Linux for a beginner

    The reason for the changes is an unfavorable condition. If everything suits you, you do not change anything. Man always strives for such ideal stability, but, unfortunately, it does not exist. So harsh times were that whole nations rose from their homes and set off in search of a new home.

    So I lived for a long time and did not know grief: I lived in the edges of the Window, in places that were called XP. This idyll lasted long enough, from the very advent of Windows XP. Years passed, Vista came out. She, as a child with Down Syndrome, has become a burden on the Windows family. Seven loomed on the horizon ... Magic number 7! And now more and more of my friends were moving to a new system.

    I understood that sitting on HaPeshka forever will not succeed, that you need to move on, develop, in the end! And then I was faced with a dilemma. Firstly, my computer is not fast. Secondly, Kaspersky eagerly devoured the few resources. Thirdly, I believe that retaliation is bound to come, and everyone using pirated Windows will be called to account. The answer to my question was obvious - I put Linux!

    I have already tried installing Linux before. Then it was Linux Mint 6 and Alt Linux. But the lack of Internet in a rented apartment predetermined the fate of these distributions. Now that high-speed Internet has become available to me and the opportunity to download updates, drivers and codecs has appeared, I was not afraid of anything ... Almost nothing. Anyone who wants to install Linux themselves must have come across IT. THIS is a kind of mythologized image of Linux, covered with fear and horror, which everyone who dares to leave from Windows will have to face. Linux is a plague. If it gets infected, then irreversible changes will begin: you will cover with acne, grow a beard and put on giant glasses. And many believe in it. Obviously, the myth was created by Windows adherents. They do not represent life outside the system. But she is ...

    There is life, and the organisms living here are by no means primitive. I saw so many distributions that Windows users never dreamed of. And they differed not by the name of Home Edition or Professional. The distras are really different and each is unique in its own way. Which one to choose? It’s like with a car: you can choose exclusive, but don’t count on the support of the service center, but you can choose a popular model and you won’t know the problems with spare parts and maintenance. Open distrowatch.org and make sure - the flagship desktop Linux - Ubuntu.

    At this point, I already had an Asus 1005P netbook, so I boldly set out to experiment, not worrying about completing the usual tasks on a desktop PC. I downloaded Ubuntu 10.04 and started to settle down. As I expected, there was nothing wrong with Linux. Already in the CD version, which I put from the flash drive, there is everything to perform typical tasks. Windows cannot boast of built-in Office, an image processing program, an email client, an ICQ client, and a bunch of other small amenities. Oddly enough, this installed software is enough for the vast majority of average users. The only thing that needs to be done is to install codecs and full Russification. Everything goes automatically and climb into the command line for this is not necessary.
    But this was clearly not enough for me. I installed the programs one by one, uninstalled, installed, in a word - I studied everything that the endless world of Open Source has to offer. It is worth noting that I do not play games, so I did not have such an important point in the downsides of switching to Linux. Imagine my surprise when I discovered full-fledged beautiful network 3D shooters, and most importantly - free. Linux is generally free. I don’t have to buy disks, I don’t have to look for keys and break programs. My karma is pure. And do not forget how crooked software often happens, how long and longer it takes to wait for cracked software, and some specialized products simply cannot be found!

    When I got used to it a bit and understood all the disadvantages of a ten-inch display, I remembered about Ubuntu Netbook Edition and installed this version. Honestly, I am amazed so far. I have never seen anything like it anywhere else. The best option for small displays is not to come up. But the speed of work ceased to satisfy me. UNE is slower. I returned to normal Ubuntu again, paused it for another month and cooled down. Our honeymoon is over. No, I was not convinced that Windows was still better, far from it. I just did not see the highlight. In search of “dried grapes” I went to another popular distro - Linux Mint.

