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Re: [LUG] Version for converts/newbies

 

On 08/04/11 14:20, Neil Winchurst wrote:
As I have already mentioned I have a new computer and I am in the
process of setting it up. My old machine is still running Kubuntu Hardy
so I decided it was time get up to date. My laptop is set up with Mint 9
Xfce which I like a lot.


That's good.

<snip>

Anyway, to get to the subject matter of this email. We, the group, are
talking a lot about getting people to try out Linux and possibly stick
with it in the future. Up to now I have advocated Mint Xfce as a good
choice of distro for possible converts. Now I am not so sure. I would be
interested to hear what other group members consider the best distro for
this. No, I don't want to start any arguments, I just think that it
would be sensible to agree on one, or two at the most.

Well until recently I would have said Ubuntu as it was reasonbly simple to use and a fair few of us (at least in Torbay) seem to use something along the lines of Ubuntu.

But... since the changes that are coming with the next release of Ubuntu, I would now recommend either Linux Mint Gnome edition for a reasonable spec PC or for something more low spec Linux Mint LXDE edition (which is reasonably similar to the Gnome version). Both versions are more Windows like than Ubuntu, but saying that with some people moving over to Macs now I understand the latest release of Ubuntu but with the Gnome desktop is more Mac like. However who knows how long the Gnome desktop will stay in Ubuntu?

(To be fair who knows how long Gnome 2.x will stay in Mint?).

As it happens Linux Mint 9 is a 'Long Term Support' or 'LTS' release which means it is supported for 3 years on the desktop, so in the case of Mint 9 until about April 2013 (as it's based on the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS release).

I can't comment about the Debian versions as I don't follow the Debian support cycles (someone else can better advise on this). I have a feeling though it's a good few years it's supported for (looking at Wikipedia it seems to be about 3 years).


Then, again a personal opinion, I think that it would be a good idea for
those members who are interested in this to get to know those distros
really well even if they don't use them for their own computing. That
way would make for a consistent approach throughout the group.


I agree, might be of some use. Also might be useful to maybe have a small guide covering the basics of how to do things (or we could refer folks to the official manuals, although in the case of Mint, if we're installing things for them they might not be interested in knowing how to download and install Mint).

There's also the question of would we prefer to stick to long term releases (which could lag behind in some packages such as Firefox, OOo/LibreOffice) or give them the up to date releases?

(Of course I don't know how this would work on things like Fedora/SuSE etc, I gather than Debian at least has backports).

Rob

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