[crazy4laptops]

I have a friend that has a computer in which the hdd died. He's planning to get a new drive and wants me to install xp on it. I'm thinking about dual booting linux and xp for him.


What i need to know, is what linux distro is the best for a total newbie? It needs to be internet secure, and able to detect ntfs drives.

[piyushsingh]

I would say go for ubuntu . Another option will be kubuntu. Kubuntu will be ideal to start with as it has KDE by default and its looks are very much same as windows UI , so there wont be much problem in changing.

[Kilme]

I don't believe Ubuntu supports NTFS drives "out of the box." I have tried 2 separate hard drives on my Linux machine, but neither want to be recognized. The one is connected internally, and the other is connected outside through an IDE/SATA to USB adapter. Ubuntu sees the drives, but says it can't do anything with them. I've tried downloading NTFS support through the Synaptic Package Manager, but to no avail. Although this may be just my own Linux ignorance.

But other than that, I would recommend Ubuntu. The only flavors of Linux I've tried myself are Fedora and Ubuntu, and I much prefer Ubuntu.

[piyushsingh]

It works fine with me. I didnt install any separate ntfs support package , the 7.10 version is doing fine. Writing to ntfs drives is also fine. Did you mount the drives properly ?

[Kilme]

I'm using the 8.04 version, but I'd assume that the method is the same. I'm unsure of the drive mounting, but whenever I try to access the drives, it brings up an error stating that the drives cannot be mounted.

[snorg]

You want ubuntu.
It does work with NTFS.
You can download if for free, or they will send you the CD for free.

www.ubuntu.com/

[piyushsingh]

there should be a detailed error under that message.

You may try running chkdsk in windows and then try to mount again. Just a shot in the dark.

[Kilme]

There are some random letters and numbers in the message, but I honestly can't remember them. I know the drives are functional, since they came straight from functioning work PCs. All I did beforehand was wipe out the old partitions, and make a new one that spans the whole drive. Anyway, it's not that big of a deal, and I'm sure that I could find the solution if I searched for the particular error. I won't press it any further on here, since I've already diverted from the topic's original intent.

[chipbennett]

+1 to the suggestions for Ubuntu or Kubuntu. I personally use Kubuntu, which more closely resembles Windows with respect to GUI/workflow. Ubuntu is more... minimalist, but does not have much of a learning curve with respect to GUI/workflow.

I have only used Ubuntu and Kubuntu, so I cannot vouch for other distributions. That said, you may also want to look into Linux Mint (an Ubuntu derivative, that may be more out-of-the-box newbie-friendly) or PCLinuxOS (a distribution that was ostensibly designed for Windows expatriates).

[BAMT]

I'd recommend OpenSuSE 10.3. 11 is out, but when I tested it it wasn't that great. It includes an easy to use control panel, YaST, very similar to the XP CP style. Installation is easy, even helps you partition drives, and package manager works like a charm. KDE is the best window manager for a newbie, considering the SuSE KDE style is very similar to Windows.

http://www.opensuse.com (redir to English opensuse.org page)

For software to open propietary-formatted files, see http://opensuse-comm...ed_Formats/10.3

[rgreen4]

Piyushsingh - when I tried Ubuntu I had two problems. The deal breaker was that my laptop wireless adapter had no drivers. They are supposed to have done something about that in 8.04 I believe. I then tried it as a multi-boot on my custom build (along with Vista and XP). While it would get to the internet just fine and in fact used FF2 to work in the community, it would not recognize either of the other drives (NTFS), nor would it recognize the volumes in my NAS. The Ubuntu drive later got used in a W2K test and it still has W2K on it.

[poglatg]

Hardy Heron - Ubuntu 8.04 - has addressed many of the concerns in previous Ubuntu versions, including wireless support, usb modem support etc. The install of any flavour of Ubuntu (Kubuntu, Xubuntu etc) is as easy as pie, and even gives you the option of partitioning your drive so you don't have to be Windows free.

The latest version of Debian is also quite horny, I've only had a little play, but the new version goes more user friendly after the popularity of Ubuntu, most notably the install process

[BAMT]

8.04 has actually dropped drivers required for my laptop. 7.10 ran much better, and didn't randomly have administration errors. Also, it does not include drivers for Atheros cards, which my desktop uses.

[piyushsingh]

I havent yet updated to 8.04 but will do it soon , maybe by the end of this month.

[chipbennett]

@piyush: a word of caution/advice (from personal experience): perform a clean install. I had major issues doing a dist-upgrade.

My /home partition is safely protected now as a separate partition from /, but it wasn't before I tried the dist-upgrade - and I nearly lost a lot of data (the vast majority of which, thankfully, I was able to recover).

So, I would recommend, minimally, backing up your /home partition, and better yet, putting it on its own partition (if it isn't already). Then, you can try the dist-upgrade if you want - or just do a clean install from an 8.04 ISO.

Good luck!

Oh, and Kubuntu 8.04 is, IMHO, much better than 7.10.

[piyushsingh]

I did backed up my personal files before upgrading but the update was smooth and i didn't need to restore anything. thanx for the concern. :D

I also installed KDE on ubu 8.04 and to tell the truth , i didn't like kde . But that's personal choice , i wasn't able to see where the things are hiding . I m just comfortable with gnome. And yes, kubuntu has some good eye-candy stuff to munch upon.

[chipbennett]

See, that's what I love about Linux! I found that I was much more comfortable with Kubuntu (KDE) than Ubuntu (GNOME). On the other hand, you are much more comfortable in GNOME.

Thankfully, we have the choice! :)