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Re: [LUG] Version for converts/newbies

 

On 08/04/11 14:53, Gordon Henderson wrote:
On Fri, 8 Apr 2011, Neil Winchurst wrote:

So, I would be interested to hear what other members think. My
suggestion above was brought about by my recent experiences with two
of the latest distro versions. Other members are sure to have more
knowledge about this.

Anyone??

Ha! Or, LOL, since it's now officially in the OED :)

What *exactly* do you want a computer for? And If you have one, what do
you want to do with it?

It seems to me that most people have computers because it's the thing to
have - you just have to have one...

Then there's what you do with it... Email? Web? Social Media?

Or actual work? (Whatever that is ;-)


For me it's a bit of all of the above. I must admit recently it's been a lot of E-Mail, some social media, lots of web browsing and a little bit of work :-)

Where my kids are concerned it's mainly Tuxpaint and browsing the CBBC web site (until I get their Freeview stick working again, then it'll be TV and DVDs too).

Then there's games, but let's face it - if you're really into games,
there is no choice other than MS Windoze. Liunx games just don't come
close - yet.


Personally I tend to recommend folks get games consoles for games. I've lost count of the times friends and people I know from work have bought laptops to play games on, with these laptops having crappy onboard chipsets, not much memory and slow CPUs (albeit things are improving now) and wondering why the latest and greatest game (Crysis 2?) runs like crap?

At least with a games console you know you're good for the life of the console and don't have to upgrade (although with things like Kinect and Playstation Move, I guess you may have to buy addons if you want specific games).

But I do know some people who have more disposeable income who can spend money on decent PCs for gaming (they tend to be single guys who don't have any ties).

So you need a box with a screen and a button marked "email", another
marked "interweb" and another marked "word processor".


For some it might just be a single box marked "Facebook" :-)

The rest is just a waste of CPU and memory resources. Oh, you want a
pretty picture in the background that changes every 5 minutes,
transparent windows so you can see the picture, fancy 3D effects to spin
and rotate windows and so on ... Would it make you work faster? Doubt
it, but it's what being sold to you through fancy adverts on TV and
smiling sales droids in the shops, etc., so obviously it's something you
must have.


Lots of people like shiney things (or wobbly windows and cubes). Personally I'm stuck with a stock Linux Mint background with Compiz turned off.


If you are installing systems for others, then you need to pick one
distro and stick with it - it doesn't matter what that distro is, you
just need to be able to stick to it and use it yourself as those people
you've installed it for will call you when it gets stuck and they've
broken it...


That makes sense. I tend to recommend what I'm using (at the moment Linux Mint). I still support a couple of people running Ubuntu (that reminds me, I must arrange to upgrade step-father's laptop).

I use Debian - it's what's on my servers, my workstation, my laptops and
my wifes laptop. I use FVWM because I want a windwing environment and
not a desktop environment, but wifey wants a desktop, so I chose xfce4.
Sadly, lifes too short to learn everything, and what you're going to get
is everyones personal favourites.

If you want something stable, but not neccessarily bleeding edge, then
use Debian and pick your window/desktop manager. Xfce is still a choice
and if you want eye candy install compiz... Squeeze has only just been
released, so right-now is actually fairly close to the edge anyway.


Only thing that I'm not too clued up on with Debian on the desktop is things like Flassh and Multimedia. Saying that I installed a Debian box for a friend on an old P3 and used the Debian Multimedia repositories which seemed to work reasonably well.

Rob

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