an extra letter after the search term brings up new results. For instance "Why Linux a" brings up "Why Linux Ate My Ram" and "Why Linux Arch". The search tool also throws up some fairly bad grammar such as "why linux are better than windows".

I will be looking at Linux gaming over the next week including purpose built gaming distros, games emulators, STEAM and PlayOnLinux.

Thankyou for reading.

6 comments

Posted at 23:50 |  by Gary Newell

Linux has run out of time - I looked into the trap, Jim

Introduction

I like to read the "Today in open source" column written by Jim Lynch.

On the 27th August there was a link to an article by John Dvorak which basically stated that Linux has run out of time.

Speaking of Munich, John Dvorak uses it as the opening to a diatribe about how Linux on the desktop has run out of time or something like that. Think carefully before you click through to read the article

The above quote was written by Jim Lynch and I should have heeded the warning. Jim told me before clicking through that this was an article designed to stir up a wasps nest.

What has this to do with the Ghostbusters video linked above? There is a line in Ghostbusters where Ray says "Ok, I'm opening the trap, don't look into the trap" and just seconds follow before Egon says "I looked into the trap, Ray".

Humans are curious and if there is a big red button that says "do not press" our natural instincts makes us wonder what the button is for and the second instinct is to press it to find out.

Linux has run out of time

The reason for John's article appears to be the on off relationship that Munich appears to be having with Linux at the moment.

John Dvorak believes that Linux has had its chance and it has failed to impress. 

I like Linux and would love to just go all-in with it as the mavens tell me I can do. But I cannot. I use these computers to make a living by writing and podcasting. I also produce photographic art as a hobby. I can't accomplish any of this with Linux.

Does this tell us more about John's failings than the state of Linux. Let us consider podcasting for example. Linux Outlaws, Everyday Linux, The Linux Links Tech Show (TLLTS), Ubuntu UK Podcast, Mintcast, Linux Action Show. All of these are really excellent examples of Linux podcasts. Am I supposed to believe that all of these podcasts are made using Windows? If John is right then it wouldn't be possible for all of these excellent podcasts to create their recordings using the operating system that they discuss on a weekly or fortnightly basis.

What about writing? Linux User & Developer Magazine, Linux Format Magazine, Linux Journal. Are all of these magazines using Windows to write articles about Linux. That would seem a bit counterproductive. How can people write so religiously about a topic that they don't have faith in?

There are a lot of products that I need that will run on WINE, a chunk of code that allows Windows software to run on Linux. It's not perfect. It takes tweaking, there are all sorts of issues, and, more importantly, what's the point? If I have to run Windows applications, I want Windows, don't I? 

John wants Windows and therein lies the problem. You can't write an objective article about Linux if ultimately you want Windows. WINE is great and it is getting better year on year at running Windows based applications but at the same time there are less and less Windows applications that Linux users truly rely on. 

Then we have Photoshop, Illustrator, and the entire Adobe universe. None of it runs on Linux natively and people "have heard" that it runs okay on WINE. This is no good. Then GIMP enters the conversation. Yes, as a Photoshop clone it's actually pretty good. But the name says it all: hobbled.

The main issue with people using GIMP professionally as opposed to Photoshop is the hype given by people like John.

Why do so many offices around the world run Windows? For decades Windows has been taught in schools as the only operating system and Microsoft Office has been taught in schools as the only office suite.

When you enter the business market place it can therefore be no surprise that big companies run Windows and use Microsoft Office. The people that run the IT departments and their senior managers and directors were all brought up on Windows. They feel safe by using it. It has nothing to do with what works and what doesn't.

Photoshop is the same. Photoshop has become a commonly known product and web design companies hire people because they have Photoshop skills. The people running these agencies have become too ingrained into thinking that Photoshop is the only way to go.

Things do change though. Microsoft used to dominate everything. Every man and his dog used to use Hotmail but now more and more people use GMail. Do we even need a mail client anymore such as Outlook? I can have a million emails in my GMail account and with a quick keyword search I can find the email I am looking for.

Ironically, Microsoft didn't need to change anything. Word is just better. Excel is better. PowerPoint is better. It's that simple.