    I thought this: Ubuntu is good, but Shuttleworth is not a good person. The solution is “dubbed Ubuntu,” that is, Mint. In Mint, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that all codecs already come out of the box. You will only need to download Russification. In addition, here I did not meet such problems with the notification applet. Oh, how much blood he drank from me in Ubuntu! There was a case when I completely flew all the widgets from the notification applet. Everything is simpler here. The minus was found and for me it is very surprising. It turned out that the standard Ubuntu menu with the division into "Applications", "Transition" and "Administration" is much more convenient than what Mint suggested. And this despite the fact that he is often abandoned in favor of the classic "launch." Therefore, in Mint, I organized a desktop using Cairo Dock, a poppy-like panel,

    But I did not stop there. I went ahead and installed Open Suse 11.3. The system was slow. Very slow. Although there were pluses in it. I was pleased with the power manager, which allows you to set energy-saving profiles not only by display brightness, but also by processor power. However, if you install your first Linux on a PC, this is not an important argument for you. I liked the fact that the system tray was made by one widget, unlike Ubuntu with its notification applet. Thanks to this solution, all the settings are in one place. Russification out of the box turned out to be the most complete of all the distros I have tried. Plasma, the desktop on the desktop, remained completely incomprehensible to me. What the creators wanted to say, I could not immediately understand. Already in the standard version, you can switch to the interface for netbooks. But at first glance it is clear that it is not as convenient as in the UNR. The process of splitting disks is more complicated than in the two distros described above. The user is offered a significantly larger number of installation settings, which, among other things, do not say anything to the beginner. There is another incident related to Suse. After downloading updates and codecs, which took 700 mb (as the distribution itself), the system still refused to play mp3 files. Sadly. All these shortcomings do not mean that Open Suse is a bad distribution. Just if it is intuitively incomprehensible, then it can’t pretend to be the title of “My first Linux”. Mastodons need to understand that the line is the lot of professionals. In order for Linux to become popular at home and in the office, so that ordinary people can use it, each action will need a graphic embodiment in the form of a button. that it is not as convenient as in the UNR. The process of splitting disks is more complicated than in the two distros described above. The user is offered a significantly larger number of installation settings, which, among other things, do not say anything to the beginner. There is another incident related to Suse. After downloading updates and codecs, which took 700 mb (as the distribution itself), the system still refused to play mp3 files. Sadly. All these shortcomings do not mean that Open Suse is a bad distribution. Just if it is intuitively incomprehensible, then it can’t pretend to be the title of “My first Linux”. Mastodons need to understand that the line is the lot of professionals. In order for Linux to become popular at home and in the office, so that ordinary people can use it, each action will need a graphic embodiment in the form of a button. that it is not as convenient as in the UNR. The process of splitting disks is more complicated than in the two distros described above. The user is offered a significantly larger number of installation settings, which, among other things, do not say anything to the beginner. There is another incident related to Suse. After downloading updates and codecs, which took 700 mb (as the distribution itself), the system still refused to play mp3 files. Sadly. All these shortcomings do not mean that Open Suse is a bad distribution. Just if it is intuitively incomprehensible, then it can’t pretend to be the title of “My first Linux”. Mastodons need to understand that the line is the lot of professionals. In order for Linux to become popular at home and in the office, so that ordinary people can use it, each action will need a graphic embodiment in the form of a button. than in the two distros described above. The user is offered a significantly larger number of installation settings, which, among other things, do not say anything to the beginner. There is another incident related to Suse. After downloading updates and codecs, which took 700 mb (as the distribution itself), the system still refused to play mp3 files. Sadly. All these shortcomings do not mean that Open Suse is a bad distribution. Just if it is intuitively incomprehensible, then it can’t pretend to be the title of “My first Linux”. Mastodons need to understand that the line is the lot of professionals. In order for Linux to become popular at home and in the office, so that ordinary people can use it, each action will need a graphic embodiment in the form of a button. than in the two distros described above. The user is offered a significantly larger number of installation settings, which, among other things, do not say anything to the beginner. There is another incident related to Suse. After downloading updates and codecs, which took 700 mb (as the distribution itself), the system still refused to play mp3 files. Sadly. All these shortcomings do not mean that Open Suse is a bad distribution. Just if it is intuitively incomprehensible, then it can’t pretend to be the title of “My first Linux”. Mastodons need to understand that the line is the lot of professionals. In order for Linux to become popular at home and in the office, so that ordinary people can use it, each action will need a graphic embodiment in the form of a button. they don’t say anything to the beginner. There is another incident related to Suse. After downloading updates and codecs, which took 700 mb (as the distribution itself), the system still refused to play mp3 files. Sadly. All these shortcomings do not mean that Open Suse is a bad distribution. Just if it is intuitively incomprehensible, then it can’t pretend to be the title of “My first Linux”. Mastodons need to understand that the line is the lot of professionals. In order for Linux to become popular at home and in the office, so that ordinary people can use it, each action will need a graphic embodiment in the form of a button. they don’t say anything to the beginner. There is another incident related to Suse. After downloading updates and codecs, which took 700 mb (as the distribution itself), the system still refused to play mp3 files. Sadly. All these shortcomings do not mean that Open Suse is a bad distribution. Just if it is intuitively incomprehensible, then it can’t pretend to be the title of “My first Linux”. Mastodons need to understand that the line is the lot of professionals. In order for Linux to become popular at home and in the office, so that ordinary people can use it, each action will need a graphic embodiment in the form of a button. that Open Suse is a bad distribution. Just if it is intuitively incomprehensible, then it can’t pretend to be the title of “My first Linux”. Mastodons need to understand that the line is the lot of professionals. In order for Linux to become popular at home and in the office, so that ordinary people can use it, each action will need a graphic embodiment in the form of a button. that Open Suse is a bad distribution. Just if it is intuitively incomprehensible, then it can’t pretend to be the title of “My first Linux”. Mastodons need to understand that the line is the lot of professionals. In order for Linux to become popular at home and in the office, so that ordinary people can use it, each action will need a graphic embodiment in the form of a button.

