Thinkpads Forum

In a nut shell could anyone tell me what would be the best verion of linux on a T42 irrespective of the user skill level?

objectives are to get to the internet, multimedia and tools such as fortran, matlab, word processor etc.

thanks
neo

There is no "best" version of linux. That would be like saying the best flavor of ice cream, each person has their own tastes.
There are "live" distros which run from a cd, "newbie" distros which have a more windows look to them and are generally easier to install and manage, "mainstream" distros which may have their own look and feel and the skill level varies quite a bit, and "advanced" distros which are generally harder to manage but tend to run faster and be more tailored to you and your machine because by the time you get to those distros you know what you want your OS to do and how to make it do it.

I'd say if you are new to linux try a live cd first such as knoppix or simply mepis or Ubuntu. (google is your friend here)
Then go to a newbie distro such as Xandros or Linspire.
If that is too windows like for you try Mandriva or Fedore Core or Suse.
If you want to compile you own try Gentoo.

For a good look at what is out there and how popular they are go to www.distrowatch.com .

thanks a lot carbon. very informative.

neo

I would suggest Gentoo. Its not the easiest to install but they have great documentation. Once you get an install with that you will have learned a decent amount about linux. My first linux install was Gentoo. It took a while but was worth it.

Gentoo is of course nice, but imo its a waste of time and is not suitable for normal work, unless you are willing to spend a junk of your time on pointless compilation. Yes, you do get newer app versions, but there is a higher chance of broken packages. Jumping distros is really a matter of just trying out and not a going app thing. IMO, there is no newbie distro or expert distro, if it works for you, then stick to it, try out others for fun if you wish. I'd think either ubuntu, mandrake or fedora are a good start. These can all be easily downloaded free and farely mature.

carbon_unit wrote:There is no "best" version of linux. That would be like saying the best flavor of ice cream, each person has their own tastes.
There are "live" distros which run from a cd, "newbie" distros which have a more windows look to them and are generally easier to install and manage, "mainstream" distros which may have their own look and feel and the skill level varies quite a bit, and "advanced" distros which are generally harder to manage but tend to run faster and be more tailored to you and your machine because by the time you get to those distros you know what you want your OS to do and how to make it do it.

I'd say if you are new to linux try a live cd first such as knoppix or simply mepis or Ubuntu. (google is your friend here)
Then go to a newbie distro such as Xandros or Linspire.
If that is too windows like for you try Mandriva or Fedore Core or Suse.
If you want to compile you own try Gentoo.

For a good look at what is out there and how popular they are go to www.distrowatch.com .

i personally recommend Ubuntu for both live CD and install...

g'luck!

Ubuntu is probably the only linux I installed on my T42 where all the critical features work right after installation. Wireless, Power management, video, audio... search ubuntu t42 in google and you'll find great FAQ's to wrap up thinkpad buttons and scrolling with the middle button and youre set to use the system rather the mess around with getting random things to work.

I don't have a T42 but I use Xandros on my T23 as my main OS.
It only takes about 20 minutes to install and 5 minutes to setup and you are done. All my hardware works and I am up and running fast. It can resize your NTFS partition automatically to make room for installation.
It looks a little "window'ish" but what I am concerned with is that the networking is working right out of the box and that is important to me.
It has the apps I want and not all the bloat of some other distro's. Installing more apps is fairly easy. A free version is available using bittorrent. http://www.xandros.com/torrent/xandros- ... ip.torrent
Give it a try. There is a great community forum at http://forums.xandros.com/ .

SuSE linux 9.3 professional is very good and the latest, but you have to buy it.

9.3 personal is free, btw.

For a completely free, full featured solution:

Try one of those redhat clones like Centos, which is the same like redhat enterprise. AFter installation, copy all ur windows XP fonts and install them in linux using KDE. You'll still get the best stable distro ever.

Except SuSE and Redhat, all other distros don't have much support and user base.

Parthiban.

I would definitely second CentOS--Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 in everything but name. And, SUSE 9.3 Pro is available at : http://suse.osuosl.org/suse/i386/9.3/iso/.

Kevin

CentOS: http://www.centos.org/

As you can see you are getting recommendations all over the board. That is because each distro has it's own personality (or "feel") and different people like different things. The only way you will ever know which is best for you is to either try them all or list out the features you desire.
It is hard to know what you want when you have always used windows and did not have much of a choice. That is why you need to try them all so you can see what features you have to choose from. With linux there are almost too many choices but once you find your spot you will feel very comfortable.

I primarily use Centos for server / desktop - due to its similarity to RH. But it just wasn't working out of the box on like Ubuntu.

In the end they are all linux - so look for lots of howto's.

Ubuntu has a great unoficial FAQ ( http://ubuntuguide.org/ )

Fedora has a great one too ( http://www.fedorafaq.org/ )

These kind of user faq's are what will make the difference in usability. Try it out. Can't hurt putting multiple partitions of linux.

FreeBSD - Ports and documentation. I prefer the BSD's because the documentation can be applied to all BSD distros. Unlike linux, where you need to learn distro idiosyncrasies.

