Pauly BC
September 18th, 2009, 12:16 AM
I need some help in selecting a Linux Distro to best suit my needs. I'm not a hard core programmer and I don't have heaps of time to make every little widget work. I'm here because I have lost faith in Microsoft and I believe Linux must be better.
Has anyone noticed in the last few months as we approach the sales launch of Windows 7 that Vista is slowing down? Our computer is getting geriatric these days...
I tried the major distros off live CD's including Jaunty 32 and 64, OpenSUSE, OpenSolaris and Fedora. Among those distros I found Ubuntu 64 had the fastest boot time and the best 'out of the box' success rate at mounting Windows drives, operating hardware, etc. I also tried Mint and MoonOS, both of which are very nice add-ons to Ubuntu, albeit they use more RAM, slow down the boot time, plus those smaller community distros can lag on updates. I could easily install either of them, but I have doubts and concerns.
I did notice that off the CD, Ubuntu does not play MP3's where both Mint and Moon do. Is that because Jaunty does not include CODECs or is it some other issue? Are the CODECs difficult to install? Can you recommend a better MP3 player than what Ubuntu includes in the CD?
I love the GUI in Moon, I believe if is called Enlightenment, is it difficult to install into Ubuntu?
Should I go ahead with Jaunty 9.04 or wait until late October for Karmic 9.10? Is there a significant step up in performance? Is it difficult to update from Jaunty to Karmic?
Do you need to load in a separate anti-virus program into Linux? I'm running AVG in Vista and it is OK.
Can I load programs from Mint into Ubuntu? Specifically I like their software repository interface, it seemed more user-friendly than what comes with Ubuntu. Similarly can I load enlightenment from Moon into Ubuntu?
In all the distros I tried I noticed the sound was extremely quiet. I have an ASUS P5B motherboard and the built-in surround sound works great for me. Jaunty, Mint and Moon all load it properly but I had to turn on all the speakers through the sound utility, then crank the volume on my speakers to what would be painful in Windows in order to get normal sound. Is there a fix for that?
Can you recommend the most successful way to dual-boot Vista 32 and Ubuntu 64? My wife will still use Vista for her work, bless her heart she is afraid to change. I have a 150 GB partition I released from Windows last night ready to go.
Is there a good email client that can import my MS Outlook 2003 files?
Thanks for your input.
Has anyone noticed in the last few months as we approach the sales launch of Windows 7 that Vista is slowing down? Our computer is getting geriatric these days...
I tried the major distros off live CD's including Jaunty 32 and 64, OpenSUSE, OpenSolaris and Fedora. Among those distros I found Ubuntu 64 had the fastest boot time and the best 'out of the box' success rate at mounting Windows drives, operating hardware, etc. I also tried Mint and MoonOS, both of which are very nice add-ons to Ubuntu, albeit they use more RAM, slow down the boot time, plus those smaller community distros can lag on updates. I could easily install either of them, but I have doubts and concerns.
I did notice that off the CD, Ubuntu does not play MP3's where both Mint and Moon do. Is that because Jaunty does not include CODECs or is it some other issue? Are the CODECs difficult to install? Can you recommend a better MP3 player than what Ubuntu includes in the CD?
I love the GUI in Moon, I believe if is called Enlightenment, is it difficult to install into Ubuntu?
Should I go ahead with Jaunty 9.04 or wait until late October for Karmic 9.10? Is there a significant step up in performance? Is it difficult to update from Jaunty to Karmic?
Do you need to load in a separate anti-virus program into Linux? I'm running AVG in Vista and it is OK.
Can I load programs from Mint into Ubuntu? Specifically I like their software repository interface, it seemed more user-friendly than what comes with Ubuntu. Similarly can I load enlightenment from Moon into Ubuntu?
In all the distros I tried I noticed the sound was extremely quiet. I have an ASUS P5B motherboard and the built-in surround sound works great for me. Jaunty, Mint and Moon all load it properly but I had to turn on all the speakers through the sound utility, then crank the volume on my speakers to what would be painful in Windows in order to get normal sound. Is there a fix for that?
Can you recommend the most successful way to dual-boot Vista 32 and Ubuntu 64? My wife will still use Vista for her work, bless her heart she is afraid to change. I have a 150 GB partition I released from Windows last night ready to go.
Is there a good email client that can import my MS Outlook 2003 files?
Thanks for your input.