    My searches did not stop there. I downloaded Fedora 13. You will be kindly offered versions with all four graphical shells on one site. There is no thinning on Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu ... Just the creators warn that the main thing for them is Gnome. Even at the stage of life-CD, I had concerns. For example, the absence of Office in the standard assembly says a lot: in all previous distributions it was. The installation process put a point. During previous installations, at the moment when you select a language, the interface switches to it. This did not happen here. Further more. Instead of the intuitive partitioning manager Ubuntu and Mint, instead of the sophisticated manager Seuss, I saw ... I did not see anything. The system asked something about the disks, while asking me to choose my hard drive, but refusing to uncheck the flash drive. Will the flash drive be mounted as a hard drive? In general, Fedora was also unsuitable for a beginner.

    Then I came to an end. Towards the end of the list of the most famous distributions. And although Mandriva still remained, she immediately offended that the DVD version was paid. In addition, as far as I know, the company itself has problems. So I decided to try Linux Mint 9 with the LXDE shell, as Both KDE and Gnome were far from ideal.

    LXDE pleased with the quick work. Outwardly, she resembled a mixture with Suse, where a file manager is used for navigation, and not many folders “My Computer”, “Home Folder” and others as desired. The start button is very concise. Frustrated by the lack of OpenOffice. Instead, AbWord. And in general, some kind of confusion is going on. In place of the task manager, we see the Xfce Taskmanager, from a completely different shell. A lot of gnomish applications. For a beginner, it remains a mystery why for different shells you need different software and different packages? Therefore, for practical reasons, you should choose the popular KDE and Gnome shells. No, of course the applications work in each other, and Kopete under Gnome can be installed. But this is like the work of an office worker on a collective farm field. He will work, but the environment is still not his.

    What can I summarize? I will choose Mint under Gnome. Although by the time I returned to Mint again, all four shells had already appeared. This is the perfect solution for a beginner who wants to switch from Windows with the least psychological trauma. The creators themselves are positioning it that way. Although the Ubuntu option for a beginner is also very worthy. Why? The community of the latter is disproportionately larger. Work is being carried out more actively, and help comes immediately. There is no ideal distribution, but having evaluated everything, I realized what I want to see in my ideal distribution. And Linux differs in that it can be changed quite strongly. How it ends, time will tell.

    PS

    If you also install Linux from a flash drive, I will share my observations. Firstly, I still couldn’t install the DVD version. Never. Secondly, I tried many programs, but didn’t find the universal one: WinSetup was suitable only for Ubuntu, Win32diskimager installed Suse and Fedora, Universal USB Installer was the only one to install Mint under Windows, and the standard Ubuntu boot disk creator is very easy, without any settings created a bootable USB flash drive with Mint, while immediately offering a list of .iso images on the computer.


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