Have been mucking around on a pair of netbooks of late. One has XP (I need it for Excel as a work computer when roving) the other one I had put a copy of Google ChromiumOS http://chromeos.hexxeh.net/ but due to Adobe/MP3 Codec etc licencing restrictions it was a bit lacking as a Sofa Browser computer.

Then I read of Lubuntu – A lightweight distro of Ubuntu ideal for netbooks and for those of us brought up post-DOS on idiot-proof GUIs. It still has terminal, which is handy for copying google instructions into, but you can use Lubuntu without needing to know anything about Linux. And of course it is FREE!

Its easy to make a bootable stick to try out in your hardware and then from there just as easy to install it side by side with your existing OS (Say XP or W7) if you have the room. It will install a boot manager too so you can select the OS to boot. All for the hard of thinking like me! It boots in less than 15 seconds, runs Chromium browser so syncs with your google world. It means I can have a simple browser machine when I want and can go back to clunky MS XP Excel machine when I need it for work.

read how here
http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/laptops/how-to-dual-boot-your-netbook-or-laptop-915457
(but you need to go here to download the ISO https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Lubuntu/GetLubuntu )

I have seen the light, and it’s penguin shaped! 🙂

Been meaning to try this for a while, have an old netbook that is pretty much only used for browsing now but I’m getting frustrated at how slow XP is on it. Will definitely give it a go.

more here:

Home

Lubuntu is a fast and lightweight operating system developed by a community of Free and Open Source enthusiasts. The core of the system is based on Linux and Ubuntu . Lubuntu uses the minimal desktop LXDE, and a selection of light applications. We focus on speed and energy-efficiency. Because of this, Lubuntu has very low hardware requirements

clever stuff! might try this on the wife’s creaking netbook later.

for those of us brought up post-DOS

Pfft – bloody whipper snappers!

It actually appears to be functionally ok – still has the look of the MIR climate control module computer (and not in a post industrial design good way either)

I do like my pretty things*

*nope, irony isn’t lost!

well I was brought up on DOS, but forgot how to type commands sometime around 1991 🙂

sudo apt-get update&&sudo apt-get install foo bar baz foo-dev foo-dbg

I mean, seriously, WTF!??!

DOS? Oh yeah, I sort of remember that…
Green screen, funny writing on it?

I’ve just shoved a plain debian install on an old laptop for the exact same reason; not quite as lightweight and maybe not so suitable for non-linux types though I guess 🙂

Run our business netbooks on similar Ubuntu distro, all lapops run Ubuntu and we haev linux servers – love having control back.

The chap I do IT support with is always amazed at my preference for opening up a terminal and typing stuff like that rather than using a GUI (granted you can’t do apt-get at all in a GUI, but a lot of other stuff is much faster and easier on the command line as well). I love Linux 🙂

aracer – Member
(granted you can’t do apt-get at all in a GUI, but a lot of other stuff is much faster and easier on the command line as well). I love Linux

Synaptic, or aptitude?

I like Lubuntu, but I personally prefer Xubuntu whish is preconfigured with XFCE rather than LXDE. Seems a bit more coherent. Plus it’s got a cute little mouse as it’s mascot.

Once you’ve used the command line for a bit (and learnt the names of commonly used packages) it’s nowhere near as scary as it first seems 🙂 – And you can always fall back to the gui if you can’t figure out what the package is actually called …

Synaptic, or aptitude?

Yes, I did think that after I posted – not things I use, so I tend to forget about them 😳

Linux rocks 🙂

Long term user here…. occasionally at home, but mostly in work.

Started (seriously) using Debian ‘Potato’ (version 2)…. holy cow, that’s 10 years!

A mate gave me a few CDs – Mandrake, Suse, and Redhat.

I have Mint on a 1.4ghz Laptop i use for browsing / travel / work. It’s every bit as quick in simple tasks as my 3.6ghz £1000+ desktop. (why on earth Asus ever thought Windows Vista was appropriate for a 1.4ghz laptop i’ll never know – it was simply unusuable)

I can’t recommend Mint enough for anyone wanting to breath life into an older machine, or who wants to rid themselves of Windows.

Mint = Ubuntu without the crap UI.

The Mint developers have done a fantastic job

Depends which version you use! If crunchbang wasn’t so buggy that’d be brilliant and great for low powered machines.

To anyone above who mentions old laptops that have slowed down…laptops not capable or running Vista etc…

Have you tried Win7?

