Ubuntu choice for new user?

[Artemis3]

+1 Xubuntu. Too bad you didn't include it in the poll.

[SeijiSensei]

She's only ever used Windows XP, and was thinking of getting a new laptop because it had become slow and wifi stopped working.

I vote for Kubuntu 12.04 as it will look rather similar to Windows, especially the panel with a launcher (aka the "Start" button), a system tray, and a list of active applications. Also the System Settings application provides a simple entry point to configuration just like the Windows Control Panel does.

A two-year-old machine will have no trouble with KDE; I have Kubuntu 12.04 running on a Dell 640m laptop that's about six years old without any problems.

I'd be a bit concerned about the fact that wifi doesn't work; that might be a hardware problem. It also might be that she accidentally turned off the wifi adapter and doesn't realize that fact. Usually there's an LED that shows if the adapter is enabled. Make sure it's lit. If it's not, there's probably an Fn key combination that switches it off and on. On Dells it's usually Fn-F2; often it's identified by a icon that looks like a radio transmission tower. She wouldn't be the first person to disable the wifi adaptor by mistake and not realize it. I had a friend call me a couple of months ago who did this and thought her wifi had died.

[CharlesA]

I vote for Kubuntu 12.04 as it will look rather similar to Windows, especially the panel with a launcher (aka the "Start" button), a system tray, and a list of active applications. Also the System Settings application provides a simple entry point to configuration just like the Windows Control Panel does.

A two-year-old machine will have no trouble with KDE; I have Kubuntu 12.04 running on a Dell 640m laptop that's about six years old without any problems.

Definitely. I'd figure the transition between Windows and Unity would be a bit more difficult then Windows to KDE. I am still trying to get used to Unity even after using it for a while - I keep going to the bottom of the screen to see what programs are open.

I'd be a bit concerned about the fact that wifi doesn't work; that might be a hardware problem. It also might be that she accidentally turned off the wifi adapter and doesn't realize that fact. Usually there's an LED that shows if the adapter is enabled. Make sure it's lit. If it's not, there's probably an Fn key combination that switches it off and on. On Dells it's usually Fn-F2; often it's identified by a icon that looks like a radio transmission tower. She wouldn't be the first person to disable the wifi adaptor by mistake and not realize it. I had a friend call me a couple of months ago who did this and thought her wifi had died.

That is my thought as well. I've had issues where I forgot I turned off wifi via the fn key and left wondering why I have no internet access.

[Duncan J Murray]

brief update:

It's an acer aspire 7004wsmi, with mobile AMD sempron 1.8Ghz, nvidia geforcego 6100 384mb 17"WXGA, 80GB, 768MB.

It had windows vista on it - which looks to be dying, although I was able to get wifi to work on it after a few attempts by stopping a competing wifi program. However, even then, it took 3:40min to a working destop, and 7:40min until everything that was going to pop-up appeared. We went ahead with linux - 12.04 as per the poll.

backup has been made, and a clean install of entire HD with 12.04 ubuntu.

After log-in there is a blank screen with a mouse pointer. That is all.

I have switched to TTY1 and looked - and it seemed on the first occasion that compiz had crashed, but on other occasions it hadn't. I tried an apt-get update, but that didn't change anything.

Hmmm.... may need to rethink this...

[Duncan J Murray]

Ok, so unity 2D seems to work, but 3D is no-go.

Next problem is wireless didn't work, seems like the wrong driver was installed. Found the anwser here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1595803&page=2

followed the advice, and now wireless is working.

It seems that the nvidia graphics driver is installed by default. Bit worried that come the next kernel release, it is all going to break... Also, don't quite understand why compiz isn't working with this card.

D

[Duncan J Murray]

Brief update - I think it's pretty much sorted. It's all running nicely. I did a before and after boot-times comparison...

to login: vista, 1'00; precise, 42"
to full desktop: vista, 1'48"; precise, 1'00"
to working desktop*: vista, 3'40"; precise, 1'05"
to final desktop**: vista, 7'40"(!!!); precise, 1'05"
shutdown: vista, 1'40"; precise 12"

* - so until you get to a desktop without the harddrive continually thrashing
** - until all the windows that were planning to open up have finally openned.

Unity2D is impressive - after lots of rebooting, I finally thought I'd got unity3D working, but actually, I just didn't realise how far 2d has come...

VLC and gimp are installed, and I'm now getting rhythmbox and shotwell to sort out their databases...

I'll keep you informed to see how many problems she runs into!

D

[Lucradia]

Final desktop would be the same as "Working Desktop" since my ideal final desktop is no windows open and all the status tray indicator icons have loaded.

Make sure to try both without any programs installed. Just default installs on both. They also have to be on the same exact hardware.

[Duncan J Murray]

Brief update:

Just deployed the laptop yesterday - I practically just dropped it off and went after making sure the wifi worked. So we'll see what happens...

As it has been with me since I first posted this thread, I've had a chance to have a play with it. In the end Unity 2D was just too slow to use. Having more than one file open in three or more applications just led to meltdown. Unity 3D was working after a few updates, but was even worse. There were lots of graphic glitches when clicking on applications with multiple windows open. It also took a long time to load the desktop, and was frustratingly slow to get the overview up after pressing the super key while the desktop was getting ready.

So I installed gnome-session-fallback - and was bowled over! It's fast and reliable, just like gnome 2, and I think will be quicker and less glitchy to use.

I left the guest login as unity 3d just for fun.

Duncan.