Thinking of switching to Linux, why?

[silvermoon]

I am currently running Windows XP on all 4 computers we have at home. The problem that we face constantly is those related to viruses, spyware and stuff that affect windows and really slow down the systems. This is why I am seriously thinking of changing to Linux. I downloaded Ubuntu and seemed like a really nice distro, very intuitive and user friendly but I still feel like it overloaded my PC with stuff that we as home users don't need. We mostly use our PCs for browsing, email, office (which can be installed with crossover office) and web, image design.
Since we are not experienced at Linux, I am a little frightened by how much stuff is installed, libraries and packages that I have no clue what they do and thought that I wouldnt probably need most of them....

This when I thought I would keep windows. I know it pretty well, know how to get stuff done.... until I came across an Ubuntu-based distro called Beatrix, it is an ubuntu system designed for people like us that don't need much of the stuff linux installs, (servers, etc) but the only problem is that they dont have an spanish version of it.

So my question is do any of you know of a distro similar to beatrix , that is exclusively designed for home users like us?

Thanks for your replies!

[Stormy Eyes]

Since we are not experienced at Linux, I am a little frightened by how much stuff is installed, libraries and packages that I have no clue what they do and thought that I wouldnt probably need most of them....

It's true that you're not likely to need most of them. But, unlike Windows, you can ignore them until you want to learn about them without having to fear intrusions. You don't have to worry about every library or package that Ubuntu installs unless you want to know what they do, or unless you want to go beyond the defaults.

My wife was a Windows user until she moved in with me prior to our marriage last year. I had her on Gentoo for a few months, and then on Ubuntu Hoary. She doesn't know every detail of how her computer works, and I don't insist that she know either. She doesn't need to know unless she wants to.

So my question is do any of you know of a distro similar to beatrix , that is exclusively designed for home users like us?

Unfortunately, I don't. But why not give Ubuntu a try? At least try the LiveCD; you can try Linux without altering your existing setup, and decide for yourself whether Ubuntu's more than you think you can handle.

[poofyhairguy]

Since we are not experienced at Linux, I am a little frightened by how much stuff is installed, libraries and packages that I have no clue what they do and thought that I wouldnt probably need most of them....


Three things:

A. Unlike Windows, in Linuxland more installed programs does not mean that your computer is slower (thats the result of Window's "better" install process).

B. You could always do a "custom" install. very minimal.

C. hard disks are cheap.

Or just use Beatrix. Its great for older machines.

[Stormy Eyes]

Or just use Beatrix. Its great for older machines.

I don't think BeatrIX provides a version for Spanish-speaking users, which is why silvermoon hasn't tried it yet.

[josiah]

I downloaded Ubuntu and seemed like a really nice distro, very intuitive and user friendly but I still feel like it overloaded my PC with stuff that we as home users don't need.

The Free Software community is generally insistent upon knowing what is on our computers so that if something goes wrong, we can fix it ourselves. As a result, most Linux distributions show you (or at the very least give you the option of seeing) every detail of what programs, libraries, servers, or whatever else, are being installed. Most of those things correspond with things that Apple or Microsoft would install but wouldn't let you know about, and have to be installed so that web browsers, windowing systems, office programs, or games can be played.

We mostly use our PCs for browsing, email, office (which can be installed with crossover office) and web, image design.

One of the nice things about Ubuntu is the insistence upon installing only the cream of the crop programs; but if you want a browser other than Firefox, you can install any of a number of alternatives. If you want an office program other than OpenOffice, there are alternatives that can be downloaded and installed.

And as a side note, I would generally suggest trying to get used to OpenOffice as a replacement for MS Office. Unless you have to do very specific things (such as complicated formatting in Word, or Excel-specific work) that require compatibility with MS Office, OpenOffice is a fine suite. As for myself, I pretty much only use OpenOffice to open other people's documents; but even before I switched to Linux, I installed it on my Windows box so that I could get used to it.

Since we are not experienced at Linux, I am a little frightened by how much stuff is installed, libraries and packages that I have no clue what they do and thought that I wouldnt probably need most of them...

This when I thought I would keep windows. I know it pretty well, know how to get stuff done...

As I mentioned above, the only difference between what you're noticing with Ubuntu and Windows in what is being installed is that Ubuntu actually shows you what is being installed.

So my question is do any of you know of a distro similar to beatrix , that is exclusively designed for home users like us?

If you go to the Distrowatch search page (http://distrowatch.com/search.php), you can search through the catalogue of distributions based on a number of criteria. Though language support is not one of those available, country of origin is. Also, some of the more prominent distrobutions have several languages supported. Since Beatrix and Ubuntu are both based on Debian, it should not be difficult to install internationalization--also called "i18n"--packages that would give you Spanish language support. Since this post is rather long, I will leave it at that, but I will say that if this is the way you want to go, come back to these forums and ask about how to do this.

[David Kaisemann]

I'm was switched to Ubuntu Linux five days ago and wery satisfied about this. Today i'm install Ubuntu on my work.

You ask: "Why?" Because I got tired out with Windows (2000 and XP) at last! Just tired. And I'm never come back to Windows OS. It's my point of view.

[jerome bettis]

if you're worried about all those programs taking up disk space it's not true. i have windows xp pro installed here with nothing else besides java, firefox, thunderbird, and the necessary drivers. 2.7 gigs is used.

i have ubuntu installed with a lot of extra stuff and it's 2.5 gigs not counting my home partition which would be almost nothing if i didn't have all these mp3s.

all those libraries you see it installing are dependencies. windows has the same sort of thing but it just doesn't let you see it. and like poofyhairguy said, when you install a lot of programs in windows, it does hurt your performance. this is because windows programs share the registry, which can end up being a huge database that needs to be accessed constantly - it's a really poor design. linux knows better than that. not to mention the fat file system from the 80s is still hanging around wasting time and space like it always has.

you can install ubuntu, type custom at the boot prompt of the install cd - this will set you up with a minimal base system, from which you can apt-get install whatever you want. if you're looking for a lightweight desktop environment, install xfce.

[poofyhairguy]

I don't think BeatrIX provides a version for Spanish-speaking users, which is why silvermoon hasn't tried it yet.

Right. I stand corrected.