Give slackware a shot. I've used many different distro's in my day and i've settled on Slackware. The installation is intermediate meaning you have to partition your own drive and what not...not a big deal. After installation you'll want to download the latest kernel, compile and sym-link to the source. Sure it's a PITA but you'll learn all about your kernel and how it works by doing that. Plus i've never hit "dependency hell"

Wireless won't work out of the box but download the IPW-2200 drivers, read the install and install. Same for cpu-freq ACPI or ACM support. The newest ATI drivers install and work just fine.

Screw linux distros that act like windows (fedora, mandrake). These are for people that want to say "yeah...*sniff* i run linux" but have no clue WTF is going on or how to do anything w/ the CLI (command line interface).

Slackware is for people that like to build things. It's not hard, just takes a little bit of learning how to do things. I've learned more with 2 weeks of slackware than i did in a year w/ mandrake. There is an excellent community of help for slackware users (www.linuxquestions.org).

Everyone starts with zero linux knowledge. It's up to you if you want to learn really quickly by using gentoo or slack. Or if you want to have a more hand holding distro that hides everything from you such as mandrake or fedora.

blackatom wrote: Everyone starts with zero linux knowledge. It's up to you if you want to learn really quickly by using gentoo or slack. Or if you want to have a more hand holding distro that hides everything from you such as mandrake or fedora.

Nothing wrong with starting out using a "hand holding" distro and advancing to other distro's as you desire for more control grows.
Everyone has their own comfort zone and there is a linux distro that fits your needs. Start out with whatever is comfortable to you and as you advance you will seek out your next distro.

Hee... Debian of course
Easy to set up. (Well, if you know the basics of Linux)
Wonderful package management.
No crap installed by default. (Crap = progs you do not need)
Huge repository of good stuff. (Good stuff = progs you do need)
Rock stable.
Many good things I've forgotten about right now.
--
I use Gentoo and FreeBSD myself. And I use Debian always if I need to set up a system fast and without pain in the ***.

For fun, I am a FreeBSD only type, I tried a Linux on my T22. I went with Mepis, and now I cannot recall why. Anyhow, everything ran right out of the install except APCI. I grabbed the latest release and it specifically stated there is no APCI support yet.

It uses the K 3 for X environment. Pretty nice. Minor tinkering with my wireless network card, as it assumed a DHCP setup, where I use static IPs on my home net.

Here's another "me too" for "there is no best". Debian Sid is what works best for me. The daily updates are a bit like finding a christmas stocking every afternoon... though sometimes all you get is a lump of coal. For those who prefer a bit more predictability, I recommend Ubuntu. It has almost all the goodness of Debian, and a predictable release schedule. If you want to be absolutely sure everything works before you commit to installing, your best bet is Mepis. It's probably the best executed hybrid of live CD and installable distribution, and probably also the quickest route to a comfortable desktop; it comes with Flash, Java, Realplayer, Acrobat Reader and a bunch of drivers for proprietary hardware. Most people who aren't hardcore believers in free software[0] will find that to be a substantial time saver.

[0] Free software as in similar to open source, but with political motivations rather than pragmatic ones; all of these products are distributed free of charge.

Here's my take on some options. Of course different distros have ideosyncratic problems with specific laptops. Checking the linux on laptops T42 entries will tell you what's worked well for other people.

Fedora: Good installer, some features -- like mp3 support -- lacking out of the box (easily fixed with yum or apt-get). Has a bad reputation for package management which is now completely undeserved given yum or the apt-get port. Leans towards newer builds of stuff, which can be interesting but a bit more flaky. I used to be a committed Fedora guy but little irritations built up until I switched to...

Ubuntu: Clean install, clean distribution. In my opinion the gentlest serious distribution for new users. It took what was good about Debian and answered the biggest complaints. I suspect this is replacing Fedora as the standard 'fire and forget' distribution, and quickly. However, it lacks a little of the elegance of...

Slackware: My sentimental favorite. The install is much less friendly, and less stuff is set up automagically, and it defaults to the 2.4 kernel, but it is much less clutered than the other distros and dropline gnome is a beauty to behold. It does require a little more 'hands-in-the-engine' tinkering but it's stuff I should probably know anyway. If I can stop worrying about the smaller user base supporting it -- both slackware and dropline -- this would be my baby.

I have to echo the recommendation for trying the ubuntu live cd -- it's a great way to get your feet wet. Ubuntu is probably the way to go, unless you want to get your feet really wet with understanding linux a little more deeply -- then think about slackware. If you want to get your feet really really really wet, try gentoo. Ubuntu and Fedora have the advantages of the strongest user communities -- almost anything out there is cleanly packaged already.

I have tried FC3, FC4, Mandrake 10.1, Mandriva, Ubuntu live 5.10 on a T42 and here is a short summary

FC3, FC4: wireless has to be installed separately along with extras from thinkwiki. This means compile the kernel etc. I love FC4 but I didnt like it on my T42. However I need to install gnome 2.12 to do a fair comparision.

Mandrake 10.1: Almost the same amount of effort. Only distro that installed on my USB 2.5" external HDD without any extra mkinitrd.

Mandriva: had some irritating problems and not as fast 10.1. Installing on USB drive didnt go smoothly.

Ubuntu 5.10: awesome. out of the box detection of wireless, sound, display etc. I want to install this on my T43 when it arrives.