Is Word better than LibreOffice Writer or is LibreOffice Writer better than Word? Is Android better than Apple? Were Nirvana better than Pearl Jam? Which were better "The Beatles" or "The Rolling Stones"?

Microsoft Word has a lot of flaws that people seem to gloss over. Bullets and numbering for instance are just random. The fonts change, the numbering changes, the indentation changes and for no apparent reason.

The Microsoft ribbon bars have surely just been added to sell training courses because there is no way they are better than menus, toolbars and keyboard shortcuts. Everything we have been used to for 20 years all switched around for no seemingly good reason. I don't like it when my local supermarket rearranges all the shelves for no apparent reason either. If you want a ribbon bar then there is always Kingsoft Office.

 My wife, for example, likes the Windows way of tracking and saving all changes in a document, and the ability to reclaim old text.

Good for her John. I quite like my computer to boot in under 30 seconds, not display a blue screen saying there has been an error and then spend 3.5 hours reconfiguring itself. Each to their own I guess.

LibreOffice Calc is probably a more difficult sell. IT departments in the business world are commonly underfunded and therefore to get around IT deficiencies every other department in the company has the so called resident Excel expert who knows VBA. Companies big and small have badly designed spreadsheets with poor VBA code, whereby the expert left long ago but nobody dares to change the spreadsheet for fear of breaking it.

Getting companies to clean up these spreadsheets is not a cheap task and therefore abandoning Excel for LibreOffice is probably not going to happen.

If I want a word processor to create e-books, for example, or to organize large texts I use Scrivener. Does Scrivener run on Linux? Maybe someday. I still do the original writing in Word, then run it to Scrivener for organizing and compiling. Linux is not part of the scheme.

It just so happens that Scrivener has arrived on Linux. At the moment it is in Beta but then so was GMail for about 5 years.

Right now Linux on the desktop remains a cheap curiosity, that is kind of fun to play with when you are bored.

I am not suggesting for a minute that Linux has made it on the desktop. To be honest I'm not sure what the big fascination is.

All I know is that for me Linux is easy to install, easy to use and for home use it has served me well for over 10 years.

I haven't had a virus or any sign of malware in all the time I have used Linux. I only have to switch on my Windows based computer before I am bombarded with an Antivirus package that wants to update itself constantly and scan every single file and process slowing down the whole machine to crawling point.

I can't reboot my Windows based computer without it wanting to install updates 1 of 63, 2 of 63, 3 of 63 on what appears to be a daily basis.

Free software in Windows doesn't mean free anymore. Once the bastion of freeware and shareware CNet now seems to supply software riddled with endless toolbars, search tools and PC Optimisers and they aren't the only download site doing that.

When I run Windows applications at work, every so often I will receive a message saying that the application has stopped working. It doesn't give a reason, it just tells me it has stopped working. The application then dies and I have to restart it. I'm not saying that I have never had an application crash on me in Linux but it is far less frequent and the reasons why are far more verbose.

I don't write about Linux to force Windows users into changing their operating system. If somebody is using Windows and they want a change then I try an aid that process.

Why does it have to be one thing or another?. For Windows to survive must Linux die and for Linux to succeed does Windows have to die? Of course not. The people who want to use Linux will and those who don't won't.

Thankyou for reading.

34 comments

Posted at 23:03 |  by Gary Newell

5 Linux distributions for very old computers

Introduction

This is part 4 in a series of articles designed to help you choose the right Linux distribution for your circumstances.

Here are the links to the first three parts:

• Which desktop environment should you use?
• 5 easiest to use Linux distributions for modern machines
• 5 easiest to use Linux distributions for older machines

Some of you will have computers that are really old and none of the solutions presented thus far are of much use.

This guide lists those distributions designed to run with limited RAM, limited disk space and limited graphics capabilities.

Ease of use is sometimes comprimised when using the really light distributions but once you get used to them they are every bit as functional as a Ubuntu or Linux Mint.

Before I start I would like to say that unlike the other two lists this one is in no particular order.

1. AntiX

The AntiX website claims that you can run it on a Pentium II with 64 megabytes of RAM although it is recommended that you have at least 128 megabytes.

Click here for a full review of AntiX

The download image for AntiX is just 690 megabytes in size. It is amazing how much is packed into that image.

