Help linux for beginners

Ch3tan

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So, here is the situation, within my family are owned 2 ageing pc's and a laptop.

All have XP, but are suffering by being slow bloated piece's of shit. Re-install works for a while, but once you install all the new fangly browsers and other software they slow right back down.

One is used with itunes, the other two just for basic browsing, email and media use.

So can I get away with linux on them? Which distro would be easier for; a) me to install as a lunix noob, b) my family members to use with no technical knowledge.

Ta in advance!
 

Zenith.UK

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Ubuntu homepage | Ubuntu is pretty much the de facto distro for *nix noobs.

The installer has come along strides in recent years, with a wide variety of hardware being detected and running well on older machines.

You can set it up so that there are big icons for your chosen browser and email client and apart from minor visual changes, they operate just the same as Windows versions.
 

Yaka

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use wine or run xp in vmware/virtualbox

for basic browsing/mail/wordprocessin/faceshit ubuntu is totaly fine. still expect the stupidest of questions and stuff for peeps who are so used to windows
 

Wij

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If it's old hardware then Peppermint Ice will fly better than Ubuntu. See my sig. I use it all the time. Fresh install, fire up Chromium, sign in to Google account, and I have a box that does all I need it to.
 

Killswitch

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itunes compatibility?

You can use an iPod with several Linux music players/managers including old favourites like Amarok and Banshee. If you want access to the iTunes store, then you pretty much need to be running iTunes, which isn't available for Linux.

I was going to recommend VirtualBox (I use it for Windows-only management tools on my work PC...damn you Citrix!) and I'm sure iTunes would work just as well. Apparently you can also use Crossover which costs something like £25 but is a bit simpler than WINE or setting up a full Virtualized environment.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PortableDevices/iPod
CrossOver: Windows emulator for Mac and Linux computers - CodeWeavers

In terms of a distro, I'm a big fan on Linux Mint which is based off Ubuntu.
 

Yaka

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preety sure he wants itunes for ip00 synching which is not possible atm on tux and itunes via codewaevers is flaky specialy when updateing the ip00 tho synching is fine
 

ford prefect

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I used to use AmaroK or Banshee for ipod management in Unbuntu. Or use your main windows PC/mac to handle the actual ipod and use one of the older machine with a DAAP server (firefly is still the most common I believe), so you can stream media around the house and use it as an itunes server / NAS.
 

MYstIC G

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What Wij said. If no umph in the box, use Peppermint. If it had umph in it's day, Ubuntu is dead easy and will do the business.

Whatever people say, use Wine for emulation of windows programs on Linux. I've not bothered with iTunes myself as I've only got linux on my netbook and some work boxes but here's a pretty comprehensive guide iTunes in Ubuntu Linux - Ubuntuka
 

Ch3tan

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Thanks all, I'll give peppermint a try on the old laptop first, might install it on my bedside lappy to mess around on as well.

Think I'll just go with a fresh install of XP on the Pc that needs itunes. It's used with an iphone, so it really needs it without hassle.
 

Ch3tan

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wij: What's the difference between Peppermint One and Peppermint Ice?
 

Wij

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wij: What's the difference between Peppermint One and Peppermint Ice?

One is Firefox-centric, Ice is Chromium-centric.

If it's for an underpowered machine you will notice the difference Chromium makes over FF. Even though Cr is supposed to be more memory-hungry it is still noticably quicker on my tiny netbook with only 512mb.

Also the default look of Ice is nicer :)
 

Ch3tan

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Righto, Ice it is then. It does sound very good, although obviously they would big themselves up on their own webby :)
 

Wij

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It is good. Everything works out of the box and using LXDE means you could run it on a 286 :)
 

Ch3tan

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Well it's going on a 7 year old intel celery lappy, so a 286 is probably faster
 

Wij

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Remember to post on here from it when it's done :)
 

MYstIC G

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Chromium is much better on low power boxes imho. Swiftfox is a good alternative if you really want something Mozilla based but as soon as you put in Firefox Sync it's horrible.
 

Will

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It is good. Everything works out of the box and using LXDE means you could run it on a 286 :)
I use the same window manager (Openbox) and it is very minimal and fast, which sounds up your street.
 

Ch3tan

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Thanks, but no good. Need it for an iphone, so apps management and backup is essential. You don't get that outside of itunes :/
 

ford prefect

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I haven't used Wine in a long time, but when I did try it, it seemed that every itunes/quicktime update ruined compatibility. To be honest, I never really liked Wine.

Why not look at XP lite or some such on one of these old machines, so you can uninstall most of the crap you don't want/need.
 

Ch3tan

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Bah - the installer for peppermint ice keeps crashing on the laptop. If I try in compatibility mode it crashes sooner, and if I don't run the installer it just freezes eventually.

Would a USB stick be faster than a CD or more stable?
 

Yaka

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usb is better tho shouldnt be that much diff unless you burning on cheap nasteh blank discs
 

Ch3tan

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They aren't cheap discs - think it's a problem with the laptop drive probably.

Anyone got a handy guide to making a bootable usb?
 

MYstIC G

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What's the RAM size on the machine?
 

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