How to pick a Linux distro

dougal85 · 2007-06-21T17:51:59+00:00

I want to install Linux on an old machine just for the crack and set it us as a good old LAMP. How do i know what distro to choose? Is there all that much d...

How to pick a Linux distro

dougal85

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to recognise my keyboard and mouse (both usb) at this point so I am unable to select one of the other options, I just had to wait the 30 seconds and then it ran the default 'start / install ubuntu' - I'll try and find a ps2 keyboard and try that.

There are a number of error messages, I'll try and type they as i see them but they move fast... here goes...

ata1: translated ATA stat/err (repeats about 10 times)
buffer 1/0 error on device dm-1 logical block #####

then it starts again with the ATA error.

dougal85

Hmm, I left the room and forgot about it. When I got back It's sitting on the ubutu desktop!

So atleast I can get this far, but would I be safe to assume that after installing it will have the same problem on each boot?

piersk

I would say that ATA sounds like a hard disk problem, but since the live CD isn't supposed to do anything with your HDD, it just sits on the RAM, doesn't it...

dougal85

Hmm strange, I might just take the plunge and try and install.

btw, do I want ubuntu 6.06 or ubuntu 7.04 ?

laserlight

Probably Ubuntu 7.04 unless you really want long term support for say, a server installation.

piersk

@: Just out of question, why not 6.10?

Weedpacket

piersk wrote:
It's almost exactly the same as the whole "which editor do you use?" question. You use whichever you feel comfortable with. I used to use Debian a lot and then moved onto Ubuntu, and now I feel uncomfortable with Debian.

That's kind of circular; how do you know if you'd be comfortable with it until you've chosen to use it? Especially if the decision about whether to choose to use it is based on whether or not you feel comfortable with it?

A specific example for you. You used to use Debian a lot: what possessed you move to Ubuntu? Was it with any idea that it might be better for you than Debian, and if it was, how did you get that idea?

dougal85

piersk wrote:
@: Just out of question, why not 6.10?

The two I quoted are the two options for download on the ubuntu website.

rowanparker

dougal85 wrote:
The two I quoted are the two options for download on the ubuntu website.

Yes because Dapper (6.06) is LTS. Whereas the latest version is Fiesty (7.04) which is the one you want.

dougal85

Well I've been playing around with ubuntu 7, feisty. I tried the server and regular versions. I'm quite impressed really - I like the ease of installing things such GIMP or Apache or the interface on the server version. It's pretty cool.

Last time i tried Linux was about 6 or 7 years ago and I've got to say it feels like its grown up and its easier to use. Either that or I've grown up and become slightly smarter.

If all my windows apps worked I could even be tempted to swap over... but I'd probably miss them too much and some i pretty much need (Visual Studio 2005 + SQL Server Dev version).

The only thing that's annoying me just now is I can't seem to get it to share a network drive. I have a back-up program that used to backup to a network drive on the old computer. It was a 2nd backup (so 3rd copy) but I liked to have it just in case. I'm sure I'll figure it out when I get some time.

piersk

dougal85 wrote:
If all my windows apps worked I could even be tempted to swap over... but I'd probably miss them too much and some i pretty much need (Visual Studio 2005 + SQL Server Dev version).

Yes I agree with that. I tried using Ubuntu as a main OS but the lack of support for those (and a couple of other programs) made sure I had to switch back to windows.

dougal85 wrote:
The only thing that's annoying me just now is I can't seem to get it to share a network drive. I have a back-up program that used to backup to a network drive on the old computer. It was a 2nd backup (so 3rd copy) but I liked to have it just in case. I'm sure I'll figure it out when I get some time.

define network drive? as in a shared drive on a windows computer or some kind of NAS? Sounds like you might need to download the samba client (i haven't checked, but i would have thought that ubuntu has that already installed)