AntiX comes with dozens of applications and that includes the LibreOffice suite. All of the other applications are lightweight in nature including Gnome MPlayer for listening to music, Iceweasel as a web browser and Claws as an email client.

The desktop that comes with AntiX is IceWM which uses very little of your computer's processing power.

AntiX is based on the Debian testing branch which means the applications are fairly up to date and in the main fairly resilient.

2. SparkyLinux

Click here for a full review of SparkyLinux

SparkyLinux is another Linux distribution based on the Debian testing branch. There are a number of choices of desktop available including LXDE, Razor-QT, OpenBox/JWM, e17 and MATE.

SparkyLinux will work quite well on really old and just plain old old computers.

If you have an ancient computer then the Razor-QT, LXDE and JWM desktops are the ones to go for.

The minimum requirements are 256 megabytes RAM for LXDE, OpenBox and e17 or 384 megabytes for Razor-QT. You will need at least 5 gigabytes of hard drive space.

You can download SparkyLinux from http://sparkylinux.org/download/

I believe that the i486 versions include a non-PAE kernel making it accessible to everyone.

The applications aren't so lightweight in nature. LibreOffice, GIMP, PlayOnLinux, DropBox, Teamviewer, QMMP and VLC are installed by default.

The installer for SparkyLinux isn't as easy to follow as other distributions but there is a full guide available at http://sparkylinux.org/hard-drive-install/

3. Crunchbang

Click here for a review of Crunchbang
(This is a little bit out of date and a new review is forthcoming shortly)

Crunchbang is also based on Debian and it uses the Openbox window manager.

The following quote comes from the Crunchbang website

Put simply; CrunchBang could be thought of as a layer built on top of Debian, specifically to provide a great Openbox experience.

Crunchbang is genuinely lightweight in nature and that is reflected in the applications with Abiword and Gnumeric installed instead of LibreOffice (although the option is there to have LibreOffice).

The Crunchbang website isn't overly forthcoming with minimum specifications but this forum page has people listing RAM requirements of anything from 64 megabytes to 512 megabytes.

4. Puppy Linux

There isn't just one version of Puppy Linux. There are dozens of them. They are all built using the same tools and are all light on resources.

My personal favourites are Simplicity and MacPup but Precise, Wary and Slacko are really good as well.

Puppy has a number of really good applications with small footprints including the excellent PMusic audio player.

There are dozens of tools available including ftp clients, screengrabbing tools, torrent clients, CD rippers and audio download tools.

Puppy is designed to run from a USB pen drive as opposed to installing it on a hard drive. (You can if you want to though).

The Puppy Linux wikka page states that Puppy Linux can run on 64 megabytes RAM but 256 megabytes is more realistic with a 512 megabyte swap file.

The desktop environments used vary depending on the version you install and they vary from IceWM to JWM and LXDE.

You can download Wary, Precise and Slacko from http://puppylinux.org
You can download Simplicity from http://simplicitylinux.org/
You can download MacPup from http://macpup.org/

5. Lubuntu

Click here for a review of Lubuntu 14.04

Lubuntu is based on Ubuntu 14.04 and comes installed with the LXDE desktop.

Windows users will find Lubuntu more familiar than any of the aforementioned distros.

Lubuntu can apparently work with just 128 megabytes RAM but becomes more useable with 256 megabytes RAM and it is highly recommended to have 512 megabytes or more.

The applications installed are all light in nature with Abiword and Gnumeric installed as the word processing and spreadsheet tools. Audacious is installed as the audio player which is decent if not spectacular.

With Lubuntu you get access to all the Ubuntu repositories but your choice of applications will be determined by the amount of system resources available to you.

You can download Lubuntu 14.04 from here

Summary

The obvious choice for users coming to Linux for the first time on really old machines would be Lubuntu but AntiX and SparkyLinux are both worth a go. With Lubuntu you will find a larger support network.

The choice doesn't have to be Lubuntu or Puppy as you can try Lubuntu as a full installation and install Puppy to a USB drive.

Crunchbang is a very popular distribution and you will soon realise that functionality outweighs shiny.

Thankyou for reading.

21 comments

Posted at 07:30 |  by Gary Newell