Not saying don’t try what the OP is suggesting, but my OH has an old Dell running Vista that was never very snappy, but was getting slower & slower. I wiped it, put Win7 on (and Microsoft Security Essentials) and it runs very well indeed now.

Kubuntu here, KDE is teh roxxorz. Not for powersaving mind you – quite the opposite in fact!

Quite like the look of this. Use to like Xubuntu quite a lot.

Any of you lot using Ubuntu at the minute, I’m inheriting a PC which I intend to run with Linux.

Haven’t used Ubuntu since Maverick Meerkat, are the current versions still pretty nifty?

Haven’t used Ubuntu since Maverick Meerkat, are the current versions still pretty nifty?

Personally prefer Mint (same packages etc… as Ubuntu). I really don’t like Unity!

Stoner – Member

well I was brought up on DOS, but forgot how to type commands sometime around 1991

This.

Did FORTRAN, COBOL & machine code at college.
I can’t set my watch without the manual these days. 🙁

This sounds like it could be fun.

First PC OS I used was MS-DOS 3.3.

I used to run it emulated using PC Ditto on an Atari ST. Man, that was… not fast.

stoner, did you know if you install XBMC you can boot straight into it rather than the Ubuntu desktop and launch it separately?
Its a great media centre for organising video/music/photos and stuff.

Using Mint Debian Edition on my ex-windows laptop. Loving the rolling updates instead of having to install a new distro to keep up to date. XFCE desktop keeps it lightweight too.

Ubuntu phones are coming too (Q3 2013) – phone + dock + display, mouse & Keyboard = Desktop

rich – no idea what you just said. But as far as I can tell, this Lubuntu boots straight into the LXDE desktop on launch.

Ubuntu phones are coming too (Q3 2013) – phone + dock + display, mouse & Keyboard = Desktop

Any links to info pls?

http://tinyurl.com/cd82pdz

stoner- ah I see, if you had a user account set-up it would ask you to login. Might be worth playing with if you want to plug it into your TV for films and stuff.

Nope, that’s a link to some searchy type thingumybob, can’t see any ref to phones. You’re rubbish at this being helpful lark. 😀

This may be true, but I’ve got “being a sarcastic arse” absolutely nailed.

No need, Rich. My “TV” is an Xbox acting as a media extender to my big MOFO PC in the office (with dual tuners and a big effoff HDD). Im sticking with Windows Media Centre for the foreseable. No real reason to ditch W7/WMC etc from the main PC. But dont need that kind of guts for the portable devices in the house.

First PC OS I used was MS-DOS 3.3.

I 1st used 3.2, and IIRC the big change 3.3 brought in was support for 1.44 floppies – geek if I’m right! I also used Slackware Linux in ’95 which was OK but you had to create you’re own graphics drivers – or find someone else who already had a suitable one which is what I did.

For all you ubuntu users; I’d recommend giving straight debian a try next time you install from scratch – It’s just as usable out of the box; there’s no where near as much added shiny in ubuntu as there used to be.

I believe that the packages are less up to date if you use them though?

Will do Steve. This PC has a big old HDD so there’s plenty of room for a partition.

Cougar – Moderator

This may be true, but I’ve got “being a sarcastic arse” absolutely nailed.

Absolutely no dissent from over here. 😀

I believe that the packages are less up to date if you use them though?

depends which version of debian you use – Ubuntu’s release schedule it based around taking a snapshot of “sid” (debian-unstable) then taking it through testing/augmentation in the run up to release + ongoing support. In practice “wheezy” (debian-testing) is usually on target with the latest ubuntu release; with the odd package not being updated because it’s got problems on certain architectures. Big plus though is that because it’s continually updated you don’t get the six monthly ‘update to the next release’ cycle; which is usually painful/time consuming enough that I continually put it off 🙂

I tend to use wheezy/testing; I’ve not found it lacking at all.

depends which version of debian you use – Ubuntu’s release schedule it based around taking a snapshot of “sid” (debian-unstable) then taking it through testing/augmentation in the run up to release + ongoing support. In practice “wheezy” (debian-testing) is usually on target with the latest ubuntu release; with the odd package not being updated because it’s got problems on certain architectures

And THIS is why linux is not a mainstream OS 😀

Oh cool, Mint does also have a debian edition. That just reminded me of why I actually use straight Mint over other distros – my wireless card only works with Mint and Crunchbang and then not out of the box. Others just make me want to break things!