Linux Beginner Distro

[Eric N]

Hey everybody, thanks in advance for any help you can give. I am not professional tech support, but I provide unofficial support for family. I would like some opinions on a Linux distribution to recommend to some family with computers on xp or earlier dealing with Windows issues such as
- "my computer is slow"
- "do I have a virus?"
- "my computer won't do the thing"
- etc...
I am looking for these traits in a distro (in order of highest to lowest importance)
1. Performance on older hardware
2. How close is it to Windows in design and function
3. Security
4. Configuration (how functional is it "out of the box"
5. Support (not a rolling-release)
Please provide multiple options if possible. Thanks again

 

[Beezy]

if you go linux you cant play most games, and a lot of software wont be easy for them to run without you setting it up first. For web browsing and word processing it should be fine, though.

How old of hardware are we talking?

Ubuntu

LinuxMint

Xubuntu

my choices, install chromium and flash should be good.

 

[Eric N]

Thanks for the help! Here are some of the devices with varying amounts of information
~2009 Lenovo Desktop
Single-Core Pentium (3gHz)
4GB of RAM

~2003 Dell Desktop
Computer's not with me and the family member in question doesn't know. It's pretty bad

~2009 Acer Netbook
AWFUL 1st-gen Atom
1GB RAM

~2005 Toshiba Laptop
~1gHz Single-Core Celeron
~512MB RAM

The computers in question will be used mostly for word and excel, plus some email and occasional Web browsing. One uses her computer for finances, so is there a basic programs for paying bills?
Thanks again!

 

[patrickIT]

For the last two computers I would recommend puppy Linux . You can't use word and excel in Linux unless you use-
WINE with winetricks.
winetricks; http://wiki.winehq.org/winetricks .
wine; https://www.winehq.org/ .

But puppy linux does have inkscape, gnumeric, abiword might want to try .

For security this distro can be configured with firewall .

Linux ISO precise puppy;
http://ftp.nluug.nl/ftp/pub/os/Linux/distr/quirky/precise-5.7.1/ .
make bootable usb with universal usb installer;
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

 

[mamasan2000]

You can use Libreoffice instead of MS office. Or Apache Openoffice. Think both has Excel-lookalikes too.

Newer linuxes tend to be quite heavy on the graphics side. I think it's even more true with Ubuntu and its windowmanager Unity.
Demanding on graphics card, especially older ones. Might be pushing it with a card from 2003.

But Ubuntu and a Ubuntu-derivative like Linux mint are easy to use. Mostly plug and play, dont have to hunt for drivers for most things (if any).
And if theres something missing, theres always Synaptic and apt-get.

But that aside...

http://www.linux.com/news/software/applications/780781-6-excellent-lightweight-linux-distros-for-x86-and-arm

Linux is built for customizability. You can make it really small.

 

[Alabalcho]

@Mamasan - Before jumping on Linux galore, check whether any specific application (e.g. Quicken) is being used apart from Web-only stuff. Some software exists on Windows only, and there are no Linux equivalents.

As for your PCs, I would do the following:
- 2009 laptop: It's quite powerfull to run Windows
- 2009 Atom Netbook: Reload the OS it came with (most probably, WIndows 7 starter). The 10" 1024x600 screen is awfull to start with, and any Linux desktop will look even worse.
- 2003 Dell desktop: I would leave this beast to die...
- 2005 Toshiba: Spend $20 on it, and upgrade the memory. Whatever you install on it, with its (probably) built-in graphics, will benefit.

 

[mc962]

I have a Dell Mini (from 2010 I believe) with an Atom processor and it works just fine with Lubuntu (lighter version of Ubuntu). It is a bit slow and can't run a lot of programs at once, but it works just fine for word/internet/youtube, and was even my primary skype computer while I was getting my good laptop fixed

 

[stillblue]

The dell desktop will probably have issues with a newer version of Linux. Go back a couple of years, 12.04 Ubuntu for example and then upgrade to a new one. Mint should be fine on all of them, Ubuntu on any with a gig of RAM will work too. Lubuntu is lighter.

 

[mamasan2000]

@Alabalcho: For Windows-only programs you could try running them via Wine or a Virtualbox (VM).



One cheap solution to run Linux could be getting a Raspberry (40 dollars or so). It is not the best performer but it works. Web-browsing, youtube etc works but it is a bit slow. At least in Raspbian.

 

[Aristotelian]

I just set up my father in law with LUbuntu on an old Dell desktop. He seems happy with it. I might go with XUbuntu on the newer machines.